KQED's The California Report

Stuck and Scared Amid San Quentin Outbreak As of this morning, 539 inmates have contracted the coronavirus at San Quentin State Prison -- more than at any other state prison in California. Inmates are stuck and scared. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, The California Report Construction Firms Offer COVID-19 Tests To Workers If you’ve tried to get a covid19 test lately, it may have felt like a scramb...

Californians Will Vote on Affirmative Action In November California voters will decide in November whether the state should restore affirmative action. This after the state Senate voted yesterday to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Dr Fauci Says Coming Weeks Are Critical for California Perhaps no one has been as vocal during the COVID 19 pandemic than infec...

LA City Councilman Arrested in Bribery Scandal The FBI says longtime Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar shook down real estate developers looking to get projects approved for $1.5 million in bribes and campaign donations. Reporter: Anna Scott, KCRW New Coronavirus Cases on the Rise in California There is a spike in reported cases of COVID-19 around the state. And it’s not entirely clear why....

CA Sees Dramatic Rise In COVID-19 Cases California has seen 47 thousand new cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks. That's a dramatic uptick, making up about a quarter of all known cases in California. This is just one troubling fact revealed in Governor Gavin Newsom’s press briefing Monday. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED New State Budget Proposal Relies On Federal Aid At the state capitol, the pan...

Calls for Police Reform Echo Across California This weekend, demonstrations against police brutality continued all around the state. In Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, protests had particular urgency after the recent killing of 18-year old Andres Guardado. Last week, in the city of Gardena, an LA County Sheriff’s deputy shot Guardado in the back seven times. Protesters are calling for an independ...

Governor Requires Face Masks in Public Statewide In a directive issued yesterday by Governor Gavin Newsom, most Californians everywhere in the state must wear masks when in public places. It’s a response to a worrying spikes in coronavirus cases in many parts of California. Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED Labor Unions Shut Down West Coast Ports for Juneteenth Cargo ports up and down the West Coast a...

Big Win for Dreamers in the Supreme Court Earlier this morning, the Trump Administration was dealt defeat by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 5 to 4 decision, the justices rejected the administration’s attempt to get rid of DACA. That’s the program protecting so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The decision affects about 200,000 people here in Californ...

PG&E CEO Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in Camp Fire It’s pretty extraordinary to hear the CEO of a big company plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, but it happened in a Butte County courtroom Tuesday. Pacific Gas and Electric CEO Bill Johnson entered guilty pleas again and again for the deaths of 84 people, all of them victims of the 2018 Camp Fire which was sparked by PG&E equipm...

UC Endorses Return to Affirmative Action in Admissions, Hiring UC Regents have voted to endorse reversing their past position and repealing Prop 209. That would once again allow the UC system to use affirmative action again in admissions and hiring. Legislature Passes a Budget, But Much Is Still Up-in-the-Air The State Legislature passed a budget yesterday, but that does not mean the spending disc...

Supreme Court Won't Take Up California's Sanctuary Law Case This morning the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump Administration’s challenge to California’s so called “sanctuary state” law. That leaves in place state rules that prohibit local California law enforcement from helping federal immigration authorities apprehend and deport people in the country illegally. Guest: Prof. Jessica L...

Los Angeles County Reopens Gyms, Museums, Pools, And More Today is a big day for LA county. It's set to start letting a lot of places reopen for the first time since coronavirus closure orders were issued in March. Museums, Gyms, zoos and and public pools are now allowed to do business again, and the county is allowing film and television production to restart. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED Sacram...

New State Bill Would Bring Back Affirmative Action California’s Assembly has advanced a possible constitutional amendment that would once again allow affirmative action in the state. The measure, ACA 5, would repeal a current section of the California Constitution written in the 1990’s. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Janet Napolitano Fights To Protect DACA The Supreme Court will soon make a decision on...

