The Bay

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a complicated history in the Bay. In the 70s, a Chinese immigrant in Palo Alto named Miriam Lee was arrested and put on trial for practicing acupuncture — even though she learned it from a master in her hometown in China.Today, Traditional Chinese Medicine is still often exoticized or dismissed. But now, some Asian Americans in the Bay Area are reconnecting with these practices — and building new communities in the process.Guest: Cathy Erway, food writer and host of the podcast Self Evident: Asian America's StoriesRead Cathy's piece about this in the San Francisco Chronicle here. Episode transcript here: http://bit.ly/3tQXSxD We're taking a break on Monday, Feb. 15th. Talk to you on Wednesday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of debate on whether to reopen public schools in the Bay Area's largest districts, some families have finally had enough of distance learning. But parents are divided on whether it’s safe — and worth the risk — to send their kids back to school while the pandemic rages on. And even if everyone did agree on what to do, the path to reopening is sure to be a long one.Guest: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED education reporterEpisode transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a long history of Black women in the Bay Area leading social justice work — including the hundreds of women who led the Black Panther Party. One West Oakland resident believes a celebration of these women and their contributions is long overdue. That’s why, after last summer’s protests against police violence, she decided to memorialize their legacy with a permanent mural on the home she's owned for more than 20 years.Guests: Jilchristina Vest, curator and West Oakland homeownerEricka Huggins, human rights activist, poet, educator, Black Panther Party leader and former political prisonerRev. Cheryl Dawson, Black Panther Party member, Berkeley ChapterLearn more about the Women of the Black Panther Party Mural unveiling on Feb. 14 here.Episode transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate crisis isn't just about big tropical storms and deadlier wildfires. Rising sea levels — as a result of climate change — are forcing contaminated groundwater to the surface in parts of the Bay Area. And the neighborhoods in most danger are places where there was once heavy industry, including areas that were once redlined.Guest: Laura Klivans, KQED science reporter and host of Deep Look.Episode transcript here. Subscribe to our newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s vaccine rollout has been…confusing. Many people have been writing into KQED with basic questions about eligibility or where they go to get vaccinated. Our engagement editor has been fielding those questions. But she’s not the only one trying to fill the vaccination information void.Guest: Carly Severn, KQED senior engagement editorCarly answered the top five questions our audience wanted to know. You can read about those questions here. Plus, learn more here about eligibility for the vaccine and where you can get vaccinated. Episode transcript here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s easy to think that California’s eviction moratorium means people can expect to remain in their homes during the economic crisis and global pandemic.But a KQED investigation found that hundreds of evictions are still taking place across the Bay Area, to mostly Black and brown renters. So why hasn’t the state’s eviction moratorium stopped evictions from happening? And why is it worse in some counties than others? What your local governments are doing is a large part of the answer.Guest: Molly Solomon, KQED housing reporterAre you facing issues with housing during the pandemic? Share your story with us here.Episode Transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It takes a lot of hard work to curb gun violence at the community level. For the past few years, those efforts in Richmond and Oakland were paying off.But then the pandemic happened, and a lot of in-person community building became unsafe, and advocates fear years of hard work has been lost to the pandemic.Guest: Abené Clayton, reporter for The Guardian’s Guns and Lies in America project. You can read Abené's story here. Episode transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our first virtual live event of 2021, we invited KQED reporters to share what stories they’ll be looking out for this year. We want to share this conversation and ask what matters to you as the Bay Area adjusts to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. We also took your questions.From wildfire prevention to free public transit, virtual learning to the changing arts scene, here’s what we might see in 2021 and what we can do about it.This conversation is split into two halves: the first is called "Where We Live" (00:54), and the second is called "What We Do" (28:04).Read the transcript here.Guests: Danielle Venton, science reporter; Molly Solomon, housing reporter and co-host of the podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America; Dan Brekke, transportation editor; Vanessa Rancano, education reporter; Nastia Voynovskaya, arts associate editor; Sam Harnett, Silicon Valley reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

KQED wasn't alone in struggling to cover former President Trump. These last four years changed how many journalists think about their responsibilities to the public. It's also forced more members of the news media to reckon with their own role in perpetuating long-existing, systemic problems.So we wanted to chat with KQED’s newsroom leaders about how they've changed over the past four years, and the role local news plays in a frail democracy.Guests: Vinnee Tong, KQED’s Director of News and Ethan Toven-Lindsey, KQED’s Executive EditorRead the transcript here. Sign up for our free live event on Monday Jan. 25 at 6pm. We’ll be talking to KQED reporters about the Bay Area stories to watch for in 2021.Find all of our "By the People" episodes here. Subscribe to our newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a week. So now, music.We’re bringing you the first episode of a new series from our friends at Rightnowish that shines a light on all sorts of creators this year. In this episode, Pendarvis Harshaw introduces us to Brooklyn based and Oakland-raised artist Nappy Nina. Just don’t call her a femcee.Sign up for our free live (virtual) event on Monday, Jan. 25 here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices