Civic

As workers head back to their jobs, they are navigating the new workplace safety reality of operating in a global pandemic. Labor organizers say the protections against catching the novel coronavirus on the job are insufficient at many workplaces, and lack enforcement. They allege that California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, is critically short-staffed. A...

More details about Lockdown Comedy are available here .

In this press conference, Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco's director of public health, says San Francisco cases of COVID-19 are surging. Colfax said the rate of hospitalization could rise ten-fold by the fall if current trends continue. Gatherings of friends and families appear to be fueling the rise in cases, he said. Listen to his full remarks here.

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected people of color throughout the Bay Area. At a panel organized by the coalition of health departments known as BARHII, Black community leaders from fields ranging from public education to community development to transportation said those most affected have not been given a seat at the table when it comes to determining the region’s pandemic...

This story was reported by Rebecca Bowe, an experienced print and radio journalist who is currently employed full time in communications for a national environmental organization and reported this piece on a freelance basis. Her organization’s work is unrelated to the shipyard. Find her on Twitter at Twitter.com/ByRebeccaBowe.

From automated license plate readers to drones to devices designed to identify gunshots, law enforcement agencies use a variety of tools to gather data. Dave Maass, senior investigative researcher with the digital privacy nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Stanford students Craig Nelson and Shelby Perkins discuss which law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area use which technologies, and...

Read Farivar’s reporting at NBC News .

In this special broadcast to bring you the complete remarks of city officials on the latest coronavirus developments in San Francisco, city officials announced that outdoor bars and indoor restaurants will not be able to reopen on July 13. No new goal date has been set. Coronavirus cases are still rising and certain key health indicators are now at concerning levels, the city's health director sai...

San Francisco’s Emergency Operations Center Thursday urged residents to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday weekend at home to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. As of June 29, there were 67 COVID-19 patients in city hospitals, including 18 transferred in from hot spots in Imperial and Fresno counties and San Quentin Prison in Marin County. Hear full audio from this press conference with city le...

The full schedule for the release of the radio plays can be found here .

San Francisco public officials warned that people should avoid gatherings to celebrate July 4, as infection rates and hospitalizations linked to the COVID-19 pandemic have surged over the past week. Hear the full audio of the announcements made by Dr. Tomás Aragón, San Francisco Health Officer, and Joaquín Torres, the director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, here.

Joaquín Torres, director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, gives an overview of local programs meant to support struggling businesses and workers and how many have received aid. The need, among workers and businesses, exceeds what the city can immediately offer — all of the money in the city’s Give2SF fund, which is supplied by donations, is spoken for. Many city programs have r...

Drivers for Uber and Lyft staged a car caravan and rally outside Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's home last week to protest their classification as contractors despite a California law, AB5, which the state says defines such drivers as employees. The drivers, affiliated with groups including Gig Workers Rising and We Drive Progress, were also there to call on Uber to withdraw support for a ballot meas...

San Francisco officials have halted plans to reopen hair salons, nail salons, museums, zoos and outdoor bars as planned on Monday. They cited a spike in the number of new coronavirus cases that have moved the threat level from yellow to orange. Hear this and other updates from this press conference with Director of Public Health Dr. Grant Colfax.

More information about seeing the film is available here .

In this perspective piece, producer Mel Baker recounts some of his memories of the movement that resulted in the creation of the AIDS quilt, which has now returned to the Bay Area. He says the callous eight-minute-long killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer in the midst of a pandemic, which has been the catalyst for a worldwide demand for police accountability and lon...

The United States Postal Service is running out of money — the agency requested $75 billion in emergency funding in April, saying it would be out of money by September. Legislators had planned to give the postal service $25 billion in the CARES Act. But the Trump administration blocked the funding. Local members of the American Postal Workers Union staged a car caravan Tuesday to raise awareness o...

Thousands have been protesting police brutality and racism in cities across the world, since a Minneapolis officer killed George Floyd in late May. Last Friday, marches and other demonstrations were planned throughout the day in San Francisco and around the Bay Area to mark Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the ending of slavery in the U.S. San Francisco Public Press reporter Brian Howey talked...

As San Francisco marks the 50th Anniversary of the first LGBTQ rights march, the program “Out in the Bay” is returning to the air on KSFP, a radio station created by the San Francisco Public Press. “Out in the Bay” returns after a four-year hiatus. Mel Baker, producer and contributor for “Civic,” spoke with “Out in the Bay” founding producer and host Eric Jansen and producer Truc Nguyen about the...

As San Francisco improves its ability to mitigate the spread and treat the effects of the novel coronavirus, the city is also grappling with the fallout of its economic shutdown. Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Department of Public Health, said at a virtual press conference on Tuesday that the city has rapidly expanded its testing and contact tracing capacity and improved its supplies of...

Hi listeners — we just wanted to let you know why you won't be seeing many new episodes this week. But keep an eye out for one special interview with the producers of Out in the Bay!

A few days after a new city-approved tent encampment, known as a “safe sleeping village,” opened at Everett Middle School, "Civic" talked with District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and some people at nearby encampments to get their perspectives on the site, which will be in operation for just six weeks.

The uprising sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer has turned a national spotlight on the idea of defunding police, and locally, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton have announced they are developing a proposal for something in that vein. “Civic” spoke with people demonstrating about whether the idea of defunding the police department appealed to them,...

Omorede “Rico” Hamilton, a street violence intervention program coordinator and community organizer, has been addressing crowds of hundreds at recent protests against police brutality and racism at San Francisco’s City Hall. In this interview, Hamilton expands on some of his remarks made at one demonstration and makes a case for addressing some of the damage done by racism with reparations.

Read Lydia's story here . The full Board of Supervisors is slated to vote on whether or not to reject the appointees Tuesday, June 9. The meeting begins at 2 p.m. and this is item 13.