Kqeds Forum

We’re  launching a new series, “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” to explore how homelessness happens and what it takes to move people into permanent homes. Our first show takes a look into the many reasons that people end up becoming homeless and how it can be prevented. Research shows that keeping someone housed is far more cost-effective, not to mention less traumatic, than trying to help someone once they lose their home. We’ll hear the experiences of people who have, with help, narrowly avoided losing their housing and talk about proven ways to prevent homelessness. Guests: Jennifer Loving, CEO, Destination: Home - a public-private partnership focused on ending homelessness in Santa Clara County Rob Collinson, assistant professor, Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do frog skin, polyester hair and gene-edited pig kidneys have in common? They’re all part of humanity’s long quest to swap out ailing parts of our bodies, according to science writer Mary Roach. From prosthetic limbs to printable organs, Roach joins to talk about the history and complexities of human body replacement and where the science is today. Her new book is “Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.” Guests: Mary Roach, author, "Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy"; her earlier books include "Grunt," "Stiff," "Bonk" and "Fuzz" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nuclear capabilities have increased dramatically over the past decade and continue to grow, with the U.S. Department of Defense spending $1.5 trillion on nuclear weapons and infrastructure upgrades. But the conversation around nuclear war has only gotten quieter. The anti-nuclear movement of the 1960s-80s was one of the largest protest movements of its time, with a million protesters marching in New York to demand an end to nuclear weapons. Yet the threat is rarely mentioned today. We’ll talk about the anti-nuclear movement, the normalization of nuclear warfare, and what some experts hope to change about that. Guests: Rivka Galchen, contributor, The New Yorker; her most recent article in The New Yorker is "Why Don't We Take Nuclear Weapons Seriously?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crises unfold around us daily: gun violence, devastating foreign wars and U.S. democratic norms shattering. And still, we cook dinner and go to work. For those directly affected, the harms are inescapable. But for others, the contrast between catastrophic headlines and ordinary routines creates a dizzying dissonance: life moving as normal, against a backdrop of unsettling change. We’ll talk about this strange tension and what it does to us, and we’ll hear how you are navigating it. Guests: Kate Woodsome, journalist and founder, Invisible Threads (katewoodsome.substack.com), a media and leadership lab exploring the link between mental health and democracy Adrienne Matei, writer, The Guardian US; her recent piece is "Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real" Gisela Salim-Peyer, associate editor, The Atlantic; her recent piece is "Authoritarianism Feels Surprisingly Normal – Until It Doesn't" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Yorker magazine poetry editor Kevin Young has called poetry “the most efficient mode of time travel.” In his new volume of poems “Night Watch,” Young, a literary hyphenate who edits, writes and teaches, takes readers on a journey of loss and re-emergence. From his cycle of poems about a conjoined pair of twins born into slavery and kidnapped to a carnival freak show to his meditations on grief set to the phases of the moon, Young’s spare and incisive language provides the reader passage through history and memory. We talk to Young about his collection and what it means to be a poet today. Guests: Kevin Young, poet and author; poetry editor, The New Yorker; former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climatologist Michael Mann and vaccine expert Peter Hotez say we’re in an “antiscience superstorm.” It’s a movement that has upended federal health agencies, defunded research and weaponized social media and AI to advance its agenda. And now, some of the nation’s most vocal antiscience figures are in major positions of power. We talk to Hotez and Mann about their daily battles against disinformation, their personal toll and what we can all do to counter the antiscience threat. Their new book is “Science Under Siege.” Guests: Peter J. Hotez, professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine; co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development, Texas Children's Hospital Michael E. Mann, professor of earth and environmental science, University of Pennsylvania; director, Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second time in just four months, BART had a systemwide outage on Friday, stranding morning commuters for hours and bringing Bay Bridge traffic to a standstill. The maddening meltdown is but one of the BART’s major woes. A promised $750 million dollar loan to shore up struggling Bay Area transit agencies has been tied up in back-room wrangling in Sacramento. We talk with KQED transit reporter Dan Brekke about how the  financial crisis is testing the Bay Area’s historic support