The Bay

Long COVID test lines and empty shelves where the rapid at-home tests used to be — all signs of another post-holiday pandemic surge. It’s hard to know just how big of a testing deficit we’re in, but with the Omicron variant spreading and a huge spike in demand after the holidays, just how prepared were we for another testing surge? Guests: Kristen Hwang, CalMatters health reporter and Yolanda Ovie...

As of Jan. 1, 2022, it’ll cost $7 to cross a bridge in the Bay Area. But if you thought that was expensive, wait until you hear how much it has cost those who don't pay: One Bay Area resident racked up $30,000 in unpaid toll debt. A report that came out late last year shed new light on how this problem hurts low-income people the most. And it turns out that racking up thousands of dollars in debt...

New year, same pandemic. The Bay team reflects on another year of covering local news from the Bay Area, and discusses both the hard — and hopeful — stories from 2021. Our top picks! Rain! With Dan Brekke ‘Our People Are Not Disposable’: How East San Jose Is Coping With the Pandemic with Farida Jabvala Romero This episode was produced by Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, Mary Franklin Harvin, Raquel Maria Di...

Alexis Madrigal was super-cautious about COVID-19 from the beginning. He co-founded the COVID Tracking Project through The Atlantic and has been reporting on the virus since the earliest days of the pandemic. But in the summer 2021, he got invited to a wedding where he would eventually contract COVID (despite being fully vaccinated). The positive test turned his life upside down and sent ripples o...

This episode contains descriptions of police violence. After Vallejo police officer Jarrett Tonn shot and killed Sean Monterrosa on June 2, 2020, the Vallejo Police Department hired the OIR Group, a firm that provides independent reviews of police actions, to investigate what happened the night of Monterrosa’s death. The findings of the yearlong investigation were released earlier this month. They...

Ericka took up roller skating during the pandemic, and a lot of other people have, too. Maybe you've seen it along Lake Merritt or in front of City Hall in San Jose. Skating also has a long history in the Bay Area, and for more than 50 years, Richard Humphrey has been at the forefront, especially at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Humphrey talked with Rightnowish host Pendarvis Harshaw on what...

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, Californians won’t lose the right to an abortion. The right to have one is codified into state law. But having the right to an abortion isn’t the same as having good access to one — especially if you’re low income or live in rural parts of the state, where 40% of mostly rural counties in California — home to hundreds of thousands of people in the state —...

When the police kill or hurt someone, the public has a right to know what happened. But in many cases, the police’s story is carefully crafted to protect officers. And in California, it’s often done with the help of a Vacaville-based PR firm known as Cole Pro Media, which has at least 100 clients across the state. Cole Pro focuses on helping police departments and sheriff’s offices improve their p...

During the first few weeks of sheltering in place, food banks saw a huge explosion in demand as thousands lost their jobs and income. Food banks also had to stop or restrict volunteer programs for fear of spreading COVID-19. Now, as we go into our second holiday season during the pandemic, many still can’t afford to buy the food they need for themselves and their families. And on top of that, pric...

Federal health officials are expanding the search for the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the U.S, including at San Francisco International Airport, where there’s increased testing for some international travelers. There’s still a lot we don’t know — Omicron could be a big deal, or it could change very little about the pandemic. Medical experts are currently trying to figure out whether this va...

Artists in Afghanistan are in trouble now that the Taliban are back in charge. Visual artists and performers are fleeing the country for fear of being harassed, persecuted, and even killed. This has ripple effects here in the Bay Area, which is home to a well-networked Afghan community and many Afghan American artists. They fear that creativity and freedom of expression are under attack once again...

Meeting new people as an adult is hard enough, whether it’s dating or meeting new friends. Then the pandemic happened, and it got even more difficult. But there are success stories out there. KQED Silicon Valley reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi did start dating someone during the pandemic. And in a recent episode of The California Report Magazine, she spoke with host Sasha Khokha about what that was lik...

A movement to support Indian farmers scored a win this past week. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced plans to roll back three controversial laws that had sparked protests for more than a year. The Sikh community in California had rallied behind this movement and staged several marches here in the Bay Area, including one that stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge. Many said they want...

This month, Walgreens closed 5 stores in 5 different San Francisco neighborhoods. The company claims it was because of “organized, rampant retail theft,” although available information doesn't quite back that up. These Walgreens locations also got national attention, and became part of heated local debates about policing and a fear of increased crime. And all the while, many San Francisco resident...

The United Nations COP26 climate summit was billed by conference organizers as the “last, best hope” to save our warming planet. In the end, countries left with an agreement that makes some progress, but ultimately doesn’t go far enough. And if you’re worried about climate change, it probably didn’t do much to ease your anxiety. But we don’t have to rely on world leaders alone. Today, we discuss h...

52 years ago this month, a group of Native Americans began to occupy Alcatraz to assert their right to self-determination. The 19-month occupation is still known as one of the most important actions in contemporary Native American history and in the fight for American Indian civil rights. On Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2019, Native people from across the West Coast gathered in San Francisco for a c...

California sent many representatives to the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland — including many Latinos, who are California's largest ethnic group and are also more likely to say that climate change affects their local community. They include some of the state's most powerful people, academics, leaders of non-profits, and activists. They also include protesters who...

After a review process from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pediatric COVID-19 shots are now available for kids ages 5-11. It's a long time coming for many kids and families who have been waiting for nearly a year. Today, we talk about what this means and answer some listeners' big questions about the rollout. Guest: Carly Severn, KQED Senior En...

What if parts of the Bay and parts of the Central Valley were represented by the same person in the U.S. House of Representatives? What about Filipino voters in Daly City and Chinese voters in the western part San Francisco? Or South Asians living in Santa Clara County? These are just a few of the thorny questions being debated right now during California’s redistricting process. Soon, California...

On this very special episode, meet the new host of The Bay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 members of the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education will be facing a recall vote in February. The special election encompasses a whole host of polarizing issues in the district: in-person learning, the admissions policy at Lowell High School, the effort to rename schools, Commissioner Alison Collins’ 2016 tweets that were seen as anti-Asian, and more. Throughout these crises,...

Less than six weeks after our KQED colleagues from On Our Watch published an episode that revealed new information about the police killing of Oscar Grant, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta announced he was opening an external investigation into the 12-year old case, which he says remains unsolved.  KQED's Sukey Lewis spoke with Bonta to discuss systemic issues in California policing, and ho...

In 2020, hundreds of workers at Foster Farms plants in California tested positive for COVID-19. 16 people have died and at least 20 others have been hospitalized. A KQED investigation found that as Foster Farms' Central Valley plants stayed open, and essential workers got sick, or even died, the company didn’t always give a complete picture of the problem to health officials, state regulators and...

Over the past few days, the Chevron refinery in Richmond has been intermittently sending flames and toxic fumes into the air, and people living in the area have complained of a strong gas smell.  Meanwhile, the public still has not received details about the cause behind another incident at the same refinery more than 8 months ago: a pipeline leak on Feb. 9 that sent 750 gallons of fuel into the S...

During the pandemic, the meal kit delivery company HelloFresh has made record profits. But some employees at HelloFresh factory kitchens like the one in Richmond say they’re not sharing in those gains, and that they feel invisible and underappreciated. Instead, they say they’re being asked to work harder and faster as more white-collar employees working remotely use the service. Now, they want to...