Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation that makes California the first state in the nation to require health care facilities to offer screening for hepatitis B and C, which if left untreated can lead to fatal liver disease and cancer. Almost 90% of people with chronic hepatitis B in California are members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Black Americans have the second highest rate of chronic infection. We'll talk about how the law will work and take your questions.

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California Pioneers Mandatory Testing for Hepatitis B and C

Last month, Marie Wilcox of Woodlake, Calif., the last known fluent speaker of the indigenous language, Wukchumni, passed away. Before she died, she dedicated herself to preserving the language by putting together a Wukchumni dictionary and recording herself speaking. Similar efforts are underway across California, a state where some 100 indigenous languages were spoken before the arrival of Europeans. Many of those languages have disappeared entirely and some have only a few fluent speakers left. We talk about what it takes to save a language and the work of the California Language Archive at the University of California, Berkeley.

How Preserving Indigenous Languages Revitalizes California Culture, Identity and History

It was a hot October weekend. Typical Bay Area fall weather, and the end of fire season. A small fire that had broken out in the hills above the Caldecott Tunnel looked nearly extinguished. But then the wind kicked up, and suddenly what had been a campfire-size blaze, became an inferno. That firestorm would go on to kill 25 people and destroy 3,400 homes. Thirty years ago, it seemed like an anomaly. Today, fires so large that they create their own weather systems have become an annual event. We’ll talk about lessons learned from the Tunnel Fire with people who lived through it and with those trying to prevent another conflagration from happening again.

Memories and Lessons Learned from the 1991 Oakland Firestorm

California’s historic Reparations Task Force heard testimony last week on anti-Black racism in housing, education, banking and the environment as part of a series of meetings considering the impact of slavery in the state. Vice chair of the task force, Dr. Amos Brown, emphasized the importance of the hearings, declaring: “We need to make sure that these testimonies are shouted from the house top and throughout the length and breadth of this state of California.” Commissioned by Assembly Bill 3121 last fall to “study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans,” this task force is the first of its kind in the U.S. We’ll talk to task force chair Kamilah Moore about the recent hearings and key questions the group is exploring in their study, including who would qualify for reparations.

California Reparations Task Force Held Latest Hearings on Discrimination in Housing, Education and More

Puffy jackets, colorful patterns and statement accessories aren’t just trendy wardrobe staples among young people. Senior citizens are showing off what enjoying old age can look like through their unique styles. Photography projects such as Advanced Style and Chinatown Pretty capture the joy, wisdom and stories of neighborhood elders who boldly express themselves through their outfits. We’ll talk with the creators of those projects and discuss what we can all learn from the senior fashionistas strutting the sidewalks in our own communities.

Stylish Seniors Show Fashion Doesn’t Have an Age Limit

When labor economist David Card began studying the minimum wage in the 1990’s, conventional wisdom, and economic theory, held that an increase in the minimum wage would lead to job loss. But in a move that revolutionized the way economics could be done, Card and his colleague, Alan Krueger, compared the real world data from a state that raised the minimum wage to one that didn’t, and found that the increase didn’t kill jobs. This “natural experiment” allowed Card to study the effects of policy changes or chance events in a way similar to clinical trials in medicine. Another natural experiment found that an influx of immigrants did not lower the wages of low-skilled native born workers. Forum talks with Berkeley professor David Card about his work, the “credibility revolution” in economics that it spawned and winning, with Stanford professor Guido Imbens and Joshua Angrist from MIT, the Nobel Prize in economics.

Nobel Prize Awarded to Berkeley Professor Who Upended Orthodoxy on Low-Wage Work, Inequality

Thirty years ago, a small, mostly-extinguished grassfire was stoked by a hot, dry wind that ignited a firestorm in the Oakland and Berkeley hills killing 25 people and destroying more than 3,400 homes. As the Bay Area remembers the Tunnel Fire, we talk to Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf about the lessons the city and firefighters learned from the tragedy and her own memories of that fire which destroyed her family home.

Mayor Libby Schaaf Remembers the Oakland Hills Firestorm, Thirty Years Later

Donald Trump on Monday sued the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection to prevent it from accessing a broad swath of records from his administration. The filing came just before the Committee convenes on Tuesday to pursue criminal contempt charges against Trump ally Steve Bannon for his refusal to cooperate with investigators. We'll talk to Los Angeles Congressman Adam Schiff, who sits on the Select Committee, about his efforts to hold January 6 rioters and their enablers to account, and about his new book "Midnight in Washington," which details the antidemocratic forces still at work in the U.S. political system.

