Richmond Museum Saves Lost Historic Mural

A mural called "Richmond: Industrial City" hung in a post office from 1941 to 1976. After it was taken off the wall while the building was renovated, it was put in a crate and put in a basement. It took four years to raise $45,000 dollars to restore the canvas.

Reporter: Raquel Maria Dillon, KQED 

In 1933, Congress passed a series of reforms aimed at pulling America out of the Depression. The New Deal gave rise to the Works Progress Administration, which established the Federal Music Project to help keep musicians at work.

Reporter: Austin Cross, KPCC

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On November 8th, 2018 The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise. It killed at least 85 people, and displaced tens of thousands. Two California-based journalists were on the ground as the fire burned and have turned their experience, as well as hundreds of interviews with locals and experts, into a book about the tragedy.

Guest: Dani Anguiano, Author, Fire in Paradise

The relationship between San Diego and Tijuana, right across the border, is often misunderstood. A new book explores the misunderstood relationship, and common cause, residents of the two cities often find.

Guest: Michael S. Malone, Author, El Tercer Pais

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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla is heading to Washington to finish Senate term of vice-president-elect Kamala Harris. Governor Gavin Newsom made the historic announcement yesterday.

Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED

If the surge continues, the state could run out of intensive care beds by the end of the month. The state broke another record on Monday with more than 60,000 newly identified cases. That’s despite most of the state now under the governor’s latest regional stay-at-home order.

Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED

In Washington, Congress finally passed a stimulus package this week. Critics say it’s not nearly enough support, but it does offer some relief. Unemployed workers-turned advocates were among those who lobbied lawmakers to do something, by taking on the cause like it’s their job.

Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED

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The stay-at-home orders affecting most Californians are likely to be renewed and extended into the new year. Statewide two and a half percent of ICU beds are still available, but Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley are at zero percent capacity.

Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED

Police use of non-lethal projectiles at demonstrations in California have injured some protestors. Now state leaders are proposing ways to restrict their use.

Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio

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Federal Court Filing Looks into PG&E's Role in Deadly Zogg Fire

Crews hired to remove potentially hazardous trees in Shasta County were chased away two years ago by a woman brandishing a firearm, according to information PG&E shared with a federal judge.

Reporter: Dan Brekke, KQED

Court filings reviewed by KQED show just one of the law firms representing PG&E charged more than $143 million in fees and expenses. PG&E voluntarily entered bankruptcy protection early last year because of liabilities from wildfires caused by its equipment. While PG&E has funded a trust for fire victims, just a tiny fraction of them have received any compensation.

Facebook conducted a pre-election misinformation sweep in August, deleting a bunch of groups. One woman in Walnut Creek lost 13 years worth of photos on Facebook in the process.

Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED 

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The availability of intensive care beds at many Southern California hospitals has reached zero percent because of an explosion of new COVID patients. Forecasts predict if infection rates continue, there could be thousands of people in need of ICU beds in the region by early next month.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has been tough for California’s child care providers. Many have struggled to keep their doors open in order to care for the children of essential workers, and getting little support themselves.     

Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED

For child care providers there is now a direct line to state officials to make the case that they need more resources to work safely during the pandemic. Yesterday, the newly ratified Child Care Providers Union had its second bargaining meeting with the state. 

Reporter: Deepa Fernandes

The United Farm Workers union and two Foster Farms employees are suing the poultry company. They’re asking a judge to immediately force Foster Farms to protect workers from COVID-19 inside one of the company’s plants in the Central Valley.

Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED

Any business that serves food in San Diego County is now allowed to reopen after a superior court judge ruled in favor of two San Diego strip clubs that defied the statewide shutdown order.

Reporter: Jacob Aere, KPBS

Democratic state lawmakers are renewing a push to end mandatory prison sentences for certain drug crimes. The bill would allow judges to choose between jail time, probation, or other options for nonviolent drug offenders.

Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio

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293 people died from the coronavirus in California yesterday and more than 50,000 new cases were reported, setting new daily records as the virus surges. This is putting the statewide healthcare system under great strain. 

Next year, there are big changes coming to how California deals with young people convicted of crimes. Starting July 1st, the Department of Juvenile Justice will stop accepting virtually all new wards, leaving the state’s 58 counties to figure out how to handle those young people.

Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED

A lot of the Golden State’s history is the story of booming population growth, but according to new state figures, California's population grew at the slowest rate in more than a century.  

Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED

Early in the pandemic some grocery store chains offered employees hazard pay to compensate workers for the health risks they faced at work during the pandemic. Now, the City of Long Beach is looking to make it a requirement for large chain stores operating in the city. 

Reporter: Angel Carreras, KCRW

Many Americans, including hundreds of thousands of people in California, are hoping for more than just money in the new relief package being hashed out in Congress. They’re hoping they won’t have to pay back unemployment money they’ve been overpaid by their state unemployment agencies.

Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED

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the first doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine are going out to frontline healthcare workers across the state. We’ve tracked that story all this week and this morning we look at vaccinations in San Diego.

Reporter: Matt Hoffman, KPBS

The arrival of the Pfizer vaccine and the anticipated approval of Moderna's vaccine could mean people who are involved in clinical trials for other vaccines might drop out of those studies.

Reporter: Tarryn Mento, KPBS

A Sacramento disability rights advocate says it took him days to get a COVID-19 test because many of the county’s testing sites are not ADA accessible.

Reporter: Sarah Mizes-Tan, CapRadio

The University of California, Irvine just signed an agreement with the state prison system to create the first UC bachelor’s degree program behind bars.

KQED’s Vanessa Rancaño reports.

There are new faces joining Los Angeles’ City Council who have vowed to confront L.A.’s homelessness crisis. They are Mark Ridley-Thomas and Nithya Raman, along with California veteran politician Kevin DeLeon.

Reporter: Libby Denkman, KPCC

Federal wildlife officials announced this week that Monarch butterflies qualify to be protected as an endangered species. But the iconic insect won’t get that status under the Endangered Species Act right now, because there’s a backlog of species in line for protection.

Reporter: Peter Arcuni, KQED

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ICU bed capacity hit zero percent in the Central Valley over the weekend. Health officials are activating a COVID surge facility in the Tulare County town of Porterville to treat patients they don’t have room for at the local hospitals.

Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED

As coronavirus vaccinations begin in California many public health experts worry that people may start letting their guard down when it comes to social distancing and other safety measures. 

Guest: Dr. Kirstin Bibbins Domingo, Epidemiologist, UCSF  

Frontline health care workers are first in line for the coronavirus vaccine, but which essential workers should come next? Teachers? Delivery drivers? How about the farm workers who pick California’s food crops? The state of California is working with counties to figure it out, and they may not always see eye to eye. 

Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED  

After making progress last month, California's Unemployment Development Department is once again facing a big backlog of claims even after a new verification system showed initial promise.

Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED

Companies like Uber warned they’d have to raise prices if Prop 22 failed and they had to pay for employee protections. Prop 22 passed last month, and Uber’s market value surged, but they're raising prices anyway. 

Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQED

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As people start getting vaccinated, California doctors are preparing to talk to patients about it, and the physicians are expecting some resistance.

Reporter: Sammy Caiola, KQED

That number of restaurants likely to close could be significantly higher in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County where immigrants make up a larger share of restaurant owners.

Reporter: Benjamin Gottlieb, KCRW

L.A County health officials are going to use the Moderna vaccine at nursing homes, and it’s training nursing home staff to administer it. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna’s doesn’t require deep-freeze storage.

Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC

Early numbers show Sacramento City Unified enrolled about 600 fewer kindergartners this year, and Los Angeles Unified has thousands fewer.

Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, KQED

PG&E got out of bankruptcy protection almost six months ago.

As part of that deal, the utility agreed to pay a billion dollars to California cities and counties harmed by the wildfires it’s equipment caused. It's unclear where all the money will go.

Reporter: Lily Jamali, The California Report 

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