The California Report Magazine

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Armed Asian Women, Filling The Shoes of a Mom Lost to COVID, Space Force for CA Teens Jun 11, 2021

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For some Asian women who were on the fence about buying guns for protection, the racist violence of the past year pushed them over the edge. Reporter Christine Nguyen tells us about two women from Southern California who are learning to shoot guns, and navigating the stigma around gun ownership within their families. Plus, in Oakland, Maribel Villanueva died from COVID-19 at age 46. She was a single mom and left behind a 10-year-old son, David. Now his aunt and his teacher are trying to fill her shoes. And a Southern California school has been selected to become one of the first Space Force JROTC units in the country, and the only one in California.

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Teens Say #MeToo, Good News For Trans Asylum Seeker, Mourning Two Pandemics Jun 04, 2021

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When most schools across California shut down last year, teenagers were stuck at home. For some, that meant months alone to reflect on experiences of trauma in high school. But they didn’t all keep that pain to themselves. Instead, hundreds of young people turned to social media to share their stories. Plus, an update on the story of Luna Guzmán, a young transgender woman from Guatemala. She lived through years of brutal abuse and discrimination in her hometown, and dreamed of seeking asylum in California. Now she's finally getting her chance, not in California, but New York. And, we’ve been bringing you tributes to Californians we’ve lost to COVID-19. This week, we hear from Vince Crisostomo, whose father Francisco died from COVID the day before his 87th birthday.

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‘On Our Watch’ Podcast Examines the Shadow World of Police Discipline May 28, 2021

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This week we bring you an excerpt from a new investigative reporting podcast produced by KQED and NPR. After a new state law unsealed dozens of internal affairs files, reporters began examining cases of police misconduct and serious use of force. The first case involves Katheryn Jenks, who called 911 for help from her home in the small Northern California town of Rio Vista in 2018. But after the police arrived, she was bitten by a police K-9 and wound up inside a jail cell, facing serious charges. We hear part of Jenks’ story, and a preview of upcoming episodes.

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Quest for a Hollywood Star, Traveling Violinists Bring Joy, & California's 'Top Chef' May 22, 2021

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Arnett Moore is launching a one-man campaign: to get his aunt, actress Juanita Moore, a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Juanita receive an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1959 film, Imitation of Life. As Arnett says, "She's a star without a star." Plus, two violinists fix up a 1971 VW bus and travel the West Coast, bringing music and joy to all they encounter. And host Sasha Khokha heads into the kitchen to watch Nelson German at work. German owns two restaurants in Oakland where he showcases his culinary roots. German is the only California contestant on this season of the reality cooking competition series "Top Chef."

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The Year of Singing Dangerously May 14, 2021

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COVID-19 devastated California’s arts and culture world. But the blow to singers across the state has been particularly harsh, and not just financially and socially. After an early super spreader event in Washington State caused more than 50 choir members to contract the virus, singers in California were forced to confront a devastating truth: this beloved everyday activity, which feels so good and is so healthy, had become...a killer. Singing went underground. But it didn’t go away entirely. Throughout this pandemic, KQED's Chloe Veltman has been following what happened to singing across our state. How it went from almost disappearing entirely, to helping us maintain solidarity, social purpose and a sense of humor through these dark, dark times.

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Immediate Jeopardy: Death and Neglect in California Nursing Homes May 07, 2021

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Families put their loved ones in nursing homes because they think they’ll receive better care. They assume someone will keep an eye out. But that’s not always true. Conditions were bad in some California nursing homes even before COVID. When the pandemic hit, things got much worse. More than 9,000 nursing home residents in the state have died from COVID-19. Some facilities didn’t even take basic precautions. The missteps, even the deaths, come as no surprise to advocates for nursing home reform. But as KPCC investigative reporters Elly Yu and Aaron Mendelson discovered, the state also knows these nursing homes are failing patients, and lets them stay in business.

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Diary of a Contact Tracer + Youth Takeover Apr 30, 2021

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Even though many of us might feel like we’ve got more of a handle on the coronavirus pandemic now, we will all be marked by it forever—especially those who’ve really been in the trenches. Lisa Fagundes is normally a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. But starting last spring, she and thousands of other city and state workers were redeployed to become contact tracers, calling people who may have been exposed. Our health correspondent April Dembosky asked Lisa to keep an audio diary for us over the last year. Listening through these entries, you can hear – in real time – how the pandemic changes her. How it picks her up, twists her in all directions, and then drops her on the other side. Just like it’s done to all of us.

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Aarti Shahani's 'Art of Power' + Remembering a Mom, ER Worker, and Mentor to Native Youth Apr 23, 2021

Show notes

So much of what our country is wrestling with right now are questions about power. How do we hold people in power accountable? How can people who haven’t had power claim it? Those questions are at the center of a new podcast from WBEZ called “Art of Power.” Sasha Khokha talks with the podcast's host: author, NPR Silicon Valley Correspondent and California Report alum, Aarti Shahani. Plus another in our series of tributes to members of vulnerable communities and front line workers lost to COVID. This week, Sylvia Morton's daughters remember their mother.

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'I Lost My Brother to COVID in San Quentin' + Trading in Desks for Tree Stumps Apr 16, 2021

Show notes

We’ve been asking our listeners to tell us about loved ones they’ve lost. This week, we bring you the first in a series of stories to remember them. Eric Warner died of COVID in San Quentin Prison at age 57. He was born and raised in San Francisco, the son of Filipino immigrants. He was a barber, a boxer, and also a beloved brother. Eric’s older brother Hank brings us this tribute. Plus, LA Unified School District is testing out a pilot program to expand outdoor learning. Reporter Deepa Fernandes visited some outdoor classrooms in Southern California to see how they’re trying to make it work. Those stories and more...

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‘A Butterfly With My Wings Cut Off’: A Transgender Asylum Seeker’s Quest to Come to California Apr 09, 2021

Show notes

This week, we bring you a documentary we first aired in December that generated a lot of response from our listeners, changing life for the person at the center of this story.

When she turned 15, Luna Guzmán, like many girls in Guatemala, celebrated with a quinceañera. But it was a secret party, with a borrowed dress, because her family couldn't fathom her as a transgender girl. So she put her soccer jerseys back on and tried to pass as the boy she knew she wasn’t inside. Even as she dealt with brutal violence, she decided to take a terrible risk and leave everything behind in Guatemala, to try to find a life in California: the one place in the world where she could imagine being safe. Host Sasha Khokha followed Luna Guzmán over the last two years, reporting from a migrant shelter in Tijuana, an ICE detention center in San Diego, and a tiny drag bar in Modesto.

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