Tech founders used to drop out of college. Now many aren’t even going.

This week on “Pacific Standard Time,” we talk to Rya Jetha, who covers tech culture for The Standard, and 13-year-old founder Michael Goldstein.

Background reading:

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Abigail Larios felt confident going into her U.S. citizenship test: She’d been studying all year, had worked on her English, and was ready to talk about her history in the country.

But as she was leaving her immigration interview hours later, officials told her they weren’t ready to swear her in as a citizen. They’d need a couple of weeks to review her record.

Months later, Larios remains in citizenship limbo.

Her story reflects the confusion and uncertainty surrounding citizenship in the second Trump presidency, which has included an executive order targeting birthright citizenship, the growing threat of raids by immigration agents, and a move to make the process more difficult. This has led to an uptick in longtime U.S. residents seeking citizenship.

“There is more of an urgency to become a citizen,” said Jake Simons, who runs a citizenship class at the Mission-based nonprofit Centro Latino. “The administration has kind of imposed this fear that anything could happen, regardless of if you're a permanent resident, regardless of if you're a citizen.”

On this episode of “Pacific Standard Time,” The Standard visits Simons’ citizenship class and follows Larios as she attempts to complete the process during one of the most fraught periods in recent immigration history.

Background reading:

For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. 

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The death of Claude, the beloved albino alligator at the California Academy of Sciences, was one of the biggest news events of the year in San Francisco. Claude, who turned 30 in November, died in early December from late-stage liver cancer. Since then, the city (and the world) has been in mourning: The academy has been flooded with goodbye letters, and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar wants to rename a street in the reptile’s honor. 

Claude was seen by many as an ambassador of San Francisco’s quirkiness and independent spirit. For those who grew up alongside him, he was a steady, constant companion amid the backdrop of a rapidly changing city. For others, he was the mascot for the vast animal kingdom housed at the California Academy of Sciences. 

For Emma Kocina, Claude’s keeper and a senior biologist at the academy, Claude was a daily companion. She spent eight years feeding, training, and caring for the delicate animal. Kocina says she’s still trying to understand why Claude captured so many hearts, but she feels the weight of his loss for herself and all San Franciscans. “It's a lot of pressure to care for an animal that's so loved by not only the academy, but the city,” she told Pacific Standard Time. “I have a hard time separating myself out from the thousands of people that are distraught over it.” 

In an end-of-year bonus episode of “Pacific Standard Time,” we talk to Kocina about what Claude taught her — and all of us —  in his 17 years perched on a heated rock in California Academy of Science’s artificial swamp.

For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. 

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Gov. Gavin Newsom cried at the mall when his oldest child got her first phone. 

“She got her first telephone number, and then she called me, at the store. And that's when I cried,” he said during a wide-ranging chat with “Pacific Standard Time.” 

During the conversation, Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential candidate who terms out as governor next year, explained the challenges of regulating AI and keeping his kids off TikTok, complimented Mayor Daniel Lurie’s first year in office, and reflected on how some of the challenges he faced as San Francisco’s mayor in the early 2000s have persisted through his tenure as governor (ahem: homelessness).

For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. 

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Who's wearing always-listening AI necklaces? A lot of people, actually. The Standard’s Zara Stone explains why startups are pushing wearable tech, and Internet privacy researcher Chris Gilliard offers some words of caution.

Background reading:

For more information on this week’s episode, visit ⁠sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time⁠. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. 

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Since January, the Trump administration has hollowed out San Francisco’s immigration court, firing all but nine of the 21 judges who started the year on the bench. The result is a court in disarray. Some judges keep their personal belongings packed in boxes, bracing for their dismissals. Staffers openly weep. Asylum seekers who have waited years for their day in court lose their place in line when their judge is fired, leaving them to wait years longer.

On this week’s episode, a recently-fired jurist offers a rare look at a system in chaos.

Background reading: 

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In early November, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie beamed with pride as he introduced Beya Alcaraz as the Sunset District’s next supervisor. A week later, Alcaraz resigned, after reporters uncovered her failings as a small business owner. The ill-fated eight-day tenure of Alcaraz dealt a political blow to Lurie’s streak of successes.

On this week’s episode, The Standard’s Gabriel Greschler and Adam Lashinsky explain what this fiasco means for Lurie and what it tells us about the political landscape today.

Background reading:

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California City is a tiny town that’s become home to the state’s largest ICE detention center. Residents want it gone, but the mayor — a former rapper who nearly joined N.W.A. — is struggling to do anything about it.

For more information on this week’s episode, visit sfstandard.com/pacific-standard-time. Transcripts of each episode are available on our website. Support this podcast from The San Francisco Standard by becoming a member: www.sfstandard.com/member

A smart, surprising weekly podcast about California’s future—and why what happens here matters everywhere and to everyone. Hosted by SF Standard culture editor Emily Dreyfuss and enterprise reporter Jesse Alejandro Cottrell. New episodes Wednesday mornings, beginning Nov. 19.

If you want to support this podcast, you can become a member at: www.sfstandard.com/member