KQED's Forum

“A post-Roe world will not resemble a pre-Roe world,” writes Jessica Bruder in her recent Atlantic piece on how underground networks of abortion activists are deploying medical and educational tactics to prepare for what they say will be the Supreme Court’s all but certain decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. A number of states have already approved highly restrictive abortion laws, including most recently Oklahoma, which last week moved to ban all abortions except to save the life of the mother. Meanwhile, Gov. Newsom has declared California a “reproductive freedom state,” and advocates have created the California Future of Abortion Council to protect and expand access to reproductive health care. We’ll hear from Bruder and activists about how they’re preparing for a post-Roe world and the role California will play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the war in Ukraine enters its sixth week, stories of mounting human rights abuses and grisly images of civilians, seemingly executed and left to die in the streets, have shocked the world. According to Ukrainian officials, in Bucha, a suburb outside of Kyiv which was occupied for one month, several hundred civilians have been killed and in their retreat, Russian forces engaged in a spree of killing, raping and looting. Officials say these crimes were not limited to Bucha, but represent a consistent pattern of Russian warfare tactics meant to terrorize civilians. Addressing the United Nations earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of committing war crimes and called for the body to convene a tribunal to bring perpetrators to justice. We’ll talk to experts and a reporter on the ground about whether and how these crimes will be prosecuted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Work-Life Balance and the Selfless Mother are false gods." That's according to law professor and social and racial justice advocate Lara Bazelon, who says that more women need to stop feeling guilty about their professional ambitions and recognize that having a career is not at odds with being a good mother. In fact, women who prioritize their careers can model valuable lessons for their children, including independence and resilience. We'll talk to Bazelon about her new book "Ambitious Like a Mother." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year, KQED's Arts & Culture team launched the music series "Pass the Aux" to spotlight new music by Bay Area artists. Highlights from the series this year have included the elegant vocals of Kadhja Bonet on her song "Dear Gina," the dembow and salsa rhythms of La Dona's "Pena con Pan" and the gentle meditations on love and grief in The Seshen's "This Time Around," among others. KQED Arts columnist and podcast host Pendarvis Harshaw joins us to showcase those tracks and more of the team's favorite early 2022 releases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of the 87 officially recognized statues on public display in San Francisco, only two are of women. When KQED’s Rae Alexandra learned that disappointing fact, she set out to highlight the unsungwomen who helped shape Bay Area history with her series “Rebel Girls.” From a formerly enslaved cook who became a celebrity chef to a pistol-packing Gold Rush gambler who beat men at theirown game, “Rebel Girls” stories remind us how diverse and rich women’s contributions to the Bay Area have been across centuries. Alexandra joins us to highlight some of the amazing women she’s featured in the series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is in its third year of extreme drought. Given that, is it time to rethink California’s role as the breadbasket of the country? Agriculture brought in $49.1 billion to the state, nearly half of which was money made from exporting crops. But agriculture also uses 80% of the state’s water. Last year the industry lost 87,000 jobs, and crop land totaling an area bigger than Los Angeles went unplanted. What crops are reasonable to continue to produce? What should be jettisoned? And what crops and farm practices can be adaptable enough for the dwindling water supply? We’ll talk about the future of agriculture with experts and a farmer in the Central Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trump lawyer John Eastman turned over 101 emails on Wednesday to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, in response to an order by California federal judge David Carter who said the communications “clearly advanced the plan to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.” Judge Carter's ruling last week came as the Justice Department widens its investigation into those who may have financed and planned the attacks designed to interfere with Congress's certification of the 2020 election. We'll talk about the latest developments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresno is launching a pilot program to help protect street vendors from harassment and assault. Councilmembers and community organizations there are teaming up to install cameras on street vendors’ carts and provide them with small business resources. The effort comes a year after the death of Lorenzo Perez, a street vendor who was murdered in April, 2021 while selling corn. We talk with journalist Melissa Montalvo, who reported on the story for the Fresno Bee and Fresno councilmember Luis Chavez, one of the initiative’s leaders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Libraries have long been a beloved hub for education and community, but as our state and nation battle crises of growing income inequality, homelessness and mental health, the work of public librarians these days can be just as much about social work as it is about books and information. In the new book “Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library,” author