for public transportation. Guests: Dan Brekke, editor and reporter, KQED News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a whale struck Maurice and Maralyn Bailey’s boat in 1972, the British couple found themselves stranded on a tiny rubber raft in the Pacific Ocean. In a new book, journalist Sophie Elmhirst looks at how the shipwrecked couple survived together for months – starving and pushed to their emotional limits. We’ll talk to Elmhirst about relationships under extreme conditions and why we’re so drawn to survival stories. And we want to hear from you: How do you think your own relationship would fare under similar circumstances? Guests: Sophie Elmhirst, author of "A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession and Shipwreck" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every month, 5.5 million Californians rely on Cal Fresh, the state’s version of food stamps. But Trump’s $186 billion in cuts to SNAP, the nation’s primary anti-hunger program, means that California will lose billions of dollars in funding. Experts note that these changes to SNAP, which began rolling out this month, constitute a drastic overhaul of the social safety net program and threaten to increase hunger in the country just as the economy is showing signs of slowing down. We’ll talk about the impacts of Trump’s budget decision on those in need as well as the grocers and food banks that help provide food to SNAP recipients. Guests: Leslie Bacho, CEO, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, a food bank that serves Santa Clara and San Mateo counties Lauren Bauer, fellow, Economic Studies, Brookings Institute; associate director of the Hamilton Project - her research focuses on social safety net policies Lupe Lopez, co-founder and owner, Arteagas Food Center, a chain of local grocery stores with outlets in S

Millions of people are having deeply personal conversations with AI chatbots, but how safe are these interactions? We’re joined by two technology reporters who have been investigating troubling cases, including a California teenager whose months-long chats with ChatGPT took a tragic turn and a vulnerable man who was convinced by one of Meta’s AI female personas to “meet” in person. We look at how these tools can manipulate – or be manipulated – to cause harm, and what we’re learning about the psychological impact of AI companions. Guests: Kashmir Hill, features writer covering technology and privacy for the New York Times; author of "Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It" Jeff Horwitz, reporter covering tech, Reuter's Enterprise Team Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political economist, educator, author, and former labor secretary, Robert Reich, has spent decades examining inequality as a way to make sense of the world. His career has focused on economic justice, the impacts of globalization and our shifting economy. We’ll talk with Reich, who recently retired from teaching at UC Berkeley, about the lessons he’s learned and taught, the influence of corporate power in America, and the ways in which wealth, poverty, and the widening income gap threaten our very democracy. Guests: Robert Reich, formerly the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley; he has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s long-delayed high speed rail project is finally ready to start laying tracks in the Central Valley next year. But the Trump administration has called it a “rail to nowhere,” pointing to construction delays and a budget that’s ballooned by $100 billion. The federal government has clawed back $4 million in grant funding – a move Governor Newsom says is illegal and that California plans to fight in court. With federal money tied up in the lawsuit, state lawmakers are pooling funds and pushing public-private partnerships to keep construction on track. We’ll get the latest on this slow-moving project from two transportation journalists. And we want to hear from you: What questions do you have about the future of California’s high speed rail? Guests: Colleen Shalby, staff writer covering transportation and mobility, The Los Angeles Times Ralph Vartabedian, independent journalist who has written about California's high-speed rail for over a decade Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f

After decades spent representing the East Bay in Congress, Barbara Lee was inaugurated as Oakland’s new mayor three months ago. She’s now at the helm of a city with a lot of local pride and boasting rights, but also with brutal financial challenges, a politics battered by scandal and recall, and a citizenry eager for progress on crime, homelessness and other urban woes. Barbara Lee joins us to talk about what she’s been learning in her first months in office and how it’s shaping her plans for the city. And we hear from you: What do you want to ask your new mayor, and what do you want her to know about your Oakland? Guests: Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When political advisor Chloe Dalton found an injured newborn hare near her home in the countryside, she decided to nurse it back to health. The two quickly formed a bond of quiet companionship. We talk to Dalton about what the hare taught her about trust, attention, preparing