KQED's The California Report

The Department of Motor Vehicles has suspended permits that allowed robo-taxi company Cruise to operate in San Francisco. That comes after an incident earlier this month, in which one of the company's fully driverless vehicles hit and dragged a pedestrian. Reporter: Dan Brekke, KQEDTeachers from the Fresno Unified School District, California’s third largest public school system, have voted to strike. It’s the first strike authorization by Fresno Unified teachers in more than 40 years. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPRWhen Los Angeles-area landlords want to evict their tenants, they often hire attorney Dennis Block. Block’s law firm and has boasted about evicting more tenants than anyone else on earth. But a new investigation has found that a judge ruled that Block’s firm recently submitted fake cases in court and artificial intelligence might play a role. Reporter: David Wagner, LAist  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom authorized $30 million in new spending to increase security and police protection at mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship. It's an example of how war in the Middle East has increased fears about safety within California's Jewish and Muslim communities.Guest: Dr. Alex Lechtman, President of the Board at Congregation B'nai David in VisaliaMore than two dozen Stanford students are on the fourth day of a sit-in to demand university support for Palestinians.Reporter: Sara Hossaini, KQEDHave you ever wondered just how many mountain lions live in California? Well researchers have an estimate. Reporter: Manola Secaira, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Water is the lifeblood of agriculture But as climate change brings more extreme weather, farming towns in the Central Valley face increasing risks from both drought and flooding. But an innovative solution is scaling up with new state investments.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED About 30% of Head Start programs in California aren’t within easy walking distance to a transit stop for families with young children. That’s a problem, according to a new report, because access to transit is one of the biggest barriers for families who qualify for the federal early education program.Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been nearly two weeks since Hamas militants abducted nearly 200 people from Israel. Many foreign nationals, including at least 13 Americans, are among the hostages. Here in California, families of the hostages and supporters will be at the state Capitol early next week to demand the release of their loved ones.Guest: Ryan Pessah, Sacramento Resident, Family Abducted by HamasCalifornia's U.S. Senate race took another surprise turn Thursday, as Senator Laphonza Butler says she will not run for a full-term next year. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED California invested billions to help children bounce back from learning loss that happened during the pandemic. But students are still struggling to catch up. That’s according to new test scores out from the state’s Department of Education.Reporter: Carolyn Jones, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fast growing humanitarian crisis has erupted in Gaza because of the war between Hamas and Israel. More than 5,000 people have been killed since the war began last week. Conflict in this region has been going on for decades, causing many Palestinians to relocate or seek political asylum in other parts of the world, including here in California.Reporter: Madi Bolaños, The California ReportRampant disinformation about the Israeli/Hamas conflict has the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation calling on social media companies to do better.Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In more than a dozen California counties, a little-known rule in the Clean Air Act has forgiven air pollution – not from the sky, but from the record. After wildfires flourished across North America this year, more U.S. states east of the Mississippi may use this exceptional events rule to subtract smoke from the record, if not from the air we breathe. But these exceptional events are no longer exceptional, and the requests to obscure them from air-quality records are more common.Reporter: Molly Peterson, The California Newsroom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thousands of migrant families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration, will now get some benefits and a shot at asylum under a proposed settlement with the federal government. The agreement lets reunified families stay in the U.S. for three years and apply for permanent protection. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQEDIt's clear that artificial intelligence is here to stay. For colleges, this means figuring out how to regulate the use of it, while still encouraging students to engage with the software that will only grow in popularity.Guest: Carolyn Jones, Education Reporter, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time in California history, all coastal cities are now required to plan for sea level rise, a looming climate impact yet to be fully experienced. A new law requires those cities to come up with strategies and recommend projects to address future sea level rise by 2034.Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED Climate change is taking a toll on farmworker communities in the Central Valley, from extreme heat and deteriorating air quality to drought and sporadic flooding. New state funding and grass roots organizations are working to help those communities manage the most immediate impacts of the worsening climate crisis.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of protesters in Los Angeles and San Francisco rallied against Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill that would have extended workplace safety protections to domestic workers.Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQEDThe only public employees in California who can’t form a union are its legislative staffers. After four previous attempts failed, Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed landmark legislation to allow them to unionize in 2026.Reporter: Laura FitzgeraldA new law was designed to make prisons safer for transgender people. However, the well-meaning law created unwelcome consequences for many transgender women in California prisons.Reporter: Lee Romney Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Attorneys representing people who reported being sexually assaulted during Uber rides are seeking safety improvements from the company, as part of a new consolidated lawsuit.Reporter: Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQEDGovernor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill extending a state law that makes it easier to build affordable housing in cities that have failed to meet state housing goals.Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQEDA bill passed in 2002 created a pilot program that allowed Mexican physicians to practice in disadvantaged communities across California. Now, legislators want to expand the program to more counties and include physicians who speak Mexican indigenous languages such as Mixtec and Zapotec. Reporter: Esther Quintanilla, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices