On the presidential campaign, student loan debt is a hot topic with good reason. Nationally, borrowers hold nearly $1.5 trillion in debt, and here in the Bay Area, student loan debt has nearly tripled in the last 15 years to $26.6 billion. Borrowers are taking longer to repay loans and more students are finding college out of reach. Why is student loan debt ballooning? What can be done to solve this crisis?

Host Joseph Pace speaks with long-time Silicon Valley investor and author Roger McNamee about his book Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe.

July 29, 2019: No where in the country is childcare more expensive than in San Francisco. This comes as no surprise to parents who can spend nearly $2,000 a month per child for full-time care, if of course there is a spot for the child, which oftentimes there is not. How are families coping with the rising cost of childcare in a region that is already so expensive? What resources are available for families in need?

We continue our examination of criminal justice in the Bay Area, this time with a discussion of the federal crime bill, The First Step Act , which was signed by President Trump in December.

Host Joseph Pace sits down with Oakland native and New York Times best-selling author, Tommy Orange.

On July 8, 2019: Scientists estimate that over 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year, wreaking havoc on marine life who become trapped in abandoned fishing nets or mistake plastic bags for food. Much of it breaks down into irretrievable tiny particles. Now some of this plastic is finding its way back into our food system, not as packaging, but inside our food and water.

Stanford psychiatrist and trauma specialist, Dr. Shaili Jain joins host Joseph Pace to discuss her debut book, The Unspeakable Mind: Stories of Trauma and Healing from the Frontlines of PTSD Science .

It's a New Age of Space Exploration. NASA is preparing for another manned trip to the moon. New technologies will be tested there in order to plan a much longer trip to Mars. Scientists are figuring out how to grow food, fuel, and pharmaceuticals in space.

Another in our series on criminal justice in the Bay Area, this show focuses on life after incarceration, or what’s known as “reentry.”

The next time you eat a piece of avocado toast, thank a hippie. It was the hippie movement that gave rise to so much of what we eat and take for granted today: tofu, yogurt, organic produce, farm to table, whole grain breads and so much more.