Adam Schiff Warns of Encroaching Authoritarianism in 'Midnight in Washington'

In his new book, "The Loneliest Americans," Jay Caspian Kang sets out to challenge the assumed solidarity of Asian Americans of different classes and waves of immigration. What unites all the peoples from all the different places in the globe’s largest continent? Maybe not enough to create a cohesive political unit, Kang argues. We’ll talk with Kang, a staff writer for the New York Times Opinion page and New York Times Magazine, about his book, radical politics, and Berkeley through the eyes of a recent East Coast transplant.

In 'The Loneliest Americans,' Jay Caspian Kang Explores The Meaning of 'Asian American'

Colin Powell, 84, died on Monday due to complications from COVID-19. Powell was one of the largest figures in American public, political and military life of the past four decades. As a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretary of state and national security adviser he helped craft modern U.S. foreign policy, including his controversial role in the lead up to the Iraq war in 2003. Born in Harlem, N.Y., to Jamaican parents, Powell was a pioneer in a number of his public service roles, including his time as the first Black Secretary of State and first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When he endorsed Barack Obama for President in 2008, it was one of then-Senator Obama's most significant endorsements, particularly because of Powell's military credentials. We remember Powell's impact on American life, and how his role affected Californians of all political stripes.

Colin Powell, First Black Secretary of State, Dies From COVID-19 Complications

"Please... be quiet!" That's the desperate plea that becomes a constant refrain for 13-year-old Benny Oh, the protagonist of Ruth Ozeki's new novel, "The Book of Form and Emptiness." After his beloved father dies, Benny starts literally to hear "things" - from the old lettuce that sighs from the refrigerator to the stapler that yaks away unbidden. Benny comes to find solace in a library and discovers "the Book" that will narrate his story. We talk to Ozeki about the novel and the Zen philosophy that informs it.

Objects Jabber, Complain and Enlighten In Ruth Ozeki's 'The Book of Form and Emptiness'

As fire survivors await compensation from PG&E for wildfires sparked by their equipment, hedge funds grossed at least $2 billion by getting rid of PG&E stock bought under the bankruptcy deal last year. That’s according to a new KQED/California Newsroom analysis. The hedge fund stock dump lowered PG&E's share price, and that’s affecting fire survivors’ compensation and resulting in higher prices for the utility’s ratepayers, who already pay 80% more for power than the U.S average. We get the details.

As Fire Victims Languish, Hedge Funds Cash out Billions in PG&E Stock

The future of high-speed rail in California remains in jeopardy as funds dry up. Now, the Los Angeles Times reports that the High-Speed Rail Authority will have to approve at least another billion dollars in cost overruns to pay its contractors. Also in question: Will it even be high speed? We get the latest on the state’s expensive, delayed, and mismanaged bullet train project.

Costs Rise (Again) for California High Speed Rail, And Will it Even Be High Speed?

Authors Joanna Ho and Lisa Moore Ramée want young readers of all backgrounds to see themselves in stories. In her debut children’s book “Eyes that Kiss in the Corners,” Ho tells the story of a child’s love of her Asian eyes. In her new picture book, “Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma,” Ho highlights world-famous cellist, immigration and the way music can build bridges between different communities. Ramée's young adult novels “A Good Kind of Trouble” and “Something to Say” both center young Black girl protagonists who embark on journeys to find their voices and what it means to stand for something, in your own life or in the community. Ho and Ramée recently joined us for a FORUM LIVE event to talk about the shared themes in their stories of identity, self acceptance and finding one’s voice.

Authors Joanna Ho and Lisa Moore Ramée Help Kids See Themselves in Stories

This is an encore presentation of Forum: The story of reggaeton music is layered and complex, and, according to reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen, “the real story of reggaeton is about la resistencia. Resistance.” Queen is also the narrator of the new podcast “Loud” by Spotify and Futuro Studios, which gives reggaeton the documentary treatment and explores its nuances. “Loud” journeys through reggaeton’s origins in Jamaican dancehall to Panamanian reggae in español to “las calles” of Puerto Rico to New York and beyond. Once criminalized in Puerto Rico in the ‘90s and early aughts, reggaeton is now one of the most popular genres in the world -- reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny was Spotify’s most-streamed artist in 2020. We’ll take a critical look at reggaeton’s origins and evolution, from its dancehall roots to the massive pop presence it has today.

REBROADCAST: ‘Loud’ Podcast Highlights the History of Reggaeton

KQED’s live call-in program presents balanced discussions of local, state, national, and world issues as well as in-depth interviews with leading figures in politics, science, entertainment, and the arts.

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