KQED's The California Report

In the Central Valley on Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom was promoting COVID-19 booster shots in a community that’s seeing a higher rate of hospitalizations compared to the rest of the state. He also warned about possibly rough pandemic weeks ahead for California.Reporter: Alex Hall, The California Report The first in a series of public input meetings is scheduled for Wednesday, on California’s proposed redrawn electoral maps. The state's independent redistricting commission released its preliminary maps last week, based on the most recent census, and suffice it to say, not everyone is happy.Guest: Sameena Kamal, Reporter with CalMattersBay Area Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier has announced that she will not run for reelection after serving in the House of Representatives since 2008. Speier has been an especially powerful force when it comes to gun control and violence prevention, with her views shaped by a near death incident in her own life. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED  Los Angeles County is looking to help small businesses that have fallen behind on their rent during the pandemic. The Small Business Rent Relief Program would provide grants of up to $40,000 for small businesses in unincorporated areas of the county. Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the California Department of Public Health updated its guidance on booster shots, telling providers to let people judge their own needs for a shot and not turn anyone away. But many are finding that online appointment systems aren’t making getting a booster vaccination easy.Reporter: Carly Severn, KQEDSoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, is looking for thousands of workers. A recent job fair painted a clearer picture of who is looking for jobs in the state, and what employers are looking for.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California ReportIn the 1950s and 60s the United States created it’s modern freeway and highway system. It was an engineering marvel, but it also brought pain and injustice like when poorer communities of color literally saw their neighborhoods paved over, forcing residents to move. A new investigation by the Los Angeles Times finds that kind of displacement still happening today when new infrastructure is built.Guest: Liam Dillon, Reporter LA TimesAfter leading the state through two of its worst wildfire seasons on record, CalFire Chief Thom Porter has announced he will retire before the end of this year. Porter says he's retiring to focus on family, his aging parents, and himself.Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kaiser Permanente has reached a tentative deal with thousands of healthcare workers in Northern and Southern California, who were prepared to go on strike on Monday. They are still negotiating with a group of engineers, who have been off the job for two months.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCCPresident Biden will sign his administration’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package into law on Monday. California will get tens of billions of dollars in new federal spending, but will it come quick enough to fix roads, bridges and other transit issues facing the state?Guest: David Kim, Secretary of California's State Transportation AgencyWhile much of the focus has been on the massive backlog at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, residents in nearby communities are also expressing major concerns about pollution from those cargo ships. But a new queuing system being launched this week at the ports could help improve air quality and safety.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report The San Joaquin Valley ranks worst in the nation when it comes to particulate air pollution, and environmental organizations say the Environmental Protection Agency is failing to do something about it. The groups have filed a lawsuit hoping to force the EPA to act.Reporter: Soreath Hok, Valley Public RadioSome 6,000 lecturers across the University of California system are planning to strike this week. The union representing lecturers has been in negotiations for more than two years and says the UC is refusing to negotiate issues like paid family leave and reimbursement for remote teaching expenses. Reporter: Annelise Finney, KQED The public comment period will close Monday on proposed new regulations requiring passenger sportfishing and whale watching boats to upgrade to cleaner engines. California’s charter boat operators say the proposed new rules will jeopardize their livelihoods.Reporter: Greta Mart, KRCB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Nations climate change conference wraps up Friday in Scotland. And while an agreement hasn't been reached, the summit could have varying impacts on California.Guests: Violet Saena, Executive Director of Climate Resilient Communities and Mark Hertsgaard, Executive Director of Covering Climate Now and Environment Correspondent for The Nation MagazineKaiser Permanente could be hit by multiple statewide labor strikes beginning on Monday. Thousands of the company's healthcare workers in California are threatening to walk off the job over contract talks. Reporter: Tara Siler, KQED There was a significant increase in hate crimes in Los Angeles County in 2020, mainly fueled by racially-motivated attacks. That's according to the annual crime report released this week by the L.A. County Commission on Human Relations. Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California ReportWorkers in practically every sector seem to be in short supply these days, and with Christmas season around the corner, you can add Santa to that list. Reporter: Matt Guilhem, KCRW  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

State health officials are advising adults who want to get a COVID-19 booster shot to do so before the holiday season. This comes as the state is warning about a possible surge in COVID-19 cases this winter.Fossil fuels are the biggest driver of human-made climate change. So why has an analysis by environmental group Global Witness tallied more than 500 gas and oil lobbyists at the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow?Guest: Kassie Siegel, Director for the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law InstituteCalifornia’s state delegation to the United Nations climate conference is packed with Latino power players. Latinos in California are not of the same mind when it comes to climate policy. Reporter: Raquel Maria Dillon, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Nations has released a draft of a climate accord that urges nations to “revisit and strengthen” their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. That’s not just carbon dioxide, it’s methane too. And earlier at COP26, countries committed to slash methane emissions.  Guest: Rachel Becker, Environmental Reporter, CalMattersGovernor Gavin Newsom broke his silence around his absence from the United Nations climate change conference in Scotland, saying he skipped the trip to spend Halloween with his kids. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQEDWhen oceans and climate change are in the same sentence, it’s usually negative. But at the international climate conference COP26, a Bay Area ecologist pointed to marine sanctuaries as a climate change solution.Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQEDResearchers at the Public Health Institute followed more than 18,000 women who were pregnant in Oakland in the early ‘60s, and received injections of a synthetic hormone intended to prevent miscarriages. Fast forward six decades and their offspring may face a greater cancer risk. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQEDMany people in California are concerned about the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the state. A new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California finds an overwhelming majority say the gap between the haves and have-nots is getting bigger.Reporter: Katie Orr, KQEDFast food workers across California walked off the job Tuesday, to advocate for better working conditions. The workers are calling for the passage of an Assembly bill which would help set standards for industry wages and working conditions. Reporter: Shehreen Karim, KQEDFormer California Governor Jerry Brown has convened a group of experts and ex-government officials to tackle one of the state's biggest problems: wildfires. Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The massive infrastructure package that's awaiting President Biden's signature is expected to have a longstanding impact on California. And it won't just be fixing roads and modernizing transit projects.Guest: Serena Alexander, Associate Professor with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, San Jose State UniversityAt the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, state senators from California and their counterparts in Washington state discussed merging part of their cap-and-trade markets, as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQEDFast food workers across California are walking out on Tuesday to advocate for better working conditions. The workers are calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 257, which would establish a fast food council to set standards for industry wages and working conditions. Reporter: Shehreen Karim, KQED After burning nearly a million acres, the Dixie Fire, which started in July northwest of Lake Tahoe, was fully contained late last month. But for many communities in Northern California, the recovery process is just beginning.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California ReportThe tri-colored blackbird, which is native to much of the Central Valley, gained protection under California’s Endangered Species Act in 2018. Since then, populations of the tri-colored blackbird appear to have stopped declining.Reporter: Kerry Klein, Valley Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Southern Californians who live near oil refineries may soon be able to breathe easier. The South Coast Air Quality Management District unanimously passed its biggest emissions rule in decades on Friday.Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW The United Nations climate change conference continues this week in Glasgow, Scotland. And one longtime observer says what happens outside of the negotiations is an important aspect of this event.Guest: Chris Field, Director, Stanford Woods Institute for the EnvironmentDemocratic lawmakers in California once wanted to ban state contracts with border wall companies. But after the Newsom administration hired one of those firms for pandemic response, lawmakers are mostly silent on the issue. Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Access to banking is often an indicator of a community’s health. In Imperial County, a shortage of bank branches plus rising temperatures can lead to dangerous outcomes. Reporter: Cristina Kim, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of unionized Kaiser Permanente nurses and other healthcare workers in Southern California are preparing to go on strike. This comes after months of talks and negotiations have stalled.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC An investigation from the Los Angeles Times has found that thousands of times a year, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies pull over bicyclists for minor violations, and then search them even though they often have no reason to suspect they’ll find something illegal. This is particularly impacting the Latino community.Guests: Alene Tchekmedvian and Ben Poston, Reporters, LA TimesCalifornia just received the last chunk of federal COVID-19 relief dollars, aimed at helping the state’s students recover from the pandemic. The $5 billion being released is money schools are already expecting and brings the total the state has recieved to $15 billion. Reporter: Julia McEvoy, KQED The Self Parking Program at Long Beach City College will allow students who are living out of their cars to park overnight in one of the college’s parking structures. They'll have access to wi-fi, showers and electrical outlets.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many California children, ages 5 to 11, have started getting the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. In Los Angeles alone, more than 900, 000 school-aged children are now eligible for the shot. Reporter: Jackie Fortiér, KPCC As the United Nations Climate Change Conference continues in Scotland, many Californians can see the effects right here along the California coast. For instance, look out the window on a trip on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, which connects downtown Los Angeles and downtown San Diego, and the effects of climate change are right in front of you.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California ReportCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta says his office will take a larger role in enforcing California's housing laws. He's launching a 12 member strike force to step up enforcement.Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQEDAs the United Nations climate summit continues in Scotland, a majority of Californians are making it clear they support the state’s climate change mitigation goals. And they see the damage caused by global warming. That’s according to new findings from the Public Policy Institute of California. Reporter: Danielle Chiriguayo, KCRW Levels of carbon emissions have almost returned to where they were before the pandemic, according to Stanford research.Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices