The Bay

When KQED photojournalist Beth LaBerge woke up to orange skies in San Francisco Wednesday morning, she rushed out the door to document the extraordinary moment.In a year with the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice protests and wildfires, Beth has been on the frontlines documenting it all. And in some ways, it helps her process all that’s been happening.Guest: Beth LaBerge, photojournalist for KQEDClick here for a few more of Beth's photos that she's taken for KQED.Resources: Bay Area Air Quality Map What To Pack In Your Emergency Bag What's All This Smoky Air Doing to Your Body? We Asked A Lung Doctor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic has set off a chain of events that will make this year’s election in California different from years past. For one, the state can’t bet on its most reliable poll workers — older Californians — to volunteer. On top of that, many traditional polling places have been closed because of the risk of an outbreak.So now the state is mailing all registered voters a ballot. And while that will make voting safer for many people, some will still need to cast their ballots in person. And counties are trying to make sure that those voters don't get left behind.Guest: Guy Marzorati, reporter and producer for KQED’s California politics and government deskClick here for more info on volunteering to be a poll worker in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uncle Bobby Johnson, also known as the People’s Uncle, has been standing up to police brutality ever since his nephew Oscar Grant was shot by a BART police officer in 2009.He's also spent a lot of time supporting families who've lost loved ones to police violence. And today he sees a movement that is much bigger than when he first became an activist more than a decade ago.Guest: Cephus Johnson, aka Uncle Bobby X, founder of the Oscar Grant Foundation and Love Not Blood Campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the last eight years, Uber and Lyft have successfully beaten state and local attempts to change its core labor model: treating drivers as independent contractors instead of employees with benefits.Then the pandemic hit. And now, California’s public officials — including state attorney general Xavier Becerra — might actually have the political will to force gig companies to change how they treat their employees.Guest: Sam Harnett, tech and work reporter for KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soon after the pandemic started and Californians began to lose their jobs, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued what he called an 'eviction moratorium' to protect those who couldn’t make rent because of COVID-19.But there are a lot of vulnerable people who were never protected by that order. And since March 4, at least 2,000 California households have been kicked out of their homes.Guest: Matt Levin, housing and data reporter for CalMattersRecommended Reading: Exclusive: More than 1,600 Californians have been evicted during pandemic Newsom Announces New Statewide Eviction Moratorium — But Major Concessions May Threaten Tenants Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fire season doesn't have to be this bad. There are lots of things we can do to prevent more and more extreme wildfires.It'll take a big shift in the way we do things. California has spent decades reacting to and suppressing natural fires, which is one reason why the wildfires we're currently dealing with are so extreme. But it's still possible to rethink our relationship with fire and change our situation for the better.Guest: Danielle Venton, KQED science reporterRecommended Reading: To Manage Wildfire, California Looks to What Tribes Have Known All Along We Can Make California Wildfires Less Horrific. Will We? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is low on firefighters at a really bad time. It’s partially because the state released thousands of incarcerated firefighters to prevent the spread of Covid-19.But it’s also because this system of relying on incarcerated people to help fight fires — which we’ve had since after World War II — isn’t sustainable.Guest: Kevin Stark, KQED science reporterRecommended reading: Rare Honors This Weekend for Inmate Firefighters Killed on the Job Let's Talk About Wildfires and Prisons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that could ban WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app, from operating in the United States. But this potential ban would also have ripple effects on local politics in San Francisco, where about one in five residents are Chinese. Many use the app to talk with family and do business, but also to reach voters and organize around issues like tenants’ rights. So without it, Chinese-speaking residents would lose a pillar of their organizing infrastructure. Guest: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Reporter for KQEDFor the latest information on wildfires currently happening in the Bay Area, visit kqed.org. The newsroom has also put together resources on protecting against wildfire smoke, along with a resource on what to pack in an emergency bag. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Back in 2017, Quinn Jasmine Redwoods saw a long line of people at a food distribution center in Oakland. Nobody in line had a mask, even though the most deadly and destructive wildfires in Californian’s history were spreading pollutants into the air.So Redwoods picked up 300 masks at a local store, and created Mask Oakland, a trans/queer led grassroots organization to distribute masks to mostly unhoused and disabled people. And now, fires are burning again — this time, in the middle of a pandemic.Guest: Quinn Jasmine Redwoods, founder of Mask Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People across the state lost power with almost no warning over the weekend, and there’s a risk it could happen again soon. The California Independent Systems Operator instituted rolling power shutoffs to prevent an uncontrolled loss of power, and is asking people to limit how much electricity they're using. But why is this even happening in the first place?Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED editor and reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices