The Bay

Since the summer of 2020, SFUSD has seen waves of protests against sexual harassment and assault. Students say a familiar pattern has emerged: survivors share experiences of sexual abuse on Instagram, more people pay attention and talk about it, and then the conversation dies down for a few months.

But the issue is still on many students' minds. And while some changes have been made — including some student-led efforts at accountability — many students feel that administrators and district officials haven't done enough.

Guest: Holly J. McDede, KQED reporter and producer

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

Episode Transcript

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KQED’s Nastia Voynovskaya was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In the late 90s, she and her family immigrated to the Bay Area.

Growing up, Nastia’s community included Russians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Georgians, Belarusians, Kazakhs, and many other ethnic groups from the former Soviet Union.

Now, as Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, communities of immigrants from the former Soviet Union are speaking out, pulling together, and trying to support one another.

Episode Transcript

Guest: Nastia Voynovskaya, KQED arts and culture associate editor

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

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Valero’s Benicia oil refinery is one of the largest refineries in the state. And from 2003 to 2018, it secretly released excessive amounts of hazardous chemicals into the air before Bay Area regulators found out and investigated. Meanwhile, local officials and the broader community were only informed this year. 

Guest: Ted Goldberg, KQED supervising senior editor for news

Episode Transcript

Links:

• 'First I Had Heard of It': Valero's Benicia Refinery Secretly Released Toxic Chemicals for Years

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

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Reparations in California is a series of KQED stories exploring the road to racial equity in the state.

California is in the process of a first-of-its-kind study into reparations for Black Californians.

The process of hashing out reparations can seem daunting. and the U.S. has not fully reckoned with its deepest harms, like enslavement of Black Americans or the genocide of Native Americans.

However, the U.S. has provided reparations before — namely, for Japanese Americans, who were taken from their homes all over the West Coast and incarcerated during World War 2. Now, California’s current reparations task force is modeled, in part, after the commission that studied and recommended reparations for American citizens of Japanese ancestry.

Today, we look back on what it took for Japanese Americans in the Bay Area to fight for reparations — and how that history is linked to the reparations process unfolding right now.

Guest: Annelise Finney, KQED reporter

Episode Transcript

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

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On Wednesday night, Berkeleyside journalist Ally Markovich sat in front of her living room TV with her housemates and watched as Russian forces invaded Ukraine, where she was born.

Ally is one of the more than 100,000 Ukrainian Americans living in California — roughly 20,000 of whom live in the Bay Area. She, like other members of the diaspora here, are watching and worrying for the safety of people in Ukraine.

Guest: Ally Markovich, Berkeleyside reporter

This episode was produced and edited by Alan Montecillo, Maria Esquinca and Ericka Cruz Guevarra. The original interview was made by Nina Thorsen and hosted by Tara Siler. Alex Emslie, Rachael Myrow, and Maria Peña also contributed reporting.

Episode Transcript

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Living with climate change means we’re going to have to plan for more disasters. That includes things like emergency shelters, food, and financial help. 

But there are many people who don't feel safe or welcome accessing help when disaster does strike — including queer people. New research from Yale University, the University of Georgia and UC Irvine found LGBTQ+ communities are rendered invisible within disaster policies, even in California. 

In the face of natural disasters, the dangers for queer people, who can also face barriers like homelessness, discrimination, and poverty, are layered and complex. The stakes for planning without queer people in mind can have significant consequences.

Guest: Ezra David Romero, KQED climate reporter

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

Episode Transcript

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San Francisco voters decided overwhelmingly to recall 3 board of education members from office: Board of Education President Gabriela López and commissioners Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins. That leaves Mayor London Breed with the unilateral decision of who should replace them.

Whoever the mayor picks will have many difficult issues to tackle, including hiring a superintendent and hashing out the future of the district’s budget. So what happens next? And what are supporters and opponents of the recall thinking about as the school board moves forward?

Guest: Guy Marzorati, KQED politics and government reporter and producer of KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast

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

Episode transcript

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Antioch has been a destination for Bay Area residents looking for affordable housing. But now, it’s at the center of a growing eviction crisis. 

In the first episode of the newest season of SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America, KQED housing reporters Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari take us to the Sycamore Corridor in Antioch, where renters are fighting for protections like never before.

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California is in limbo with the death penalty. We have an execution moratorium, and no one has been put to death in the state since 2006. But it’s still legal to sentence someone to die, which means there are hundreds of people sitting on death row, often in solitary confinement.

But a move by Gov. Gavin Newsom begins to chip away at this system. The nation’s largest death row at San Quentin State Prison will close, and the men inside will be sent to other maximum security prisons where they can have access to jobs. Meanwhile, the state plans to transform the former site of San Quentin’s death row into a “positive, healing environment.”

Guests: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED producer and reporter, and Kate Wolffe, KQED producer, reporter and weekend anchor

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

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Over the past few weeks, students, families and educators in Oakland have pushed back hard against plans by OUSD's Board of Education to close or merge public schools.

A majority of board members say the closures are necessary to address the district's budget problems. But they've faced fierce opposition from many local residents. Two educators, Moses Omolade and Andre San-Chez, have also been on a hunger strike since the beginning of the month.

On Tuesday night, the board voted 4-2 in favor of a slightly smaller school closure plan. But this debate is far from over.

Guest: Ashley McBride, education equity reporter for The Oaklandside

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

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