KQED's Forum

Water conservation is a constant challenge for Californians, but according to the New York Times’s Michael Kimmelman, there’s one city that’s doing it right: Los Angeles. Kimmelman found that L.A. has consumed less water in total since 1990 even as the city gained millions of residents. We talk with Kimmelman and California water officials about the strategies L.A. is using and what other states can learn from its example.

Guests:

Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic, New York Times

Liz Crosson, chief sustainability, resiliency and innovation officer, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Mark Gold, board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; adjunct professor at UCLA’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability; former director of Water Scarcity Solutions for the Natural Resources Defense Council

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To be a modern consumer is to experience poor customer service at some point in your life. The kind of service that has you in a fever dream of pressing “1” for “representative,” getting your call dropped, calling back again, and then asking to speak to a manager who can’t solve your problem. Experts call this kind of service “sludge,” an administrative morass meant to deter, not help, consumers. And for some businesses, it’s a feature not a bug. We’ll talk to journalist Chris Colin about the practice and hear from you: what’s your sludge story?

Guests:

Chris Colin, journalist, The Atlantic

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist E. Jean Carroll has won two multimillion-dollar judgments against President Trump for sexual abuse and defamation. Her new memoir, “Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President,” is a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to sue a U.S. President: the toll it took, and how support and some dark humor helped carry her through. We talk to Carroll about her experiences and hear reflections from MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin about the significance of Carroll’s victory against a president who has otherwise avoided legal consequences for his actions.

Guests:

E. Jean Carroll, journalist; author of the long-running advice column "Ask E. Jean"; author, "Not My Type: One Woman vs. a President"

Lisa Rubin, legal correspondent, MSNBC; host of MSNBC's "Can They Do That?" on Youtube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No band may better reflect the multicultural, gender-expansive exuberance of the Bay Area dream than Sly and the Family Stone. A new documentary “Sly Lives (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” explores the life and context of Vallejo’s brilliant, charismatic and troubled bandleader. We talk with the film’s creators and participants about the gifts Sly gave the world and the tolls it took on him.

Guests:

Joel Selvin, San Francisco-based music journalist and author, his latest book is "Words and Demons"

Joseph Patel, producer of the documentary Sly Lives; he also produced Summer of Soul, which won an academy award for best documentary feature

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The flooding in Central Texas over the Fourth of July holiday has claimed more than 100 lives and caused widespread destruction across six counties. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing, with teams from across the country — including California — joining the response. We get on-the-ground updates, hear how rescue operations are going and as extreme weather events become more common, we look at whether this could happen in California.

Guests:

Hayley Smith, reporter focusing on extreme weather, Los Angeles Times

Lucio E Vasquez, breaking news reporter, Texas Newsroom

Greg Porter, senior newsroom meteorologist, San Francisco Chronicle

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Library of Congress’s new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Bay Area children’s author Mac Barnett wants to reframe how we think about picture books. With his platform, “Behold the Picture Book,” he’s championing the vital role picture books play in engaging readers of all ages and why we love them. What’s the picture book you love reading over and over and over?

Guests:

Mac Barnett, author of the children's books "Circle," "Square" and "Triangle" which have been made into a new animated series "Shape Island" on AppleTV+; his books have won Caldecott honors and E.B. White Read Aloud Awards

Aida Salazar, children's book author, her picture books include "Jovita Wore Pants" and "In the Spirit of a Dream"

Laura G. Lee, children's book author and illustrator, her picture books are "Soy Sauce!" and "Cat Eyes"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump on Friday signed into law a massive tax and spending package: the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which delivers sweeping tax breaks for the wealthy while slashing social safety net programs. It cuts nearly $30 billion in Medicaid funding to California, defunds wildfire prevention and, according to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, puts hundreds of thousands of jobs in the state at risk. The legislation also directs at least $170 billion to immigration detention and border security. Meanwhile, deficit watchers worry about its fiscal impacts. We’ll break down what this bill means for healthcare, immigration, education and everyday Californians like you.

Guests:

Jessica Roy, personal finance columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

David Lightman, chief congressional correspondent, McClatchy

Andrea Castillo, staff writer covering immigration, LA Times

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Caregiving is the most universal of human acts. But also one of the most invisible. While caring for a child, parent or loved one can be meaningful, and life defining, it can also be exhausting and life breaking. Drawing on her groundbreaking research on baby’s brains, UC Berkeley psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik is leading a multidisciplinary project to better understand the social science of caregiving with hopes of translating those insights into practical policies. Gopnik and policymaker Anne-Marie Slaughter join us to talk about how rethinking our approach to caregiving and how we support care providers, could lead to a better, more functional society.

Guests:

Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy, UC Berkeley; author, "The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children"

Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America, a non-profit think tank; author of "Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Atlantic staff writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist Elizabeth Bruenig has attended five death row executions over the past half-decade. “What I witnessed,” she writes in her new cover story, “has not changed my conviction that capital punishment must end. But in sometimes-unexpected ways, it has changed my understanding of why.” We talk to Bruenig about what she saw and what she learned about mercy, forgiveness and redemption. Her article is called “Witness.”

Guests:

Elizabeth Bruenig, staff writer, The Atlantic - whose recent article is "Inside America’s Death Chambers"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a scrappy San Francisco literary journal launched in 1985 to champion West Coast writers, the dream was to make a lasting imprint. Now, 40 years later, we celebrate Zyzzyza’s anniversary with editor Oscar Villalon and writers Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) and Ingrid Rojas Contreras. We’ll talk about the literary journal’s vision, its stellar roster of writers and poets, and what makes the West Coast literary scene special.

Guests:

Oscar Villalon, editor, Zyzzyva Magazine - San Francisco based literary journal

Daniel Handler, author of the children's book series "A Series of Unfortunate Events" under the pen name "Lemony Snicket" - contributor, "The End of the Golden Gate"

Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Bay Area-based writer, author of the novel “Fruit of the Drunken Tree” and the memoir “The Man Who Could Move Clouds”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices