To commemorate National Poetry Month, producer Maria Esquinca talks to Bay Area-based poet Antmen Pimentel Mendoza about his Chapbook collection, “My Boyfriend Apocalypse.” He talks about surviving the apocalypse, queer love, and finding play in poetry. You can listen to Antmen Pimentel Mendoza read live on Tuesday, April 25, at 7 p.m. at Fabulosa Books in San Francisco. You can find him on Twitter and instagram @antmenismagic. Episode transcript This episode was hosted and produced by Maria Esq...
Apr 21, 2023•17 min
On Wednesday night, the Oakland A's announced that they have signed an agreement to buy land for a stadium in Las Vegas. This news doesn't mean the move is complete, but it does make it even more likely that yet another major pro sports team will leave the city of Oakland. We want to know what you're thinking about this. How are you feeling about the team's likely move to Las Vegas? How has it felt to be a fan of the A's? What's going through your mind? Leave us a voicemail at 415-710-9223. Plea...
Apr 20, 2023•3 min
An estimated 1.1 million undocumented immigrants work in California, with large numbers laboring in low-wage jobs like agriculture, construction, and food service. But none of those workers are eligible for unemployment insurance, even though their wages contribute to the system. That’s why workers and advocates have been pushing the state to step in. Senate Bill 227 would use state funds to extend unemployment benefits to undocumented workers: provide unemployed workers $300 per week for 20 wee...
Apr 19, 2023•18 min
This episode contains explicit, racist and offensive language, as well as descriptions of violence. For years, police officers in the city of Antioch used racist and homophobic slurs with their colleagues in text messages, and openly bragged about targeting people of color with violence. These messages were released to the public in a Contra Costa County District Attorney report last week. These racist texts were released as the department is already being investigated by federal authorities, an...
Apr 17, 2023•21 min
The last time the Sacramento Kings made the NBA playoffs, the iPhone hadn't been invented yet. For 17 years, Sacramento-area sports fans have endured losing season after losing season. But not this year. The Kings turned things around with a young, fast, high-scoring team, securing a spot in the playoffs. Standing in their way are the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, who are looking to win their 5th title in 9 years. This is the first time in the history of American pro sports tha...
Apr 14, 2023•24 min
This episode contains descriptions of drug addiction and attempted suicide. The national crisis and suicide hotline is 988. In 2021, about 1 in 5 deaths among people ages 15-24 were from fentanyl overdoses in California. As this crisis worsens, doctors are seeing more and more demand for life-saving addiction treatment. One crucial piece of the puzzle is a medication called Suboxone, or buprenorphine. It helps block withdrawal symptoms and can allow people to go to school, work, and maintain rel...
Apr 12, 2023•21 min
From extra unemployment assistance to free COVID testing and eviction moratoriums, pandemic-era assistance is fading away. The latest to fall are extra payments for recipients of CalFresh, the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Over 3 million households around California use CalFresh, ranging from families to seniors and students. Data shows these extra payments lifted 1 million people out of poverty. So why are the extra p...
Apr 10, 2023•15 min
Nearly 320,000 Cambodians live in the US, with about a third living in California. Many are survivors or descendants of those who fled the country during the Cambodian genocide. An estimated 2 million people died under the communist Khmer Rouge, leaving survivors with emotional, physical and psychological trauma. Barriers such as language access or cultural stigma often prevent survivors from accessing mental healthcare to address the trauma. But one program in Alameda County has spent the last ...
Apr 07, 2023•24 min
The city of Oakland plans to evict the 60 remaining residents of the Wood Street encampment on Monday, April 10. This comes after months of ramping up sweeps in order to move forward with plans to build 171 affordable housing units. At its height, Wood Street was a self-sustaining community of about 300 people and spanned several city blocks. The remaining residents, some of whom have lived there for more than a decade, are feeling an immense sense of loss and uncertainty about whether they can ...
Apr 05, 2023•22 min
We’ve delayed action on climate change for so long that scientists say eliminating greenhouse gas emissions isn’t enough anymore — we also need to explore ways of removing carbon from the atmosphere. One potential method is carbon removal, which is exactly what it sounds like. Forests and wetlands can naturally do this, and engineered approaches are starting to take shape as well. And some of these new climate technology companies have been formed here in the Bay Area. How to do it fast, and saf...
Apr 03, 2023•23 min
The iconic Castro Theatre faces an uncertain future. Historically operated as a movie palace, the building’s new managers want to renovate the space for more events — like concerts, performances and weddings. The plans have not been received well by everyone. Some point to the theater’s historical significance in San Francisco’s gay community as a reason to restore the space rather than renovate it, and this tension has resulted in a fight for the theater’s future. This episode of Bay Curious fi...
Mar 31, 2023•23 min
Anti-trans hate is on the rise. Republicans have introduced more than 400 anti-trans bills in state legislatures around the country. 1 in California would force educators to out trans kids who may not be ready to come out to their parents. Last year, California became the first sanctuary state in the country for trans youth. But a transgender therapist in the Bay Area says the anti-trans hate is still having a real effect on her trans clients. Guest: Veronica Esposito, a writer, transgender advo...
Mar 29, 2023•19 min
This episode contains mentions of suicide. Too often, psychosis isn’t treated until it’s too late. But studies from early psychosis clinics show that patients see a greater reduction of symptoms, like voices or delusions, and a greater improvement in functioning at school, at work and in their social lives, compared to people who get treatment as usual. But too often, private insurers don’t cover these treatments, leaving many families to navigate the byzantine system of insurance on their own. ...
Mar 27, 2023•31 min
Residents of Pajaro in Monterey County were finally allowed to return home Thursday after destructive flooding from last week’s storms. When the levee broke, causing the town to flood, it wasn’t a huge surprise; problems with that levee have been well-known for decades, but it wasn’t enough to address the problem fast enough. The Bay Area has hundreds of its own levees. And it turns out, we don’t really know how safe or vulnerable most of them are. Guest: Ezra David Romero, climate reporter for ...
Mar 24, 2023•17 min
Silicon Valley Bank is best known for its relationships with the tech industry. But the bank also had billions out in loans to developers working on affordable housing projects in the Bay Area. Unlike larger banks, regional banks like SVB are more likely to fund local affordable housing projects. But now that the bank has collapsed, the future of these projects is precarious, and calls into question how these much-needed affordable housing projects are funded in the first place. Guest: Sydney Jo...
Mar 22, 2023•18 min
California is in the middle of rolling out a plan to make preschool universal across the state. Also known as “transitional kindergarten,” it’s all part of an ambitious plan to make childcare more accessible, and close some big learning gaps between children from low and high income families. So far, the implementation has been mixed. But some districts have been providing transitional kindergarten already. The Alum Rock Union School District in East San Jose is one of them, and its program is a...
Mar 20, 2023•22 min
The U.S. ranks 55th in the world in maternal mortality rates. Those rates are even worse for Black women, whose maternal mortality rate is more than two times higher than any other racial or ethnic group. Patients and advocates cite lower access to quality care and racism in the medical system as main drivers of these outcomes. A program in Alameda County is providing an answer to that problem. BElovedBIRTH Black Centering, operating through the Alameda Health System, is completely rethinking wh...
Mar 17, 2023•21 min
As residents across California continue to cope with heavy wind and rain, perhaps no community has been hit harder than Pajaro, where thousands of residents have evacuated after a levee broke late last Friday, flooding the town. An unincorporated community in Monterey County, Pajaro is home to mainly low-income Latino farmworkers who provide a large portion of California-grown produce. They've lost not only their homes and vehicles to flooding, but also their livelihoods as farms across the coun...
Mar 15, 2023•18 min
San Francisco’s mobile opioid treatment clinics popped up as a way to address overcrowding at San Francisco General Hospital during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. These vans distribute methadone, a medication used to reduce withdrawal symptoms — while offering program patients snacks, water and canisters of naloxone, an overdose-reversal nasal spray. In San Francisco alone, nearly 2,000 people have died of drug overdoses since 2020. And surprisingly, these temporary mobile clinics are d...
Mar 13, 2023•20 min
A potential dynasty is building at Oakland Technical High School, where the girls’ basketball team is on its way to clutching its 3rd state championship in 5 years. Not only are the Lady Bulldogs skilled, but they’re hella fun to watch. The team boasts height, three point shooters, phenomenal defense — and swag. And their coaches have a message for their city with a chip on its shoulder over the loss of the Raiders and the Warriors t: come watch these girls play. Guest: Ariana Prohel, culture re...
