KQED's The California Report

Breakdancing has been part of American culture for decades. Introduced in the Bronx in the 1970’s, it's synonymous with the birth of hip hop in this country. And it's about to be in the spotlight again this summer. For the first time, breaking will be a sport in the Summer Olympics in Paris. While New York has long been the home of breakdancing and the B-Boy and B-Girl culture here in the U.S., th...

Now that we're in the heart of summer, and given that this is California, probably a lot of us are going to go to the beach and plunge ourselves into the Pacific, or maybe will splash into a backyard or public swimming pool. But in California's wilderness areas, there are lots of other places to find bliss in the water, like lakes, waterfalls, ponds, and hot springs. Guest: Dillon Seitchik-Reardon...

California now has an official state mushroom. The designation went into effect this year thanks to a new law signed by Governor Newsom. The Californian Golden Chanterelle was chosen in a poll by the California Institute for Biodiversity which pitted five other mushrooms against the winning chanterelle. Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 6400 Latinos died in police confrontations or in police custody between 2000 and 2022. That's according to La Raza Database project, which seeks to uncover the true number of Latinos who have died in violent confrontations with police. Still, the project's researchers say that number is likely much higher. Guests: Roberto Camacho, Reporter and Ivette Xochiyoti Boyzo, Project Manager, La...

Starting Monday, a new law goes into effect in California that will require businesses to disclose all costs up front. Basically a ban on so-called junk fees. This would impact the next time you stay at a hotel, buy concert tickets, or book a short term rental, as you should in theory, know the entire price beforehand. Restaurants were supposed to be included in this new law, but a fast track bill...

The program allowing Californians to borrow a state parks pass from their local library has received funding for another year. The program started in 2021 as a way to make access to state parks easier for Californians who might not be willing or able to pay 195 dollars for an annual pass. Reporter: Manola Secaira, CapRadio A woman from Michigan will become the first hijab-wearing athlete to attemp...

Hundreds of thousands of health care workers in California who’ve been expecting a minimum wage increase will have to wait until at least October to get it. The delay comes as a result of the state's new budget deal. Reporter: Ana B. Ibarra, CalMatters In Oakland, nearly 20 percent of young children enrolled in Head Start are going through homelessness. That makes it hard for their families to get...

If you’ve found yourself at a makeup store recently, especially in a mall after school, you might’ve noticed more young people around you. Like really young. Like elementary and middle school young. This is a trend and it has a name: Sephora Kids. And their purchases are doing damage to more than just their parents’ bank accounts. Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW Fresno's Police Chief has resigned. T...

President Biden's recent executive actions point asylum seekers toward existing legal pathways. But those pathways, like the CBP One app, aren’t working for the most vulnerable migrants. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBS State fire officials say so far this year, the number of acres consumed by fires in California is four times the five-year-average. Meteorologists are predicting a hot, dry summer tha...

Recycling centers have been shutting down across California for years. That means fewer opportunities for people to recycle their bottles and cans — and get back their deposits. And the state is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed bottle deposits. Reporter: Scott Rodd, KPBS State leaders say they’ve reached an agreement on the state budget. In a press release, Governor Newsom s...

Information is still scarce regarding the FBI's raid of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's home on Thursday. It was one of a number of raids conducted by the agency in the city. School districts in California are under pressure to reduce chronic absenteeism. But getting kids back to the classroom can be a challenge for districts with limited resources. Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED     Baseball fans are sa...

About a quarter of all new vehicles sold in California last year were zero emission. But there are big regional differences in where electric vehicles are bought and driven in the state. You see a lot of them on the road in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Orange County, but it’s harder to spot them in the Central Valley or Imperial County. But there are programs aimed at addressing the EV gap. Repor...

Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away on Tuesday. He was 93. Mays spent 21 years with the Giants and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Reporter: Brian Watt, KQED Today is Juneteenth, the day that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S. at the end of the Civil War. In Humboldt County, the group Black Humboldt is ready to shift its Juneteen...

Fresno State calls itself the Central Valley’s university, but campus buildings and infrastructure are increasingly dilapidated. And twice now, Fresno County residents have voted down ballot measures that would have provided the university with more than a billion dollars for repairs and maintenance. Will voters ever change their mind? Reporter: Rachel Livinal, KVPR  Wildfires are burning up and d...

Palm Springs is known as a wealthy city filled with luxurious hotels and casinos. But lesser known is the history of its violent racism against a predominately Black and Latino neighborhood. Now, former residents are seeking reparations.  Reporter: Madi Bolaños, The California Report Several large wildfires broke out across the state over the weekend, burning thousands of acres in the process. Lea...

Federal agencies are considering a controversial rule that would restrict rock climbers from leaving gear attached to cliff walls in designated wilderness areas. This could affect some of California’s iconic routes in Yosemite and other historic climbing destinations.   Reporter: Alix Soliman, KQED The state legislature passed a placeholder state budget Thursday, just ahead of a mandatory deadline...

When a county’s only hospital closes, you might expect there to be dire, immediate effects on public health. However, since Madera Community Hospital closed its doors in early 2023, the consequences haven’t been so clear. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR California insurance regulators are sharing the next phase of their plans to fix the state’s ailing insurance market. The new regulations propose to l...

California is expanding transitional kindergarten with a vision of making it available to every four-year-old in the state by fall of 2025. The state has a long way to go to reach its goal of serving 300,000 students. And while many families are eager to sign up, they face complicated logistics.  Reporter: Blanca Torres, KQED Governor Gavin Newsom has removed an outspoken occupational safety exper...

When school starts in 2025, every 4-year-old in the state will be able to attend public school. It’s a new grade known as transitional kindergarten. But in the lead-up, many schools are struggling to find the necessary classroom space for these additional classes. Reporter: Elly Yu, LAist A California law that set guidelines for classifying workers did not unfairly target Uber and other gig compan...

California is in the middle of an ambitious plan to offer transitional kindergarten to all four-year-olds by the 2025-2026 school year. It's poised to be the largest free preschool program in the country. A lot of the kids heading to TK are dual language learners. But a shortage of bilingual teachers could hamper the state's ambitious goals. Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED  A Superior Court judge has...

The California Supreme Court has ruled that UC Berkeley can start construction on student and supportive housing in People’s Park -- and also gave the green light to a much larger campus expansion project. The case has brought mixed reaction from the wider Berkeley community. Reporters: Adhiti Bandlamudi , KQED and Billy Cruz, The California Report A new report shows Sacramento County’s homeless p...

There are stars exploding all around us. They burst, flash and fade. Some leave visions of their spectacular journeys in telescopes. A high school student recently turned supernovae data into a piece of music. Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED President Joe Biden signed an executive order this week that shuts off asylum to most migrants who enter the country illegally. But it has critics on both sid...

Los Angeles' tourism industry, still trying to rebound from the pandemic, has gotten a gift in the form of Shohei Ohtani. Japanese fans have come by the thousands to see the superstar play for his new team, the Dodgers. Reporter: Josie Huang, LAist Votes in the election to recall the controversial conservative school board president in Temecula are still being counted. Early results show the effor...

With two-thirds of California’s unhoused population living unsheltered, cities are increasingly turning to tiny homes to get people off the streets quickly. Now lawmakers are considering a plan to make it easier to build them. Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED For the second time, state labor officials have rejected the University of California's request to get a court order to stop the UC academic...

Republicans in California have struggled to gain power at the state capitol, but they’ve found more success recently on school boards. Conservatives have made gains in these local seats -- but now they’re facing pushback in the form of recall elections -- including two underway right now in Riverside County and the Bay Area. Reporters: Guy Marzorati, KQED and Madison Aument, KVCR Learn more about...