Coronavirus Cases Spike in Some Parts of State As California moves to reopen bars, gyms and other businesses on Friday, some areas are seeing their coronavirus numbers spike. Hospitalizations in Sacramento have quadrupled in the past two weeks. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Orange County's Public Health Direct Resigns Scientists say masks protect those around you and help stop the spread of the...

California Reacts to Calls to "Defund the Police" There’s a growing movement calling on governments to “defund the police,” as nationwide protests continue over the killing of George Floyd. It’s a provocative idea. But what exactly these kind of long overdue police reforms might look like in real life? Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Mayors: Some Promise to Reallocate Police Funding, Others Balk So...

Black and Tired in an American Newsroom We have a saying in the news business: report the story, don't become it. And yet, during this difficult year, it's hard to find anyone whose life hasn’t been affected in some way by the news, including the unrest that we've seen in recent weeks. Austin Cross is a producer and reporter at our partner station KPCC in Los Angeles. As he explained in an article...

Curfews Are Lifted As Protests Continue Across California cities and counties, that had curfews in place, started lifting them. Authorities felt that was safe to do because of a noticeable cooling of anger on the streets. Protesters marching against police violence and racism increasingly emphasized a message of non-violence and dialogue over confrontation. Governor Proposes Help For Businesses Da...

Governor Issues Pandemic Voting Guidelines California counties must hold three days of in-person early voting before the November election. It’s one of several guidelines set out in an executive order issued Wednesday by Governor Gavin Newsom to address concerns of holding an election during a pandemic. Reporter: Tara Siler, KQED New State Budget Leaves Many Questions Unanswered As California wres...

No Show of Force from Police During Oakland Protests, Despite Curfew Last night was different in Oakland. For the first time since protests started there last week, there were no flash-bang grenades, no teargas and no arrests. And protests throughout the Bay Area over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police were calmer, too. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQED Anti-Police Violence Protests S...

LA Mostly Peaceful Protests Move Into San Fernando Valley Last night, there were more protests against racial injustice and police abuse across the state. Many cities and counties imposed curfews on residents. The footprint of the protests also continued to expand. For the first time since the demonstrations began, large protests were held in LA’s San Fernando Valley, home to roughly 2 million peo...

Outrage Over Police Violence Erupts Across California Over the weekend, thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across the state to express anger and pain. The immediate spark was George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police, as well as other acts of violence against people of color by law enforcement. But in many cities—Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, an...

Long Beach Restaurants Hope Closing Streets to Cars Will Help Business Few industries have been hit harder by the COVID-19 outbreak than the hospitality business. A recent state tally shows that 900,000 jobs have been lost in California alone. As the state continues to reopen, cities and counties are exploring ways that restaurants can serve customers again in person, including shutting down stree...

OC Sheriff Won't Enforce Mask Order As much of California reopens, elected officials in Orange County are doing so while disregarding the orders of their own public health department to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Sheriff there says he will NOT enforce a new countywide order requiring people to wear face coverings in public. Reporter: Benjamin Gottlieb, KCRW Key Testing Milestone: CVS Phar...

Governor Newsom Says You Can Now Get A Haircut Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that California counties can now allow barbershops and hair salons to re-open with precautions. It’s the latest example of Newsom turning over the keys to reopening to local officials. Reporter: Guy Marzaroti, KQED Prison Officials Ask Governor For Help With Outbreak Avenal State prison in Kings County now has the s...

A Look at Coronavirus Outbreaks at Prisons around California Protesters gathered over the weekend outside a federal prison facility in Lompoc, home to the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the entire federal prison system with 900 inmates testing positive and 2 deaths so far. Reporter: Kathryn Barnes, KCRW Assembly to Discuss State Budget and Take Back Control from Newsom Today at the State Capitol, the...

SF General Nurse Who Served in Afghanistan Reflect on Caring for COVID-19 Patients The COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us to find new tools to cope with this unprecedented crisis. Perhaps no group has been affected more than first responders working at hospitals throughout the state. We spoke with a registered nurse at San Francisco General Hospital who served in the U.S. Army during the invas...