KCBS Radio In Depth

Earlier this month the US imposed sweeping new import controls that aim to slow China’s development of high end semiconductors. It’s a dramatic escalation in the race between the global superpowers for chip supremacy, and it could have far reaching consequences for both the global economy and the balance of power across the Pacific. 

Now these might sound like overstuffed claims for a dust up over computer chips, but today's guest argues that the humble transistor has become the world's most critical technology with the power to reshape industries and world events. On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we lay out that case. 

Guest: Chris Miller, professor of history, Tufts University | author, "Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology"

Host: Keith Menconi

Earlier this week Governor Newsom announced that he is getting ready to drop the state's Covid state of emergency. And last month President Biden went so far as to declare that the pandemic is "over." But of course, the risks from this virus are still very much with us. So as we enter the holiday season, how careful is careful enough?

On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we get the take from one of the Bay Area's leading Covid experts, Dr. Robert Wachter, the chair of UC San Francisco’s Department of Medicine. 

Host: Keith Menconi 

When Covid-19 struck some referred to it as “the great equalizer.” After all, every one of us humans can catch a virus. But over the past two and a half years it’s become more than clear that there is nothing equal about how this infection has spread.

On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we discuss those who have borne the brunt of this pandemic: The people who didn’t get to work from home, who lived in cramped communal apartments, or who couldn’t get time off to get a vaccine. Our guest for this episode calls this group the "viral underclass," and he’s written a new book that explores the many ways that our Covid policy has let them down. 

Guest: Steven Thrasher, journalism professor, Northwestern University | author, "The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide" 

Host: Keith Menconi 

October 19th: Steven Thrasher will make an appearance at Book Passage at the SF Ferry Building this Wednesday at 5 p.m. He'll be in conversation with Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black. Learn more at BookPassage.com  

When this year comes to a close the mayors of two of the Bay Area’s largest cities -- Oakland and San Jose -- will be terming out of office. On this edition of KCBS In Depth we discuss the elections that will decide who is going to replace them. 

Guests: 

• Sarah Ravani, reporter covering Oakland and the East Bay, San Francisco Chronicle
• Jana Kadah, reporter covering San Jose City Hall, San José Spotlight

Host: Keith Menconi 

This week on KCBS In Depth, we'll be switching up our format to present an hour of special programing featuring stories of mental health crisis and community resilience from right here in the Bay Area. It originally aired on September 21st, 2022 as part of the national I'm Listening campaign to promote awareness about suicide prevention and end stigma through conversation.

We'll be returning to our standard format on October 8th. 

Hosts: Keith Menconi, Melissa Culross 

The recent history of Pacific Gas and Electric has been riddled with foreseeable disasters and preventable tragedies. On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we discuss how it is that PG&E's reputation has become synonymous with negligence and calamity, and we also consider the company’s latest efforts to turn things around. 

Guest: Katherine Blunt, energy reporter, The Wall Street Journal | author, “California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric — and What It Means for America's Power Grid”

Host: Keith Menconi 

On this edition of KCBS In Depth, we discuss the fallout from this record setting heat wave and also hear why some worry that even after all the recent heat disasters, we’re still not taking the dangers of extreme heat seriously enough. 

Guests: 

• Daniel Kammen, professor of Energy, UC Berkeley | advisor, US Agency for International Development
• Kurt Shickman, director of Extreme Heat Initiatives, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center

Host: Keith Menconi 

The consequences of the nation’s mental health crisis are plain to see: without adequate treatment and without safe places to find support more and more people suffering from mental illness are ending up on the street or in jail. But despite everything that is going wrong, our guest on this edition of KCBS In Depth says that this is actually a moment to be hopeful. 

Guest: Dr. Thomas Insel, former head of the National Institute of Mental Health | author, “Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health”

Host: Keith Menconi 

It’s been a goal of progressive advocates for years: creating so-called safe injection sites, where addicted drug users can find a safe space and clean needles as well as treatment in the case of an overdose. Supporters say these facilities save lives, but when a bill to legalize safe injection pilot programs came before Governor Newsom to sign, he vetoed it, citing concern over unintended consequences. 

All the same, as we discuss on this edition of KCBS In Depth, that veto may not be the end of the story. 

Guests: 

• Laura Thomas, director of HIV and harm reduction policy, San Francisco AIDS Foundation 
• Meryl Kornfield, staff writer, The Washington Post 

Host: Keith Menconi 

Over the past two decades the opioid epidemic is believed to have claimed the lives of half-a-million Americans. It’s a crisis that has been fueled by a seemingly limitless supply of pain pills that were manufactured, distributed and sold by legitimate businesses, some of them among the largest in the country.

On this edition of KCBS In Depth we speak with two Washington Post investigative reporters about the great lengths the opioid industry went to to make sure that business as usual could continue even as overdose deaths began to skyrocket.

Guests: Sari Horwitz and Scott Higham, the authors of “American Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry” 

Host: Keith Menconi