The Bay

For many members of the public, COVID-19 is in the rearview mirror. People are tired. Governments have dropped things like mask and vaccine mandates. And the virus isn’t as lethal as it once was. On the other hand, this virus is still very much a part of our lives, especially for people who are vulnerable, immunocompromised, or have long COVID. Now, California is going to end its COVID state of em...

Originally from The Bronx, New York, Dave “Davey D” Cook was there when this thing we call hip-hop was in its nascent form, before it even had a name. When he arrived in the Bay Area in the early ’80s, one of his missions as a UC Berkeley student was to lend some insight to this burgeoning culture. So he put on a few events, one of which was The Day in Hip-Hop on Oct. 24, 1984. Rightnowish host Pe...

Crisis pregnancy centers, or anti-abortion centers, are designed to look like community health clinics. But the vast majority of them don’t have a medical license, and all of them have an explicit goal: to persuade people to not have an abortion.  There are thousands of these centers all over the country. They advertise aggressively — especially in lower-income communities of color — and are in ma...

In November 2020, then-San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin filed criminal charges against former SFPD officer Christopher Samayoa. In 2017, Samayoa, who had been on the force for just 4 days, shot and killed 42-year old Keita O’Neil through a police vehicle window.  But now, Boudin’s successor, Brooke Jenkins, has announced she plans to drop the charges, arguing that Boudin pursued the ca...

Last spring, workers at Chevron’s Richmond refinery went on strike for 10 weeks, demanding higher pay, better health benefits, and safer working conditions. When the strike ended, union leaders say that Chevron initially encouraged managers and workers to put the strike behind them. But now, USW Local 5, the union representing Richmond refinery workers, alleges Chevron has fired at least 5 workers...

The Here/There homeless encampment was familiar to anybody who drove between Oakland and Berkeley. The camp had its roots in the Bay Area’s Occupy movements in the early 2010s, and was founded in 2017 to highlight the problem of homelessness. It once had its own structure, rules, and a good relationship with the neighborhood. But over the last few years, the camp changed. Its founders passed away...

Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong was placed on administrative leave last month, after an external investigation into the handling of two police misconduct cases found he failed to hold officers accountable. This latest chapter comes two decades into the department’s reform efforts under the oversight of a federal court.  Recent headlines have focused mostly on Armstrong’s suspension and his...

Sandra Castañeda was convicted for a murder she didn’t commit and was sentenced to 40 years to life. She thought she was going to spend the rest of her life in prison.  In 2018, she got hopeful news: California dismissed her sentence and ordered her release. But instead of finding freedom, she was immediately detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being released from prison. ...

The mass shooting last Monday in Half Moon Bay that left 7 farmworkers dead has brought renewed attention to the living conditions of California farmworkers. State and local officials say they plan to investigate potential wage theft and safety violations at the two farms. But more broadly, the issues that this mass shooting highlighted are not new: farmworkers across California make very low wage...

You’ve seen the news by now: tech companies are laying people off in droves. Nearly 60,000 people have been laid off from Bay Area-based tech companies since November 2022, according to the latest estimates from Layoffs.fyi, a website that has tracked tech layoffs since the start of the pandemic. Companies cite everything from the need to cut costs, to over-hiring during the pandemic, to fears of...

An estimated 62 million gallons of sewage — or about 94 Olympic-sized swimming pools — spilled into the San Francisco Bay during the storms in late December and January.  Those storms are now behind us, and officials say the water is now safe. But now is actually the perfect time to unpack what went wrong with our sewage system, and how we can better prepare our infrastructure for the next big sto...

Organizers of Oakland’s Lunar New Year Parade hope it marks a new start for Chinatown and the city’s Asian communities. Over the past few years, the neighborhood has been hit hard by the pandemic and violent attacks on Asians. Now, the mass shootings in Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay, and East Oakland this past week have revived fears over safety. But Stewart Chen, who is involved in organizing the...

7 people were killed and 1 injured in a mass shooting in Half Moon Bay on Monday afternoon. The suspect, 66-year old Chunli Zhao, is in police custody. County Sheriff Christina Corpus says all evidence points to a workplace dispute. Half Moon Bay, known both as a tourist destination and an agricultural community, is still recovering from the impact of the massive storms in the past few weeks. Law...

The sun is back, and it’s a huge relief. And while the state largely avoided widespread, catastrophic disaster, communities all over California were hit hard. Cities are estimating tens of millions of dollars in damage, and at least 21 people have died since Dec. 26. Meanwhile, one silver lining: all this rain has put a meaningful dent in the drought. So, with the rain gone for now, what did we le...

Pamela Price has been sworn in as Alameda County District Attorney. In the 2022 Election, Price won the seat with 53% of the vote, defeating her more tough-on-crime opponent, Terry Wiley.  She is the first Black woman ever elected to this position and promises to make a big shift in the office's approach to prosecution; Price’s campaign emphasized changing the system in favor of a more holistic ap...

When the rain storms first started to hit Hannah Hagemann’s community in the Santa Cruz mountains, she was lucky enough to evacuate before landslides could block the only roads in and out of her neighborhood in Felton. Those left behind were left without electricity and internet for several days, virtually cutting the community off from the rest of the region. Clean up from landslides, high winds...

Etta James, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker all played in Russell City, a once thriving blues town located in Hayward. The town was home to Black and Latino residents who couldn’t find a residence elsewhere due to redlining and other racist housing policies. The city of Hayward used eminent domain to take the land and by 1966, the town had been annexed and replaced by an industrial park that is st...

A rare showcase of archives and memorabilia from the life of Angela Davis is on display at the Oakland Museum of California. The exhibit includes photos, speeches and posters collected over the span of several years. The archive highlights Davis’ legacy and a fight for abolition and Black lives — one that is still relevant today. Guest: Ariana Proehl, Culture Reporter for KQED This episode was pro...

California’s temperate weather is one reason why homelessness is so visible. But with climate change, warmer and wetter weather are making the emergency on the streets even more dire.  At what remains of the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland, people without shelter are experiencing flooding and a fight to stay warm amid a series of atmospheric rivers hitting the Bay Area in recent weeks. Resi...

On Monday, Oakland will swear in Sheng Thao as the city’s new mayor and now one of the most prominent Hmong-American politicians in the country. Last November, she narrowly won the election against fellow-council member Loren Taylor by fewer than 700 votes and is getting ready to lead one of the largest cities in the Bay Area. In a recent episode of Political Breakdown, hosts Marisa Lagos and Scot...

Storms caused by back-to-back atmospheric rivers pummeled the Bay Area this week;, prompting evacuation orders, heavy flooding on roads and in rivers, and bringing down power for 100 thousand PG&E customers Thursday. More atmospheric rivers are expected this weekend. Guest: Ezra David Romero, climate reporter for KQED  Links: How to Prepare for This Week's Atmospheric River Storm: Sandbags, Emerge...

The new mayor of the Bay Area’s biggest city started his new job this week, and he has to work fast. Matt Mahan’s first job is to address a winter storm hitting San Jose, which could bring floods and heavy rains. What can we expect from Mahan in his first year in office? And what roadblocks could he face in accomplishing the goals he ran on?  Guest: Guy Marzorati, Producer and Reporter for KQED’s...

It’s our last episode of the year! Today, host Ericka Cruz Guevarra, producer Maria Esquinca, and senior editor Alan Montecillo unpack 2022 and share their favorite episodes. We’ll have new episodes for you starting Jan. 4, 2023!  Links: The Bay Survey (it takes just 8 minutes!) Alan’s favorite: ‘It’s an Unimaginable Amount of Fish,’ Sep. 2, 2022. Ericka’s favorite: An Audio Love Letter to Traxami...

It’s been a bad few months for people in Vallejo who are fighting for police accountability. The police chief who promised reforms abruptly stepped down. A police union president who allegedly threatened a journalist has been reinstated. And the city recently revealed that it “inadvertently” destroyed records of 5 police shootings.  Now the city is trying to move forward with a model for police ov...

Teenagers like Elise Muchowski aspired to the “Clean Girl Aesthetic,” a trend that blew up on TikTok and that prioritizes looking clean and effortless, with videos of skincare, makeup routines, and a minimalist wardrobe. Today, we're sharing an episode of the tbh podcast from KALW. In it, teenagers unpack what's behind the clean girl aesthetic, why it's harmful, and what role social media plays in...