Mar 10, 2023•21 min
Two men who worked at an auto shop in Napa have been sentenced to federal prison for plotting to blow up the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento in 2021. Ian Benjamin Rogers, of Napa, was sentenced to 9 years and 3 years of supervision after he is released. Jarrod Copeland, of Vallejo, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years. He also has 3 years of supervision after he is released. Their case is part of a surge in violent extremist activity the FBI is investigating in Northern California...
Mar 08, 2023•24 min
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is retiring after more than 30 years in Washington. Her retirement has gotten many people talking about her legacy and career in the U.S. Senate. But before that, Feinstein was a local official in her hometown of San Francisco. In 1969, she won a seat on the Board of Supervisors and eventually became Board President. In 1978, she became mayor after the shocking assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Feinstein would serve in that role until 1988. ...
Mar 06, 2023•26 min
People just aren’t taking public transit like they used to. BART’s ridership is still less than 40% of what it was before March 2020. On top of that, the agency’s federal emergency funding is scheduled to run out in January 2025. Leaders of BART and other public transit agencies are now trying to bring back riders and find sources of funding as soon as possible. This will mean everything from new construction, increased policing, and asking for financial help from state lawmakers and voters. Wil...
Mar 03, 2023•23 min
If you’ve been to the City of Alameda, you’ve probably noticed its beautiful Victorian homes lining the shore of the San Francisco Bay. This has been by design. For decades the city has fought against building new housing, but last November, members of Alameda City council agreed that it was time for a change. They passed a plan to build over 6400 new housing units on the island, making Alameda the first Bay Area city to get its housing plan approved by the state. The state requires cities to co...
Mar 01, 2023•23 min
In early February, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey and northern Syria. Here in California, we know the Big One is coming someday. In fact, the same kind of fault runs across our state. This makes it all the more important to be prepared. So today, we’re sharing an episode with former KQED science reporter Peter Arcuni, who narrated his experience creating an earthquake preparedness plan over the course of 4 days. Episode transcript This episode originally aired on October 18, ...
Feb 27, 2023•17 min
Workers at nonprofits like the Felton Institute are on the front lines of our region’s biggest problems, like poverty, homelessness, and addiction. Employees say the work is meaningful yet grueling, with low pay and high turnover. For nearly 3 years now, a group of workers at Felton, one of the Bay’s oldest social service agencies, have been campaigning to unionize the organization’s nearly 500 employees. But the campaign is currently in limbo, as organizers encounter difficulties reaching their...
Feb 24, 2023•23 min
For many members of the public, COVID-19 is in the rearview mirror. People are tired. Governments have dropped things like mask and vaccine mandates. And the virus isn’t as lethal as it once was. On the other hand, this virus is still very much a part of our lives, especially for people who are vulnerable, immunocompromised, or have long COVID. Now, California is going to end its COVID state of emergency at the end of month. We’ll dive into what that means. Guest: Carly Severn, KQED senior engag...
Feb 22, 2023•20 min
Originally from The Bronx, New York, Dave “Davey D” Cook was there when this thing we call hip-hop was in its nascent form, before it even had a name. When he arrived in the Bay Area in the early ’80s, one of his missions as a UC Berkeley student was to lend some insight to this burgeoning culture. So he put on a few events, one of which was The Day in Hip-Hop on Oct. 24, 1984. Rightnowish host Pendarvis Harshaw looks back on that day with Davey D, and traces how far hip hop has come since — in ...
Feb 20, 2023•24 min
Crisis pregnancy centers, or anti-abortion centers, are designed to look like community health clinics. But the vast majority of them don’t have a medical license, and all of them have an explicit goal: to persuade people to not have an abortion. There are thousands of these centers all over the country. They advertise aggressively — especially in lower-income communities of color — and are in many cases located directly next to abortion clinics. And despite California’s reputation as a sanctuar...
Feb 17, 2023•23 min
In November 2020, then-San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin filed criminal charges against former SFPD officer Christopher Samayoa. In 2017, Samayoa, who had been on the force for just 4 days, shot and killed 42-year old Keita O’Neil through a police vehicle window. But now, Boudin’s successor, Brooke Jenkins, has announced she plans to drop the charges, arguing that Boudin pursued the case for "political reasons and not in the interests of justice." Meanwhile, O’Neil’s aunt, April Green...
Feb 15, 2023•22 min
