KQED's The California Report

National parks have been called “America’s best idea.” But a recent study says these parks are increasingly threatened by human-caused air pollution. The parks with the biggest risk are all here in California.Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPRShuttered Madera Community Hospital has cleared yet another hurdle in the path to reopening. It’s been approved for a $57 million interest-free loan.Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPRA community in Red Bluff was recently notified that their water had high concentrations of chemicals called PFAS. Data shows that the site has had high levels of contamination for several years.Reporter: Justin Higginbottom, Jefferson Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proposition 47, a criminal justice reform passed by California voters in 2014, has been controversial from the beginning, and now critics of the law are pushing a ballot measure that would roll back some of its key provisions.Guest: Marisa Largos, KQEDA state agency wants to spend millions of dollars to tell students abortion pills are available on campus, this after an LAist investigation found many public universities are failing to do so.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A federal judge has ruled that the U-S government is responsible for the safety and welfare of young people who’ve gathered in encampments on the California side of the US-Mexico border.Uprooted from Oakland, the Athletics are headed to Sacramento starting next season. The team will share a 10,000 seat minor-league ballpark with its primary tenant, the Sacramento River Cats, for at least three seasons, while their permanent stadium in Las Vegas is under construction.In Kern County, wildflower season is in full swing. Permitted volunteers are spreading out across the Indian Wells Valley to pick as many flower species as possible. Those will be displayed all in one room for the nearby Maturango Museum’s annual wildflower exhibit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History has a new specimen on display. A fossilized bone from a giant creature never before found along the Central Coast. The fossil is at least 11,000 years old and was discovered by some very early career scientists.Reporter: Jerimiah Oetting, KAZU California is home to the western drywood termite. Fumigation is the most common method to kill this pest. That’s when a home is wrapped in a brightly colored tent and pumped full of the pesticide, SO2F2. But the chemical is a far more potent greenhouse gas than previously known.Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

State water officials say the last snow survey of the season on Tuesday revealed good news for the millions of Californians and farms who rely on snowmelt.Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQEDLA County authorities have a new strategy to help curb gun violence.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, LAistA parcel of land along the Northern California coast is being restored by the Yurok tribe, who is returning the property to nature. The land has been returned to the tribe in a first of its kind deal – in partnership with the National Park Service and California State Parks.Reporter: Alec Stutson, North State Public Radio  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ongoing construction of a new border wall threatened to destroy hundreds of murals that decorate the Tijuana side.  But now, a group of activists has found a way to save some of them. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBSAfter promising to put 200 Black workers in government jobs by this June, the city of Los Angeles has found jobs for fewer than 50 workers. Participants of the program say the application process for city jobs is often months long. And at the same time as this hiring effort, LA is facing a nearly $300 million budget deficit.Reporter: Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was hailed as the official end of single-family zoning in California and decried as a threat to suburban neighborhoods.  But two years later, Senate Bill 9 has done little to add new housing, despite a desperate need for it. But a growing number of developers have emerged with an offer: cash for your backyard.Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQEDNearly 500,000 fast food workers in California start earning at least $20 an hour on Monday. But some restaurants have already started laying people off in response to the change.Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero , KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Grand Avenue in Oakland, musicians are keeping an almost century-old institution alive and thriving. Longtime piano bar The Alley brings in customers old and new, who find comfort in their surroundings. Reporter: Katherine Monahan, KQEDState utility regulators have released a proposed plan to reduce the cost of residential electricity for lower income Californians. Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A mass shooting at a pair of mushroom farms in a coastal town south of San Francisco last year exposed the deplorable conditions workers lived in. Now the city of Half Moon Bay is preparing to break ground on permanent farmworker housing. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQEDCalifornia legislators are out for their spring recess. But discussions about their bills are still happening outside of Sacramento committee rooms. One of the most talked about is a bill aimed at curbing retail theft.Reporter: Lynn La, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named a wealthy tech attorney as his running mate at a rally in Oakland Tuesday. 38-year old Nicole Shanahan is also an investor and philanthropist. She was previously married to the co-founder of Google.Reporter: Annelise Finney, KQEDFor years, San Diego County residents living near the US-Mexico border have had to deal with polluted ocean water. That's forced the months long closure of beaches and regular episodes of a terrible outdoor stench that's affected people's health.Guest: MacKenzie Elmer, Voice of San Diego  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices