Category Archives: smart growth
Ukraine Minerals / LA Wildfire Rebuild & SF Sup. Chyanne Chen / Police Misconduct / Oakland A’s Documentary — Your Call 10am PT & State Of The Bay 6pm PT

I’m double-hosting today on KALW. First, on Your Call’s One Planet Series at 10am PT, investigative journalist Antonia Juhasz discusses her new piece Is Trump’s “Minerals Deal” a Fossil Fuel Shakedown?. A significant portion of Ukraine’s natural resources, including fossil fuels and minerals, is in territory controlled and occupied by Russia.

Later in the show, Los Angeles Times reporter Liam Dillon discusses the debate over affordable and multifamily housing in the Pacific Palisades following the recent LA fires.

Then at 6pm PT, I’ll host State of the Bay, which we’ll kick off with an interview with newly elected District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen.

Then, I’ll talk to two award-winning journalists – Katey Rusch and Casey Smith – who spent five years exposing a widespread practice of “clean record” agreements —loopholes that let police officers erase misconduct from their records and land new jobs in law enforcement.

Finally, we hear from the director of a new documentary for diehard Oakland A’s fans called The Last Game.

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT for Your Call and then again at 6pm PT for State of the Bay. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

LA Fires & Insurance — Your Call 10am PT

On Today’s Your Call, we’ll discuss how the ongoing fires in Los Angeles will affect the home insurance market. Joining us will be:

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

A New Approach To Conservation — Your Call 10am PT

On today’s Your Call’s One Planet Series, entomologist professor Doug Tallamy, TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, joins us to discuss his book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.”

Tallamy says we can no longer tolerate actions that degrade our local environment. We must now act collectively to put our ecosystems back together again. What actions can we take to heal our damaged landscapes right now, starting in our backyards and urban spaces?

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for Dr. Tallamy? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

Los Angeles Fires & UnitedHealthcare Limiting Coverage For Children With Autism — Your Call 10am PT

On today’s Your Call Media Roundtable, we’ll get the latest on the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area from Noah Haggertyenvironment, health and science reporter at the Los Angeles Times.

So far, at least 10 people have died, and nearly 180,000 have been ordered to leave their homes around Los Angeles as five fires continue to burn. Officials say, more than 9,000 homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades and Eaton fires.

Then we discuss a recent expose by Propublica about how UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to a treatment for thousands of children with autism across the country. Reporter Annie Waldman, ProPublica health reporter, joins us for the details.

ProPublica has obtained what is effectively the company’s strategic playbook, developed by Optum, the division that manages mental health benefits for United. In internal reports, the company acknowledges that the therapy, called applied behavior analysis, is the “evidence-based gold standard treatment for those with medically necessary needs.”

But the company’s costs have climbed as the number of children diagnosed with autism has ballooned; experts say greater awareness and improved screening have contributed to a fourfold increase in the past two decades — from 1 in 150 to 1 in 36.

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

Berkeley’s New Mayor Adina Ishii, New CA Laws, & SF Poet Laureate Genny Lim— State Of The Bay 6pm PT

Happy 2025! For the first State of the Bay of the year, I’ll talk to the San Francisco Chronicle’Sophia Bollag about the new laws Californians must follow now.

Then Berkeley’s new Mayor Adina Ishii will take questions about her priorities. What do you think her priorities should be? What questions do you have for her? Email us at stateofthebay@kalw.org.

Finally, we’ll meet San Francisco’s new poet laureate Genny Lim.

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live tonight at 6pm PT. Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

French Canada’s View On California’s High Speed Rail

For French speakers, here’s a new Radio-Canada/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report on California’s high speed rail system, featuring an interview with moi:

Sonoma County’s Measure J, Rob Jackson On Climate Solutions, & How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter — State Of The Bay 6pm PT

Tonight on State of the Bay, we’ll explore Sonoma County’s Measure J with Phil Barber, staff writer with The Press Democrat. Measure J aims to prohibit concentrated animal feeding operations, or large animal farms in Sonoma County. This contentious initiative could reshape the county’s environmental and economic future. What do farmers and residents stand to gain or lose?

We’ll also hear from Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson about his new book, Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere, and the reasons he remains hopeful despite the climate crisis.

Later, we’ll talk with New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, co-authors of Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter. What has Musk’s takeover meant for free speech and the future of social media?

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live tonight at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

Michael Mann & Naomi Oreskes On Climate Change, Plus SFUSD Chaos & New Housing Laws — Your Call 10am PT & State Of The Bay 6pm PT

It’s double duty for me today on KALW, where I’m hosting two leading climate scholars for Your Call at 10am and then hosting State of the Bay at 6pm PT on the chaos at San Francisco Unified and the state of housing in California.

The action kicks off at 10am PT with:

I’ll ask them about Hurricane Helene and what it says about climate change, plus the just-concluded Climate Week in New York City that coincided with the UN general assembly.

Then at 6pm PT, join us on State of the Bay for the latest on the San Francisco Unified School District, with an ongoing fiscal crisis, just-announced delay of potential school closures, and emergency scrutiny of the superintendent. Jill Tucker, education reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, will unpack it all.

Then we’ll hear about new efforts to address California’s housing shortage with experts Chris Elmendorf, professor of law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, and Ben Metcalf, managing director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.

Finally, we’ll sit down with Obi Kaufmann, the artist, author and naturalist who has published a series of beloved books about his home state of California.

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT for Your Call and then again at 6pm PT for State of the Bay. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

San Francisco Bike Lanes, Converting Downtown To Housing & Sons of Chinatown — State Of The Bay 6pm PT

Tonight on State of the Bay, I’ll interview SFMTA director Jeff Tumlin about the new plan for the controversial Valencia St. center bike lane. How can the city keep bicyclists safe on this busy corridor?

Then we’ll have a panel discussion on the prospect of office-to-residential conversions in downtown San Francisco. Many mayoral candidates argue that turning empty offices into homes is a way to revitalize our city, but are these conversions financially feasible? Guests include Sujata Svristava from SPUR, State Assemblymember Phil Ting, and Marc Babsin of the Emerald Fund.

Finally, producer Anne Harper sits down with local author William Gee Wong about his new book Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America.

Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 6pm PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

Climate Change-Induced Landslides — Your Call 10am PT

Climate change is causing multiple types of impacts on communities, from wildfires to sea level rise. But investigative journalist Lois Parshley says climate change is also driving a dangerous increase in landslides in Alaska, and I’ll speak to her as guest host of Your Call today at 10am PT.

Up to half of downtown Juneau is at moderate to severe risk of landslides. But Juneau officials faced significant backlash from the public when they tried to adopt new city maps that outlined that risk. Parshley says that with few resources to address the problem, some residents want to ignore it all together.

What can we do to protect people in Alaska and elsewhere from climate change-induced landslides? Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream live at 10am PT. What comments or questions do you have for our guest? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!

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