A Good Mother is Lara Bazelon's debut legal thriller novel. A Law Professor at University of San Francisco, School of Law, Lara was formerly a Public Defender in Los Angeles and brings a practitioner's experience to this courtroom drama, featuring the savvy and street smart attorney Abby Rosenberg. A compelling thriller with unexpected plot twists and turns that kept me on edge !
US births in 2020 were actually down by 400,000 by year end 2020 due to the pandemic lockdowns. Professor Levine and his team have identified a correlation between unemployment and the US birth rate: for each 1% increase in the unemployment rate, the birth rate drops by 1%. Instead of the stay at home lockdowns producing a baby boom, they actually have caused a baby bust.
Los Angeles, the nation's second largest city has an unemployment rate of 11.7% versus 5.4% for San Francisco. Poverty and homelessness are on the rise yet politicians utter the same old bromides. Dan Walters with almost 60 years as a California political journalist, gives us a clear eyed analysis of LA's problems and offers some recommendations.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has entered an uneasy stand off with an Egyptian brokered cease fire. The US, EU and other countries have pledged billions in aid to re-build, but will the underlying tensions change ? Professor Ron Hassner takes a clear eyed view of Hamas and the threat it poses to Israel and the Peace Process.
Rise Gold Corp is in the process of re-opening a historic underground gold mine, the Idaho-Maryland mine, first opened in 1863. At its' peak production in the early 1940s it employed 1000 people and was the second biggest gold mine in the US. Once operational, they will employ 300 people and mine 1000 tons of rock daily and 100,000 ounces of gold annually. Today's spot price of gold was $1879.
5 rural Oregon counties voted by wide margins on Tuesday to begin the process to join Idaho. That brings the tally to 7 for the leavers, with more than 10 more counties slated to vote on the issue. Is the driver to leave Oregon the usual rural versus urban hostility or is there something more at play ?
Media literacy is so important today since millions of Americans get their news from Social Media which unlike legacy press and TV is neither edited nor curated. Separating fact from fiction, conspiracy theory, falsehood and agitprop can be a full time job. The BBC Trending program tracks social media and shines the light of researched fact on fake news and disinformation.
An undiagnosed neurodegenerative brain disease has occurred in a cluster in New Brunswick on Canada's East Coast. 48 people in the City of Moncton and the Acadian Peninsula have been affected. The cause is unknown and no cure is in sight. Dr. Cashman a neurologist and renowned expert in prion related brain diseases discusses what we know at this point.
San Francisco has reached the 50% mark in terms of full Covid vaccinations, with 71% of the remaining unvaccinated population saying they plan to get the shots. And more good news on the jobs front - the City by the Bay is down to a 5.4% unemployment rate, better than the national rate, 6.1%, California's rate, 8.25% and Los Angeles' rate, 9%. But what will the workplace look like when offices reopen ? Will those who work from home forego salary and career advancement ?
There is a history of Russian leaders sizing up new American Presidents, starting with Krushchev and JFK, Gorbachev and Reagan and now Putin and Biden. But are they off on the wrong foot ? Biden sees Putin as a killer. Can they put their differences behind them over Ukraine a sticky issue for both ? Strategic nuclear treaties between the two countries expire in 5 years. Professor Tsygankov a graduate of Moscow State University and the University of Southern California gives us his incisive analy...
Food Safety and Security soared in importance in the wake of Covid 19 meat packing plant infection rates and collapse of the supply chain. Ranch to table meat supply is a shorter, safer, cleaner way to source better quality meat. Owner and Entrepreneur Adam Parks of Victorian Farmstead Meat Company discusses how his business has exploded in the past year.
Dangerous Conjectures tells a tale of the way we were, in the three months leading up to the 2020 Covid lockdowns. Set in Berkeley, California, the novel relates the story of a young professional couple caught up in a "through the looking glass" world of Qanon, misinformation, opioid addiction and marital deception as the Covid 19 pandemic was poised to unleash its lethal fury on America. The hobgoblins of America's dark psyche flare up into an existential threat to the protagonists, Julia and A...
Napa and Sonoma Counties are America's premier wine producing regions. 85% of American wine is produced in California with Napa and Sonoma accounting for more than half of that total. Bill recounts the early signs of economic recovery in the wine region North of San Francisco and projects a strong Summer and Fall tourist season. Good news for the whole wine industry ecosystem !
Over 30 million Americans have taken DNA Tests at home, largely for recreational genealogy and family history purposes. This vast array of DNA databases has linked millions of distant cousins and newly discovered relations. In a melting pot culture like the United States where we all hail from somewhere else originally, this DNA based family history culture is raising new cultural opportunities, questions and challenges. Libby Copeland gives us a balanced blend of this new genetic science, data ...
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) the second largest school system in the United States and the largest in California, published a report last week outlining the dire impact of the Covid lockdowns on our state's 6 million public school students. With schools just reopening in the last 10 days, High School drop out and failure rates are projected to double and even worse, over the next 3 years. And California with an 8% unemployment rate - versus 6% nationwide - can ill afford to be tur...
