The Bay

Imagine fighting the largest wildfire in California history and Verizon says you'd have to upgrade your plan if you want faster internet to get your maps and documents. That's what happened to a couple of Santa Clara County firefighters that were helping battle the Mendocino Complex fire in July. The story is now part of a federal lawsuit on net neutrality regulations. Guest: Jon Brodkin, Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Midriffs, pajamas, and ball caps are all allowed this year at Alameda schools. A group of middle school students worked for three years to change a dress code that they say unfairly targeted girls. Now, decisions on what boys and girls can and cannot wear will be left to students and their parents instead of school staff. Guest: Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle K-12 education reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Green bins, blue bins, black bins. San Francisco is known for being super progressive when it comes to the environment. But some say the city's behind the curve on this one thing: water. This week state water officials discuss a revolutionary new plan to restore water to rivers, which could curtail the primary -- and pristine -- water source used by millions of Bay Area residents. Guest: Lauren Sommer, KQED science reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mansions. A multimillion-dollar wedding. Sexy characters in swank settings. The release of Crazy Rich Asians is a cultural event onscreen and off. More so for Asians and Asian-Americans, who make up about a quarter of the Bay Area's population. What does the success of Crazy Rich Asians means to them? Guest: Ricky Yean, writer of "Asian-Americans Are Cultural Orphans (aka I hope Crazy Rich Asians isn’t a flop)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There aren't that many people riding buses into San Francisco's new $2 billion transbay terminal. At least not when compared to the city's first terminal that opened in 1939. So how will the new transit hub that opened for service this week be different? Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED transportation editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Johnson’s last days were his final act. He was a Bay Area musician, a dancer, a vaudeville act -- a performer for life. Johnson used the End of Life Option Act that has been legal in California since June 2016. The decision to end one's life has always been controversial. But not for Johnson who choreographed every last little detail to the end. Guest: Arash Malekzadeh, director of "A Dance With Death: The Final Days of Kelly Johnson" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fire drip torches, dozers, and prevailing winds – just some of the tools firefighters are using to battle the blazes engulfing California. With fires that start earlier in the year, spark up overnight, and are more extreme in their size and speed, firefighters have to adjust to the new conditions. We follow a reporter who embeds with a CalFire strike unit working a corner of the Ranch Fire. It's one of the fires that make up the Mendocino Complex, the largest fire in California’s history. Guest: Sukey Lewis, KQED News reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If California voters approve Prop. 10 in November, the debate over rent control will continue. Read more from Guy Marzorati on that debate in the Bay Area. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Waiting at the DMV can be hell, but you gotta go. Over the last year, wait times at Bay Area DMVs increased 48 percent. We take a trip to the DMV (it's more fun than it sounds) and look at what's causing these delays and what's being done to improve them. Bryan Anderson, Sacramento Bee political reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people in the Bay Area paid hundreds of dollars to see a speech by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the new liberal Democratic star from New York. She stumped in the Mission to raise money for her Congressional campaign, and also to rally what some are calling a movement of Democratic Socialists. Guest: Julian Mark, reporter for Mission Local Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the first black "Peanuts" cartoon character turns 50, marking the first time that Charlie Brown and Franklin met. It all started with a schoolteacher and mother of three who wrote a letter to Charles Schulz. She encouraged him to let black students see themselves in the comic strip. He hesitated at first but then relented. Guest: Cesar Gallegos, former archivist for the Charles M. Schulz Museum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can big tech companies call themselves progressive? One of Silicon Valley's biggest CEOs says he has identified as progressive. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says he felt conflicted once about whether to charge people to use the company's platform. His answer has something to do with Walt Disney, Bob Dylan and Steve Jobs. Guest: Sam Harnett, KQED Silicon Valley reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you work in tech? Have you bought a home recently? Use Uber? Postmates? And you live in San Francisco? Well then, you might be part of the so-called Outer Party, one of the four informal "castes" in San Francisco that a Wired writer believes makes up the City by the Bay. It's similar to Orwell's 1984, but the modern-day techie version. Guest: Antonio García Martínez, author of "Chaos Monkeys" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one knows how to run a protest like Bay Area activists. In fact, faith leaders and Black Lives Matter activists from the Bay brought their strategies to the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego to protest family separation at a detention facility for parents who've had their children taken from them. One recent protest highlighted a surprising tactical twist: how to use white people and their privilege to sway more people to join their resistance. Guest: John Sepulvado, host of KQED's The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It cost $1.3 billion for the federal government to clean up after the fires that devastated Northern California last October. Through the process, one worker died, others were injured, and many homeowners still have giant holes where their houses used to be. A KQED investigation shows how contractors were encouraged to move quickly and neglected safety. And now, the government needs to create a new program to refill holes that were over-dug in the process. Guest: Sukey Lewis, KQED criminal justice reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland is having a moment on the big screen. This weekend Blindspotting will be released, the third movie this year featuring the city that is drawing national attention. It follows the releases of Black Panther and Sorry to Bother You earlier in 2018. All can be traced back to the legacy and richness of black culture in The Town. Guest: Sandhya Dirks, KQED race and equity reporter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A journalist at the East Bay Express wrote about Napa’s BottleRock music festival and criticized it for being by and for white people. Then the paper's publisher took down the stories and used the N-word in a meeting. Today, the story of Express reporter Azucena Rasilla and what led publisher Steve Buel to step down. Guest: Sara Hossaini, KQED reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sam Vogelstein was having as many as 100 seizures a day. His parents tried more than 20 different medications. Then they stumbled on research showing the benefits of a marijuana-based drug. After trying to buy and make the CBD (cannabidiol) drug underground they eventually got into a clinical trial that has stopped Sam’s seizures. Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED science reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are no banks in East Palo Alto – a city surrounded by some of the wealthiest communities in the Bay Area. There is one lone ATM, though. We’ll take you there and meet some people who say being ignored by banks is a long-standing problem in this historically black and brown neighborhood, even as it gentrifies. Guest: Tonya Mosley, KQED's Silicon Valley Bureau Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about London Breed and how she became the person and politician she is today by reading Jamilah King's article in Mother Jones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A standing room-only crowd of tech workers from the most iconic Silicon Valley companies met last week in the Mission District of San Francisco. They were there to talk about how to organize against the very companies that're paying their paychecks. Tech is known for requiring workers to keep their names out of the press. But now the momentum to organize is growing in the era of the Trump administration. Guest: Sam Harnett, KQED Silicon Valley reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Golden State Warriors have not always been the golden team. Oakland fans supported the Warriors through decades of losing seasons and rode the high toward three NBA Championships. Now as the team plans to move across the Bay to The City, some people in The Town feel left behind. Guest: Lukas Brekke-Miesner, writer for the 38Notes blog and associate director of Oakland Kids First Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The original sideshows were pop-up parties -- part car show, part block party. They first bubbled up in mall parking lots of Deep East Oakland in the 1980s. Over time the sideshows began to change and the Oakland Police Department began to take notice. New laws were introduced that criminalized sideshow spectators. That complicated the already tense relationship between police and the community. We get into the history and culture of the sideshow. Guest: Sandhya Dirks, KQED equity and enterprise reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lines at La Taqueria in San Francisco’s Mission District are long. Business picked up after getting named the No. 1 burrito in the country back in 2014. But some workers say the company wasn’t properly compensating them even before the taqueria got popular. Now some women have come forward to force back pay and other benefits to all employees. Guest: Jonathan Kauffman, food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Homelessness in Bay Area has become a common sight; one we even try to avoid. When KQED reporter Dan Brekke interviewed one man named Perry Foster, he didn’t think it would lead him on a search for more details about who this person is, his accomplishments, his goals and the barriers he faced. As part of KQED’s SF Homeless Project, we learn today that everyone has a story. Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED transportation editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than a thousand people have evacuated their homes because of the Pawnee Fire in Lake County. The wildfire that started Saturday has destroyed at least 22 buildings. It's a reoccurring nightmare; wildfires have burned through Lake County year after year. Today, we hear from people who have had to flee their burning homes. Guest: Sukey Lewis, KQED criminal justice reporter Subscribe to The Bay: Apple Podcasts | Google Play Music | Stitcher | TuneIn | Radio Public Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fire that ignited at the Sims Metal Management scrap yard site in January alarmed a lot of people who live in the city of Richmond. It got them thinking: How do residents get told when there's a big fire or other emergency? The city council meets Tuesday to discuss three proposals for how to alert residents in a disaster. Guest: Ted Goldberg, KQED News assignment editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration's fight against sanctuary policies is now being litigated in federal court. The first hearing was Wednesday in Sacramento. And the consequences of the court case affects sanctuary policies, which were pioneered first by the city of Berkeley and later San Francisco before spreading to other places around the country. Guest: Katie Orr, KQED politics and government reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent survey showed nearly half of Bay Area residents say they'll likely leave the region in a few years. KQED wanted to know where you're going, why and how you feel about that. These are your answers and phone calls. Guest: Tonya Mosley, Senior Silicon Valley Editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 5th, 2017 the power went out at the Valero oil refinery in Benicia. Above the refinery, flares blazed and released thick clouds of black smoke. The surrounding areas were evacuated and nearby schools were ordered to shelter-in-place. In the days and weeks that followed, the flares released more than 80,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide. Tonight, the Benicia City Council will consider whether to add more air monitors and regulations. Guest: Ted Goldberg, morning editor for KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When ICE raided Northern California cities in February, they arrested more people than they expected. But you wouldn't have known that from the Trump administration's outcry after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced the raids ahead of time. How ICE and Trump spun a false narrative about the Oakland mayor and the raids to drum up support for their base. Read the full story and the emails. Guest: Matthias Gafni, investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Golden State Warriors have not always been the golden team. Oakland fans have supported the Warriors through decades of losing seasons and rode the high toward three NBA Championships. Now as the team plans to move across the bay to The City, some people in The Town feel left behind. Guest: Lukas Brekke-Miesner, writer for the 38Notes blog and associate director of Oakland Kids First Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Huedell Freeman was hauling 47 pounds of marijuana from a farm in Mendocino County to a medical dispensary in Los Angeles when two Rohnert Park police officers pulled him over. They took his weed, gave him a citation and let him go. Freeman was never charged with a crime, nor was his marijuana ever returned. Today, an investigation into the suspicious allegations of pot and cash seizures on Highway 101 by the Rohnert Park officers in the North Bay. Update: KQED has learned that Rohnert Park police did in fact request that prosecutors file charges against Huedell Freeman. This corrects an earlier version. Guest: Sukey Lewis, KQED criminal justice reporter This story was reported in collaboration with the North Coast Journal and independent reporter Kym Kemp. Get more details about the questionable police seizures by reading the full story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flavored tobacco gets booted out of San Francisco. On Tuesday, voters passed Proposition E with 69 percent of the vote, making the city the first in the nation to pass such a comprehensive ordinance banning all flavored tobacco products from every store shelves. This isn’t the first time San Francisco garnered a major win against the tobacco industry. In fact, a ballot measure back in 1983 says a lot about why the city was poised to pass this first of its kind ordinance. Guest: Lesley McClurg, KQED science reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#TBT on The Bay: Sixty percent of voters decided to remove Aaron Persky from his judgeship in Santa Clara County. He's the judge who handed a six-month sentence to former Stanford athlete Brock Turner after Turner was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015. On an earlier episode of The Bay, we asked an expert: What are the consequences of recalling a judge because of an unpopular decision? We revisit that episode today. Guest: Jessica Levinson, elections law professor at Loyola Law School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hang out with The Bay team as we wait for results from the June 5 primary. It’s time to eat newsroom pizza and hit the refresh button over and over on all our browser tabs. For updated results, find full coverage at kqed.org/elections. Guests: Guy Marzorati, KQED politics reporter and newsroom elections czar; Dan Brekke, KQED transportation editor; Alex Emslie, KQED criminal justice reporter; Ryan Levi, host of KQED's Q'ed Up podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The three top candidates running for mayor in San Francisco will have the chance to be the city's "first" in some way. But does a candidate's identity sway people's votes? And how does a voter's identity play a role at the polls? We ask these questions to voters and more. Guest: Corey Cook, Dean of the School of Public Service at Boise State University, and former professor of political science at San Francisco State University and University of San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of the Bay Area's largest fire agencies are failing to inspect apartment buildings and schools. An analysis by the Bay Area News Group looked at fire inspection records over an eight-year span and found nearly one quarter of the apartment buildings reviewed weren't inspected in 2017. State law requires inspections every year. Guest: Thomas Peele, investigative reporter with the Bay Area News Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billboards adorned with giant pot leaves line Bay Area freeways. This can make it hard for parents to ignore that awkward coming of age conversation about drugs. Our health editor, who's also a parent, says drug education is radically different from when she grew up. Guest: Carrie Feibel, KQED health editor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antioch has waited decades for a BART station. The city has seen a population boom led by the Bay Area's housing crisis, which has pushed people farther and farther out. Last weekend, BART officially began train service to Antioch. We talk to residents about how it feel. Guest: Sandhya Dirks, reporter and co-host of KQED's American Suburb podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re voting in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley or San Leandro ... you get three votes! Kind of. Today, we explain how ranked-choice voting works, why some people like it, why some people hate it, and how politicians can win even if they come in second. June 5 is Primary Election Day. Guest: Scott Shafer, Senior Editor for Politics and Government Desk for KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two deaths by police. Zero charges. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday that his hands are tied and he won't be prosecuting the officers who killed two men of color in high-profile cases. But he calls the shootings of Mario Woods in 2015 and Luis Gongora in 2016 “unnecessary” and “disturbing.” So why can’t he prosecute? Guest: Alex Emslie, KQED criminal justice reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

District 15 isn’t your normal district. At a forum in Berkeley, East Bay candidates for State Assembly are asked to do something they almost never do on the campaign trail: validate their opponent's point of view. Guest: Guy Marzorati, KQED Politics and Government reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We jump into a stranger's car on the Bay Bridge in the "casual carpool lane" to talk about raising bridge tolls. Our carpool driver and rider join in on a discussion about Regional Measure 3, which voters will decide in the June 5 primary election that could increase tolls on seven state bridges in the Bay Area. Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED transportation editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The costs of processing crime in San Francisco has left the city’s convicted criminals with millions of dollars in unpaid debt. Many people can’t afford to pay the extra administrative fees that accompany the criminal court fines. The Board of Supervisors will vote today on whether to waive unpaid debt that's owed to the city and cancel future administrative fees to help low income people with reentry after crime. Guest: Alex Emslie, criminal justice reporter for KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calle 24. Japantown. The Leather District. These are all neighborhoods in San Francisco that the city has formally recognized as cultural districts. Not so much for tourism as an attempt to save them from gentrification. But will it work? Guest: Chloe Veltman, arts and culture reporter for KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland has lost a battle with coal. A judge ruled Tuesday to uphold a contract that lets a developer ship coal through an Oakland port. Developer Phil Tagami had sued the city after the council had voted to ban the shipment of coal. Guest: Dan Brekke, KQED transportation editor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco supervisors were not happy with answers they got on Monday from the company accused of falsifying soil data at Hunters Point. In recent weeks, we learned two pleaded guilty to faking reports, and there is suspicion about whether the parcel where people now live is safe. Today, an update on how San Francisco supervisors are pressing the Navy, the EPA and the clean-up contractor to retest the area. Guest: Erika Aguilar, KQED producer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oakland’s Lake Merritt is supposed to be a public space for everyone. But it doesn't feel that way when white residents complain about the way black residents use the park. So how did people respond when a white woman recently called the cops on two black men grilling? They threw a party at the lake. Guest: Sandhya Dirks, KQED race and equity reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a housing starved San Francisco, Hunters Point might look like a developers dreamland. The area has large plots of land, a waterfront and beautiful vistas. But the land has been making headlines lately with news of pollution, botched tests and radioactive waste. The latest is that the newly developed residential area called "Parcel A" may be more dangerous than previously thought. And residents are mad and suing. Guest: Chris Roberts, investigative reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices