KQED's The California Report

Latest Episodes:

DACA Recipient's Detention Highlights Concerns For Immigrants With Disabilities Jul 24, 2025

Show notes

A recent ICE arrest in Southern California is raising more questions about how immigration enforcement is being carried out and who gets caught in the crossfire. The man taken into custody is a DACA recipient. He's deaf and primarily communicates through sign language. His ordeal, for the most part, left his friends and family in the dark, until he was finally able to return home.

Guest: Brittny Mejia, LA Times

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is asking a judge to bring LA County's juvenile halls under state control.

Reporter: Libby Rainey, LAist

The new federal budget signed into law by President Donald Trump is expected to negatively impact many people enrolled in Covered California, the state’s marketplace for subsidized health plans.

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Children's Hospital Los Angeles Ends Transgender Care Jul 23, 2025

Show notes

For the past 30 years, Children's Hospital Los Angeles has provided gender affirming care to trans children and young adults. But for nearly 3,000 patients, that ended on Tuesday, under pressure from the Trump administration. Families are struggling to find new doctors, and a way forward.

Reporter: Megan Jamerson, KCRW Immigrants in Los Angeles have been losing income because of federal immigration raids. Cities want to help, but they've been dealing with budget cuts.

Reporter: David Wagner, LAist

California Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the state, lost its federal funding this week under a court order that allows that money to be withheld while a larger legal dispute plays out.

Reporter: Kristen Hwang, CalMatters

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Immigration Enforcement Leads To Political Activism Among California Latinos Jul 22, 2025

Show notes

Could the Trump administration's aggressive – and some would argue illegal – immigration raids spark the beginnings of a new political movement that unites Latinos?

Reporter: Aisha Wallace-Palomares

A group of Democratic state senators are proposing a bill aimed at stabilizing gas prices, but environmental groups are pushing back.

Reporter: Manola Secaira, CapRadio

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Despite Three 911 Calls, Two Homebound Disabled Men Died In Eaton Fire Jul 21, 2025

Show notes

30 people died in January’s unprecedented fires in Los Angeles County– most of them older, and many with disabilities. LAist recently obtained 911 calls from two disabled Eaton Fire victims through a public records request. The calls shed light on why, and how emergency planning continues to leave people with disabilities behind.

Reporter: Erin Stone, LAist

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is currently investigating an apartment complex in Santa Monica. It may be connected with an explosion Friday morning at one of the department's training facilities, which left three deputies dead.

Siskiyou County has declared a local emergency over the use of dangerous pesticides at illegal cannabis grows.

Reporter: Justin Higginbottom, Jefferson Public Radio

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As Pistachio Harvest Season Ramps Up, Concerns Grow About Workforce Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

Across the Central Valley, the agriculture industry is ramping up for harvest season. But for some farmworkers, this year’s job search is different. It comes with a shadow– the threat of immigration enforcement.

Reporter: Madi Bolanos, The California Report

Border Patrol agents descended on a Home Depot in South Sacramento Thursday morning, the latest immigration enforcement action in California.

Reporter: Manola Secaira, CapRadio

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LA Program Aims To Ween Unhoused People Off Of Meth Jul 17, 2025

Show notes

Some homeless services providers in L.A. County are offering an innovative treatment option to help unhoused Angelenos quit using stimulants, like methamphetamine. It involves rewarding people with small gift cards when they pass a drug test. The simple approach has been around awhile, but is now making headway in LA’s homeless services sector.

Reporter: Aaron Schrank, LAist

In what it's calling a final decision, the Trump administration has killed $4 billion in federal funding for California's troubled high-speed rail project.

Reporter: Dan Brekke, KQED

New details are emerging from the recent immigration raid at a cannabis farm on the Central Coast. A US Army veteran says he was wrongfully detained and violently arrested by federal immigration agents, even though he’s an American citizen.

Reporter: Gabriela Fernandez, KCBX

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Pesticides Pose Significant Risk For Pregnant Farmworkers On Central Coast Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

Pregnancy should be a time of hope and care. But for many farmworkers in California's Pajaro Valley, it's a time of dangerous exposure to toxic pesticides. A new investigation by Santa Cruz Local reveals how people working in the fields are being put at serious risk.

Guest: Nik Altenberg, Santa Cruz Local

Half of the 4,000 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles last month are being released from duty.

Reporter: Destiny Torres, LAist

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Orange County Takes Different Approach to Treat Mental Illness Through CARE Courts Jul 15, 2025

Show notes

California has taken on a grand experiment when it comes to its CARE Courts--a judicial approach to getting people struggling with severe mental health issues into treatment programs. The law, which went into effect statewide last December, empowers judges to mandate that a person with mounting mental health problems undergo treatment, whether the person consents or not. Orange County is taking a different approach, however--with something called "relentless outreach" in getting mental health treatment to those that need it the most.

Lawmakers in Sacramento have proposed a bill that would prohibit online video streaming services, like Netflix and Amazon, from making their advertisements louder than the programs their viewers have subscribed to watch--and it has bipartisan support.

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California Tribes Scramble To Find Funding For Food Assistance Programs Jul 14, 2025

Show notes

The Trump administration’s decision to cancel a federal food assistance program is hitting California’s tribal communities hard. For the Hoopa Valley Tribe, the funds help them provide fresh, local food for their elders and creates reliable income for their farmers. With funding set to expire this year, the tribe is scrambling to fill the void.

Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED

The Trump administration is appealing a federal judge's order limiting immigration agents from stopping or detaining people based on their race, ethnicity or occupation.

Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report

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California's Medi-Cal Recipients Concerned About Impacts Of Budget Bill Jul 11, 2025

Show notes

It's been a week since President Donald Trump signed the budget reconciliation bill into law, and California officials are still reviewing how this legislation will impact Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program for low-income residents, which covers 15 million Californians. Governor Gavin Newsom's office estimates that Medi-Cal could lose billions of federal dollars over the next few years, and on social media, folks on Medi-Cal are worried that they could lose their coverage soon.

Guest: Carlos Cabrera Lomeli, KQED

Federal authorities conducting an immigration raid at a legal cannabis farm in Ventura County clashed with demonstrators on Thursday.

Reporter: Susana Canales Barron, Calo News

An immigration sweep also took place at a cannabis farm in the Santa Barbara County community of Carpinteria.

Reporter: Lance Orozco, KCLU

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