Shows / KQED's Forum
KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints. Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love…
Episodes
KQED's ForumCalifornia Political News Roundup
Join us for a roundup of political news in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed numerous bills into laws in the past few weeks including a slew of laws…
KQED's ForumSan Francisco Giants Headed to Playoffs for the First Time in Five Years
The San Francisco Giants have clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2016. With 105 wins under their belt, the 2021 team is among the best in…
KQED's ForumFirst Oral COVID-19 Treatment Shows Promise
Drug company Merck is applying for emergency use authorization in the U.S. for a new oral treatment for COVID-19 that trials suggest cuts the risk of…
KQED's ForumMajor Health Impacts from Wildfire Smoke Uncovered in New Investigation
Residents of the small Northern California town of Willows suffered from smoke-filled air four out of twelve months in 2020. That makes it the smokiest place…
KQED's ForumAirports. Remember Them?
Airports are often the first, last, and sometimes only impression a traveler has of a city. Singapore's Changi airport dazzles; Newark Airport in New Jersey…
KQED's Forum‘The Many of Saints of Newark’ Expands ‘The Sopranos’ Universe to the Big Screen
The new film “The Many Saints of Newark” brings Sopranos fans a prequel to the revered HBO series about mobsters in New Jersey. Director Alan Taylor, who won…
KQED's Forum'This Land' Explores Native American Adoption Law At Risk
A federal lawsuit from Texas is challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act, the landmark 1978 law designed to keep Native American children within Native…
KQED's ForumToward a More Perfect Sanctuary: How To Reform the U.S. Asylum System
The last time Congress re-negotiated who is eligible for asylum in the United States, it came in the aftermath of the fall of Saigon, when an influx of…
KQED's ForumSeptember Book Club: 'How Much of These Hills Is Gold' by C. Pam Zhang
Forum Book Club returns with "How Much of These Hills Is Gold," the debut novel from C. Pam Zhang. Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, the book has been…
KQED's ForumSystem Challenges Ever Present for Central American Asylum Seekers
In the latest installment of Forum's series on asylum seeking in the U.S., we'll take a look at what challenges Central American refugee communities in the Bay…
KQED's ForumBay Area Counties Consider Desalination as Drought Deepens
Marin County officials are considering desalination plants to help weather a drought that is expected to deplete water resources as early as next summer…
KQED's ForumPaul Offit on the Fraught History of Medical Innovation
Pfizer and BioNTech announced Tuesday that they submitted data to the FDA showing that their COVID vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 -11 We'll…
KQED's ForumBay Area Housing Costs Temper an Otherwise Warm Welcome for Afghan Asylum Seekers
The Bay Area has been home to a vibrant Afghan community for decades. California lawmakers have been showing unified support in welcoming Afghan asylum seekers…
KQED's ForumPalo Alto Brings Car Traffic Back to Streets Closed During the Pandemic
Palo Alto officials next month plan to reopen University Avenue and some other streets that had been closed to car traffic during the pandemic. Some retailers…
KQED's ForumDecades of Legal Limbo Can Await Patients Leaving California Psychiatric Hospitals
California's conditional release program, known as CONREP, is supposed to enable patients leaving state psychiatric hospitals to transition to an independent…
KQED's ForumSouth LA Hip Hop Artist and Entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle was “The King of Crenshaw”
The ESPN 30 for 30 podcast, “The King of Crenshaw,” examines the life and legacy of hip hop artist, entrepreneur and son of South Los Angeles Nipsey Hussle…
KQED's ForumThe History and Evolution of U.S. Asylum Decisions
Images of border patrol agents on horses forcibly beating back Haitian asylum seekers at the Mexican border have been igniting outrage. It’s just the latest…
KQED's ForumHaiti’s UNESCO Ambassador Claude-Alix Bertrand on the Border Crisis
Haiti is grappling with an unprecedented environmental crisis after a recent hurricane and earthquake. A political crisis following the assassination of the…
KQED's ForumThe Stories of Street Furniture
Everything has a story — including that street couch in your neighborhood. As USC professor and creator of streetcouch.com Keith Plocek puts it: “Just think of…
KQED's ForumNew Details of Trump Plan to Overturn Election Results Reveal Weaknesses in Our Democracy
A recently-surfaced memo written by conservative lawyer John Eastman revealed a detailed plan for the Trump administration to overturn President Joe Biden’s…
KQED's ForumAs Chez Panisse Turns 50, What’s Cooking (Next)?
