KQED's Forum

The Bay Area heads to the Big Dance! The University of San Francisco men’s basketball team makes its first NCAA tournament appearance in 24 years. Saint Mary’s College men’s team is in the mix too, following up on its 2019 bid. And on the women’s side, Stanford University's team will seek to defend its title as the reigning NCAA champions. We’ll talk to former Stanford basketball star Kiana Williams, who helped the team take last year's trophy, about winning in 2021 and the team's road to a championship this year. Then, we'll talk with college reporters about their school’s NCAA tournament bids and hear what teams are making your Final Four brackets.

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Last week, a Texas judge temporarily blocked a directive from Governor Greg Abbott calling for child abuse investigations of parents who seek gender-affirming medical care for their transgender children. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton plans to appeal, and more states are considering similar laws: Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity before fourth grade, and the Human Rights Campaign is tracking nearly 300 pieces of legislation it characterizes as anti-LGBTQ+. We want to hear from you: How have recent anti-LGBTQ+ bills affected you? How have you approached talking to your kids about gender and sexuality?

Guests:

Cathryn Oakley, State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel, Human Rights Campaign

Dr. Jack Turban, chief fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine

Jo Yurcaba, reporter, NBC Out, the LGBTQ section of NBC News

Lizette Trujillo, member, Human Rights Campaign’s Parents for Transgender Equality National Council

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Writer Azar Nafisi says totalitarian regimes pay “too much attention to poets and writers, harassing, jailing and even killing them,” but in America the problem is too little attention, silencing them through “indifference and negligence.” Nafisi’s new book, “Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times,” is written as a series of letters to her late father discussing the writers she turns to when grappling with oppression and injustice, including Salman Rushdie, Plato, Zora Neale Hurston, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood. “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance,” she writes, the ways “literature and art resist seats of power – not only that of kings and tyrants, but the tyrant within us as well.”

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has introduced a new policy framework to provide community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to Californians, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. The proposal calls for a statewide network of CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Courts to serve as a mental health arm of county civil courts and create court-ordered care plans. The proposal has received support from a number of mayors or city officials across the state, including Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego. Critics worry this plan’s court orders perpetuates a history of state control over people with mental illness and disabilities that not ultimately serve them well. Gov. Newsom joins us to discuss his proposal – then we’ll hear expert reactions and unpack what the plan may look like in action.

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Silicon Valley employs a lot of highly skilled Ukrainian tech workers. As Ukrainians globally pitch in to resist Russia’s advance, tech workers are banding together to use their skills for Ukrainian resistance and aid. We’ll check in with tech workers in the Bay Area and Ukraine who are fighting Russian propaganda and cyber efforts, handling logistics to marshal supplies and move refugees and carrying other acts of IT resistance.

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According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the Russian government has threatened that it will seize assets of companies that withdraw from Russia and also arrest corporate leaders who criticize the government. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Proctor & Gamble, IBM and Kentucky Fried Chicken are among the corporations that have been warned. This move by the government comes after a spate of Western companies announced that they will be rolling back their Russian business or cutting off ties with Russia altogether. We’ll talk about what this means for the future of Western businesses in Russia.

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Ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine faltered on Monday while Russia’s devastating attacks on cities in Ukraine continued to intensify. Meanwhile, amid a widening humanitarian crisis that’s forced more than two million Ukrainians to flee, President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to press for more military equipment from NATO member states and will appeal to U.S. lawmakers in a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. As the invasion enters its third week, we take stock of the war’s devastating impact and the further actions the U.S. and its allies may take.

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Seventy percent of Bay Area employers are expecting to bring their workers back to the office this month, according to a recent Bay Area Council survey. But many are asking for only three days in person, a major shift from pre-pandemic times. As businesses begin to return to in-person work, employers are looking to find the right balance of time spent remote and face-to-face. Silicon Valley is a case-in-point: Google is telling most workers they need to come into the office at least three days a week starting April 4, but Twitter said its employees can work from home permanently if they want. We’ll talk with experts about the “new normal” of work and what it means for Bay Area companies, employees, and communities.

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President Biden joined a retreat with House Democrats in Philadelphia on Friday to strategize about the party's priorities ahead of what many political watchers say could be a bruising midterm election cycle for them. We'll preview some key races and look at Georgia's transition to a battleground state during the 2020 election campaign.

Guests:

Melanie Mason, national political correspondent, Los Angeles Times

Annie Karni, congressional correspondent, New York Times

Greg Bluestein, politics reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His forthcoming book is "FLIPPED: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power."

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President Joe Biden issued a long-awaited cryptocurrency executive order Wednesday, directing federal agencies to study a wide range of issues including protecting consumers and businesses, safeguarding national security, and preventing criminal activity. The order also includes a directive to study the possibility of creating a U.S. digital dollar, an idea that other countries like China, which already has government-backed tokens, have embraced. Biden’s order comes as countries around the world have been rushing to catch up on regulating the cryptocurrency market. We’ll talk about the prevalence of crypto, its growing acceptance as a currency and how it should be regulated.

Guests:

Laura Shin, host, "Unchained" podcast. Shin is the author of "The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Cryptocurrency Craze"

Nathaniel Popper, author of "Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money"

Charlie Warzel, contributing writer, The Atlantic. Warzel is the author of "Galaxy Brain," a newsletter about the internet and big ideas

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