KQED's Forum

Nancy Reagan is one of the most controversial first ladies in U.S. history. She rewrote the role of political spouse first in Sacramento when her husband was governor, then in the White House. In her new biography, “The Triumph of Nancy Reagan,” Washington Post political columnist Karen Tumulty traces Nancy Reagan's personal history and the path that led to her becoming so influential in the Reagan Whitehouse. Tumulty joins us to discuss her in-depth portrayal of the first lady. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Federal judge in San Diego struck down California’s ban on assault-style guns on Friday. The state is appealing the ruling, but how effective is the ban? California has 107 laws on the books aimed at gun control, but it also has the most mass-shootings in the nation. We’ll examine the court decision and the future and effectiveness of gun laws in California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prime coastline property in Los Angeles County known as Bruce’s Beach could be returned to descendants of its early 20th century Black owners if a state senate bill approved this week becomes law. In the 1920s, the Manhattan Beach City Council seized the beachfront land from Willa and Charles Bruce, who endured years of brutal harassment by white neighbors and the KKK. Its return could be a model for reparations in the state and comes as California’s new reparations task force convenes. We’ll talk about the history of Bruce’s Beach and its significance amid broader efforts to compensate Black Californians for historical injustices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book “Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients,” Dr. Robert Pearl offers an indictment of physician culture -- a culture he argues leads to doctor burnout and bad patient outcomes. For 18 years, Pearl served as the CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, the largest medical group in the country, and that experience led him to realize that to improve care for patients, doctors needed to re-evaluate the cultural norms they had been trained to accept. We’ll talk to Pearl about how fixing healthcare in America means also fixing its doctors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Travel-deprived Americans are snapping up airline tickets and hotel reservations, heralding a summer 2021 vacation boom. Photos from destinations ranging from campgrounds to Caribbean islands are popping up in social media feeds. But how safe is travel and what do vacationers need to consider as the economy reopens? Many Americans are opting for domestic travel, leading to rental cars and hotels booking up in popular cities. We discuss where people are heading this summer and what’s changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Carol Offen’s son needed a kidney, she did not hesitate to offer her own, but she still had a lot of questions. In the United States, nearly 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant with waitlists as long as five years or more, and every day 12 people die of kidney disease. As a result, living kidney donations have become increasingly popular. We talk to Offen, co-author of the book “The Insider’s Guide to Living Kidney Donation,” and Dr. Nancy Ascher, an organ transplant expert who is also a kidney donor, about organ transplants and what it takes to make what organ recipients call, “the greatest gift.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One tenth of the world's mature giant sequoias were killed by the Castle Fire that scorched the southern Sierra Nevada late last year after a flurry of lightning strikes according to a new draft report prepared by the National Park Service. That’s an estimated 7,500 to 10,000 trees that had previously survived thousands of years of wildfires. Giant sequoias capture carbon dioxide from human pollution, provide critical habitat for wildlife and protect the watershed that communities rely on. We’ll talk about how far-reaching the consequences of losing these trees could be, the impact of this year’s extreme drought conditions on sequoia seedling regrowth and the outlook for sequoias in a changing climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A growing number of adults are choosing to not become parents, a lifestyle described as “child-free.” Yet many people, especially women, say they feel judged by their families, friends — and even their own doctors — when they vocalize not wanting children. By the same token, some parents say that to express regret — for the age at which they had kids, for their partner choice or for becoming a parent at all — is entirely taboo. As birth rates decline in the U.S. and globally, we’ll talk about the societal taboos around parenthood, why they’re so pervasive and how the conversation may be shifting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could biologists be America’s next generation of farmers? By now, we are all familiar with plant-based burgers, but dozens of Silicon Valley start-ups are hoping to transform what we eat by using ingredients like algae, mycelium and pea protein to create a wide range of foods. Tech-driven food has been lauded as good for the environment, but what exactly are we eating? Is lab food like fake eggs and seafood from a petri dish healthy and sustainable? We’ll talk to author and investigative reporter, Larissa Zimberoff, about her new book - “Technically Food: Inside Silicon Valley’s Mission to Change What We Eat.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than a year into a pandemic that's left millions of Californians jobless, it's harder than ever to reach the state’s Employment Development Department. That's according to a new San Francisco Chronicle analysis which found that in May, nearly a third of callers couldn’t get through to EDD, and each caller averaged more than 10 tries. The frustrating situation has led some to hire intermediaries, like Autodial and Claimr, to help them break through jammed lines. We’ll talk about how those services work and hear about your experiences dealing with EDD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices