KQED's Forum

This month, former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy became the president and chief executive officer of Natural Resources Defense Council. Serving as the 13th Administrator of the EPA under President Barack Obama, McCarthy led initiatives focused on limiting air pollution and greenhouse gases and helped set national standards for power plants' carbon emissions. We'll talk with McCarthy about her new role and the state of environmental policy under the Trump administration.

The bushfires raging in Australia have burned more than 25 million acres of land, taken the lives of at least 29 people and killed an estimated 1 billion animals. On Friday, the Australian government urged nearly a quarter of a million people to evacuate their homes. These reports of wildfires, evacuations and loss are all too familiar to many Californians, as New York Times San Francisco bureau chief Thomas Fuller notes in his recent story. Fuller, who's covered the wildfires in California, flew to Australia to report on the devastating fires. He joins Forum from Sydney to share some of his observations.

After nearly 50 years reporting for television news outlets in the Bay Area, veteran journalist Vic Lee is retiring. Lee covered some of the most critical stories of an evolving Bay Area, from the 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk to December's controversial opening of a homeless navigation center in the Embarcadero. Also of note is Lee's viral 2011 story on "Dusty the Klepto Cat," the literal cat burglar in San Mateo, who even made an appearance at Lee's retirement party. Vic Lee visits Forum to reflect on his career in journalism.

Governor Newsom's $222-billion California budget proposal includes an $80.5-million coverage expansion of Medi-Cal and the creation of a state-owned generic drug label. It also directs more than $1.4 billion to shelter and healthcare for the state's homeless population. We'll talk about the governor's budgetary priorities.

There has been lots of related news in the nine days since California Assembly Bill 5, which reclassifies many independent contractors as employees, went into effect. A state judge ruled that AB 5 does not apply to independent truck drivers. A new report found Uber is changing its app in California in an attempt to sidestep the law. And a federal judge denied a temporary restraining order on AB 5 for freelance journalists and photographers, whom the bill limits to 35 submissions per outlet annually, with a hearing scheduled for March.

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved nearly $12 million in emergency funding late last month. The funds aim to locate housing alternatives for the roughly 200 members of a mile-long homeless encampment along Santa Rosa's Joe Rodota Trail. County officials are now considering temporary sites for relocating the camp, while nearby residents complain of worsening neighborhood conditions.

Ninety percent of U.S. women do not know their risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study published in the journal "Cancer," and men are more likely to die of breast cancer than testicular cancer. And according to journalist Kate Pickert, the discourse surrounding breast cancer is overly focused on mammograms and early testing, even though research has called these methods' efficacy into question. Pickert joins us to talk about her new book "Radical: The Science, Culture, and History of Breast Cancer in America" as well as her own breast cancer diagnosis at age 35.

Approximately 3,200 electric scooters can be found puttering around San Francisco at any given time. As the city continues to grow its fleet of zero-emission scooters, we'll get an update on their convenience, safety and regulation. We'll also talk with the lead author of new research out of UCSF into the prevalence of injuries while using e-scooters.

Recently appointed BART general manager Robert Powers' duties go beyond the 400,000 Bay Area commuters BART transports each day. His priorities include the new train cars that are supposed to replace the agency's "legacy" fleet, reducing fare evasions and increasing security while respecting civil liberties. Powers joins us to share his vision for BART.

Iran fired rockets at two air bases in Iraq on Wednesday.  Iran has said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of General Qasem Soleimani.  No casualties have yet been reported at the bases, which house Iraqi and U.S. troops.  We get the latest.