Poverty in the United States is more widespread than in the other developed OECD countries due to our skimpy social safety net. For instance, 60% of Americans will experience poverty sometime in their life between 18 and 75 years of age. 60 % ! On the other hand we reduced senior poverty from 35% in 1959 to 8% today so we have had targeted successes. Professor Rank breaks down the myths of poverty in our midst.
A young family weighs a difficult decision to leave San Francisco and move to North Carolina. Mixed emotions confront Allison and Neal as they decide to leave their adopted home in San Francisco for North Carolina. A wistful conversation covering complex choices many Californians are facing .
Coinbase went public today, making it easier for individual investors to transact in Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and Litecoin. Will Coinbase make Crypto more accessible like Apple and Microsoft made clunky home computers easy to use in the 1980s ? And why do you need a cryptocurrency account anyway ? Privacy, secrecy, one global currency ? Will internet based currencies supplant existing currencies ? It looks like money is about to be revolutionized by FinTech.
Minneapolis and the nation as a whole are holding their collective breath as the George Floyd murder trial unfolds. Just as the repercussions of his killing by police officer Derek Chauvin last year are still working their way through American society, could the verdict in the trial portend more civil unrest and calls to radically reform the nation's policing capability ? As goes the Minneapolis Police Department, so goes the nation's many police forces.
The Frida Kahlo Exhibit is a collection of the artist's most personal artifacts including clothing, photographs, prosthetics, paintings, and jewelry which was stored at her home in Mexico City from the time of her death, 1954, until 2004. The Exhibit also draws on her time in San Francisco and how it influenced her life and art. It is open through May 2, 2021.
Running Fence was a 24.5 mile massive art installation on the hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties, ending with a dive into the Pacific Ocean. Rated by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the most important artworks of the second half of the 20th Century, Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude donated the work to the Smithsonian about 10 years ago. But a significant collection of Running Fence artifacts and other Christo works is housed at the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa. It is a fascinating ...
Canada's Pandemic management in 2020 was exemplary by any measure, lower infection rates and lower mortality rate belied the nation's sense of collective responsibility for all Canadians health. The US has much to learn from our Northern Neighbor. Though the story on Covid vaccine rollout has been mixed. Trevin Stratton gives us a unique perspective on the Team Canada approach to the Covid Pandemic.
Since the start of the Covid 19 pandemic one year ago, Asian Americans have faced racist violence at a much higher rate than in previous years. In New York City for instance, hate crimes against Asian Americans have jumped 1900% in 2020. And President Biden has signed an executive order as one of his first acts as President denouncing anti-Asian American discrimination. In today's episode we explore why and how to stop it.
Spokane, Washington is the site of the Gonzaga University campus and the Institute of Hate Studies. Located not far from the Idaho panhandle where White Supremacist groups and ideology have flourished, the Institute is on the front lines in the battle against Hate. Kristine Hoover the Director outlines the Institute's mission in this episode.
It looks like the Recall organizers who want to oust California Governor Gavin Newsom have successfully gathered more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Political Scientist Professor at Sonoma State University David McCuan explains the process which will be the national political story of 2021.
The Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport is our newest and repurposed facility. Local artist Emily Fromm was selected by the SF Arts Commission to create four large mosaic murals in the departure hall depicting the colorful and diverse neighborhoods of the City. She discusses her art and the SFO installation which is likely to become one of the airport's signature artworks.
Two women Emanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing the gene editing technique known s CRISPR-CAS9. But in 2018 the first humans were born with edited genes in China, twin girls Nana and Lulu. Their unique human status in the history of mankind came as a result of a rogue genetics researcher who defied all the bioethics standards of science and he was jailed for his illicit efforts by the Chinese Government. Professor Hank Greely renowned bio...
When Governor Cuomo of New York issued his lockdown orders March 20, 2020, he failed to designate fitness centers as essential services. Notwithstanding the health benefits of exercise and the fact that 73% of the 525,000 Covid deaths in America were among the obese and overweight who would have benefited from exercise, New York State kept gyms closed. But gym owner and entrepreneur Charlie Cassara took on the Governor of New York and filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of gyms. ...
The SF School Board is threatened with being recalled because after one year of Covid related lockdowns, the 127 public schools in the City are still closed to its' 59,000 students. The City is actually suing the School Board to compel them to re-open the schools in compliance with State Law. And their cancel culture antics of renaming 44 of our schools - Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt were unacceptable to them - made San Francisco an international laughing stock when it was learned their "re...
Serial Entrepreneur and business coach Ed Rocha sets out a clear step by step strategy to take your gig, side hustle or past time from a concept to a profitable business. He practices what he preaches, having successfully launched three companies from concept to revenue generators. A silver lining of the Covid lockdowns is that many would be entrepreneurs have developed plans for a new business to meet demand from homebound clients - this podcast is for you and Ed Rocha is your man !
