The Bay

It's wine harvest season in California. And between tariffs, decreased demand, and a cooler summer, the industry has had a tough year. KQED's Elize Manoukian visits one vineyard in Healdsburg to see how the season is going.

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This November, Californians are being asked to decide whether the state can redraw our congressional districts with Proposition 50. 

California Democrats say Prop. 50 is their answer to pressure from President Trump on red states like Texas, which redrew its congressional maps to favor Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. Opponents say it tramples on California’s independent redistricting process, which voters approved more than a decade ago.

This episode originally aired on Aug. 10, 2025.

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San Franciscans can expect to see up to 100 new, large temporary art installations around the city over the next three years, thanks to a billionaire-backed foundation’s project known as the Big Art Loop. These pieces are also being set up much faster — and with less public oversight — than permanent public art pieces in San Francisco. 

Links:

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The city of San Jose is coming up with a plan to make it unlawful for federal immigration officers to conceal their identities while working in the city. The ban, along with California’s new “No Secret Police Act,” tees up a potential legal showdown with the Trump administration over its immigration enforcement operations. 

Links:

San José City Council Supports ICE Mask Ban After Plainclothes Arrest

South Bay Day Laborer Center Staff ‘Devastated’ Over Immigration Arrest

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Santa Clara County officials are worried about how big cuts to Medicaid under President  Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will hurt the area’s four county-run hospitals, which rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursements. 

Now, voters are being asked to weigh in on Measure A, which would increase the county sales tax by 0.625% over 5 years to fill in roughly one-third of the county’s projected annual losses from federal cuts.

Links:

Measure A voter guide

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For 38 days, UC Berkeley computer science lecturer Peyrin Kao taught classes while on a hunger strike for Palestine. He’s also one of more than 150 people whose names were sent by UC Berkeley to the Trump Administration for its investigation into alleged antisemitism — an investigation that critics say is meant to silence opposition to Israel’s invasion and siege of Gaza. 

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After a yearslong holdup, Alameda County has started distributing funds from Measure C, a 2020 ballot measure that uses a half-cent sales tax to increase access to child care and preschool for the county’s youngest residents. Now, officials from other Bay Area counties are considering doing the same.

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Last month, the Trump Administration announced a new $100,000 fee on H1-B visa applications. The news hit workers and employers in Silicon Valley especially hard as the tech industry relies heavily on H1-B visa holders. In this episode from our friends at Political Breakdown, Scott Schafer and Marisa Lagos sit down with Zeyi Yang, a senior writer at WIRED to discuss the fallout from the announcement and what this means for workers and employers going forward. 

Links:

Winners and Losers in Trump’s $100,000 Visa Scheme

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The federal government closed late Tuesday night after Congress failed to pass a stopgap funding bill by the deadline. California’s roughly 187,000 federal workers have either been furloughed or are working without pay.

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Mabuhay Gardens was a Filipino restaurant, nightclub, and music venue that was essential to San Francisco's punk scene before its closure in 1987. Now, a group of local investors and North Beach neighbors are working to bring it back. 

You can find out about upcoming shows on the venue's Instagram page.

Links:

Legendary SF Punk Club Mabuhay Gardens Is on the Verge of Reopening

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