The Bay

Storms caused by back-to-back atmospheric rivers pummeled the Bay Area this week;, prompting evacuation orders, heavy flooding on roads and in rivers, and bringing down power for 100 thousand PG&E customers Thursday.More atmospheric rivers are expected this weekend.Guest: Ezra David Romero, climate reporter for KQED Links:How to Prepare for This Week's Atmospheric River Storm: Sandbags, Emergency Kits and MoreThis episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Adhiti Bandlamudi. Ericka Cruz Guevarra is the host. Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new mayor of the Bay Area’s biggest city started his new job this week, and he has to work fast. Matt Mahan’s first job is to address a winter storm hitting San Jose, which could bring floods and heavy rains.What can we expect from Mahan in his first year in office? And what roadblocks could he face in accomplishing the goals he ran on? Guest: Guy Marzorati, Producer and Reporter for KQED’s Politics and Government DeskThis episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Adhiti Bandlamudi. Ericka Cruz Guevarra is the host. Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s our last episode of the year! Today, host Ericka Cruz Guevarra, producer Maria Esquinca, and senior editor Alan Montecillo unpack 2022 and share their favorite episodes. We’ll have new episodes for you starting Jan. 4, 2023! Links: The Bay Survey (it takes just 8 minutes!) Alan’s favorite: ‘It’s an Unimaginable Amount of Fish,’ Sep. 2, 2022. Ericka’s favorite: An Audio Love Letter to Traxamillion, an Architect of the Hyphy Movement, Jan. 10, 2022. Maria’s Favorite: He Designed a Garden at UC Santa Cruz From Death Row. Now Students Want Him Free, Jun. 17, 2022.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a bad few months for people in Vallejo who are fighting for police accountability. The police chief who promised reforms abruptly stepped down. A police union president who allegedly threatened a journalist has been reinstated. And the city recently revealed that it “inadvertently” destroyed records of 5 police shootings. Now the city is trying to move forward with a model for police oversight, which many have wanted for a long time. But members of the public are pushing back, arguing that the proposed commission has no real power and that the process is being rushed before the holiday season and newly-elected city councilors begin their terms in the new year.Guest: John Glidden, Vallejo Sun reporterLinks: 'Vallejo City Council to vote on police oversight after tweaks,' by John Glidden, Dec. 13, 2022. Survey: Help Make The Bay Even Better! This episode was produced by Maria Esquinca and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teenagers like Elise Muchowski aspired to the “Clean Girl Aesthetic,” a trend that blew up on TikTok and that prioritizes looking clean and effortless, with videos of skincare, makeup routines, and a minimalist wardrobe.Today, we're sharing an episode of the tbh podcast from KALW. In it, teenagers unpack what's behind the clean girl aesthetic, why it's harmful, and what role social media plays in their lives right now.Links:tbh: The Dirty Truth About the Clean Girl Aesthetic  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood has a reputation for drug addiction, poverty, and homelessness — all big problems that have not been solved by city and state leaders. But the neighborhood’s image is also shaped by disturbing pictures and videos of people taking drugs outside that go viral on social media.These images, which circulate around the world, can evoke anger, fear, and frustration. They also shape opinion about what should be done and galvanize support for harsher, tougher crackdowns on drug dealing and drug use.Some believe that sharing these photos on social media is necessary to document this ongoing problem. Others say they only show one side of drug addiction, and leave those photographed without agency in how their stories are used.Guest: Holly J. McDede, KQED reporter/producerThis episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.Read the transcriptLinks: Advocacy or Exploitation? The Ethical Concerns Around Posting Images of Poverty and Addiction in the Tenderloin Survey: Help Make The Bay Even Better! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the pandemic, there were a few ways to endure the traffic into downtown San Francisco. One very Bay Area method was the casual carpool, a completely organic system of riding with strangers to get across the bridge faster and for cheap. But after March 2020, those long lines at casual carpool stops vanished — and they haven’t come back. Guest: Nico Savidge, senior City Hall reporter for BerkeleysideThis episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.Read the transcriptLinks: 'Casual Carpool was a Bay Area tradition before COVID. Can it make a comeback?' by Nico Savidge, Nov. 20, 2022. Survey: Help Make The Bay Even Better! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley companies rely on thousands of H-1B visa holders who have come to the Bay Area from all over the world. H-1B visas grant temporary status to work and live in the U.S. But in the wake of mass layoffs in the tech industry, visa holders have 60 days to find a new job or face the threat of deportation.Guest: Rachael Myrow, KQED Silicon Valley senior editorRead the transcriptLinks: Mass Bay Area Tech Layoffs Thrust Thousands of H-1B Visa Holders Into Frantic Job Hunt Survey: Help Make The Bay Even Better! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even in the Bay Area, it’s a big risk for Chinese residents to protest against the Chinese Communist Party. Many fear retaliation against themselves and their loved ones in China. But over the past week, hundreds of people have attended candlelight vigils in multiple cities, including San Jose and San Francisco. These protests have been held to support people in China and to remember the 10 people who died in an apartment fire in China’s Xinjiang province. The public outrage from these deaths — which many believe were caused by China’s strict COVID lockdowns — sparked protests across the nation.Today, we hear from a Chinese university student in the Bay Area who attended a vigil in San Jose.This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Maria Esquinca, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts.Read the transcriptLinks: Xinjiang Victims Database Survey: Help Make The Bay Even Better! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leaders from nearly 200 countries recently met during COP27, the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. While some gains were made, like the creation of a “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable countries, negotiations were stalled by oil-producing nations. The overwhelming scope of Climate Change and the inevitable losses on the planet can lead to feelings of paralysis, discouragement, sadness and stress. In this episode from November of last year, KQED climate reporter Laura Kilvans, urges listeners to sit with their feelings, and offers the possibility of turning to a place of hope.Guest: Laura Klivans, KQED climate reporterEpisode TranscriptThis episode originally aired on Nov. 17, 2021.More Resources: ‘Climate Change is Here. It’s Bad. Here’s What You Can Do’  Submit a Bay Area climate change question for KQED reporters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices