In other news; California is one step closer to de-criminalizing the personal possession and use of psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms in a bill headed to the Governor's desk. Nearly 30 years after the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake, work to finalize the retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge may soon get underway in an 800 billion dollar effort. In a much debated decision, the East Bay Regional Park District is allowing E-bikes on hundreds of miles of its trails. 

An invasive pest has been found in Santa Clara County and as KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes report,  a quarantine has been implemented to deal with it.

As the school year begins, KCBS is going in depth on the rewards and risks of youth sports.  

It can make professional careers  - and ruin them in a split second.  In part 4 of our State of Play series, KCBS Radio's Bret Burkhart looks at the potential dangerous consequences of aiming too high too soon.

In other news; as kids sign up for sports this school year, there is growing pressure to "specialize" or focus on just one sport or activity. Parents who have lost kids to fentanyl overdoses are backing a ballot initiative that would create harsher penalties for dealers in California. When you were a kid, it probably didn’t cost a thing for you to play baseball each weekend. That is not the case for many Bay Area kids today and youth sports experts say it needs to change. San Francisco is hoping that tourism continues to rebound after pandemic lows.  San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors opened yesterday’s meeting with the debate surrounding Wellness Centers, and some argue they’re useless without offering overdose prevention services. 

The Biden administration has announced four million people have enrolled in its student loan repayment plan, also dubbed "Save." This comes a month before student loan payments are set to resume and as Republicans are trying to pass legislation to stop the plan it its tracks. For more on this, Eric Thomas and Margie Shafer spoke with Samuel Workman, Director at the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University.

As kids sign up for sports this school year, there is growing pressure to "specialize" or focus on just one sport or activity.  

In part three of our series "The State of Play," KCBS Radio's Reporter Matt Bigler takes a look at the good and bad of youth sports specialization.

The relationship between parents and coaches is key to a successful youth sports experience, but it's also critical as athletes transition to the next level. 

In part two of our "State of Play" series, KCBS Radio's Kris Ankarlo dives into the work and cooperation needed between coaches, parents and young athletes to make sure years of play pay off.

KCBS Radio also invites you to join us for an important and impactful conversation on youth sports.

KCBS Radio's in-person town hall, "The State of Play,” is tonight from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Saint Mary’s College of California Soda Activity Center in Moraga. It's free to attend, but registration is required. You can sign up at KCBSRadio.com.

Youth sports is a booming business. Participation dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic but now it’s bouncing back. In the Bay Area, tens of thousands of kids play in rec leagues, on school teams or for high-level travel clubs. But are parents pushing their kids too hard, making them specialize too soon and raising their risk of injury? Has society forgotten how to tell kids just to  “go outside and play?”  In other news; the future of wildfire detection could lie in drones. That’s the assessment of some UC Davis scientists. The work to repair storm-damaged roads is now underway in the small Sonoma County town of Monte Rio. Sudden weather shifts are becoming increasingly more common around the globe and the federal government is committing more money to climate change, Two local counties are benefiting. 

Hollywood writers have been on strike since May and actors have been on the picket lines since July - and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight any time soon. Negotiations between the unions and the major media companies are barely progressing and now SAG-AFTRA could be bringing a strike against video game companies too. For the latest, Liz Saint John spoke with Meg James, senior entertainment writer for the LA Times.

Youth sports is a booming business. Participation dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic but now it’s bouncing back. In the Bay Area, tens of thousands of kids play in recreational leagues, on school teams or for high-level travel clubs. 

But, are parents pushing their kids too hard or making them specialize too soon, and raising their risk of injury? 

Today we begin a special five-part series on youth sports in the Bay Area. 

Here’s KCBS Radio's Reporter Doug Sovern with Part One of “State of Play:”

We invite you to join us for an important and impactful conversation on the topic of youth sports. KCBS Radio's in-person Town Hall, “State of Play,” is Tuesday, September 5th from 6:30 pm until 8:00 pm at the Saint Mary’s College of California, Soda Activity Center in Moraga. It's free to attend but registration is required. You can sign up on our website, KCBSRADIO.com

It was another deadly month for San Francisco’s opioid crisis and some service providers say they’re overwhelmed. The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department has been awarded more than 11 million dollars  from the CDC to collaborate with health systems and community partners on drug overdose prevention.

For all this and more, KCBS Radio's Pat Thurston guides you through today's edition of the KBCS All Local Podcast. 

We're seeing a rise in overdose deaths in the Bay Area this year, and a lot of them are caused by fentanyl. This is a crisis that goes beyond California though, it's being been all over the country. Everyone from local to national leaders are committed to bringing this fentanyl epidemic to an end. The Biden administration announced on international overdose awareness day that its providing $450 million dollars in new funding to tackle this issue.

But why has fentanyl taken over the drug landscape? what makes it so deadly, and what more can be done to combat its hold in our world? To help us take a closer look at this fentanyl crisis, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Dr. Chelsea Shover, assistant professor at the UCLA school of medicine and co-author of a 2020 study on fentanyl's spread to the West Coast.