for loss and the ordinary magic of engaging closely with the natural world. Her new memoir is “Raising Hare.” What has a relationship with a wild animal taught you? Guests: Chloe Dalton, political advisor and author, "Raising Hare" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to be an “auntie”? Studies have shown that aunties — whether they are a family member, a chosen maternal figure or a parent’s friend — play a crucial support role in a child’s upbringing. But the work doesn’t end at the family unit. Aunties are often the ones showing up and acting as powerful forces of social change. We’ll talk with artists, scholars and community organizers about the underrated power of aunties, and the ways in which they actively redefine the nuclear family unit and our systems of care. Guests: Kristina Wong, comedian and performance artist; Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama; her kids' book "Auntie Kristina's Guide to Asian American Activism" comes out Spring 2026 from Beaming Books Jocelyn Jackson, chef and community organizer; founder, JustUs Kitchen; co-founder, People's Kitchen Collective; executive producer, Life is Living Festival; former chef-in-residence, Museum of African Diaspora Kareem Khubchandani, educ

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California has aspired to be a national haven for abortion rights. But the reality is more complicated. Catholic hospitals in the state are refusing emergency care for miscarriages, major retailers have refused to stock abortion medications and federal lawsuits are targeting California doctors and pharmacies. We listen back to our conversation about the cases reshaping reproductive healthcare and their potential impacts on both Californians and the nation. Guests: Mary Ziegler, professor, UC Davis School of Law Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter, The 19th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fast-evolving retail landscape has zapped the life out of once bustling shopping centers throughout the Bay Area. And yet, many of the region’s legacy malls are still thriving. While San Francisco Centre, the former home of high-end department stores downtown, is now mostly empty, a revamped Stonestown in San Francisco’s west side is full of shoppers. Tenants such as indoor arcades, escape rooms and niche food vendors are drawing crowds to once desolate malls. We talk about where Bay Area shoppers are still going and how brick and mortar shopping is changing. Guests: Heather Knight, San Francisco bureau chief, The New York Times Michael Berne, president, MJB Consulting Kirthi Kalyanam, marketing department chair, director of the Retail Management Institute, Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican spending bill signed into law by President Trump last month slashes an estimated $150 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California over the next 10 years. Nearly 40% percent of Californians rely on Medi-Cal for health coverage, and now millions are expected to fall off the rolls. That’s leaving medical providers bracing for impacts, especially in places already struggling to serve all who need care. We talk to heads of clinics in the Central Valley, Shasta County and Los Angeles to hear how they’re coping. Guests: Mitesh Popat, chief executive officer, Venice Family Clinic David Quackenbush, president and chief executive officer, Golden Valley Health Centers Jo Campbell, chief executive officer, Hill Country Community Clinic Miranda Dietz, interim director, Health Care Program, UC Berkeley Labor Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voters in the Sunset district of San Francisco are casting ballots on whether to recall their supervisor Joel Engardio. Engardio, a vocal champion of the city’s previous recalls of three school board members and former District Attorney Chesa Boudin, has angered residents in his district over his support of Proposition K, which closed the oceanfront’s Great Highway. The 2-mile stretch of land opened as Sunset Dunes Park, but whether that park is wanted, is still under debate with some saying it impacts local businesses and daily commutes. We talk about San Francisco’s recall fever and the balancing act required by officials representing the needs of their districts, and the desires of the city. Guests: Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local Jason McDaniel, associate professor of political science, San Francisco State University Sydney Johnson, reporter, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Los Angeles County—famous for its sunshine—just 20% of urbanized areas are shaded at noon. That’s creating a serious health hazard for people who work outdoors, wait at bus stops or play outside. Environmental journalist Sam Bloch argues that shade should be considered a basic human right, akin to access to clean air and safe drinking water. We speak with Bloch about why modern cities have so little shade and how we can reintroduce it as a fundamental element of urban design. Bloch’s new book is “Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource.” Do you struggle to find shade in your community? Guests: Sam Bloch, environmental journalist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices