The Bay

Sixteen year-old Crista Ramos was in her high school Zoom class when her family got some stressful news: A federal court ruled in favor of ending the humanitarian protection known as Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The program allows hundreds of thousands of immigrants who fled their home countries, including Crista’s mom, to work and live in the United States.

For more than two years, Crista has been a lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against President Trump’s plan to end temporary protected status. With this recent court ruling, more than 400,000 immigrants could lose their TPS status and be deported as early as next March. But Crista vows to keep fighting.

Guest: Farida Jabvala Romero, Immigration Reporter for KQED

This episode originally aired in February 2019. At the end of the episode, we provide an update on the recent court ruling and how it affects Crista and her family.

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Suburbs are some of the most diverse spaces in America. It's one reason why — more and more — they’ve become the backdrop of tensions between police and communities of color.

That friction is at the center of a protest over policing in Antioch, where activists went on a hunger strike for five days and are camped out in front of the local police department.

Guest: Sandhya Dirks, race and equity reporter for KQED

Click here to check out Season 1 of American Suburb.

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When KQED photojournalist Beth LaBerge woke up to orange skies in San Francisco Wednesday morning, she rushed out the door to document the extraordinary moment.

In a year with the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice protests and wildfires, Beth has been on the frontlines documenting it all. And in some ways, it helps her process all that’s been happening.

Guest: Beth LaBerge, photojournalist for KQED

Click here for a few more of Beth's photos that she's taken for KQED.

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The pandemic has set off a chain of events that will make this year’s election in California different from years past. For one, the state can’t bet on its most reliable poll workers — older Californians — to volunteer. On top of that, many traditional polling places have been closed because of the risk of an outbreak.

So now the state is mailing all registered voters a ballot. And while that will make voting safer for many people, some will still need to cast their ballots in person. And counties are trying to make sure that those voters don't get left behind.

Guest: Guy Marzorati, reporter and producer for KQED’s California politics and government desk

Click here for more info on volunteering to be a poll worker in California.

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Uncle Bobby Johnson, also known as the People’s Uncle, has been standing up to police brutality ever since his nephew Oscar Grant was shot by a BART police officer in 2009.

He's also spent a lot of time supporting families who've lost loved ones to police violence. And today he sees a movement that is much bigger than when he first became an activist more than a decade ago.

Guest: Cephus Johnson, aka Uncle Bobby X, founder of the Oscar Grant Foundation and Love Not Blood Campaign.

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For the last eight years, Uber and Lyft have successfully beaten state and local attempts to change its core labor model: treating drivers as independent contractors instead of employees with benefits.

Then the pandemic hit. And now, California’s public officials — including state attorney general Xavier Becerra — might actually have the political will to force gig companies to change how they treat their employees.

Guest: Sam Harnett, tech and work reporter for KQED

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Soon after the pandemic started and Californians began to lose their jobs, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued what he called an 'eviction moratorium' to protect those who couldn’t make rent because of COVID-19.

But there are a lot of vulnerable people who were never protected by that order. And since March 4, at least 2,000 California households have been kicked out of their homes.

Guest: Matt Levin, housing and data reporter for CalMatters

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Fire season doesn't have to be this bad. There are lots of things we can do to prevent more and more extreme wildfires.

It'll take a big shift in the way we do things. California has spent decades reacting to and suppressing natural fires, which is one reason why the wildfires we're currently dealing with are so extreme. But it's still possible to rethink our relationship with fire and change our situation for the better.

Guest: Danielle Venton, KQED science reporter

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California is low on firefighters at a really bad time. It’s partially because the state released thousands of incarcerated firefighters to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

But it’s also because this system of relying on incarcerated people to help fight fires — which we’ve had since after World War II — isn’t sustainable.

Guest: Kevin Stark, KQED science reporter

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Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that could ban WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, from operating in the United States. 

But this potential ban would also have ripple effects on local politics in San Francisco, where about one in five residents are Chinese. Many use the app to talk with family and do business, but also to reach voters and organize around issues like tenants’ rights. So without it, Chinese-speaking residents would lose a pillar of their organizing infrastructure. 

Guest: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Reporter for KQED

For the latest information on wildfires currently happening in the Bay Area, visit kqed.org. The newsroom has also put together resources on protecting against wildfire smoke, along with a resource on what to pack in an emergency bag.

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