The Bay

The Wood Street encampment in West Oakland was at one point the largest homeless encampment Northern California. In 2023, the city of Oakland completed final evictions of Wood Street residents.

Dozens of Wood Street residents ended up at a city-funded shelter site where part of the encampment used to be. It includes an RV park and a "community cabins" site. Now, this shelter site is scheduled to close on Monday.

Today, Oakland journalist and filmmaker Caron Creighton tells us about the cabin sites, and introduces us to two unhoused people who have been living there.

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Gwenn Craig moved to San Francisco in 1975, as a young woman eager to explore her lesbian identity. She got involved in politics and was a close collaborator of Harvey Milk. In this episode, she talks about her political organizing, what pride has meant to her over the years, and what she hopes for its future. 

This episode first aired on June 28, 2023.

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Hip-hop is nearly 52 years old — and when it comes to talking about hip-hop history, it’s no secret that the Bay Area gets overlooked.

Today, we're revisiting an episode with KQED's Eric Arnold and Nastia Voynovskaya about exploring the history of hip-hop — and how our region has shaped it through the years.

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This episode first aired Aug 11, 2023.

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After the city of Berkeley ordered the clearing of RV encampments on Second Street, the city began offering cash to people living in their RVs in addition to a room at a motel shelter. Most accepted the offer, and city leaders are hopeful that this approach can expand.

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Suisun City in Solano County will begin studying annexing land owned by California Forever, the billionaire-backed group that bought up thousands of acres of land with plans to build a brand new city from scratch in Solano County. KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi joins us to discuss the implications of this decision and why it has divided the local community. 

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The Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown has left few safe spaces for immigrants. But in the East Bay, local soccer leagues have provided a rare sense of psychological safety for immigrant newcomers.

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Since Donald Trump’s first term in office, a UC Berkeley student group called Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFE) has been pushing for a Central American Studies department. For them, it would help raise visibility of Central Americans whose specific stories often get lost in broader conversations about Latinos and immigration in the U.S.

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Fairfax is a small, predominantly white town of about 7,500 people, nestled up against the Mt. Tam watershed in Marin. Wellness and a distrust of authority have long been part of the town’s culture. But since the pandemic, it also became a place where supporters of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine message grew louder and louder.

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The Marin Town Where RFK Jr.’s Message Took Root

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This episode contains explicit language.

Next week, San Jose City Council will vote on a controversial plan that would threaten unhoused people with arrest if they refuse multiple offers of shelter. Mayor Matt Mahan says this approach could help open paths to treatment and increase support for more shelter construction. But Santa Clara County officials are skeptical.

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An independent investigation into a massive fire at the Martinez PBF Energy refinery found that human error, worker inexperience and lack of supervision were at the heart of the February fire that prompted shelter in place orders. Today, we revisit an episode about this initial fire that alarmed local residents.

Links:

Massive Martinez Refinery Fire in February Caused by Human Error, Investigation Finds

This episode first aired Feb. 7, 2025.

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