KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

Coronavirus Cases Surge at San Quentin Prison Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

San Quentin is home to a growing number of coronavirus cases following a botched transfer of inmates from a men's prison in Chino, which was previously reported as having the deadliest outbreak in California's prisons. San Quentin now has 337 cases of coronavirus as of Monday evening -- a jump from zero reported cases prior to the transfer in late May. To lawmakers and prisoner advocates, the outbreak at San Quentin was entirely preventable and the result of poor planning by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The department says while some inmates tested positive upon arrival to San Quentin, they had been tested and medically evaluated prior to the transfer.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visa Programs Suspended by Trump Administration Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

President Trump Monday suspended a number of immigration visa programs affecting tech workers and students, among others. The White House says the move will help get Americans back to work, as the economy continues to reel from 40 million virus-related job losses. But critics say freezing the visas is an election-year political move that will hurt US businesses, particularly in Silicon Valley. We’ll get the details.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janet Napolitano Steps Down After Seven Years as UC President Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

After seven years as president of the University of California, Janet Napolitano is stepping down in August. The first woman to serve as UC's president, Napolitano oversaw increased enrollment systemwide, implemented initiatives addressing the climate crisis and Title IX and, last month, led a decision to drop the ACT/SAT requirement in admissions. Napolitano also notably weathered a 2017 audit scandal and sued the Trump administration when it first rescinded DACA -- the program she created while serving as Obama's secretary of Homeland Security. We'll talk to Napolitano about her tenure and get her thoughts on the future of the UC system as it continues to navigate the pandemic.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communities Push to Remove Police From Schools Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

On Wednesday, the Oakland Unified School District board will consider a resolution that calls for dismantling the district’s dedicated police department. One group, the Black Organizing Project, has advocated for nearly a decade to shift resources from police officers to social workers, therapists or counselors. Studies show that Black and Latino students are disproportionately disciplined more harshly than other students, which advocates say is an extension of racism and criminalization of people of color. Meanwhile, police officials say that even if the district eliminates its department, Oakland schools will still need police to respond when students are victims of crime and abuse. We dive into the debate over school policing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Reimagining the Police, in the Past and Future Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

"Defund the police" may be a new rallying cry, but according to Harvard historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad, black reformers, scholars and activists have been calling out systemic racism in law enforcement for at least 100 years. We'll talk to Muhammad about historical attempts to root out the use of excessive force, racial profiling and other unconstitutional policing practices as well as the laws, policies and attitudes that have stood in the way of reform. We'll also discuss whether we, as a nation, are ready to accept an alternate vision of policing that does not, as he writes in his book "The Condemnation of Blackness," protect white lives at the expense of black ones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on Coronavirus and ‘Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care’ Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

In his new book, “Which Country Has the World’s Best Health Care?”, bioethicist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel profiles and compares eleven countries’ health care systems to figure out which one works best. When considering health care reforms in the U.S., Emanuel believes they should emphasize primary care and is in favor of calls for universal coverage. Emanuel, who is a member of Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force, has also been critical of President Trump’s handling of the pandemic. In this hour, we’ll talk to Emanuel about the book and get his take on the latest coronavirus news.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Balancing Health and the Economy During COVID-19 Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted this week to ask the state to provide the city with more latitude in moving up dates for reopening things like bars, indoor dining, and hair salons. San Francisco is one of only six counties in the state that had not yet sought this flexibility around reopening. The move comes at a time when officials are working to strike a balance between keeping residents safe and COVID-19 hospitalizations manageable while gradually reopening the economy. More than 243,000 Californians filed for unemployment last week, and while many San Franciscans are struggling to stay afloat, the pandemic has also exposed long-term economic inequities. In this hour, we talk with San Francisco health and economy officials about how they balance those concerns.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Theater Collaboration Celebrates Juneteenth with Play that Explores Difficult Conversations About Race Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

To commemorate Juneteenth, the celebration of emancipation from slavery, nearly 40 Bay Area theaters and others nationwide are collaborating on a project to bring a thought-provoking play about race into people’s homes. As part of The Juneteenth Theater Justice Project, staged readings of playwright Vincent Terrell Durham’s play, “Polar Bears, Black Boys and Prairie Fringed Orchids”, will be live streamed from theaters around the country on Zoom on June 19th. We’ll talk with the playwright and the project leader about the play and what a celebration of freedom means in a time of heightened attention to systemic racism.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PG&E Pleads Guilty to 84 Counts of Manslaughter in Camp Fire Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

On Thursday, a Butte County judge imposed a $3.5 million fine on PG&E for causing the 2018 Camp Fire -- the deadliest wildfire in California's history that claimed 84 lives. The ruling came after PG&E CEO Bill Johnson entered 84 individual guilty pleas for those deaths on Tuesday. Dozens spoke during the court proceeding recounting the horrifying deaths of loved ones who perished in the blaze. While PG&E, the state's largest utility, was held responsible, no executives were charged or face jail time. Critics say the fine and punishment is too lenient given that PG&E has been linked to a number of disasters since 2015. We’ll dive into PG&E's criminal case and the company's bankruptcy proceedings.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supreme Court Rules to Keep DACA in Place Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

The Supreme Court of the United States issued a 5-4 ruling today upholding the legality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The program allows immigrants who arrived in the country as children -- but don’t have permanent legal status or a path to legal status -- to receive protection from deportation and permission to work. For the past eight years, around 800,000 people have participated in DACA, working in what are now deemed essential jobs: helping feed the nation, caring for coronavirus patients, and serving in the military. The Obama-era program had been in limbo since 2017, when President Donald Trump announced he was ending the program and called it illegal. The program, which some studies suggest was hugely popular with Americans, can now remain in place. We discuss the decision and what could happen next for immigration reform.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices