KCBS Radio In Depth

As we begin the new year it’s a good time to reflect on the year just passed. 2018 was of course a year with no shortage of news, and KCBS Radio has been there to cover every minute of it: 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

On this edition of In Depth we’re going to be turning the microphone onto our own newsroom and speaking to some of the folks that make KCBS Radio news happen to hear their takes on what 2018 stories are worth remembering as we enter 2019. 

Dr. Francis Fukuyama is the political scientist who became famous for a 1989 essay titled "The End of History?"

The essay arrived right as the Cold War was winding down, and raised the question: Has democracy and free market capitalism won the day?

At the time -- with the Soviet Union collapsing -- the spread liberal values and institutions to the remaining countries of the world could easily have seemed like an inevitablity. As we’ve seen, though, it hasn’t quite turned out that way, and in recent years, democratic institutions in many countries have been losing ground just as populous leaders, some with very illeberal views, have made gains. 

If there has been a delay to the end of history, Dr. Fukuyama says one issue we should take a good long look at is that of identity. It's a potent force that he says lies behind diverse movements: from brexit to black lives matter to the rise of authoritarianism in Russia. 

On this edition In Depth we discuss Dr. Fukuyama’s new book titled Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, and examine the outsized influence that identity politics is playing in the major events shaping our world today.  

Guest: Francis Fukuyama, director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University 

On the day of the Camp Fire, two emergency medical teams tasked with evacuating hospital patients from Paradise became, instead, firefighters. 
 
KCBS Radio's Jenna Lane talked exclusively with the Butte County Emergency Medical Services crews about how they survived after one of their ambulances caught fire.
 
Guests (all from Butte County EMS): Emergency Medical Technician Shannon Molarius, EMT Robin Cranston, paramedic Sean Abrams, operations chief and paramedic Mickey Huber, paramedic Michael Castro.

It’s now just over a month since the deadly Camp Fire tore through communities in Butte County, and the road to recovery remains daunting. But even beyond the monumental task of recovery and rebuilding, the disaster has also raised questions about how California does business given the “new normal” of a year-round fire season.

On this edition of In Depth, KCBS Radio's Keith Menconi discusses some of those questions, including why some are calling for a public takeover of PG&E, and how the spiraling fire losses are impacting California's insurance industry.

Guests: KCBS Radio reporter Carrie Hodousek; Professor Severin Borenstein, who directs the Energy Institute at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business; Chris Folkman, senior director of product management at catastrophe analytics company RMS. 

If you're a Californian who needs help with an insurance claim, the California Department of Insurance has resources to help, including their website -- which has a list of centers where the department's staff are on hand to assist wildfire survivors -- as well as a consumer hotline: (800) 927-4357

This year’s midterm elections have been dogged by allegations of voting irregularities with major controversies popping up in Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and more recently North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. California’s election hasn’t escaped controversy either: In an interview with the Washington Post, House Speaker Paul Ryan called California's vote results "bizarre," and also expressed concern over the lengthy vote counting process. 

It's true, there has been a number of changes made to California's voting system in recent years. Those changes have all been aimed at making voting easier and more accessible, but they also come with the side effect of making election counts take considerably more time. But is California's drawn out, laborious process really so "bizarre?" 

On this In Depth, KCBS Radio's Keith Menconi takes a closer look at California's election reforms: Why they were put in place, how they impacted the 2018 midterms, and how California Republicans are responding.

Guests: David McCuan, professor of American Politics at Sonoma State University. Mike Madrid, Republican Political Consultant and Partner at GrassrootsLab.