and former librarian Amanda Oliver considers how public libraries have evolved and why they’ve been tasked to fill so many roles in our society. Oliver, who developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder while working as a public librarian in Washington, D.C., asks whether public librarians can – and should – continue to fill the gap in our social safety net. As the country celebrates National Library Week, Oliver and California librarians join us to unpack these questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The beloved, influential early internet food site, Chowhound, has ended its run 25 years after its founding. The site encouraged an independent ethos. According to the ‘Chowhound Manifesto,’ “Foodies eat where they're told. Chowhounds blaze trails. They comb through neighborhoods for culinary treasure. They despise hype.” KQED’s Food Editor, Luke Tsai flexed his food writing chops on Chowhound and as part of our regular series with Luke about Bay Area food culture, he and another Chowhound regular join us to reminisce about the boom days of Chowhound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her new book “Girls Who Green the World,” journalist Diana Kapp profiles 34 women who are working in smart, creative and often entrepreneurial ways to beat back climate change. From recycling food containers into other products to creating a better toilet that can be used in urban slums where sanitation is difficult to find to repurposing and recycling clothing, these women have found ways to make meaningful changes that can heal the planet. We’ll talk to Kapp and two of the climate entrepreneurs profiled in her book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California on Friday dropped its requirement that those attending indoor events with more than 1000 people show proof of vaccination or a negative test, the latest manifestation of the state's decision to manage COVID-19 as an endemic virus as cases and deaths level off statewide. But public health officials are watching the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2, which has caused surges in parts of Europe and Asia and, recently, in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts. We’ll take stock of how California is faring in this stage, and we’ll also look at recent studies on the longer term cognitive and cardiovascular impacts of coronavirus infection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 2, a father in Sacramento walked into a church for a supervised visit with his three young children. He ended up killing five people: his children, the church member who volunteered to chaperone, and himself. This is a scenario that journalist Mark Follman is all too familiar with. An editor for the magazine Mother Jones, Follman has studied mass shootings for years, and even built a database of such murders because none had previously existed. For his new book, “Trigger Points,” Follman attempts to understand what might be done to prevent shootings before they happen. He’s talked to criminologists and mental health specialists to understand the psychology of mass shooters and looks at whether a model exists for intervening constructively with troubled people before they get their hands on a weapon. We’ll talk to Follman about his book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the new Apple TV+ series “Pachinko,” adapted from the bestselling novel by Min Jin Lee, every generation is in dialogue, either indirectly or directly, with the ones that come before and after it. That’s according to Soo Hugh, the series’ creator, showrunner and writer. “Pachinko,” a sweeping multi-generational family drama, features the story of Sunja, played by Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn, an impoverished young woman who suffers through the 20th century Japanese occupation of Korea, and later with her family faces of life of hardship and discrimination in Japan. We’ll talk to Hugh about the creative challenges of adapting a beloved novel and what it’s like to create spaces for the telling of diverse stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Youth leaders and activists in Sacramento are working to support their communities today, a day after the 2 a.m. shooting in Sacramento that left 6 dead and at least 12 wounded. Videos on social media, eyewitness accounts, and police statements indicate the shooting occurred at 10th and K streets, roughly two blocks northwest of the state Capitol, as club and bar attendees were leaving for the night. Political leaders immediately responded with calls for stronger gun controls in the state. “Thoughts and prayers aren’t nearly enough,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said on Sunday. “We must do more as a city, as a state, and as a nation. This senseless epidemic of gun violence must be addressed. How many unending tragedies does it take before we begin to cure the sickness in this country? Let us be honest, this is a sickness.