Fifth & Mission

Amid the state's sputtering reopening efforts, child care providers across are confronting a crushing choice: Stay closed and risk financial ruin, or reopen at a reduced capacity and expose children and staff to the coronavirus. Reporter Rachel Swan talks about whether they can survive. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Faced with the prospect of having to again stick their kids in front of screens for distance learning, some parents of means are cobbling together an alternative. Education reporter Jill Tucker talks about the implications for everyone. | Full coronavirus coverage: sfchronicle.com/coronavirus | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Giants and A’s are starting their seasons under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic — with a shortened schedule, new rules and empty stadiums. Giants beat writer Henry Schulman, host of the Giants Splash podcast, and A's beat writer Susan Slusser, host of A's Plus, talk about what fans can expect, and about manager Gabe Kapler and two Giants players kneeling for the national anthem. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Janine Paiste-Ponder, a 59-year-old nurse treating COVID-19 patients, died on July 17 after contracting the disease herself. The coronavirus has killed more than 100 health care workers in California. While the public hails them as heroes, reporter Mallory Moench says health care workers say they feel more like sacrificial lambs as they cry out for hospital execs to do more to protect them. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfhcronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As images of Homeland Security agents in camouflage attacking peaceful protesters in Portland go viral, President Trump has threatened to send federal forces to the Bay Area. Political reporter Joe Garofoli talks about the reaction and the election-year politics driving the story. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The idea of putting, say, $1,000 a month in the hands of every American is gaining currency amid the economic shocks of the coronavirus pandemic. Reporter Jason Fagone, who wrote about UBI for The Throughline, talks about his exploration of what it could mean not only to Bay Area residents who've been pinched by inequality, but to the cities where they live. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People are drinking more, which is a boon for California wineries, but the industry's also struggling with shutdown orders as the coronavirus pandemic worsens. Wine critic Esther Mobley talks about the confusion at tasting rooms and the efforts to protect vineyard workers. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pressed by the killing of George Floyd and demonstrations for racial justice, Berkeley is promising big changes designed to reduce bias. But as reporter Brett Simpson and columnist Otis Taylor Jr. explain, the real work begins now. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Director Tanya Peterson had to feed 2,000 animals with no ticket revenue coming in since March because of the coronavirus shutdown. She's delighted the zoo is open again, and she says she can tell the animals are too. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under the strange governance system that rules the Peninsula train system, two San Francisco supervisors were able to kill a sales tax measure to save it. Caltrain has lost 95% of its riders during the COVID-19 pandemic and says it may have to shut down without the cash infusion. | Get unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices