The Bay

At its peak, an estimated 500 people lived in tents, vehicles, and camper vans at an encampment near San Jose’s airport. The city has tried to clear it for years, under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration. Now, it's almost done.

San Jose also promised to find housing and fix the vehicles of the people who were moved out of the encampment. But just a fraction have been moved into housing, and only 14 vehicles have been fixed. In the meantime, most people have had to salvage what belongings they could, and find a safe place somewhere else.

Guest: Jana Kadah, reporter covering city hall for the San Jose Spotlight

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This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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Communities of color in California are the most affected by violent crime. But historically, they haven't had a seat at the table when it comes to defining what survivors of violent crime want and need.

Now that's starting to change. Advocacy groups, led by Black women, say that the state needs to reform and rethink the way victim support in California works.

Guest: Marisa Lagos, politics and government correspondent for KQED and co-host of the Political Breakdown Podcast

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This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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Maria Esquinca is the newest producer for The Bay, taking over after Ericka Cruz Guevarra left the position to become the host of the show. 

In this episode we get to know Maria a little bit more. We talk about her hometown of El Paso, Texas (a border town nestled next to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico) burritos, poetry, and finding home in the Bay Area.

KQED reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli also takes us on a brief tour of the Mission, a neighborhood in the Bay Area that reminds Maria of home.

Guests: Maria Esquinca, producer of The Bay, and Carlos Cabrera-Lomeli, community engagement reporter for KQED

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This episode was produced by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Maria Esquinca and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra

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The Bay Area experienced record-setting heat last week, with temperatures reaching up to 115 degrees in some parts, threatening to overload the state’s power grid. 

It won’t be the last. Climate change makes it even more likely that these heat waves will be more frequent and severe. So today, we talk about takeaways from the historic heat wave, and how we just barely avoided rolling blackouts this time around.

Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter 

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

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In California, less than 1% of farmland is Black-owned, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. One such farm is in Sebastopol in Sonoma County. 

EARTHseed farm is Sonoma County’s first Afro-Indigenous permaculture farm. It’s a place for Black and brown people to reconnect with indigenous land stewardship and to build community, at a time when the effects of climate change are challenging us to change our relationship to the earth.

Guest: Ariana Proehl, KQED culture reporter

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This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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Naatak is one of the largest Indian American theater companies in the country. Started in 1995 out of a dorm room at UC Berkeley, Naatak is staging its 100th production this month. 

In that time, an estimated 1,000 people have participated in Naatak’s productions — all volunteers, many of whom have day jobs in the tech industry. It’s become an important part of the Indian American community in Silicon Valley, by and for people who do this in their free time.

Guest: Rachael Myrow, KQED Silicon Valley senior editor

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

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Sonoma County is trying to set a trend for other cities in banning the construction of new gas stations. In 2021, Petaluma became the first city in the whole country to do so. Now nearly half of the county has followed suit, including Santa Rosa.

For the residents who’ve pushed this forward, these bans are a small but important step to fighting climate change, in a county that has experienced some of the worst wildfires in the state.

Guest: Paulina Pineda, Santa Rosa Press Democrat city hall reporter

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This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra, who also produced.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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You’ve probably seen pictures or even smelled them by now. This past week, thousands upon thousands of dead fish have washed up on shorelines all over the Bay Area. And there are way more beneath the surface. 

So, what's behind this? And is this a one-off, or a sign that we need to do something to prevent it from happening again?

Guest: Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist with SF Baykeeper

This episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Ericka Cruz Guevarra, and hosted by Alan Montecillo.

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Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed a trial run of safe injection sites in San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles. These sites, where people can use illicit drugs under supervision, would have been the first legal ones in the state.

But the idea isn’t new. Safe injection sites have been used as a harm reduction tool for decades in Canada, Australia, and in parts of Europe. They exist in other parts of the United States — two have opened in New York City, and Rhode Island has approved them statewide. So, why don’t we have them in California yet?

Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED health correspondent

This episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and hosted by Alan Montecillo, who also produced and edited.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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More than 2 years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, most emergency housing protections have expired. This means millions of renters are facing eviction.

Today, in an episode of The California Report Magazine, journalist Kori Suzuki tells the story of a group of tenants in Walnut Creek who tried to fight their evictions in court.

Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.

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