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In response to the war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies have implemented sweeping and unprecedented set sanctions against Russia, rendering the nation a pariah state. Flight space has been closed. Export of goods that could be used for military purposes have been banned. Some countries have stopped importing Russian oil. The yachts and private planes of oligarchs have been seized. Transactions with the Russian Central Bank are now barred and both government and individual bank accounts have been frozen. But are these sanctions working to stop the war? Will they lead to the toppling of Russian President Vladimir Putin? We’ll talk about sanctions and how they work with a panel of experts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With his new single “OFF” reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Radio chart this week and a new arena tour, Grammy Award-winning singer Maxwell is back in the spotlight. The Night Tour features fellow R&B acts Anthony Hamilton and Joe, and is scheduled to come to Los Angeles and Oakland in mid-April. Maxwell says you can expect a “sexy” show that pays homage to women and feminine energies. We talk to Maxwell about getting back on the road, his upcoming album, his favorite song to perform, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Netflix series, “Inventing Anna,” reached No. 1 on Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rankings and has dominated social media discussions for weeks. But it’s not just the profile of wannabe socialite Anna Delvey capturing our interest – television series about scammers abound these days, including former venture capital darlings like WeWork’s Adam Neumann and Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes in the shows “WeCrashed” and “The Dropout.” Not to mention podcasts, documentaries and longform articles that often inspire the fictionalized versions. What is the human behavior driving this interest: Is it just schadenfreude? Or are there other elements informing our interest? We’ll explore this latest content trend and why, as a culture, we’re so into scammer stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joshua Miele is a 2021 MacArthur fellow who develops and invents adaptive technologies for blind and visually impaired persons ranging from tactile-Braille street maps to crowd-sourced audio descriptions for YouTube videos. But back in fall 1987, he was a freshman at UC Berkeley and newly a member of “The Cave,” a library basement gathering hub for Berkeley’s blind students. Following the disability rights movement spearheaded at Berkeley in the ‘60s and ‘70s, The Cave provided its denizens with a space for community, inspiration and innovation as they entered the digital age. We’ll talk about how The Cave was crucial for the innovations of Miele and other alumni, its enduring legacies, and how accessibility tech has progressed in the past few decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benjamin Franklin is “the most amazing American of the 18th century,” according to documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Burns’ latest documentary on Franklin premieres on PBS next week, and it looks at the ways in which the 18th century reluctant revolutionary operated within a political climate not dissimilar from our own. To Burns, Franklin’s political thinking could help inform modern questions about American identity, partisan divides, international diplomacy and even vaccines. Burns joins us to talk about Franklin's flaws, contradictions and contributions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three out of four of the planet’s known animal species are insects, and their populations are crashing as a result of climate change, habitat loss, pesticides and pollution. And the ecosystem-wide effects of all of these losses could be deadly for humanity: globally, one-third of our food is pollinated by bees, flies, butterflies, moths and beetles. We’ll talk with Oliver Milman about his new book, “The Insect Crisis” — and how we can protect what he calls “the miniature empires that hold life aloft on our raucous, plastic-strewn, beautiful planet.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China has refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite requests from Western nations, and it has criticized sanctions against Russia. “China-Russia cooperation has no limits,” a Chinese government spokesman said Wednesday as Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited China for the first time since the Ukraine War began. What will that cooperation look like as the war continues? Will it include Chinese military aid or assistance circumventing sanctions? And how does the relationship between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin, a relationship believed to be close, impact policy? We’ll talk to experts on Chinese foreign policy to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered cities, water districts and other agencies to tighten their conservation rules, as the state comes to grips with the realities of a drier-than-needed winter rainy season. “While we have made historic investments to protect our communities, economy and ecosystems from the worsening drought across the West, it is clear we need to do more,” Gov. Newsom said. “Today, I am calling on local water agencies to implement more aggressive water conservation measures.” The governor’s executive order focuses on the actions of the 420 largest water providers in the state, even as California’s urban residents have fallen far short of a goal set to voluntarily reduce their water usage. San Jose Mercury News natural resources and environment reporter Paul Rogers helps unpack the latest on the drought and the state’s new water rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paso Robles is a small wine country town between the Pacific coast and the Central Valley – it’s a multicultural town, too, but many residents of color there feel invisible. That’s according to Los Angeles Times reporter Tyrone Beason who features Paso Robles in the latest installment of his ongoing “My Country” series, which explores the things that bind us and tries to make sense of the things that tear us apart. Beason digs into the different viewpoints behind a recent fight to reinstate an ethnic studies class at a local high school, which faced a backlash before ultimately being approved. That debate, like similar debates across the country around ethnic studies curriculum, revealed deeper fissures within the community. Beason joins us to talk about the story and what he learned from the residents of Paso Robles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From his time with the Merry Pranksters to his influence on Steve Jobs to his utopian “Whole Earth Catalog,” Stewart Brand epitomizes the Bay Area counterculture visionary. Brand has “an eerie knack for showing up first at the onset of some social movement or technological inflection point and then moving on just when everyone else catches up,” writes technology reporter John Markoff. Forum talks with Markoff about the life, work and influence of Brand and his new biography, "Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drivers in California paid an average of $5.93 per gallon of regular gas on Monday — about $1.50 more than the national average. Gas prices rose nationwide following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but while they’ve leveled off in other states, California’s are still rising. To lessen the impact, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a gas rebate last week that would provide between $400 and $800 to California car owners. We’ll talk about the rebate and other legislative proposals and explore why gas in California is so expensive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the early 1970s, Dave Goelz was an industrial designer working for Hewlett-Packard by day and obsessing over the puppets on Sesame Street in his spare time. Fifty years later, Goelz still has the dream job he left Silicon Valley to pursue. He’s the Muppet performer bringing life to Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldolf, Zoot and others. We’ll talk about the creative alchemy of Jim Henson’s Muppet universe with Goelz as well as Henson’s biographer and the curator of Imagination Unlimited, an exhibit about Henson which opens this week at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reyna Grande’s new novel, “A Ballad of Love and Glory,” tells the story of the San Patricios, a battalion of Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico during the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848. The book explores the brutality and contradictions of war while bringing to life the stories of John Riley, the leader of the San Patricios, and Ximena, a woman displaced by the war who becomes an army nurse. Although the Mexican-American war is sometimes called “The Forgotten War,” the conflict reshaped two nations and has had a profound impact on how Mexican Americans are viewed and treated. Grande joins us to talk about the legacy of the war and its parallels to modern day armed conflicts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In response to the mounting humanitarian crisis brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Biden Administration on Thursday announced that it would allow 100,000 Ukrainian refugees into the United States. Meanwhile, immigration advocates are intensifying their calls on U.S. officials to end Title 42, a Trump-era public health rule that has been used to expel tens of thousands of migrants at the southern border. We'll get the latest on both issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the pandemic, not only did children aged 8 to 18 spend more time on their screens, those under 13 who are technically barred by age limits from platforms, are increasingly gravitating to social media. The new study by Common Sense Media looked at what kids like to do on their screens – spoiler alert: watch videos – and reports that kids on average spend one and a half hours a day on social media but say they don’t really like it. We’ll talk about what this research means and how parents, teachers and caregivers can respond to these trends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 94th annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, and event boosters hope that a cast of three female comedic hosts, including Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall, and a reworked format will reinvigorate the award show's flagging popularity. We’ll talk about the nominations – both the critical favorites and the sleepers – and hear your picks for best films and performances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist Dave Iverson says that there were a lot of things he didn’t know when he made the decision to move in with his 95-year old mother Adelaide in 2004 to take care of her. “I didn’t know that I would be tested in ways I’d never imagined,” he writes in his new memoir, “or rewarded in ways I’d never dreamed.” He also had no idea that Adelaide would live nearly 10 years more, before passing away at age 105. Iverson, a former host of KQED Forum, joins us to talk about the burdens and benefits of caring for a loved one, how America is failing its caregivers, and his new book "Winter Stars: An elderly mother, an aging son, and life’s final journey". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The maternal mortality rate for Black mothers is nearly three times that of white mothers nationwide. These numbers are leading many African-American families to seek the services of doulas, care which has been shown to improve birth outcomes. To mark World Doula Week, we’ll talk with Black doulas about their work, the costs of racism in American healthcare, and about why some are wary of the state of California's efforts to regulate the profession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During her three days of Senate confirmation hearings this week, Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has fielded a range of questions about her judicial philosophy, her experience as a public defender and what some observers say are not-so-subtle racist attempts to cast her as a radical. