Kqeds The California Report

Brown pelicans are in trouble again — and this time it involves infant birds. This spring marks the third starvation event in four years for the iconic California seabirds. Scientists are still looking for answers. Reporter: Anna Guth, KQED Overdose deaths are falling nationwide—but in California, they continue to rise. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQED People applying to California’s community colleges will soon be required to verify their identities when they submit their applications. The board that governs community colleges made the decision after multiple reports of scammers applying and getting into schools. Reporter: Adam Echelman, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is home to a quarter of the nation’s unhoused population. That’s around 187,000 people. As the state grapples with homelessness, tensions are hitting a high point between Governor Gavin Newsom and local leaders when it comes to funding solutions. Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, CapRadio A family in Bakersfield is facing deportation, despite entering the country legally to obtain care for their young daughter. Lawyers for the family say the 4-year-old girl could die if she's forced to leave the US. Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though the Trump administration has made it impossible to ask for asylum at the southern border, the U.S. is bound by international law to protect migrants who are likely to be tortured by their own governments if they go home. It’s called the United Nations Convention Against Torture. But it turns out that the administration has quietly dismantled access to it for thousands of people. Guest: Mark Betancourt, The California Newsroom Temperatures in the state are expected to sizzle this week, reaching a peak on Friday. Hot and dry conditions mean increased wildfire danger. Reporter: Jacob Margolis, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May marks the beginning of harvest season when some 800,000 farmworkers in California get to work picking food that lands on tables around the world. Though agriculture is a nearly $60 billion industry in the state, many farmworkers on the Central Coast don't have enough to eat. Reporter: Katie Brown, KAZU A school board in Temecula, that’s been embroiled in controversy for the last two years, wants to revive a contentious policy to require schools to notify parents if their child is transgender. They’re meeting Tuesday to brainstorm ideas to get around a state law that prohibits such policies. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monday is Memorial Day. For many people, this holiday marks the unofficial start to the summer season. And no summer is truly complete without the perfect summer music playlist. Reporter: Billy Cruz, The California Report A race known as the “triathlon of the art world” is underway this Memorial Day weekend in Humboldt County. Founded in 1969, it’s a local tradition, where teams race homemade human-powered art vehicles over 50 miles of land, sand, water, and mud. Reporter: Anna Vignet, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six people are presumed dead after a private jet crashed into a San Diego neighborhood early Thursday morning. Sound Talent Group, a music talent agency based in the San Diego area, confirms that it lost three employees in the crash, including co-founder Dave Shapiro. California is suing the federal government for blocking the state’s ability to set its own clean air rules. Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQED The decision to take down a climate security website at Monterey’s Naval Postgraduate School signals broader self-censorship there around climate research and scholarship. It comes in the wake of the U.S. Defense Department’s call to eliminate so-called “climate distraction” in the military. Reporter: Elena Neale-Sacks, KAZU The state legislature is considering two new bills aimed at improving conditions for incarcerated workers. Reporter: Sukey Lewis, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing an extension of the state's landmark climate program known as cap-and-trade. The program limits greenhouse gas emissions and raises money from polluters. And the governor has some controversial ideas for how to spend that money. Guest: Guy Marzorati, KQED The US senate is moving ahead with plans to block California’s electric vehicle mandate. Late Wednesday night, Republicans sidestepped the filibuster and voted using a simple majority to clear a path to revoke California’s unique clean air rules. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawyers for San Francisco and Santa Clara counties are back in court Wednesday. They’re fighting with the Trump administration over new rules around homelessness funding. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Teachers in Temecula can teach about race without fear of running afoul of the school board, at least for now. This comes after a California Appeals Court ruled the district’s ban on Critical Race Theory is unconstitutionally vague. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR A group of state lawmakers is calling for the legislature to reject Governor Newsom’s proposal to fast-track a controversial project that would send more Northern California water south. Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Part of President Trump's self-described big, beautiful bill includes congressional Republicans' plans to change Medicaid. The proposal would cut billions from the safety net program. Many Republican lawmakers see this as a needed savings to slash what they see as waste in the system, but recent estimates show millions of Americans stand to lose their health insurance, including in Republican health districts like Kern County. (Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Law enforcement authorities are seeking help to piece together the timeline of their primary suspect in the explosion at a Palm Springs fertility clinic over the weekend. Authorities identified 25 year old Twentynine Palms Guy Edward Bartkus in connection with the bombing and said he was likely killed in the blast. (Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR) President Donald Trump said he will announce tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals in the next few weeks. While big drug companies seem to have plans to weather the storm, independent pharmacists in California are trying their best to prepare with limited information. (Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KFF Health News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the state legislature works to tackle a $12 billion budget deficit, a bill aimed at delivering vital resources right to farmworkers’ front doors is being put on hold. It’s modeled after an existing program run by Ayudando Latinos a Soñar, a nonprofit based in Half Moon Bay. Reporter: Madi Bolanos, The California Report The federal government and the ACLU are facing off in district court Friday over the future of a program offering legal services to undocumented families. Reporter: Juan Carlos Lara, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Across California, families have had to fight, sometimes for years, just to learn what happened to their loved ones in police custody. Darryl Mefferd wasn't under arrest when he died after an encounter with Vallejo police in 2016. Local officials ruled his death an accidental drug overdose and for years, that's where the story ended. But new records and never before seen body camera footage are challenging that version of events. Guest: Geoffrey King, Executive Editor, Open Vallejo Facing a massive $12 billion dollar budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled his revised budget on Wednesday. It includes scaling back safety-net health insurance for undocumented immigrants, cutting coverage for weight loss drugs like Ozempic and reducing home health services. But the governor also wants to fast-track a contentious project lawmakers have debated in California for over half a century. Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s budget season at the State Capitol, which means grassroots advocates from around California come to plead for the funding they need for key community programs and projects. But, participating in the budget process and public committee hearings can be a heavy lift – especially for those outside Sacramento’s high-powered lobbyist class. (Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, CapRadio) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years, the population of homeless people has aged, with about 20% of them now 55 or older. Many have never been homeless before. (Reporter: Jane Vaughan, Jefferson Public Radio) Conservative activists are welcoming an announcement from Governor Gavin Newsom this week pushing cities to ban homeless encampments across California. Advocates for unhoused people are condemning the move as cruel and counterproductive. (Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is a federal agency that funds programs in libraries nationwide. In March, President Trump signed an executive order to slash the agency’s funding. And California's Braille and Talking Book Library, which serves the state's blind and print-disabled community, could be hit by these cuts. Reporter: Jasmine Ascencio, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Over the weekend, Catholic churchgoers attended the first Sunday mass since the election of the first pope with Creole ancestry. Reporter: Billy Cruz, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Los Angeles County's Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a  90-million-dollar bridge now under construction. It's designed to connect green spaces between a freeway so animals can cross safely. But animals don’t need these kinds of crossings to be so expensive and fancy. There are smaller and cheaper ways to cross the road. Guest: Seth Riley, Biologist, National Park Service Some of the country’s cities, including parts of San Francisco, are slowly sinking, according to a new study. But in San Francisco, tectonic activity and areas built on reclaimed land are causing the subsidence. Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bill introduced in the state legislature by Sacramento Democratic Assembly member Maggy Krell aims to increase penalties for loitering to solicit minors for sex. But a provision specifically aimed at soliciting 16- and 17-year olds has divided state Democrats, and given Republicans a political opportunity to criticize their opponents.  Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, CapRadio California's tiny home industry is experiencing a boom in production, which signals hope for a new era of homeownership. The boom also could face road blocks, such as soaring construction prices and local zoning challenges. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a long time, California's Central Valley has been a bastion of conservative political support; the red spot in a state that's awash in blue. However, there are signs that support for the right could be wavering, as President Trump's policies on trade and immigration are impacting livelihoods in the Central Valley; and some of the biggest progressives in the country are eyeing the region as a place that is ready for change. Since Covered California went into effect more than ten years ago, millions of state residents have relied on the program to obtain healthcare, year after year. However, the trust that Californians have put into the program may start to fray, after a CalMatters investigation revealed that Covered California is sending people's personal information to private companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the Trump administration announced its goal of cutting $6 billion from NASA or nearly a quarter of the space agency's budget. Science programs would be hit especially hard, like the work done by NASA facilities in California. Guest: Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy, Planetary Society Three people are dead, four have received medical attention and at least seven remain missing after a small boat believed to be carrying migrants capsized near San Diego on Monday morning. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, wolves were thought to have been hunted and poisoned into extinction in California with the last sighting of the animal in the 1920s. But that changed in late 2011 when a wolf wearing a radio collar crossed into the state from Oregon. In the years since, California’s gray wolf population has grown into the dozens, threatening the livelihood of cattle ranchers in places as far north as Modoc County. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices