KCBS Radio In Depth

Just recently, an institutions of the Bay Area's LGBTQ+ world announced that it will be making a comeback. The Stud, an iconic queer bar in San Francisco, with an over 50 year long history, closed up shop in 2020 during the pandemic shutdown. Many feared that the venue itself would stay closed. But the collective who runs the bar have found a new location and are in the mist of raising funds now.

This news has opened up a sense of hope for the queer spaces here in the Bay area, and beyond, wont just fade away. So why are queer spaces, and in particular queer bars, so important to hang on to?  

To answer this question and more, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Greggor Mattson,  Professor and chair of sociology at Oberlin College and Conservatory, and author of 'Who Needs Gay Bars?'

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.

According to scientists with the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, this past July was the hottest the earth has experienced in 174 years. If you took the chance to be outside, or you couldn't avoid it during that month, you probably felt it: overwhelming stifling and impressive heat. Those spikes in temperature are becoming all to common, lasting longer that before, happening in months that they didn't used to. And we've definitely noticed these changes as we crank up the air conditioning, but how often do any of us think about heat and its long-lasting and sometimes devastating effect on the world?

For more on this, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Jeff Goodell, a Bay Area native and best selling author who has tackled the topic of climate change for years.

On August 8th, 2023, fires began to spark in Maui, which then turned into deadly blazes. Spurred on by strong winds from hurricane Dora and weeks of dry conditions, a nightmare scenario has played out on the Island, with entire neighborhoods in Lahaina reduced to ash and a death toll of over 100 people so far. But while the devastation is immense and difficult to wrap out heads around, there's also stories of strength and community coming together that we are hearing from the Island. 

For more, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with KCBS Radio's Jennifer Hodges, who has been reporting from Maui, and Dr. Mia Livaudais, Professor of Public Health at Cal State East Bay. Livaudais grew up in Hawaii and is working from the Bay Area to organize help for the residents of Maui.

Two of the biggest unions in San Jose, which represent over 4,000 workers, have reached a stalemate with the city and voted yes for a three day strike. While both sides have met again for renegotiations, if an agreement isn't met soon, on of the largest planed strikes in recent history will happen on August 15th, 2023.

Of course this isn't the only battel being waged between city workers and the city they serve, a one day strike just occurred in Los Angeles with over 7,000 city workers taking to the street. The demand for higher wages, better working conditions, and more respect is a call that seems to be coming from all sides, from the public to the private sector. 

But will this increase in strikes, and for some in unionizing in the first place, end up giving workers what they're looking for? And can cities and employers employers realistically meet the demands?

For more, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes spoke with Enrique Lopezlira, director of the Low-Wage Work program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, and Michael LeRoy Professor of Labor and Employment Relations.

SAG-AFTRA members picket outside of Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos. The Screen Actors Guild joined the Writers Guild of America, who have been engaged on the frontlines of this dispute with studios since May 2nd, 2023. Its also the first time the two unions have been on a simultaneous strike since 1960. 

At the heart of the strikes is something that is familiar to many of us: Financial stability. But there's something new in there that we're having to grapple with these days: Artificial intelligence, and the role it will play in our lives. 

With negotiations between the unions and the studios currently at a standstill what does this mean for Hollywood going forwards. when all is said and done will there still be a space for those who dream of making it big on the silver, and even the smaller screen. 

To make sense of all of this KCBS Radio's Mary Huges turns to Kate Fortmueller, Associate Professor of Film and Media History at Georgia State University.

On this edition of In Depth, KCBS Radio's Mary Hughes takes a closer look into what it is like to be a district attorney in the Bay Area. She s joined by Mike Dewald, KCBS Reporter, who had an opportunity to talk to both DA Pamela Price and DA Brooke Jenkins. Both Jenkins and Price have faced heavy criticism on how they deal with crime in their community. 

Guests:

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price 

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins

Hosts:

Mary Hughes 

Mike Dewald

Diversity, equity, and inclusion. These are terms that have become very familiar to all of us in almost every aspect of our lives, from the workplace to our political conversations and beyond.

And those words are part of our sports world as well. As more and more athletes, coaches, and organizations speak out over the injustices being faced, both on the court or field, and off. But even with changes happening slowly but surely, how fare have we actually come when looking at equality in sports? 

Guests: 

Dr. Akilah R. Carter-Francique, Former executive director of the institute for the study of sports society and social change at San Jose Sate University, Co-Founder of Francique Sport and education Foundation, and currently the Dean  for the School of Education, Health and Human Services at benedict college

Host:

Mary Hughes   

In this episode of In Depth, we are brining you two extended interviews from our Ask an Expert segment. First up, on the last day of the U.S. Supreme Court's term, the Justices releases two major decisions. The court sided with the Colorado web designer who did not want to serve LGBTQ+ customers. The Supreme Court also overturned president Biden's student loan forgiveness program. Both decisions were 6-3 rulings, spilt by the 6 conservative justices and 3 liberal justices.

In our second segment, we'll be focusing on what many of you will be doing this weekend for the fourth of July holiday, taking to the friendly and sometimes not so friendly skies. Tis week saw a combination of heavy summer storms and industry staffing shortages that walloped flights nationwide. 

Guests:

• Laurie Levenson, Loyola Law Professor and former federal prosecutor 
• Henry Harteveldt, travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group

Hosts:

• Holly Quan
• Margie Shafer
• Eric Thomas

This weekend is the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs versus Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It overturned the abortion protections created in Roe v. Wade. Abortion is still legal here in California. And last November voters approved with a two-thirds majority a ballot measure that put the right in the state constitution. But that doesn't mean all Californians support it. Access to abortions varies dramatically from big coastal cities and more rural parts of the state. This week on KCBS In Depth, we’re taking a closer look at the current state of abortion in the Golden State. Host: Raquel Maria Dillon.