The Bay

Back in 2017, Quinn Jasmine Redwoods saw a long line of people at a food distribution center in Oakland. Nobody in line had a mask, even though the most deadly and destructive wildfires in Californian’s history were spreading pollutants into the air.

So Redwoods picked up 300 masks at a local store, and created Mask Oakland, a trans/queer led grassroots organization to distribute masks to mostly unhoused and disabled people. And now, fires are burning again — this time, in the middle of a pandemic.

Guest: Quinn Jasmine Redwoods, founder of Mask Oakland

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People across the state lost power with almost no warning over the weekend, and there’s a risk it could happen again soon. The California Independent Systems Operator instituted rolling power shutoffs to prevent an uncontrolled loss of power, and is asking people to limit how much electricity they're using. But why is this even happening in the first place?

Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter

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At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jesus Guillen overheard a woman ask why those being held on the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at the Oakland Port with COVID-19 couldn’t just be sent to an island somewhere. It reminded him immediately of another crisis he lived through: The HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, where discrimination and stigma was made worse by the government’s inadequate response.

Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED science reporter

You can read Lesley's full story here.

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A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered a privately-run immigrant detention center in Bakersfield to stop transferring people to the facility and to provide weekly COVID-19 tests to those inside. Now more than a dozen people detained at the Mesa Verde facility have COVID-19. Meanwhile, calls to get people out of immigration detention centers are overlapping with calls to abolish prisons amid a nationwide movement for racial justice.

Guest: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED immigration reporter

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Sen. Kamala Harris will be the first Black woman and person of Indian descent to run for Vice President on a major party ticket. Many Americans got to know her when she ran for president last year. But we here in the Bay Area have known her for a lot longer. Not just because she was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley, but because her political career started in San Francisco.

Now she's joined Joe Biden's ticket as the Democratic nominee for Vice President. So today, we're diving into how Bay Area politics shaped Kamala Harris.

Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED politics correspondent

This episode originally aired in January 2019.

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Many senior care homes in the Bay Area are in fire risk areas, according to a KQED investigation. These facilities are supposed to have emergency plans for disasters like wildfires in order to evacuate the mostly older people with medical conditions who live in them. But with dangerous fire season months approaching, and a pandemic in full swing, some worry that many assisted living homes aren’t prepared. 

Guest: Molly Peterson, KQED Science reporter

Click here to see KQED's Older and Overlooked project, which also includes a guide to help you protect your loved ones in care facilities.

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Almost all Bay Area schools are required to start the school year remotely to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 this fall. In response, many families are starting their own small, in-person "learning pods" instead. But not everyone has access to one. Some parents are paying extra just so their child can get access. And there are also fears that these pods will exacerbate inequities that have already existed in the education system.

Guest: Sara Hossaini, KQED reporter

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A secret clique of Vallejo police officers commemorate killings by bending the tips of their star-shaped badges — and the city’s top leaders did nothing about it.

That's according to Open Vallejo, a recently launched non-profit news organization. For many locals, the story only confirmed their mistrust of a department they feel continues to act with impunity. Last week, police Chief Shawny Williams announced he would launch a third party investigation into the allegations after two VPD employees came forward about the practice. But in a city where local officials have been reluctant to discipline its police department, what is the path forward?

Guest: Geoff King, founder of Open Vallejo and civil liberties lawyer

See Geoff’s article and subscribe to the Open Vallejo podcast here. 

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Last week, Congress questioned leaders of four of the largest tech companies in the world - Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple - about just how much power they’ve gained over the years. Today, we're revisiting an episode from December about how Amazon's race to be the biggest and fastest is hurting the employees doing the work.

Will Evans, reporter with The Center for Investigative Reporting

You can read Will's full Behind the Smiles investigation here. And to share your Amazon injury records with him click here.

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Some doulas are seeing an uptick in business during the pandemic. Hospitals are limiting the number of people who can be present at births, and many families are looking for options outside of traditional healthcare facilities.

We'll hear from Sumayyah Monét Franklin who is a birth rights activist, doula and owner of Sumi's Touch. She talks about working during a pandemic and why she is especially concerned about Black mothers and children.

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