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman to sit on the high court. We’ll talk about the hearing and what lies ahead in the confirmation process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia and Ukraine supply nearly one-quarter of the world’s wheat which feeds billions of people around the world. The war in Ukraine has not only cut off supply to wheat and other important exports like sunflower oil, barley and fertilizer, it has also raised the price of those products. Wheat prices are now 21% higher than last month. For regions like the Middle East and Africa, which rely on Ukrainian crops, the increase in cost and decrease in supply means many could go hungry. We’ll look at the important role Ukraine plays in the global food supply chain, the impacts the war is having on it, and what is being done to prevent a deepening global hunger crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Confirmation hearings begin on Monday for President Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The first Black woman to be nominated to the high court, Jackson is expected to face questions about her judicial philosophy and her views on issues facing the Court including abortion, voting rights and affirmative action. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that there is “no question” that Jackson, who has previously been confirmed by the Senate as an appellate judge, is qualified for the position. Nevertheless, the Harvard-trained Jackson has faced GOP attacks on topics as disparate as her record on crime to her LSAT score, criticisms which her supporters have noted seem rooted in racism. We’ll look at what to expect during the confirmation hearings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cow cheese. Goat cheese. Vegan cheese? From dairy farming and cheesemaking to tours and tastings, there are a world of old traditions and new family businesses making Northern California one of the most magical cheese-scapes on earth. In this recording of a recent Forum Live event at KQED's San Francisco headquarters, we talk about some of California's yummiest cheeses with the people who know them best. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sandhya Acharya has a window into the COVID-era lives of her child and his classmates through their art. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From closed schools to missed moments like graduation or visiting with family, children have borne an unusually heavy burden during the pandemic. Children were among the last to get vaccinated. They were unable to go to school in person. They have lost caregivers and loved ones. On the educational front, studies report that across the country, early reading skills are at a new low. And kids of all ages are more stressed than ever. But while the pandemic has been hard on children, there have also been lessons learned about grace, kindness and how to do better by kids. We’ll look at the price children have paid in the pandemic, and what parents and others can do to support them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bay Area heads to the Big Dance! The University of San Francisco men’s basketball team makes its first NCAA tournament appearance in 24 years. Saint Mary’s College men’s team is in the mix too, following up on its 2019 bid. And on the women’s side, Stanford University's team will seek to defend its title as the reigning NCAA champions. We’ll talk to former Stanford basketball star Kiana Williams, who helped the team take last year's trophy, about winning in 2021 and the team's road to a championship this year. Then, we'll talk with college reporters about their school’s NCAA tournament bids and hear what teams are making your Final Four brackets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, a Texas judge temporarily blocked a directive from Governor Greg Abbott calling for child abuse investigations of parents who seek gender-affirming medical care for their transgender children. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton plans to appeal, and more states are considering similar laws: Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity before fourth grade, and the Human Rights Campaign is tracking nearly 300 pieces of legislation it characterizes as anti-LGBTQ+. We want to hear from you: How have recent anti-LGBTQ+ bills affected you? How have you approached talking to your kids about gender and sexuality? Guests: Cathryn Oakley, State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel, Human Rights Campaign Dr. Jack Turban, chief fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine Jo Yurcaba, reporter, NBC Out, the LGBTQ section of NBC News Lizette Trujillo, member, Human Rights Campaign’s Parents for Transgender Equality National Council Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer Azar Nafisi says totalitarian regimes pay “too much attention to poets and writers, harassing, jailing and even killing them,” but in America the problem is too little attention, silencing them through “indifference and negligence.” Nafisi’s new book, “Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times,” is written as a series of letters to her late father discussing the writers she turns to when grappling with oppression and injustice, including Salman Rushdie, Plato, Zora Neale Hurston, Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood. “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance,” she writes, the ways “literature and art resist seats of power – not only that of kings and tyrants, but the tyrant within us as well.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Gavin Newsom has introduced a new policy framework to provide community-based mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to Californians, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. The proposal calls for a statewide network of CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Courts to serve as a mental health arm of county civil courts and create court-ordered care plans. The proposal has received support from a number of mayors or city officials across the state, including Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego. Critics worry this plan’s court orders perpetuates a history of state control over people with mental illness and disabilities that not ultimately serve them well. Gov. Newsom joins us to discuss his proposal – then we’ll hear expert reactions and unpack what the plan may look like in action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley employs a lot of highly skilled Ukrainian tech workers. As Ukrainians globally pitch in to resist Russia’s advance, tech workers are banding together to use their skills for Ukrainian resistance and aid. We’ll check in with tech workers in the Bay Area and Ukraine who are fighting Russian propaganda and cyber efforts, handling logistics to marshal supplies and move refugees and carrying other acts of IT resistance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the Russian government has threatened that it will seize assets of companies that withdraw from Russia and also arrest corporate leaders who criticize the government. Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Proctor & Gamble, IBM and Kentucky Fried Chicken are among the corporations that have been warned. This move by the government comes after a spate of Western companies announced that they will be rolling back their Russian business or cutting off ties with Russia altogether. We’ll talk about what this means for the future of Western businesses in Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine faltered on Monday while Russia’s devastating attacks on cities in Ukraine continued to intensify. Meanwhile, amid a widening humanitarian crisis that’s forced more than two million Ukrainians to flee, President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to press for more military equipment from NATO member states and will appeal to U.S. lawmakers in a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. As the invasion enters its third week, we take stock of the war’s devastating impact and the further actions the U.S. and its allies may take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seventy percent of Bay Area employers are expecting to bring their workers back to the office this month, according to a recent Bay Area Council survey. But many are asking for only three days in person, a major shift from pre-pandemic times. As businesses begin to return to in-person work, employers are looking to find the right balance of time spent remote and face-to-face. Silicon Valley is a case-in-point: Google is telling most workers they need to come into the office at least three days a week starting April 4, but Twitter said its employees can work from home permanently if they want. We’ll talk with experts about the “new normal” of work and what it means for Bay Area companies, employees, and communities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden joined a retreat with House Democrats in Philadelphia on Friday to strategize about the party's priorities ahead of what many political watchers say could be a bruising midterm election cycle for them. We'll preview some key races and look at Georgia's transition to a battleground state during the 2020 election campaign. Guests: Melanie Mason, national political correspondent, Los Angeles Times Annie Karni, congressional correspondent, New York Times Greg Bluestein, politics reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His forthcoming book is "FLIPPED: How Georgia Turned Purple and Broke the Monopoly on Republican Power." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Joe Biden issued a long-awaited cryptocurrency executive order Wednesday, directing federal agencies to study a wide range of issues including protecting consumers and businesses, safeguarding national security, and preventing criminal activity. The order also includes a directive to study the possibility of creating a U.S. digital dollar, an idea that other countries like China, which already has government-backed tokens, have embraced. Biden’s order comes as countries around the world have been rushing to catch up on regulating the cryptocurrency market. We’ll talk about the prevalence of crypto, its growing acceptance as a currency and how it should be regulated. Guests: Laura Shin, host, "Unchained" podcast. Shin is the author of "The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies and the Making of the First Cryptocurrency Craze" Nathaniel Popper, author of "Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money" Charlie Warzel, contributing writer, The Atlantic. Warzel is the author of "Galaxy Brain," a newsletter about the internet and big ideas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seventy-four percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander women reported having personally experienced racism or discrimination in the last 12 months, according to a new study by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. The news comes as we approach the March 16 anniversary of the murder of eight people, most of them Asian women, at three Atlanta-area spas. We’ll discuss the latest data on harassment and hate crimes against Asian Americans and what civil rights groups and others are doing to fight it Guests: Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American studies, San Francisco State University; co-founder, Stop AAPI Hate R.O. Kwon , author, the novel "The Incendiaries,"; co-editor, the anthology "KINK: Stories," and the Vanity Fair article, "A Letter to My Fellow Asian Women Whose Hearts Are Still Breaking." Nellie Tran, Associate Professor of Counseling and School Psychology, San Diego State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices