KQED's The California Report

California has extended its indoor mask mandate through at least February 15. State health officials sid the move reflects increasing pressure on hospitals, as roughly 8,000 people are hospitalized for COVID-19 statewide. Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED  Thursday marks the one year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters violently stormed Congress to try to ov...

An Overwhelmed Testing Site in Richmond The spread of omicron has people scrambling to get tested for COVID-19. But the lines are long, appointments get scooped up fast, and rapid antigen tests are really really hard to find. Reporter: Raquel Maria Dillon, KQED Surge of COVID-19 Cases Among City of Los Angeles Emergency Responders Amid the “unprecedented” wave of Covid infections, nearly 1,000 pol...

California has shattered previous records for new daily coronavirus cases this week and the state’s test positivity rate is higher than its been. In most places around the state, hospitalizations remain much lower than earlier surges, thanks to vaccinations and a milder variant.  Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED With the state legislature back in session in Sacramento, Republicans are aiming to get som...

COVID-19 cases are surging among both adults and children in Los Angeles County, as kids hospitalized with COVID-19 jumped nearly 190% last month. Despite the spike in infections, school is back in session next week for students who attend the L.A. Unified School District. Reporter: Tara Atrian, KCRW  California's Senate and Assembly are back in session in Sacramento. There are a number of issues...

COVID-19 cases continue to surge in California. And while hospitalizations are also on the rise, it's not the same surge as the state saw during the summer and last winter. Guest: Dr. Monica Gandhi, Infectious Disease Expert, UC San Francisco Scientists and volunteers from San Diego to the Oregon border are flocking to shorelines on Monday, to document king tides. Researchers say these king tides...

2021 proved to be an exciting year in the world of space exploration. From successful missions to Mars to private companies launching their own rockets, it all bodes well for the expansion of space exploration in the coming years. Guest: Danielle Venton, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sherman Indian High School in Riverside is a boarding school, where Native American students from across the country can come and earn a high school diploma while also maintaining their tribal traditions and language. They also have a museum for the school’s 100 year history, that has brought healing to many in the indigenous community. Reporter: Megan Jamerson, KCRW  Learn more about your ad choi...

California is often a place where people resettle to live out their dreams. But following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, it's been a refuge for Afghans, who have often times struggled with the culture shift of living in California and the United States. Guest: Mustafa, Former Interpreter for American organizations in Afghanistan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Groundwater is an important part of the puzzle in the state's outlook for water supplies, especially during drought years. And the state is now reviewing sustainability plans that have been put together by local agencies. Guest: Kerry Klein, Reporter KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The holidays often highlight the need for kindness. There are many ways people can be kind or learn to do so. Guest: Daniel Fessler, Director, UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The small city of Sanger, which is about a twenty-minute drive east of Fresno, is recognized as “The Nation’s Christmas Tree City.” But where did the name come from?  Reporter: Soreath Hok, Valley Public Radio  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All healthcare workers and nursing home staff in California will be required to get a COVID-19 booster shot by February 1. The announcement comes as cases and hospitalizations continue to surge, in large part due to the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Reporter: Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED There are a lot of scary threats Meta — aka Facebook — is trying to counter with a combination of artifici...

California will require all healthcare workers to get the COVID vaccine booster. Healthcare workers in California are already mandated to be vaccinated. Every mile or so along Highway 101 in Central California, you can find a cast iron bell supported by a shepherd’s hook hanging next to the roadway. The bells follow a network of roads called the El Camino Real, between the 21 Spanish missions from...

Public school students are on break this week, and with the omicron variant rapidly on the rise, many California districts sent students home with school-issued rapid COVID-19 testing kits. The state’s department of public health is providing the kits to districts. Reporter: Julia McEvoy, KQED California Governor Gavin Newsom thinks he’s found a way to crack down on illegal guns in a way that will...

More rain is on the way, first to Northern California, and then moving down to Southern California later this week. But how much will it impact the state's water resources? Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW  State maps may soon show even more homes and buildings are at risk for wildfire. After years of delay, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention says it’s almost ready to release n...

This time of year, monarch butterflies from all over the U.S. migrate to coastal California, especially to the small town of Pacific Grove in Monterey County. Last year, for the most part, butterflies stayed away. But they've returned, to the delight of locals and visitors in 2021. Reporter: Erika Mahoney, KAZU  There are growing concerns about the number of people hospitalized in Southern Califor...

A federal grand jury has charged a Houston-based oil company in connection with October's Southern California oil spill. Federal prosecutors say Amplify Energy and two of its subsidiaries were negligent by failing to respond to a series of alarms that should have alerted them to the spill, hours before a ruptured pipeline was shut off. California is expanding its program aimed at creating more hou...

Alberto Carvalho is officially the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the country. Carvalho was the superintendent of Florida’s Miami-Dade schools, a position he held for 14 years. The California Public Utilities Commission, the state’s energy regulator, is contemplating changes to the relationship between rooftop solar owners and u...

Starting on Wednesday, Californians will once again have to wear masks indoors at all public places, regardless of their vaccination status. It’s a response to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and public health officials trying to get a handle on the fast-moving omicron variant. Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED Online gaming companies, Native American casinos, card rooms -- they're all jumping in at...

Hundreds of criminal cases could be in jeopardy following an investigation by the Los Angeles Times into racist and homophobic text messages sent by several officers who at one time worked for the Torrance Police Department. Guest: James Queally, LA Times Reporter A landmark California law aimed at lowering prescription drug prices has been put on hold by a federal judge. The law was meant to prev...

The coronavirus is spreading fast in Los Angeles County. The region is now back in the CDC’s highest category of transmission. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC Prosecutors have announced charges against the father and son suspected of starting the Caldor Fire, which destroyed nearly 800 homes last summer. Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio   Many Mexican immigrants in California are transported back hom...

The District Attorney in El Dorado County announced the arrest of a father and son for allegedly starting the Caldor Fire. Both are accused of "reckless arson." Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio  California’s Future of Abortion Council is issuing 45 recommendations on how the state can make accessing an abortion easier. The council is making its recommendation as the US Supreme Court considers the fa...

California continues to struggle through the ongoing drought, and that's left many ski resorts wondering about how much snow they'll actually have this winter. But a storm next week is expected to help. Guest: Bryan Allegretto, Forecaster with OpenSnow Lawmakers discussed how California is going to prevent catastrophic wildfires during an oversight hearing on Tuesday. The hearing comes after a Cap...

Central Valley Republican Congressman Devin Nunes has announced he’s leaving Congress at the end of the year, before he finishes his current term. Nunes is taking a new job as CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, a company that’s set to launch a new social media platform next year. Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED  As more cases of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus are reported in California...

California, the state with arguably the toughest gun control laws in the country, often struggles to enforce those laws. A new investigation from CalMatters finds that the state has failed to take guns away from thousands of domestic abusers, and those failures can have deadly consequences. Reporter: Robert Lewis, CalMatters  California has distributed rent relief to less than a third of the 400,0...