KQED's Forum

Financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found hanging in his New York cell on Saturday. In July, Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and was denied bail shortly after. He was first indicted in 2007 after being accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls at his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. Attorney General Barr stated there were "serious irregularities" at the Manhattan Correctional Center where Epstein was found. We’ll talk about what his mysterious death might mean for the investigation, his victims, and high-profile associates.

As students head back to school Monday, the cash-strapped Oakland Unified School District is weighing a second round of school closures and consolidations, in order to regain fiscal stability after years of budget struggles and a state bailout. Among the scenarios under consideration is the merger of Kaiser Elementary with Sankofa Academy. That merger proposal, originally floated earlier this year, has been met with strong pushback from Kaiser parents, whose students on average performed better academically than students at Sankofa. We'll discuss the latest developments and what it may take to bring equity and financial stability to Oakland schools.

Ever had a joke or sarcastic comment go awry when sending a text message? According to author and linguist Gretchen McCulloch, the challenge of conveying subtle differences in tone over short, written messages is driving rapid change in the English language. Her new book, "Because Internet," answers questions like why young people might read periods as passive aggressive, or why "lol" rarely means "laugh out loud" in the literal sense. We talk to McCulloch about the internet's dramatic effect on language, and take your questions about emojis, memes and the ways we communicate digitally.

Nearly two weeks ago, on July 28, a 19-year-old opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, killing three people and himself and wounding 15. The incident is now being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. Forum checks in with members of the Gilroy community on how the city is faring since the attack.

For the first time since September 2018 when cracked steel beams halted transit, buses will once again run in and out of San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center starting Sunday. This follows the reopening of the center's rooftop park and retail areas in July, and could signal a new era for the $2.2 billion transit hub. Forum discusses how this could change your commute and what's next for the long-beleaguered Transbay Transit Center.

A UC Davis study published this week found that human-caused climate change will likely shrink the habitats of oysters in Northern California. Focusing on native Olympia oysters and commercially grown Pacific oysters, the study monitored the growth and health of the bivalves and their habitats. We’ll talk with the study’s lead author about what this means for the future of oysters in Tomales Bay, Humboldt Bay and other Pacific estuarine and bayland habitats.

Images and videos of children bouncing on pink seesaws on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border went viral across social media in late July. The seesaws, installed by Bay Area professors and architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, spanned the border fence between Sunland Park, N.M. and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, inviting families on both sides of the border to play together. Rael says that the seesaws promoted a "recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side." Rael and San Fratello join Forum to talk about their inspiration for this project and their long-term collaboration reimagining the U.S.-Mexico border.

This week Congresswoman Jackie Speier joined fellow Democrats in reiterating the call for stricter gun laws, including an assault weapons ban, in the wake of last weekend's mass shootings. She also took part in a recent congressional visit to a migrant detention facility, which she described in an opinion piece for NBC News as a "nightmare." Congresswoman Speier joins us to share her thoughts on gun laws, immigration, the 2020 presidential candidates, and more.

Faced with income inequality, gender pay inequity and declining social mobility, American workers have been experiencing a decades-long depletion of their power, according to long-time labor reporter, Steven Greenhouse. Drawing from his 19-year tenure at the New York Times, Greenhouse's new book "Beaten Down, Worked Up" chronicles the history and current state of labor organizing and effectiveness of unions in the U.S. Greenhouse joins Forum to discuss his new book and the future of U.S. labor.

Toni Morrison, acclaimed author of "Beloved," "Song of Solomon" and "The Bluest Eye," died on Monday at the age of 88. The first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Morrison's work brought center-stage black identity and womanhood in America, and her writing style echoed and built upon black oral traditions. This hour on Forum, we'll remember her legacy as an author who pushed against the homogeneity of the American literary canon and wrote stories of enduring emotional resonance.