KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

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Governor Newsom Lifts Stay at Home Order After Criticism Over Transparency Concerns Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

The California Department of Public Health announced Monday that the state will lift the stay at home order, allowing reopening of outdoor dining and other services. The news comes as Governor Newsom faces criticism over its lack of transparency on key coronavirus data, including how it calculates the ICU projections that had been used as benchmarks for shutting down. We get the latest.

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President Biden Proposes Path to Citizenship For Nation's Undocumented Immigrants Jan 25, 2021

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Millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. would have a path to citizenship in eight years or less, under the sweeping reform bill President Biden submitted to Congress this week. Biden also issued orders preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, halting border wall construction and ending the travel ban that targeted Muslim countries. We'll review the Biden Administration's immigration plan and talk about its potential effects on California.

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Bay Area Restaurants Sue State Over Outdoor Dining Ban Jan 22, 2021

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The ban on outdoor dining is “arbitrary, irrational, and unfair” according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a coalition of Bay Area restaurants and wineries. The suit says that there is no scientific evidence to support the spread of COVID-19 in outdoor settings, and it warns that businesses will continue to close unless the ban is reversed. The state says the ban is necessary to save lives and prevent hospitals from reaching capacity. We’ll hear from the coalition, and check in on the latest science on outdoor transmission of the virus.

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Writer George Saunders and the Russian Masters on Writing, Reading and Life Jan 22, 2021

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George Saunders is one of the most celebrated fiction writers today but his new book looks back to examine great stories of the past. "A Swim in the Pond in the Rain" is a close look at seven classic 19th century Russian short stories that grew out of a class he's long taught on Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol as a creative writing teacher. Saunders approaches the work with a writer's curiosity. "The focus of my artistic life has been trying to learn to write emotionally moving stories that a reader feels compelled to finish," he writes. If a story drew us in, kept us reading, made us feel respected, how did it do that? We talk to Saunders about reading, writing and great literature.

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How California Can Contain Coronavirus Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

As COVID-19 continues to spread and mutate nearly a year into the pandemic, many people struggle with assessing the risk of day-to-day activities amid a sluggish vaccine rollout. The numbers in California -- more than 3 million cases and more than 35,000 deaths -- while rising, are beginning to level out. At the same time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised that the state would vaccinate 1 million people in 10 days, but delayed data collection makes it unclear if the state met that goal. During his inaugural speech on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said, “We must set aside the politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation,” signaling significant policy change toward a more aggressive response from the federal government. We talk about California’s current challenges containing the virus and what state and national leadership can do to curb the spread and mounting deaths.

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Biden, Harris Enter Office With Message of Unity Jan 21, 2021

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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office Wednesday with an inaugural message of unity. The new administration faces extreme challenges, from far right radicals and the pandemic to a failing economy and foreign cyber attacks. President Biden got right to work, signing 17 executive orders, many aimed at rolling back Trump policies. We’ll talk about the inauguration and calls for unity, and what it means for California, that so many state politicians are now in prominent national positions.

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Examining Biden’s Coronavirus Plan and Previewing a Post Pandemic Life Jan 21, 2021

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President Biden's proposed plan to halt the spread of the coronavirus includes federal oversight of vaccination via community vaccination centers and hiring 100,000 public health workers to help out. Epidemiologist and sociologist Nicholas Christakis joins us to assess the plan. We’ll also get Christakis’ thoughts on how and when we might get back to normal and his book "Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live".

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Young People Share Thoughts on Inauguration, Next Four Years Jan 21, 2021

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The inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday featured an optimistic address from President Biden and a stirring poem read by Los Angeles poet Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Many young people, some who voted for the first time to elect Biden, are looking for the new administration to tackle challenges such as climate change, immigration reform and the coronavirus pandemic. As part of Forum’s post-inauguration coverage, we’ll hear young people's reflections on Inauguration Day and their hopes for the next four years. We'll also hear national reporting from YR Media, a national network of young journalists and artists, on what issues youth want the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize.

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Historian Heather Cox Richardson and this American Moment Jan 19, 2021

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“The past has its own terrible inevitability. But it is never too late to change the future.” That’s according to historian Heather Cox Richardson, who observes that the political, racial and economic divisions in the country evoke the crises faced by the nation on the brink of the Civil War. And now as we prepare for a transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden and the nation’s first female vice-president, Kamala Harris, what can history tell us about the tumultuous moment we are living in?

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The Dangers of Whitewashing the News and Political Coverage Jan 19, 2021

Show notes

Throughout the presidency of Donald Trump, many media outlets across the United States were reluctant to label him a liar or a racist, even when his actions merited those terms, or to cover White supremacy as more than a fringe movement. Now, in the wake of the deadly pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, news organizations are grappling with the consequences of their whitewashed political coverage and failure to call out the president’s lies more aggressively. We’ll talk about how journalists are reckoning with how they shape and deliver the news, and what should change moving forward.

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