Berkeley’s influential Chez Panisse restaurant has turned 50. The restaurant transformed food culture in the Bay Area and put California, and farm to table…
KQED's ForumWildfire Survivors Warn Against Promises from Lawyers
Most of the 70,000 survivors of wildfires sparked by PG&E equipment between 2015 and 2018, have yet to see any of the promised $13.5 billion settlement with…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Health Workers Reflect on COVID Care, Eighteen Months Into the Pandemic
Last December, Forum spoke to four nurses and doctors on the frontlines of COVID care in California. At the time, cases were surging statewide, and no vaccines…
KQED's ForumMaggie Nelson ‘On Freedom’
The word freedom can be used in so many ways, sometimes at cross purposes. There are those who defend the freedom to remain unvaccinated, others the freedom to…
KQED's Forum‘Bewilderment’ Explores Resplendence of the Cosmos and a Child’s Mind
"Life is something we need to stop correcting." That's what Theo, the single astrobiologist father who narrates Richard Powers's latest novel, thinks when…
KQED's ForumFirefighters Scramble to Save Groves of Grand Sequoia Trees Threatened by Wildfire
When the KNP Complex fire, which has burned about 40 square miles in the Western Sierra, began spreading through Sequoia National Park, firefighters mobilized…
KQED's ForumFewer Latinos Identified as White on 2020 Census
In the 2020 Census, the number of Latinos who selected “white” as their race dropped to 20% from 53% in 2010, at the same time more Latinos selected “two or…
KQED's ForumWall Street Journal: Facebook Long Aware of Platform's Ill Effects on Users
For years, top officials at Facebook have been aware of the platform's adverse impacts on users, and they've turned a blind eye to company employees who've…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Finally Passed Housing Laws, Could They Help Address the State's Housing Crisis?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a set of housing bills last week that aim to increase the state’s housing inventory and return attention to his ambitious…
- KQED's Forum
Hollywood Writers' Rooms Still Don't Reflect the Diversity of America
In a new cover story for The Atlantic, writer Hannah Giorgis looks critically at Hollywood’s writers’ rooms and how most of them look nothing like America…
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Two Major Trails Offer Adventure, Beauty, to the San Francisco Bay Area
It may come as a surprise to some of the region’s urban dwellers that more than 1000 miles of trails outline the San Francisco Bay. Running along the water’s…
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Modern Border Security Turns to Webs of High Tech Surveillance Systems, Not Walls
President Joe Biden stopped construction on Trump’s signature wall along the southern border, but he’s asking for more than a billion dollars in his proposed…
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How ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Highlights San Francisco’s Lesser-Known Neighborhoods
One of the key action scenes in the new Marvel Studios film, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” involves a city bus losing control on California…
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Larry Elder’s Rise Prompts Look at Direction of Black Conservative Movement in California
Gov. Gavin Newsom beat the attempt to recall him this week handily, with over 60% of the vote, so far. But the results haven’t seemed to phase failed…
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A Eulogy to Alt-Weeklies as SF Weekly Stops Publishing
Last week, SF Weekly, the free alternative newspaper, announced that it would cease publication for the foreseeable future. The loss of the paper, which won…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Bill Aims to Track Working Conditions At Amazon Warehouses
Among the various bills sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk is AB 701, which would require companies that operate warehouses in California to disclose…
KQED's ForumHistorian Adam Tooze on How the Pandemic Exposed Failures of Globalization, Economic Order
In his new book “Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy,” historian Adam Tooze analyzes the different ways governments around the world responded to the…
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Statewide Election Special: The 2021 California Gubernatorial Recall - Part 2
California's recall process has been called undemocratic, confusing and inordinately expensive. We look at proposals both to change it, such as increasing the…
- KQED's Forum
Statewide Election Special: The 2021 California Gubernatorial Recall - Part 1
The petition to recall Governor Gavin Newsom began in February of last year. Now, more than a year and a half later, California voters decided against the…
- KQED's Forum
Mary Roach Explores Collision of Human and Animal Worlds in 'Fuzz'
Bears who break and enter, elephants who commit manslaughter and deer who jaywalk: they’re all the subject of science writer Mary Roach’s latest book “Fuzz…
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How a Climate Disaster Is Also a Sign of Hope
Lake Powell, a 190-mile long reservoir in Utah that holds back the Colorado River, and which can hold 24 million acres of water, has dropped 140 feet since…
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California Counts Down to Tuesday Recall Election
The special election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is Tuesday. As of Sept. 9, a third of mailed ballots have been returned, according to Political Data, Inc…
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Efforts to Restrict Voting Access Gain Traction Nationwide
During the past year, state legislatures across the country have implemented restrictive voting laws that experts say will stop some voters from casting…
KQED's ForumThousands of Californians Face Eviction as Moratorium Nears Expiration
California’s eviction moratorium expires on Sept. 30. Renters can still apply for state assistance and receive limited protections through March of next year…
KQED's ForumLooking Back to 20 Years Ago Today, at Life Before 9/11
Looking back at the news headlines in the Bay Area on September 10, 2001 gives us a snapshot of what consumed us that day. There was violence: a mass shooting…
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The Texas Abortion Law: One Week Later
The Texas anti-abortion law which the Supreme Court declined to block, took many by surprise. The law prohibits abortions after six weeks, even in the case of…
- KQED's Forum
50 Years After the Attica Prison Rebellion, the Struggle for Prison Reform Continues
Fifty years ago this week, people incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility in New York rebelled, taking hostages after their requests for reform were…
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California Nursing Shortage, Made Worse by the Pandemic, Expected to Persist
California faces a shortfall of more than 40,000 full-time equivalent registered nurses, a gap that's expected to last until 2026, according to a new UCSF…
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How Paying Substance Abusers To Stay Sober Works
Rewarding someone for not abusing drugs might sound counterintuitive, but in fact, its a highly effective form of treatment. Called "contingency management,"…
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Expensive Oakland Police Security Fees Force Cancellation of Community Events
First Fridays, a popular monthly art walk and street fair in Oakland, will restart in October -- months after event organizers originally planned to resume…
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Ask An Infectious Disease Specialist About the Newest Developments in COVID-19 Research
The pandemic might feel endless, but for scientists COVID-19 is still relatively new and research is evolving quickly. We'll talk with an infectious disease…
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Climate Anxiety and How It Can Lead to Hopefulness
Skies darkened by smoke. Streets flooded by rain. Temperatures so hot, sea animals boiled in the ocean. Given this year of extreme weather, fire and heat, it…
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Point Reyes Awaits Federal Decision in Battle Pitting Ranching Against Tule Elk
A decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior over extending the lease of parkland by dairy and beef cattle ranchers in Point Reyes National Seashore is…
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Rep. Barbara Lee on Afghanistan and a Life of ‘Speaking Truth To Power'
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who has represented the northwestern portion of Alameda County for more than 20 years, was the sole vote against war in Afghanistan…
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Online Sex Workers React to OnlyFans’ Content Ban Decisions
Subscription-based website OnlyFans, popularly used by sex workers, announced last month it would ban sexually explicit content, blaming the decision on…
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What Is It Like To Evacuate from a Megafire and What Happens After the Fire?
Packing an emergency go bag is advice every Californian is familiar with. But what happens when you actually have to evacuate? Residents of cities and towns…
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US Open Tennis Tournament Launches Mental Health Initiative
The United States Tennis Association launched a new mental health initiative for players in this year's U.S. Open, which is currently underway. The effort…
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Millennials and Gen Z Want Us to Rethink Our Relationship with Work
A former factory worker in China, 31-year-old Luo Huazhong, made global headlines in April when he chose to “lie flat” and opt for working odd jobs and an…
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By 5-4 Vote, Supreme Court Refuses to Block Texas Abortion Law, Most Restrictive in Nation
Late Wednesday night in an unsigned majority opinion, the Supreme Court declined to block a Texas law that prohibits any abortions after six weeks, making it…
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Caldor Fire Intensifies, Residents Evacuate South Lake Tahoe Area
The South Lake Tahoe area remains under evacuation orders while the Caldor Fire continues to spread. At least 191,607 acres had burned as of Tuesday morning…