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Oakland’s Schools Are Contaminated With Lead. What's the District Doing About It? Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

The Oakland school district is looking for ways to fund lead contamination cleanup, after tests earlier this year revealed that at least 30 schools have dangerous lead levels in the drinking water. The district has been under fire from students, teachers and parents for taking months to release the results of its testing. We’ll talk about why Oakland, in the schools and beyond, has such high rates of lead poisoning, how the school district has handled it and what needs to be done to fix it.

Guests:

Alex Bledsoe, activist filmmaker producing OAKLEAD, a documentary about the history of lead poisoning in Oakland

Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research, Children Now, a California-based org focused on improving child well-being

Mike Hutchinson, vice president, Oakland School Board

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California Bans Legacy Admissions Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

Starting next fall, public and private universities in California will no longer be allowed to consider an applicant’s relationship to alumni or donors in admissions decisions. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill last month banning the practice, known as legacy admissions. “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly,” Newsom said in a statement. We’ll examine what the California ban on legacy admissions could mean for students and for colleges across the country.

Guests:

Nanette Asimov , Higher Education Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Jessie Ryan, President, The Campaign for College Opportunity, a non-profit policy and research organization that advocates for Californians to attend and succeed in college.

Phil Ting, Assembly member representing California's 19th district encompassing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties

Catharine Hill, managing director of the nonprofit Ithaka S+R and a former president of Vassar College

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Supreme Court’s New Term Will Decide on Trans Rights, Guns Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

As the new Supreme Court term begins, the decisions and conduct of its last term have put a cloud over the judicial institution. Opinions extending the boundaries of presidential immunity and upending administrative law startled court watchers. And ethics questions about Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito helped push public opinion about the court to an all-time low. We’ll talk to legal experts about the state of the court, the cases it will take up this year and what role the justices might play in deciding the 2024 presidential election.

Guests:

Vikram Amar, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law - He clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the United States Supreme Court.

Rory Little, professor of constitutional law, UC School of Law, San Francisco - former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney

Melissa Murray, professor of law, NYU School of Law - co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast

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Lawsuits Against National Labor Relations Board Could Cloud Future of Organized Labor Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

The National Labor Relations Board is facing legal challenges from SpaceX, Amazon, Starbucks and other companies that argue that the nearly 90-year old agency is unconstitutional. The NLRB investigates labor disputes and protects employees’ right to organize, but if these companies have their way in court, it could result in the dissolution of the agency and the statute it enforces. We look at the cases and their implications for both employers and labor organizers.

Guests:

Samuel Estreicher, professor of public law; director, the Center for Labor and Employment Law; director, the Institute of Judicial Administration at NYU School of Law

William G. Gould IV, professor emeritus specializing in labor law and employment discrimination law, Stanford Law School; former chairman, the National Labor Relations Board in the Clinton administration

Farida Jhabvala Romero, labor correspondent, KQED

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SF Zoo is “Unsafe for Visitors and Animals” According to City Report Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

At the San Francisco Zoo, the kangaroo pen lacks running water, the gorilla habitat area floods during heavy rainfall and the jaguars are depressed and live in an old concrete chain-link box. That’s according to a new report by the San Francisco Animal Control and Welfare Commission, which describes the 95-year-old facility as “extremely outdated” and “unsafe for visitors and animals.” The commission is now urging the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to require a performance audit of the zoo. We’ll discuss the report and talk to experts about what makes a zoo safe and humane for animals, zookeepers and visitors.

Guests:

Tara Duggan, reporter, SF Chronicle

Justin Barker, local animal rights activist who contributed to the city’s report

Joel Parrott, former director, Oakland Zoo

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Second Deadly Hurricane in Two Weeks Devastates Florida Oct 11, 2024

Show notes

At least 12 people are dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night. The death toll is expected to rise as local officials assess the damage which has caused widespread flooding, left millions of people without power and compounded hardships for those recovering from Hurricane Helene, which hit two weeks ago. We get the latest and learn why so-called “supercharged hurricanes” are becoming more common.

Guests:

Porter Fox, author, “Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them”

Gabriella Paul, reporter, WUSF (NPR affiliate in the greater Tampa Bay area)

Gerard Albert III, Western North Carolina rural communities reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

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The Natural World is Queerer Than You Think Oct 11, 2024

Show notes

When a female clownfish dies, a male clownfish can switch sexes and reproduce with other females. Some morpho butterflies have one male wing, and one female. In some populations of giraffes, about 95% of sexual activity is homosexual. In his book, “A Little Queer Natural History,” science writer Josh Davis gives a sampling of the enormous variety of gender and sexual behaviors in the plant, fungal and animal world and the ways some scientists have twisted themselves into knots to find non-sexual explanations for gay sex in animals. We talk to Davis about the gender fluid, intersex, asexual, gay, gender changeable, multi-sexual, rainbow splendor of the natural world.

Guests:

Josh Luke Davis, science writer, Natural History Museum, London; author, "A Little Queer Natural History"

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Fifty Years of Saturday Night Live Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

When Saturday Night Live asked Dana Carvey to play Joe Biden for this season, few anticipated that the president would drop out of the race over concerns about age. SNL itself turns 50 this year, ancient by TV standards, and doesn’t appear to be close to dropping out. The water cooler buzz over Carvey’s Biden and Maya Rudolph’s spot-on Kamala Harris impression suggests that the show still has legs. But can it maintain its relevance amid declining ratings and politics that sometimes seem beyond parody? We mark the show’s anniversary by looking back at its cultural influence and some of the most iconic sketches, from Weekend Update to Wayne’s World.

Guests:

Eric Deggans, tv critic, National Public Radio (NPR)

Joanna Robinson, senior staff writer, The Ringer; author, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios

Stephen Tropiano, professor of screen studies, Ithaca College Los Angeles Program; author, The newly revised and updated book "The SNL Companion: An Unofficial Guide to the Seasons, Sketches, and Stars of Saturday Night Live"

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Daniel Lurie Tried to End Poverty in the City. Now He Wants to Be Mayor. Oct 10, 2024

Show notes

Daniel Lurie founded and was the CEO of the antipoverty nonprofit, Tipping Point. He’s also heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and has put more than six million dollars of his own money into his San Francisco mayoral campaign. In the last of our interviews with the major candidates, we talk with Lurie about how he’d solve San Francisco’s most entrenched problems, and why he thinks it’s time for the city to be run by an outsider candidate who hasn’t held elected office.

Guests:

Daniel Lurie, founder and former CEO, Tipping Point Community - a nonprofit grant-making organization that fights poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Max Boot Unravels Ronald Reagan’s ‘Myriad Contradictions’ in New Biography Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

Much has been written about Ronald Reagan, but historian Max Boot’s new biography, which draws on new archival sources and interviews with nearly a hundred people who knew Reagan best, is being hailed as definitive. Boot says Reagan was possessed of “myriad contradictions and inconsistencies:” a skeptic of government who presided over vast spending increases; a gun rights advocate who supported tough gun laws; a man of strong convictions but little intellectual depth. We talk to Boot about why he did not want to write either a “hagiography or a hit job” of the former president and California governor, and both the contrasts and connections he sees between Reagan and Donald Trump. Boot’s new book is “Reagan: His Life and Legend.” What policy, event or moment do you most associate with Ronald Reagan?

Guests:

Max Boot, senior fellow for national security studies, Council on Foreign Relations - columnist, Washington Post; author, "Reagan: His Life and Legend"

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