KQED's The California Report

Wine Industry Limps Along With Tasting Rooms Closed A report out this week from Sonoma State University estimates California wine businesses lost more than $4 billion dollars since the start of the coronavirus shutdown. More than 40,000 people, directly or indirectly involved in making, distributing and serving wine, could lose their jobs. We’re talking everyone from laborers harvesting grapes to sommeliers at upscale restaurants in L.A. and San Francisco. Saul Gonzalez visited wineries in Paso Robles to learn how they're coping. Guests: Jason Haas, Tablas Creek Vineyard, and Dorothy Schuler, Bodegas Paso Robles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Newsom Reinstates Closures in 19 Counties As COVID Cases Surge Not so long ago California was seen as a model when it came to fighting the coronavirus pandemic. But in the last couple of weeks, COVID cases and hospitalizations have surged in many places in California. Yesterday day Governor Newsom announced a step back from reopening. Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED Southern California Hit Hard By High Unemployment A new report shows big differences between north and south when it comes to job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. They’re terrible in the L.A. area, but not as bad around the Bay Area. Reporter: Matt Guilhem, KCRW Lawmakers Question Prison Officials Over San Quentin Outbreak At a state Senate oversight hearing yesterday, lawmakers asked prison officials to take responsibility for the role they may have played in increased COVID-19 cases in the state’s prisons. State Senator Nancy Skinner, chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, called for the oversight hearing in response to an outbreak at San Quentin State Prison. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin COVID Positive Refugee Not Turned Over to ICE A Cambodian refugee, who feared being turned over to immigration authorities after completing his prison sentence, is a free man after his release yesterday from San Quentin prison. He’s also infected with COVID-19. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Happened to Sacramento's Focus on Housing Before the coronavirus hit, housing and housing affordability seemed to be the state's biggest problems and there were lots of proposals in Sacramento to fix them. But is getting roofs over people's heads still a priority for Governor Gavin Newsom and the state legislature? Guest: Erin Baldassari, KQED LA Wants to Divert Non-Violent 911 Calls from LAPD The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to explore replacing armed LAPD officers with unarmed first responders in some cases. They’re going to look for ways to divert non-violent 9-1-1 calls away from the police. Reporter: Anna Scott, KCRW A Third of San Diego Essential Workers Are Immigrants As the coronavirus crisis continues, there’s an even greater reliance on essential workers. In San Diego, a new report by the city and UCSD shows that more than a third of the most critical essential workers are immigrants. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED State Senate Wants to Know Why Coronavirus Is Spreading in State Prisons COVID-19 is sweeping through San Quentin State Prison, where over a thousand inmates have tested positive for the virus and one has died. The coronavirus is also spreading at several other prisons across California. At a hearing in Sacramento this morning, state senators are expected look for answers and solutions. Reporter: Julie Small, KQED Did San Diego Biotech Lab Inflate Progress on Coronavirus Vaccine? A coronavirus vaccine being developed by a southern California biotech lab is showing promising results in human trials. At least that’s what Inovio Pharmaceuticals announced yesterday. But a series of lawsuits says the CEO has intentionally misled investors for profit. Reporter: Tarryn Mento, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coronavirus Cases Spike Across The State When it comes to progress in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the news out of Los Angeles County, where about one in four Californians live, is bad. There were more than 2,900 new COVID cases in the county reported on Monday. Fresno County Jail Hit By Coronavirus Outbreak The Fresno County Sheriff’s Department reported 507 positive COVID-19 cases at the county jail on Monday. That’s almost a quarter of the lock up’s population. But testing has been limited to just one part of the facility. Reporter: Madi Bolaños, Valley Public Radio Golden State Killer Pleads Guilty In Public Hearing Joseph DeAngelo, the defendent in the Golden State Killer case, has pleaded guilty to dozens of rape and murder charges, stemming from crimes in the 1970s and 80s. The guilty pleas were part of a deal to avoid the death penalty. Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Workers Strike Over Outbreak At Pistachio Plant Workers at a Central Valley pistachio plant say they were exposed to COVID-19 because their employer did not take preventive measures. After closing for cleaning and on-site testing Monday, the plant is set to reopen today. But union representatives are still worried about worker safety. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED Enforcement of Consumer Privacy Act Begins July 1st Starting tomorrow enforcement will begin for the California Consumer Privacy Act. The landmark law went into effect in January and is intended to give consumers greater control over what companies do with their personal information online. Guest: Rachael Myrow, KQED New Americans Take Part in 'Drive-Thru' Naturalization The coronavirus pandemic put a hold on large-scale naturalization ceremonies across California, But thousands of immigrants have safely become citizens thanks to naturalization “drive-thrus.” Reporter: Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reopening Halted as Coronavirus Spreads Across the State If you thought you could ease up a bit on worrying about the coronavirus pandemic, news the last few days has been like a big bucket of cold water to the face. Coronavirus Cases on the Rise at San Quentin 971 people incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison have tested positive for COVID-19. One state lawmaker is calling it a major catastrophe. Reporter: Angela Corral, The California Report Cal State University System Prepares to Reopen in the Fall How do you plan for safely educating more than 480,000 students on 23 different campuses during a pandemic? As the fall school year approaches, that's the challenge facing the California State University system, the largest four year university system in the country. Guest: Timothy White, Cal State Chancellor King City to Outfit Police Guns with Cameras Monterey County’s King City—at the southern end of the Salinas Valley—is the first California city to outfit all of its police officers with cameras on their guns. This is even though the city of just over 14,000 residents has had no officer-involved shootings in recent memory. Guest: Greta Mart, KCBX Mayors Take Their Push for Universal Income National A coalition of U.S. mayors is kicking off a campaign in support of the idea of universal basic income. It’s led by Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, who started a guaranteed income pilot project in his city in February 2019. Guest: Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stuck and Scared Amid San Quentin Outbreak As of this morning, 539 inmates have contracted the coronavirus at San Quentin State Prison -- more than at any other state prison in California. Inmates are stuck and scared. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, The California Report Construction Firms Offer COVID-19 Tests To Workers If you’ve tried to get a covid19 test lately, it may have felt like a scramble. But what if your job offered you one? Some Sacramento construction crews now have that option. Other employers are exploring if they should do the same. Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, CapRadio Injunction Would Make Gig Workers Into Employees California’s Attorney General is seeking a court injunction that would force ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber to make their drivers employees immediately. Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQED Samaritan Podcast Explores Homelessness in LA A new podcast from our partners at KCRW in Los Angeles looks at homelessness through the eyes of one native Angeleno who's trying to get a roof over her head in the midst of the pandemic. It’s called "Samaritans." Guest: Anna Scott, KCRW and "Samaritans" podcast producer Rounding Up a Big Week in Immigration News It has been quite a week for immigration news. The Supreme Court yesterday agreed with the Trump administration that if asylum seekers are turned down in an initial interview, they can be rapidly deported without the right to go before a judge. We have a roundup of all things immigration and what it means for California. Guest: Tyche Hendricks, Immigration Editor, KQED Injunction Would Make Gig Workers Into Employees California’s Attorney General is seeking a court injunction that would force ride-hailing companies Lyft and Uber to make their drivers employees immediately. Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQED 'He Played With People’s Minds': Fresno Priest Left a Trail of Sexual Abuse Allegations This week on our sister show, The California Report Magazine, Reporter Alex Hall takes us inside a Latino church in Fresno where parishioners are forced to confront whether their priest is a miracle worker or a predator. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Californians Will Vote on Affirmative Action In November California voters will decide in November whether the state should restore affirmative action. This after the state Senate voted yesterday to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Dr Fauci Says Coming Weeks Are Critical for California Perhaps no one has been as vocal during the COVID 19 pandemic than infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. He’s often the bearer of bad, but indispensable news. Here are some highlights from a virtual Sacramento Press Club event yesterday. Reporter: Sammy Caiola, CapRadio Berkeley Lab Testing New Saliva-Based COVID Test California is experiencing a surge in reported cases of COVID-19. Three months into the pandemic tests remain scarce. Early on, at UC Berkeley, Dr. Jennifer Doudna who co-discovered CRISPR gene editing technology, transformed her lab into one focused on COVID testing. Her team has come up with a saliva-based test, they’ve been trying out on campus this week. Guest: Jennifer Doudna, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UC Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LA City Councilman Arrested in Bribery Scandal The FBI says longtime Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar shook down real estate developers looking to get projects approved for $1.5 million in bribes and campaign donations. Reporter: Anna Scott, KCRW New Coronavirus Cases on the Rise in California There is a spike in reported cases of COVID-19 around the state. And it’s not entirely clear why. Health experts say there’s no real evidence that recent protests led to it. Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED Science State Budget Deal Includes Help for Undocumented Immigrants The new state budget brokered by the governor and Democratic legislative leaders this week.. includes two important victories for Undocumented immigrants in California. But advocates say the accommodations leave much to be desired. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Politics COVID-19 Spreads at San Quentin, Other State Prisons The coronavirus is spreading inside 19 correctional facilities in California. San Quentin has 407 inmates with active infections. The State Senate Committee on Public Safety has announced it’s holding an oversight hearing to shed light on decisions made by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that many believe made prison outbreaks much worse. Guest: Don Specter, Prison Law Office Lawmakers Pressure Employment Dept. To Speed Up Processing Checks With the economy in a slump because of the pandemic, many out-of-work Californians now rely on unemployment checks to make ends meet. But getting that check hasn’t been easy. And lawmakers are noticing. In a Tweet thread, Bay Area State Assemblyman David Chiu introduced the hashtag, "EDD Fail of the Day," and slammed the state’s Employment Development Department saying the agency is failing Californians. Black Scientists on Racism in Academia Like many corners of society right now, academia is in the middle of a reckoning. Systemic racism, tolerated for so long, is now front-and-center. Our colleagues at the KQED Science desk have been speaking with black scientists and academics about their lives and work, and how things need to change. Reporters: Kevin Stark, Danielle Venton, Jon Brooks, KQED Science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CA Sees Dramatic Rise In COVID-19 Cases California has seen 47 thousand new cases of COVID-19 in the past two weeks. That's a dramatic uptick, making up about a quarter of all known cases in California. This is just one troubling fact revealed in Governor Gavin Newsom’s press briefing Monday. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED New State Budget Proposal Relies On Federal Aid At the state capitol, the pandemic has forced lawmakers to rethink a budget that’s being pared back because of the pandemic. The governor and Legislative leaders have struck a deal to close a 54 billion dollar budget deficit caused by the pandemic. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Guards Use Pepper Spray During Protest Inside ICE Detention Center Immigrants held at Adelanto Detention Center near Riverside report that they were pepper sprayed by guards for protesting a lockdown at the facility. ICE Says the crackdown was necessary. Reporter: Elly Yu, KPCC Health Officials Resign Under Increasing Stress and Public Scrutiny The public health director of LA County announced yesterday that she’s received hate mail and death threats over restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. She’s not the only one. So far, seven high-level health officials in california have resigned due to increasing stress and public scrutiny. Guest: Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News Data Dividend Project Pushes Tech Companies To Pay Users For Data Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is launching an initiative called the Data Dividend Project. It aims to get tech consumers to pay consumers for their data. The program begins as officials get ready to begin enforcing the California Consumer Privacy Act next week. Guest: Andrew Yang, Data Dividend Project Black Doctors Carry the Weight of Pandemic And Police Brutality While the COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful for health care workers across the board - It’s been especially hard on Black doctors. They're working long hours away from their families -- while trying to process disturbing images of police brutality in the news. Reporter: Michelle Wiley, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Calls for Police Reform Echo Across California This weekend, demonstrations against police brutality continued all around the state. In Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, protests had particular urgency after the recent killing of 18-year old Andres Guardado. Last week, in the city of Gardena, an LA County Sheriff’s deputy shot Guardado in the back seven times. Protesters are calling for an independent investigation. His death has added fuel to weeks of protests demanding police reform. We get an update on reform efforts from reporters from our partner stations in Sacramento and San Diego. Guests: Claire Trageser, KPBS and Sarah Mizes-Tan, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices