KCBS Radio In Depth

It’s been growing for months, now the worst measles outbreak the US has seen in decades has spread to more than 800 people in two dozen states.

Here in the Bay Area, residents got a fresh scare about a week ago with reports of possible measles exposures at a popular Berkeley supermarket. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are moving forward with new legislation to tighten up vaccination requirements for school age children.

On this edition of In Depth we welcome on two health experts to get their perspective on why a disease once eliminated in the US is now making a comeback and what can be done to stop it.

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi

Guests:

• Dr. George Han, deputy health officer with the County of Santa Clara’s Public Health Department
• Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, professor of pediatrics and health research  and chief of infectious diseases at the Stanford University School of Medicine

Life is messy, so the only way to get it to fit into a history book is to make some edits. But a new exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California is searching for a more complete history of LGBTQ experience. Through an immense collection of contemporary queer art and historical artifacts Queer California: Untold Stories examines the lesser-known threads that make up the rich tapestry of queer history. What do all these exhibits manage to turn up? On this edition of In Depth we head to the museum to find out.

The exhibition runs through August 11. 

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi 

Guests: 

• Christina Linden, the exhibition's curator 
• Nicki Green, transdisciplinary artist whose work is displayed within the exhibition 
• Tina Takemoto, artist and Dean of Humanities and Sciences at California College of the Arts in San Francisco; her film, Looking for Jiro, is included in the exhibition

Life is messy, so the only way to get it to fit into a history book is to make some edits. But a new exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California is searching for a more complete history of LGBTQ experience. Through an immense collection of contemporary queer art and historical artifacts Queer California: Untold Stories examines the lesser-known threads that make up the rich tapestry of queer history. What do all these exhibits manage to turn up? On this edition of In Depth we head to the museum to find out.

The exhibition runs through August 11. 

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi 

Guests: 

Christina Linden, the exhibition's curator 

Nicki Green, transdisciplinary artist whose work is displayed within the exhibition 

Tina Takemoto, artist and Dean of Humanities and Sciences at California College of the Arts in San Francisco; her film, Looking for Jiro, is included in the exhibition

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How just is the criminal justice system? With U.S. crime rates continuing a decades-long decline but incarceration rates remaining at the highest level of any country in the world, it’s a question more and more people are beginning to confront. 

On this edition of In Depth, we speak with Emily Bazelon, who is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and teaches at Yale Law School. Her new book -- "Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration" -- places prosecutors at the center of the story of American mass incarceration, arguing that their power to determine charges and decide plea deals has meant that their influence is often greater than even that of the judges they face in court. We discuss this claim as well as her in depth reporting on the high stakes dramas that unfold each day in America's courtrooms. 

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How just is the criminal justice system? With U.S. crime rates continuing a decades-long decline but incarceration rates remaining at the highest level of any country in the world, it’s a question more and more people are beginning to confront. 

On this edition of In Depth, we speak with Emily Bazelon, who is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and teaches at Yale Law School. Her new book -- "Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration" -- places prosecutors at the center of the story of American mass incarceration, arguing that their power to determine charges and decide plea deals has meant that their influence is often greater than even that of the judges they face in court. We discuss this claim as well as her in depth reporting on the high stakes dramas that unfold each day in America's courtrooms. 

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi 

In the days following a mass ramming incident in Sunnyvale late last month police alleged that the driver was intending to strike Muslims.

Then Just a few days later we got news of a deadly shooting at a synagogue in San Diego, an attack against Jews apparently inspired by white nationalist ideology.

These incidents add on to an already disturbingly long list of attacks against Jews and Muslims in the U.S. and abroad, and many in those communities now say in this climate their sense of personal security is eroding.  

In this edition of In Depth, we speak with members of both communities and learn both about this growing sense of insecurity and also about the budding resilience and solidarity that is forming in response.

Host:KCBS reporter Keith Menconi

Guests:

Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino

Zahra Billoo, who serves as the Executive Director for the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Diane Fisher, the Community Relations Council Director for the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the days following a mass ramming incident in Sunnyvale late last month police alleged that the driver was intending to strike Muslims.

Then Just a few days later we got news of a deadly shooting at a synagogue in San Diego, an attack against Jews apparently inspired by white nationalist ideology.

These incidents add on to an already disturbingly long list of attacks against Jews and Muslims in the U.S. and abroad, and many in those communities now say in this climate their sense of personal security is eroding.  

In this edition of In Depth, we speak with members of both communities and learn both about this growing sense of insecurity and also about the budding resilience and solidarity that is forming in response.

Host: KCBS reporter Keith Menconi

Guests:

• Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino
• Zahra Billoo, who serves as the Executive Director for the Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Diane Fisher, the Community Relations Council Director for the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley

When Joanne Hayes-White joined the San Francisco Fire Department in 1990 she was one of its first female recruits. She went onto to become the first woman to lead the department, and when she retires on May 5th after more than 15 years serving in that role she will leave office as the longest-serving big city fire chief in the country. During her storied tenure, Hayes-White oversaw the responses to innumerable emergencies as well as the department’s gradual shift toward greater diversity. She joins this edition of In Depth to discuss that career as well as the changes in the department that she witnessed over the course of her three decades of service.

Host: KCBS Reporter Jenna Lane

Guest: San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Joanne Hayes-White joined the San Francisco Fire Department in 1990 she was one of its first female recruits. She went onto to become the first woman to lead the department, and when she retires on May 5th after more than 15 years serving in that role she will leave office as the longest-serving big city fire chief in the country. During her storied tenure, Hayes-White oversaw the responses to innumerable emergencies as well as the department’s gradual shift toward greater diversity. She joins this edition of In Depth to discuss that career as well as the changes in the department that she witnessed over the course of her three decades of service.

Host: KCBS Reporter Jenna Lane

Guest: San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White

San Franciscans took time out of their busy schedules Thursday morning to observe the 113th anniversary of the city’s 1906 Earthquake, a disaster that left thousands dead and much of the city in ruins.

In Typical San Francisco fashion it was a boisterous affair with city leaders decked out in period dress and onlookers at one point belting out the song "San Francisco." But the event also has a serious side to it as it serves as a somber reminder that in Earthquake Country, the next big one could be just around the corner. 

On this edition of In Depth, we look at new research that shows there's been an almost eerie lack of major earthquakes over the last century In California. We then consider the possibility that the century ahead may look very different and speak to the head of San Francisco's Department of emergency management to learn how the city is getting prepared. 

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi 

Guests: 

Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management

Glenn Biasi, a seismologist and researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.