Fifth & Mission

Judges in U.S. immigration court issue mass "in absentia" deportation orders for immigrants who don't show up to make their case. But many of these people don't even know to be in court because their current address isn't on file. As reporter Deepa Fernandes tells host Demian Bulwa, the Justice Department defends the practice, but advocates for immigrants call it a "deportation conveyor belt." | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Board of Supervisors voted against a development project in SoMa that would've turned a parking lot into a high-rise market-rate residential complex. Some community members were concerned about gentrification, but S.F. politics were also a strong factor. Reporter J.K. Dineen joins host Cecilia Lei to explain. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historic wildfires have ravaged communities throughout the Sierra fire zones. Now, their residents are facing difficult decisions, including whether and how to rebuild and how to stay safe. Reporter J.D. Morris joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about Paradise, Greenville and Quincy. One of them is rebuilding, one is in ruins, and one is under threat. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One year after the Bay Area headed into a terrible holiday surge, we're in much better shape. But huge pandemic questions still loom, including: Should you get a booster shot? Can you do holiday gatherings with no restrictions? Are school mask rules soon to change? Meanwhile, children ages 5 to 11 could begin getting vaccinated next week, meaning many could be fully vaccinated by the end of the year. But what do we know about effectiveness for kids? Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins host Demian Bulwa to dig into these questions and more. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Public schools in the Bay Area, and across the country, are hiring marketing firms to boost their enrollment numbers, which have declined and resulted in lost revenue in recent years. Marketing strategies have included TikTok accounts, Pandora ads, and other creative strategies. Chronicle education reporter Jill Tucker joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how the education system became a competitive marketplace — one that is particularly challenging for public schools. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Safe parking spots that offer overnight refuge for the unhoused population are gaining traction in the Bay Area, but political obstacles are obstructing community efforts. Chronicle reporter Lauren Hepler joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the two-year battle the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto had to take on to offer four parking spaces in the city, where more than three-quarters of the unhoused population live in cars. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Listener Survey: sfchronicle.com/survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

City Hall columnist and Total SF podcast host Heather Knight joins Demian Bulwa to talk about her interview with Brooke Jenkins, one of the 50-plus attorneys and other staff who have left the San Francisco district attorney's office since the beleaguered D.A. took over. Jenkins cites what she views as chaotic management, high turnover and ideologically driven decisions as her reasons for joining the effort to recall Boudin — which will likely reach voters as early as June. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Listener Survey: sfchronicle.com/survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California congressman, lead House impeachment manager in the first Senate trial of Donald Trump, and now author of the bestseller "Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could," talks to Joe Garofoli about the Jan. 6 insurrection hearings, the Trump administration, and the ongoing crisis for democracy. A longer version of this interview appeared on the It's All Political podcast. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Listener Survey: sfchronicle.com/survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’ve heard the term conservatorship this year, it’s likely been about the legal fight around pop star Britney Spears. Taking away a person's decision-making power is meant to be an option of last resort, but in San Francisco, some say they're too hard to obtain, with sometimes deadly consequences. Reporter Mallory Moench joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about the controversy and the story of a woman who fought for a conservatorship to try to save her brother. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Take our Listener Survey: sfchronicle.com/survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area has been begging for rain for months amid the worst drought in modern state history. Now that it's here, can we relax? Not so much. A potential atmospheric river in the forecast may cause mudslides. It also may not be enough to put an end to fire season or the growing need to conserve water. Chronicle reporters Jessica Flores and Tara Duggan join host Demian Bulwa to discuss what you need to know about the change of seasons, whether the winter will be wet or dry, and how technology is improving to predict local storms, even down to the neighborhood level. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Walgreens said it would close five stores in the city, the reaction was a firestorm. Why? Because the company blamed shoplifting, reigniting a polarizing debate over whether San Francisco is tough enough on property crimes. Reporters Shwanika Narayan and Susie Neilson join host Demian Bulwa to discuss the Chronicle's findings: that statistics on reported shoplifting cases from the SFPD do not support Walgreens' explanation. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The state is entering the home stretch for drawing new maps for congressional and legislative seats based on 2020 Census data. The redistricting will shape partisan control as well as determine the power of minority voters, and the power lies in the hands of a 14-member nonpartisan commission. Washington correspondent Tal Kopan joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the key dynamics at play as the deadline nears. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of funding discrepancies and generations of racial division, the Marin County district was ordered by the California attorney general to desegregate. This fall, the district combined the student populations of mostly Black Marin City with the wealthy, predominantly white population of Sausalito. Cecilia Lei visits the district to check in on how it's going at the new, unified, two-campus school — and what comes next. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The state is going it alone on one of the most controversial subjects in the nation: Reparations for African Americans. A task force is meeting this week to document California's little-known and seldom-taught history of slavery and recommend to the Legislature what to do about it. But the details are complicated, including what reparations should look like and who should qualify. Tammerlin Drummond of the ACLU of Northern California and Chronicle reporter Dustin Gardiner tell host Demian Bulwa what is at stake. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Santa Clara County is home to Silicon Valley giants — and enduring poverty and homelessness. Reporter Lauren Hepler talks to host Dominic Fracassa about how officials want to house more than a thousand homeless families, and how they’ve given themselves a year to do it. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Newsom wrapped up the legislative session by signing 770 new laws and vetoing 66. Chronicle reporter Dustin Gardiner joins host Cecilia Lei to chat about what the governor decided to sign, from banning new gas-powered leaf blowers and "stealthing" to requiring ethnic studies in high school and gender-neutral children's sections in large stores. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By causing some of California's most destructive blazes in recent years, the utility put its own survival at risk. Now, under a new CEO, PG&E is marching out plans designed to cut down on the ignitions. Chronicle reporter J.D. Morris tells host Demian Bulwa that PG&E's hope is to bury 10,000 miles of power lines underground. But what will this and other projects cost customers, and will it restore the company's tarnished reputation? | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baseball writer John Shea calls it the sport's greatest rivalry — with apologies to the Yankees and Red Sox. He and Giants beat writer Susan Slusser join Cecilia Lei to talk about why San Francisco had an incredible season, as well as what they think it will take for the Giants to win what could be a classic series, the first postseason meeting between the fierce enemies since 1889. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Related: Susan and John preview the series on Giants Splash: pod.fo/e/ee4ae Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Public health officials are set to establish new rules for when, where and how we can begin to uncover our faces. Meanwhile, a rush of San Francisco workers have been getting vaccinated to meet a city deadline, proving that vax mandates work, whether you’re a building inspector, a cop or a Golden State Warrior. Health reporter Erin Allday joins host Demian Bulwa to discuss two emerging pandemic storylines in the Bay Area. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 18 months of upheaval and school board controversies, the latest blow to the San Francisco Unified School District is its massive $116 million shortfall. The financial situation is so dire that the state is stepping in to help the district figure out how to cut 13% of its annual budget, or else risk a total state takeover of the district. Chronicle reporter Jill Tucker joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how the district arrived here, and what it may mean for students. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Golden State's starting small forward initially refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, saying his back was "against the wall." He risked much of his multimillion-dollar salary because of San Francisco's indoor vaccination mandate but finally reversed his stance on Sunday. The drama around Wiggins, though, missed the real issue, says Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips: Lack of access to health care and information in the Black community. He joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about it. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod See also: Oakland's Vaccine Ambassadors: pod.fo/e/df916 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the University of California approved a $312 million plan to develop student housing at People's Park, which has been the site of activism since the 1960's, and a safe haven for unhoused residents to camp. Producer Caron Creighton reports from Berkeley to understand how the university's new housing plan may affect the legacy of the historic park and displace its community members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a first-in-the-nation order — which will go into effect when vaccines get full authorization from the FDA. Reporter Alexei Koseff joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about the order and what it means. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With vaccinations rising and shots for young children coming soon, the Bay Area is a very different place than it was a year ago. But what does that mean as we enter the holiday season? Are we witnessing, at least locally, the last gasp of the pandemic? Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday gives host Demian Bulwa the big picture — the positive signs she is seeing for the months ahead as well as the nagging factors that still worry her. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the city's most powerful politicians are on the move, with Mayor London Breed at the controls. Dennis Herrera is departing his role as city attorney to lead the Public Utilities Commission. David Chiu is leaving the state Assembly to replace him. Matt Haney and David Campos want Chiu's Assembly seat. And more dominoes still might fall. Chronicle City Hall reporters Trisha Thadani and Mallory Moench join host Demian Bulwa to discuss what it all means amid multiple corruption scandals. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Franciscans rejoiced when El Farolito announced its new North Beach location but the beloved Mission taqueria's plans were halted because of the city's "formula retail" laws, which consider El Farolito to be a chain. Business reporter Shwanika Narayan joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss the city's ban on chains and whether the laws are actually hurting, rather than helping, local and fast-growing small businesses. Total SF podcast hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight also weigh in on the debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The deadly opioid has overtaken the city's drug supply and is responsible for soaring overdose deaths, which have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. City Hall reporter Trisha Thadani joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss the city's newly launched Street Overdose Response Team. Later, S.F. resident Joshua Weens talks about what it's like to step in after witnessing an overdose death. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. is allowing more than 80,000 visas to vanish at the end of September, despite having a backlog of more than a million skilled immigrants who have been waiting — sometimes as long as decades — for their green cards. Most of them are tech workers from India, including in Silicon Valley. Chronicle reporter Deepa Fernandes joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about their desperation, and the impact it's having on their families. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been three weeks since Texas passed the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Since then, women have been fleeing to other states to obtain the procedure, including in one Oklahoma clinic that Chronicle photographer Gabrielle Lurie has been shadowing. She chats with host Cecilia Lei about the Texas women she met with, and how they've navigated the abortion ban since it went into effect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In July, Mayor London Breed and Police Chief Bill Scott rebutted the narrative that the city is overwhelmed by rampant lawlessness. But as retail thefts have persisted, the leaders unveiled a multi-pronged approach to combat robberies. Chronicle reporter Megan Cassidy joins host Cecilia Lei to explain the city's new strategy. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Republished to fix an editing error: Columnist Heather Knight joins host Demian Bulwa with exclusive news: San Francisco leaders may be on a path toward removing cars permanently from scenic John F. Kennedy Drive through Golden Gate Park. The decision is certain to intensify a larger debate over whether the city should turn famed roadways, including the Great Highway and Twin Peaks Boulevard, into pedestrian-only havens. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Listen to Total SF, hosted by Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub: sfchronicle.com/totalsfpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Columnist Heather Knight joins host Demian Bulwa with exclusive news: San Francisco leaders may be on a path toward removing cars permanently from scenic John F. Kennedy Drive through Golden Gate Park. The decision is certain to intensify a larger debate over whether the city should turn famed roadways, including the Great Highway and Twin Peaks Boulevard, into pedestrian-only havens. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Listen to Total SF, hosted by Heather Knight and Peter Hartlaub: sfchronicle.com/totalsfpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chronicle senior arts and entertainment editor Mariecar Mendoza talks to host Cecilia Lei about inadvertently capturing video of London Breed breaking her own mask mandate as she sang and danced at an impromptu Tony! Toni! Toné! reunion performance at the Black Cat in the Tenderloin, and Heather Knight chats about the possible political consequences for the mayor. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Violent attacks have left some residents demanding increased police presence. But others say it sends the wrong message about the actual public safety needs of the neighborhood, and that it pits the Asian community against other communities of color. Reporting from Chinatown, Cecilia Lei speaks to residents, activists and merchants to explore how it's become ground zero for some of the most charged debates on policing. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two of the Bay Area's biggest public school districts will decide next week whether to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all staffers and students 12 or older. But an effort to bring normalcy back to their campuses is already drawing opposition — and may bring legal challenges. Host Demian Bulwa speaks to reporter Rachel Swan and Professor Dorit Reiss of UC Hastings College of the Law, an expert on the history and legal landscape of vaccine mandates. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 19 months of the pandemic, many of us feel like COVID-19 experts but still have plenty of questions about what we should be doing. Is the delta variant surge finally waning in the Bay Area? Who needs third vaccine booster shots? Chronicle health reporter Erin Allday joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about the latest coronavirus updates. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"We said yes to pluralism," the governor said after Californians voted overwhelmingly to let him finish his term. With the recall attempt behind him, does Newsom have the wind at his back? Chronicle reporters Joe Garofoli, Dustin Gardiner and Alexei Koseff join host Demian Bulwa on this joint episode of Fifth & Mission and It's All Political. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Listen to Kosseff's interview with Newsom on It's All Political: pod.fo/e/e708c Chronicle election coverage: sfchronicle.com/recall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After over a year of pandemic upheaval and partisan rage, Californians will finally decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom will remain in office. Reporter Alexei Kosseff interviewed Newsom this weekend and he joins host Cecilia Lei to chat about what Newsom had to say about the recall — and that infamous French Laundry dinner — and what voters can expect as election results roll in. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Listen to Kosseff's interview with Newsom on It's All Political: pod.fo/e/e708c Chronicle election coverage: sfchronicle.com/recall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two Bay Area residents have filed class-action lawsuits against the century-old practice of chalking tires as a form of parking enforcement. One suit claims it's a violation of drivers' Fourth Amendment rights, and similar lawsuits have popped up across the country. Reporter Rachel Swan joins host Cecilia Lei to explain the debate. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After over a year of escalated racism, turmoil and violent attacks on elders, the Asian American community got its first Marvel superhero in the film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," set partially in San Francisco. Simu Liu joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss how the film is elevating Asian representation in Hollywood and how he brought authenticity to his lead role in the blockbuster. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, changing the world forever. In the wake of the tragedy, wars raged, national security efforts increased and Muslims in the United States faced mass scrutiny and profiling. Chronicle reporter Deepa Fernandes shares the story of two Bay Area Muslim women who came of age in the aftermath of 9/11 and how they supported their community’s resilience against oppression. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Delta variant booming, cases of COVID-19 are rising faster among children than among people over 50. It's a scary time for parents and kids alike as they've mostly returned to in-person school. Reporter Aidin Vaziri has spoken with a variety of public health experts and he tells host Cecilia Lei their best advice for keeping kids safe. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sultani family of Milpitas, who've been living in California since 2017, were visiting relatives in Kabul this summer when the Taliban seized power. Reporter Deepa Fernandes talks to Demian Bulwa about their struggle to get home, and what lies ahead for them and others in the area's large, and now growing, Afghan community. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quentin Kopp had such a long and influential career as a member of the Board of Supervisors, a state senator and a judge that the I-380 freeway is named after him. He's still going strong at 93, and on this episode of the TotalSF podcast, he's paid a visit by hosts Peter Hartlaub and Heather Knight, who have received plenty of Kopp's angry letters. Fifth & Mission is bringing you this episode of our sibling podcast as a Labor Day special. Subscribe to TotalSF: chronicle.com/totalsfpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are abortion rights in California at risk as Gov. Newsom faces a recall? Texas just outlawed abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and the Supreme Court formally rejected requests by abortion providers to block the law. Now, California and the rest of the nation brace for the impact of the ban. Host Cecilia Lei discusses what's at stake with Khiara Bridges, a professor at UC Berkeley, and Shannon Olivieri Hovis, the California Director of NARAL Pro Choice California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As voters are deciding whether to keep or dump Gov. Newsom, a new poll makes the recall look like a longshot. Today’s Fifth & Mission episode features a portion of the Chronicle’s It’s All Political podcast, hosted by senior political writer Joe Garofoli. He sits down with Sacramento reporters Alexei Koseff and Dustin Gardiner to break down the poll results and explore what Republican Larry Elder would do if he became governor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A day after an unprecedented citywide evacuation in South Lake Tahoe due to the Caldor Fire, host Cecilia Lei checks in with evacuees who share what it's been like to leave their houses behind, what the Tahoe community means to them and how they're coping with the uncertainty they face in the days ahead. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Chronicle Fire Map & Tracker: sfchronicle.com/firemap Chronicle wildfires coverage: sfchronicle.com/wildfires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The go-to vacation destination for Bay Area residents is also home to more than 20,000 locals who have been forced to leave. Chronicle photographer Carlos Avila Gonzalez joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss what he's witnessing on the front lines, and Bay Area native Katie MacBride talks about what it's like to potentially lose a cabin that's been in her family for generations. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Chronicle Fire Map & Tracker: sfchronicle.com/firemap Chronicle wildfires coverage: sfchronicle.com/wildfires Chronicle Drought Map & Tracker: sfchronicle.com/water Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a small but telling flare-up of the housing wars, a Corona Heights homeowner wanted to add units, including affordable ones, on his spacious corner lot. Neighbors objected and called him a profiteer, zoning laws stood in his way, and pro-housing politicians balked at stepping in. City Hall columnist Heather Knight interviews Scott Pluta, the homeowner, then talks to host Demian Bulwa about why it’s so hard to build housing — and how we can expect to see even more intense fights in the near future. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California's blazes are bigger and hotter, and they're jumping highways and mountains, including in the Sierra Nevada. Reporter Julie Johnson joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about how this season compares to previous years, how the drought factors into fire behavior, and what firefighters will have to face in the months ahead. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Chronicle Fire Map & Tracker: sfchronicle.com/firemap Chronicle wildfires coverage: sfchronicle.com/wildfires Chronicle Drought Map & Tracker: sfchronicle.com/water Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices