Dani Offline joins us in the studio for a live musical performance. Fresh off of two sold-out shows at SFJAZZ as part of the Noise Pop festival, the Oakland-based R&B singer is celebrating the release of her new single, “Desire.” We talk with her about the freedom of being a self-produced musician and how studying literary criticism at UC Berkeley inspired her upcoming album.

Guest:

Dani Offline, songwriter and music producer

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Through years of hosting dinner parties with fellow grievers, Carla Fernandez, writes that she learned to approach grief without sweeping it under the rug. “I learned about approaching grief less as a noun, a thing to distance ourselves from, and more as a verb,” as she writes in her new book, “Renegade Grief: A Guide to the Wild Ride of Life After Loss.” Fernandez lost her father to brain cancer when she was 21. Well after the funeral and support tapered off, she realized she wasn’t done grieving and didn’t have an outlet for her experiences, so she co-founded The Dinner Party in 2014 to bring other young adults together to share food and process grief. Fernandez joins us to talk about how to navigate grief as an ongoing journey.

Guest:

Carla Fernandez, co-founder, The Dinner Party; author of the book “Renegade Grief: A Guide to the Wild Ride of Life After Loss.”

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California is increasingly relying on for-profit psychiatric hospitals to care for the tens of thousands of people experiencing serious mental health crises every year. But a new San Francisco Chronicle investigation finds that the companies that own these hospitals have “capitalized on lax state regulations to strip their workforces bare, generating massive earnings for investors and owners while exposing patients to erratic care, violence and deadly neglect.” We’ll learn more from the reporters behind the investigative series “Failed to Death.”

Guests:

Joaquin Palomino, investigative reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Cynthia Dizikes, investigative reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Alexandra Del Cima, mental health technician from 2017 to 2019, Heritage Oaks Hospital

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“I possessed a unique ability to find suffering in even the best circumstances,” admits Atlantic writer Olga Khazan. That trait is one reason why she wished for a different personality; she wasn’t seeking radical change, just one to make her life a little bit better. And over the course of a year she did just that, embarking on a journey through the science of personality. Khazan interviewed researchers, took improv classes, learned to sail and surf, reluctantly meditated, and journaled with the intensity of a preteen in unrequited love. She chronicles her quest towards an improved self in her new book, “Me, But Better.” We talk to Khazan, and hear from you: Have you tried to change your personality? How did it go?

Guests:

Olga Khazan, author, "Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change" and "Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World."; staff writer, The Atlantic

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Who is the leader of the Democratic party? It was a question that appeared to stump Minnesota governor and vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz in a CNN interview last week, and he’s not the only one who’s feeling a leadership void. Only 1 in 10 Democrats say their party has a solid strategy to deal with the Trump administration, according to a recent poll by the opinion research firm Blueprint. Do the Democrats need an economic populist like Bernie Sanders? A tested progressive like AOC? A centrist coalition? We hear who you think should take the party’s reins and why.

Guests:

Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED - co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown

Reid Epstein, politics reporter, The New York Times

lower waypoint

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The Trump Administration cut $400 million in grants to Columbia for its alleged failure to address anti-semitism on campus. And 60 more universities are on Trump’s target list for similar cuts, including UC Berkeley, all while the federal Department of Education is on the chopping block. We’ll talk about the potential impacts on students from kindergarten to college, and why the Department of Education has long been in Republican crosshairs.

Guests:

Eric Kelderman, senior writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Erica Meltzer, national editor,Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization that covers education; Meltzer covers education policy and politics for Chalkbeat

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Pennies are as lucky as ever, but the U.S. Mint reported losing more than $85 million last year producing the coin. Now President Trump has added his voice to bipartisan calls to stop minting the penny, but it would be up to Congress to make change. Would you miss the one-cent piece? We look at the historical, cultural and economic significance of the penny. Tell us your thoughts.

Guests:

Seth Chandler, head numismatist, Witter Coin

Jay Zagorsky, professor of economics, Boston University Questrom School of Business

Jacob Goldstein, podcast host and executive producer, Pushkin Industries; former co-host, Planet Money podcast; and author of "Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing"

Frank Lee Holt, professor emeritus of history, University of Houston; author of “When Money Talks”

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Venture capital is meant to infuse burgeoning companies with cash to grow, but instead it’s become a sector that is too obsessed with raking in short-term results and rapid growth at any cost. So argues Catherine Bracy in her new book, “World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy.” Bracy examines how the venture capital model has led to countless companies failing and has distorted industries from food delivery to housing. Bracy has advocated for making the tech industry more equitable, diverse and sustainable as founder and CEO of Oakland-based TechEquity. She joins us to talk about why she thinks venture capital is hurting the

economy and how to fix it.

Guests:

Catherine Bracy, executive director and founder, TechEquity; author of "World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy."

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Scientists who study and keep the public informed about wildfires, hurricanes, avalanches and climate change are reeling from the Trump administration’s mass firings at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service. We talk to climate scientist Daniel Swain about the essential work NOAA does in California and nationwide and the impacts of the firings on public safety and mission-critical scientific research. Tell us: Are you affected by the NOAA layoffs?

Guests:

Daniel Swain, climate scientist, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources & UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Heather Welch, terminated research biologist at NOAA Fisheries who worked on the NOAA Climate, Ecosystems and Fisheries Initiative in Monterey, California

Kayla Ann Besong, terminated duty scientist for NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu, HI

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The average American student is “less than halfway to a full academic recovery” from the effects of the Covid pandemic. That’s according to a 2024 report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Studies show that lockdown also took a toll on kids’ mental health, as well as social and emotional skills. And like other Covid impacts, these challenges often hit students of color the hardest. In the first of our series of shows examining the effects of the pandemic as we reach five years since lockdown, we’ll look at how children, adolescents and young adults are faring.

Guests:

Petra Steinbuchel, medical director, Mental Health and Child Development at Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland

Robin Lake, executive director, Center on Reinventing Public Education

Aria Rani Sindledecker, junior at Mountain View High School; youth mental health advocate

Emily Zavala, mental health and wellness coordinator, East Side Union High School District in San Jose

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