KCBS Radio In Depth

As we near the end of 2023… we find abortion rights at the forefront of the news… 

Of course, these aren’t necessarily new conversations being had… the ongoing battle between those in support of abortion and reproductive rights… and those against… have been happening for a long, long time…

But with the overturning of Roe versus Wade in 2022… and more recently, challenges to abortion bans in states like Texas and Arizona… the landscape of abortion access is once more in focus… with many questioning what the future will hold…

So, is it possible to find answers by looking back? Back to a time when underground forms of healthcare had to step in for legal care… back to a time when community members were the ones turned to for reproductive help… back to a time where a women’s clinic in Oakland became the nexus of health, well-being, and of groundbreaking ‘deep care’...

We are going on a bit of a history journey… and speaking with Angela Hume.. author of Deep Care: The Radical Activists Who Provided Abortions, Defied the Law, and Fought to Keep Clinics Open… feminist historian, critic, poet… you also teach writing at UC Berkeley…

For the past few years, many of our conversations about transit in the Bay Area have been about how the various agencies are struggling… with funding shortfalls, lower ridership, and the possibility of massive service cuts as fiscal cliffs loom… 

Now, it’s no secret that the COVID pandemic played a huge role in pushing transit agencies to the brink… but the aftereffects presented a question to us all – what will it take to ensure that transit in the Bay Area survives?

That’s a big question, of course, and a financial lifeline… to the tune of around 747 million dollars… is planned to be split up among several agencies… but the real saving grace will be getting more people on those buses and trains… 

So… in these tough times that seem to keep on going… are we seeing any improvement? Is a recovery to pre-pandemic numbers still possible?

For the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency… the answer just might be yes…

To give us an update on all things SFMTA, we're joined by Jeff Tumlin… director of transportation with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency…

There might not be a more important… and sometimes complicated… conversation to be had in the Bay Area then the one about homelessness…

It’s a crisis that every county is facing… and many are trying to find a solution that works for everyone… 

The city of San Jose recently pushed to speed up the building of 200 tiny homes to be put on a VTA-owned lot… to help provide shelter for those who are unhoused…

But in the meantime… the number of people who are homeless seems to continue to grow… and that’s being felt especially in East San Jose… and for a specific group of people – high school students.

So… what’s behind this increase in students being homeless in East San Jose… and what’s being done to help them?

For a closer look at this… we’re going to start our conversation off with Sergio Diaz-Luna… director of communications with the East Side Union High School District…

Next... some of the support that unhoused students in East San Jose receive comes from the East Side Education Foundation… and so we’ll turn to Carlos Singh…who is the executive director of the foundation… and a lecturer at San Jose State…

There are many places and activities that are considered iconic aspects of the Bay Area... wine tastings in Napa and Sonoma counties… the Winchester House in San Jose… driving across the Golden Gate Bridge… 

But, for those who call San Francisco home, one building stands out among all the rest... and that's the Ferry Building…

It's history is long and large…it's seen millions of people come and go…a stately sentry, standing guard as times changed, as the city itself changed… But the ferry building itself, even over a hundred years later, remains a constant…

So, why is that?

To help us delve into the story of the Ferry Building, from when it was built in the late 1890s to how it is faring today, we speak with John King -- urban design critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and author of 'Portal: San Francisco’s Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities.'

Over the past decade, our conversations on mental health and how we process  trauma, grief, and isolation have evolved. Now, these are conversations that we have more regularly at home, workplaces, and among friends. Traditionally when we think about this we re probably applying it to adults, but trauma of any kind can happen to any one. The mental health struggles that can occur are not just limited to those that are 20-something years old and up. 

For more on the mental health crisis amongst children, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Lynne Hughes, Founder and CEO of Comfort Zone Camp. 

Over the past decade… our conversations about mental health… about how we process trauma, grief, and isolation… have evolved… Now, these are conversations we have more regularly – at home, at our workplaces, among friends…

Traditionally, when we think of all of this… we are probably applying it to adults… but trauma – of any kind – can happen to anyone… and the mental health struggles that can occur aren’t just limited to those 20-something and up…

So, if you’re a kid… and you need a safe space to grieve, to share, to heal… where do you go?

Well, there is a place tailor-made for younger people, a place that can give them support when dealing with loss… and it’s called Comfort Zone Camp…

Guests: Lynne Hughes, founder and CEO of Comfort Zone Camp

October is National Children's Health Month and on this episode of In Depth, we'll be hearing conversations with Audacy's David O'Leary, as well as guest speakers from the American Foundation for Suicided Prevention. 

"There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath..." That's a quote form Moby Dick, but it could probably be the backstory for many who once left the land for the vastness of the ocean. 

Of course not all who took to the seas returned from them, and in those instances, what's left behind are the broken and battered remnants of another time. There's a long history of ship wreaks in the San Francisco Bay Area. So all this past week, those relics of the past were brought into focus with ship wreak week in San Francisco.  

For a more of the background of the genesis of shipwreck week, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Nicole Meldahl, executive director of the Western Neighborhoods Project, and James Delgado senior vice president of Search Inc., and former director of NOAA's Maritime Heritage Program.

In the last episode of In Depth, we heard parts of KCBS's I'm Listening special. we turned out focus to mental health, suicide prevention, and the ways in which people can fine hope and healing. 

Now were going to hear the second part of the I'm Listening hour. KCBS radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Eleanor Sosa Pace, Chief officer of residential injustice programs at Momentum for Health in Santa Clara county, and Chuck Ingolia, President and CEO of the National council for mental wellbeing.

All this week on KCBS, we've put the focus on mental health as part of Audacy's I'm Listening. Bringing to light conversations about mental health struggles that many of us face and breaking down the stigma that comes with those challenges because talk saves lives. 

For more KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Kim Arman, Co-Chair of this years American Foundation for Suicided Prevention in the South Bay, And Thomas Kingery program direction of the Avenidas Rainbow Collective