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Why It Feels Like We're Living in ‘The Twilight Zone’ Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

In an era marked by deep political polarization, runaway technology and everyday absurdities, our current reality often feels like an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” In his new book, “Serling: A Journey Into the Twilight Zone With TV’s First Visionary,” acclaimed television critic Alan Sepinwall, explores how writer and creator Rod Serling transformed television by weaving social issues and national anxieties in his storytelling. Sepinwall traces Serling’s enduring footprint across modern popular culture, from “Twin Peaks” to “Black Mirror.”

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What an Anthropic IPO Could Mean for the Bay Area Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

Anthropic has filed to go public in what could become the largest IPO in history. The San Francisco-based AI company’s 335-page filing offers the first detailed look at its finances, growth ambitions and stated risk factors, including the possibility of catastrophic incidents. We’ll talk with San Francisco-based tech and business reporters about what Anthropic’s filing can tell us about the future of the AI economy and what the expected huge influx of money could mean for the Bay Area.

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The Key Congressional Races that Could Shape the Final Years of Trump Oct 27, 2026

Show notes

Next week’s midterm election will decide which party controls Congress for the second half of President Trump’s term. And in the wake of California’s redistricting in favor of Democratic candidates, the state could play an outsized role in shaping the outcome of the midterms. We’ll dig into key races here in California and across the nation, and how issues like inflation and Trump’s approval rating could influence the outcome.

Guests:

Erin Covey, editor covering the U.S. House of Representatives, The Cook Political Report
Guy Marzorati, correspondent, KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk

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Decoding School Board Races on Your Ballot Oct 27, 2026

Show notes

Voters across the Bay Area will weigh in on more than 100 school board races in next Tuesday’s election. As many school districts face declining enrollment, tight budgets and difficult decisions about the role of technology in classrooms, the make-up of school boards is critical. But voters often have very little information about the candidates, what they stand for or who supports them. This year, to address that void, KQED sent questionnaires to close to 400 school board candidates to better understand their positions. We’ll talk about the issues facing school boards, how to make an informed vote and the key races in San Francisco, Oakland and beyond.

Guest:

Jill Tucker, K-12 Education Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
Molly Gibbs, education reporter, The Mercury News and East Bay Times
Katie DeBenedetti, reporter, KQED
Ashley McBride, education equity reporter, The Oaklandside

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‘The Vanishing Family’ Examines the Toll of Dementia Across Generations Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

Would you want to know if you carried a gene that would cause dementia, even if there was no cure? And how would that knowledge change the way you lived? These are questions facing one family in which a rare brain disease known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has passed from one generation to the next. Journalist Robert Kolker, who spent years following their story, exposes the hard choices families face, what dementia reveals about personality and identity, and what FTD research is uncovering about how our brains work. We talk to Kolker about his new book “The Vanishing Family.” How has dementia affected your family?

Guest:

Robert Kolker, author of “The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate and the Quest to End Dementia” and a contributor to the New York Times Magazine.

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How Should Schools Adapt to AI? Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

Artificial intelligence has long entered the classroom and is rapidly changing how students learn and teachers teach. Some schools are embracing AI and personalized learning tools, while others are pulling back on technology in the classroom. Meanwhile, students are increasingly turning to chatbots to help with assignments, raising concerns about what happens to critical thinking, reading, and writing skills when AI does the work for them. Can schools harness the benefits of AI without compromising students’ learning? We’ll talk with educators and researchers about how AI is reshaping the classroom, what it means for students’ development, and how schools and parents are navigating this new era of education.

Guests:

Daniel Herman, humanities teacher, Maybeck High School; wrote about teaching English in the age of ChatGPT for The Atlantic
Jeremy Roschelle, executive director of learning sciences research, Digital Promise
Kip Glazer, principal, Mountain View High School
MacKenzie Price, co-founder, Alpha Schools
Tom Wadbrook, director of technology, Prospect Sierra School

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What’s Behind Surging Energy Costs? Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

Soaring energy prices are the leading factor behind rising inflation across the United States, where consumer prices are up 3.7 percent over last year. In California, where energy costs have become an issue in the governor’s race, electricity prices are surging to a rate of about double the national average. We’ll look at what’s driving the rise here in California and across the U.S., and hear about how policy solutions could help bring prices under control.

Guests:

Mike O'Boyle, senior director of policy and strategy, Energy Innovation
Meredith Fowlie, professor, UC Berkeley, faculty director, Energy Institute at Haas, co-director, Environment and Energy Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research

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Pulitzer and Tony-winning ‘Liberation’ Grapples with 1970s Feminism at Berkeley Rep Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

Fresh off its Broadway run, “Liberation,” which won this year’s Tony Award for best play and
Pulitzer Prize for drama, opens its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Rep. The play features a
modern-day narrator trying to imagine her mother’s 1970s consciousness-raising group. For
playwright Bess Wohl, her research involved asking a question to her mother: “Do you regret
having me?” Wohl and director, Whitney White, join us to discuss the play and its depiction of
feminism across generational lines.

Guests:

Bess Wohl, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright of “Liberation”
Whitney White, Tony Award-nominated director of “Liberation”

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Six Flags Roller Coaster Deaths, and the Warning Signs Missed Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

Last week, a man on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia died when he was ejected from the ride — a death that follows a pattern of apparent safety incidents on Six Flags roller coasters nationwide. A recent CNN investigation into Six Flags Magic Mountain, located just north of Los Angeles in Valencia, exposed serious safety concerns surrounding X2, one of the park’s most popular roller coasters. Over its nearly two-decade run, the ride has been linked to more than a dozen severe hospitalizations and two deaths, including riders who suffered severe brain hemorrhages. Six Flags officials have since closed the coaster — plus 10 others related to the subsequent Goliath incident. We’ll speak with a CNN reporter who broke the X2 story, and look at why apparently dangerous rides weren’t shut down sooner.

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Bracing for the Coming Wave of Legal Challenges to Midterm Voting Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

Twelve days from the midterms, election officials and teams of lawyers are preparing for what has become a depressingly familiar American tradition: challenges to voting. The Trump administration has been focused on voter integrity, including filing suits to take purported noncitizens off voter rolls, and attempting to collect sensitive voter data from states. Meanwhile, legal teams are gearing up for challenges to election results. We’ll talk to experts and hear your concerns.

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