35 Burst results for "Kqed"
The Takeaway
Ida Updates: The Latest on the Storm's Aftermath in Louisiana
"Hurricane Ida are now bringing intense rain and flood risk from Virginia into Maine. Louisiana, which took the full brunt of a Category four storm when it hit on Sunday, is still assessing the damages. Several people were killed and the death toll is expected to rise. The governor warning residents who fled the worst hit areas not to come back where there's still no basic infrastructure. President Biden has announced he's headed to New Orleans Friday to check out the damage he'll meet with state and local leaders. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana. Still have no electricity. The lights are back on for some in New Orleans, but much of the region remains without power, water, sewer and communication systems are also severely damaged. New Orleans has set up cooling stations to help residents cope with the heat and humidity. Makeshift distribution points are also handing out food, water and ice in the city and in harder hit parishes to the south and west. Meanwhile, search and rescue teams are working in flooded communities, and authorities are trying to get a handle on the scope of the destruction. Jefferson Parish officials, for instance, say the barrier island of Grand Isle is uninhabitable. Debbie
PBS NewsHour
Sweeping GOP Elections Bill Heads to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's Desk
"GOP bill to rewrite the state's election laws is now headed to the governor's desk. Both the State House and Senate gave it final approval today. The bill will restrict voting hours and empower partisan poll watchers. Among other things, Governor Greg Abbott has said he will sign it into law.
Here & Now
China Limits Children to 3 Hours of Online Gaming a Week
"Is imposing some of the harshest limits on Children and video games in the world, barring minors from playing online games for more than three hours a week. Starting Wednesday. Miners will only be allowed to play games online between eight and nine PM on Fridays, weekends and public
Weekend Edition Sunday
Biden Witnesses Dignified Transfer of Remains in Delaware Ceremony
"Or in Dover, Delaware, where they're meeting with the families of military members killed at the Kabul airport last week. Next hour. They'll be on hand to witness a dignified transfer ceremony for the 13 service members remains. Israel says its warplanes
Weekend Edition Sunday
Afghanistan Updates: Bidens Attend Dignified Transfer of Troops at Dover
"People ahead of a self imposed deadline to leave Afghanistan by Tuesday. They're continuing this operation after a terrorist attack last week that killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 American service members outside the Kabul airport. The US responded to that attack with a drone strike on Friday, targeting the terrorist group behind the attack and as president Biden was at Dover Air Force Base this morning to witness the dignified transfer of U. S Service members killed in Thursday's attack. Another U. S drone strike in Afghanistan struck another target, a vehicle seen as an imminent threat to the operation at the airport. So clearly, it has been a challenging week for President Biden. He had already been receiving criticism for how the evacuation was being handled. And that was before these latest events. We're joined now by NPR. White House correspondent Scott Detroit. Good morning, Scott. Hey, ask my good to be with you. Scott president, Biden said after the attack that the US withdrawal would continue. And that has indeed been the case. Yeah, that the attack has not changed the effort, and President Biden has repeatedly vowed that United States work evacuating Americans and Afghan partners will keep going. Look Missions there they performed is dangerous. Is, uh, now Come with a significant loss of American personnel. And it's a worthy mission because they continue to evacuate. Uh, folks out of that region out of the airport. The number evacuated now is now north of 113,000. There has been a lot of domestic and international pressure to continue operations past Tuesday's deadline for the US to withdraw from Afghanistan. Biden has insisted the operation is on pace to finish by then. And up. Until now, he has given no indication that that would continue into September. Scott what more can you tell us about the
All Things Considered
US Continues Airlift Amid High Threat in Afghanistan
"The Pentagon says the U. S. Is pressing ahead with its airlift at the Kabul airport despite concerns about another possible terrorist attack. As NPR's Greg Myre reports the military carried out a deadly drone strike in response to Thursday's airport bombing. The Pentagon says the airstrike in eastern Afghanistan killed two and wounded one member of Isis K, the group that claimed responsibility for the Kabul airport bombing two days earlier. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says the risk US troops at the airport remains high. The threat stream is still active, still dynamic. We're still laser focused on that and force protection. Nearly 7000 evacuees flew out over the past day and many more have been processed and are set to leave at any time. The airlift has now taken out 117,000 evacuees this month, a figure similar to the entire population of Billings,
Science Friday
Biden Team Urges States to Quickly Distribute Rental Aid
"The Biden administration is urging state and local leaders to give tenants a chance to apply for rental assistance before evicting them. As NPR's Laura Wang's Lee reports, the move follows the Supreme Court's decision. Block continuation of the CDCs temporary eviction Ben in a letter cabinet officials call on governors, mayors, county executives and court administrators to take action to prevent what they call unnecessary evictions. Among their recommendations are local pauses on evictions and requiring landlords to apply for emergency rental assistance before they file evictions. Tenant advocates say the message is a powerful nudge too many states and counties. Evictions are handled at the state and local level. $25 billion is available in federal rental assistance. But in many places that money has been slow to reach the renters and property owners who are
All Things Considered
Taliban Forces in Kabul Airport Ready to Take Over
"To take full control of the airport in Kabul, once the U. S. Military pulls out of Afghanistan. That's according to Reuters news agency, NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, the State Department says it doesn't expect a functioning airport right away. The U. S has been talking to the Taliban, Qatar, Turkey and others to try to make sure there's a smooth handover of the airport in airfield, State Department spokesperson that price says it's in everyone's interests. That there be a functioning civilian airport with the U. S military set to depart by August 31st. I think that, um It is probably unreasonable to expect that there will be normal airport operations on September 1st. But he says the U. S and Allied Air traffic experts have been laying the groundwork for resumption of civilian air services as quickly as possible after the US leaves Michele Kelemen,
All Things Considered
Biden Keeps to August 31 Deadline for Kabul Airlift
1A
NRA Cancels Annual Meeting in Texas Due to COVID-19 Concerns
"Another setback. The powerful gun rights advocacy group has canceled its annual convention in Houston due to rising covid cases. It's the second year in a row that the organization has cancelled its popular members meeting due to the pandemic. NPR's Tim Mak has more. The NRA relies on its annual meeting to bring together its members, donors, staff and gun industry partners. But due to the covid pandemic, it has been unable to hold its annual convention since 2019, the attorney general of New York, has accused the group of financial malfeasance and is seeking to shut it down. And facing challenges to its very survival. The NRA made an unsuccessful bid for bankruptcy. Recent financial disclosures filed by the group show It's weakened state revenues for 2020 were significantly down from 2016. And the NRA spent just $239 million in 2020 compared to $419 million.04 years prior when it's spending helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency. Two MAC NPR
Morning Edition
Maersk Makes $1.4 Billion Green Bet on Methanol-Fueled Ships
Morning Edition
Study Links Climate Change to Deadly Flooding in Germany and Belgium
The World
Vice President Harris Starts Asia Trip in Singapore
Weekend Edition Saturday
Fears Rise About Safety of Afghan Airport as U.S. Warns Americans to Stay Away
"With these headlines, thousands are still crowding. Kabul's airport is a Biden administration faces growing criticism about the U. S military withdrawal. Yesterday, President Biden pledged to bring all Americans Hall many promised to evacuate all of the Afghans who aided the US amid
Forum
Biden Vows to Evacuate All Americans and Afghan Helpers
"He will get every American citizen who wants to leave out of Afghanistan, along with those who helped us forces were going to do everything, everything that we can to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies. Partners and Afghans who who who who might be targeted because of the Association of the United States. In an address to the nation today, Biden said, It's one of the largest most difficult airlifts in history and that the US has evacuated around 13,000 people from Afghanistan. Since the U. S military airlift began last Saturday. Biden is facing criticism for the way the withdrawal from the country is being handled amid video showing chaotic scenes from the Kabul airport. This is many people there say the Taliban is making it hard to get to the airport. College and
All Things Considered
Remembering Japanese Martial Arts Star Sonny Chiba
"Sonny Chiba was a prolific actor known for his Japanese martial arts movies. His movements were brutal his facial expressions fearsome as he punched and kicked his way through more than 100 films. CIPA died this week in a hospital in Japan due to complications from Covid 19. He was 82. NPR's Andrew Lim bahng has this appreciation. You know how in the movie pulp fiction Samuel L. Jackson has that big speech that goes and I will strike down upon the with great vengeance and few well writer and director Quentin Tarantino Cryptid from a 1973 Sonny Chiba movie known in the U. S, as the bodyguard and they shall know that I am Cuba. The body. God when I shall lay my vengeance upon them, their chief of plays a vigilante who shares his name pummeling Japan's drug overlords. She was follow up movie was 1974. The street fighter is big international debut and of violent and bloody one at that scenes like the one where he punches the guy so hard on the head that the movie cuts to an X ray shot of his skull cracking and then back to the guy spurting blood earned the street fighter and X rating in the U. S senate. Chiba was born in 1939. He studied martial arts and started working on screen for a Japanese Kids TV show. He went on to have a prolific career in action movies and TV shows in Japan, and he got wider recognition in the U. S. When Tarantino continue to pay tribute by casting him as retired swordsmith Hattori Hanzo in the Kill bill movies. You My 70, he grads you need to have to enhance his Stu. For many fans of the genre. Sonny Chiba sits comfortably at the top of a mountain of broken
Here & Now
Florida Orders School Boards to Relax Mask Rules or Risk Pay
"Are threatening to withhold funds equal to the salaries of school board. Members of school districts in two counties don't immediately do away with strict mask mandates. Today, those school boards received a warning from the state Board of Education, giving them 48 hours to walk back their decisions to require masks for all students. The CDC says Florida is adding an average of about 20,300 new coronavirus infections per day.
PBS NewsHour
U.S. To Recommend COVID Vaccine Boosters After 8 Months
"Are expected to recommend covid booster shots for everyone, regardless of age. An announcement could come tomorrow, calling for boosters eight months after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"How can Biden get the 60 votes to pass it already? We've heard criticism from Democrats on the left that the compromise doesn't go far enough to reshape the economy in the face of climate change, and grand home, will be a key player in making the closing pitch to Congress and the public. The Senate is now in recess for much of the summer, setting up a legislative sprint to September. That's right more than any administration ever. The Biden team is linking infrastructure and jobs with climate change policies and investments. We started by asking grand home about that strategy and the difficulty in selling that idea Actually, it is not a tough sell. I mean, it might have been a tough sell a decade ago, a tougher sell, but you know what the president says. You've seen these commercials. Maybe. You know when I think of climate I think of jobs and it's just really true. The the whole world. We have 196 countries that have signed on to the Paris agreement because everybody understands the importance of addressing climate change. And reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And guess what? When you reduce greenhouse gas emissions, That means you have to have products that do that work for you. And that means that there is potentially a market out there for those products, And the question is, is the United States going to get in the game of making those Products. So there was a study out earlier this year. That said that the market for greenhouse gas reducing products like whether it's generating clean energy like wind turbines, or making sure that industrial processes reduce their carbon emissions like carbon capture, use and sequestration. Those technologies Create a $23 trillion global market, So you better believe our economic competitors. Other countries are in the game. They are in it to make sure they create jobs for their people, and the president's strongly believes that we should be doing that in the United States. We have stood by too long While we have vowed to the altar of cost, and we haven't invested in our country and our people And and co part partnered with our business is to create jobs in the United States, So that's what he is determined to do, and this is the fastest growing sector globally, so he's going to make sure that we're in the game. So that sounds good, And I think it is good for a lot of people. But as you know, there's still pockets of deep resistance. I mean, even here in California, where we've been very ambitious around climate change and investments. The governor got a lot of pushback from the Central Valley when he recently rolled out a plan to not only banned fracking but move toward banning on oil extraction. So how are you talking to folks in those types of communities and especially coming from Michigan? Where I think you understand? You know the purple State the challenges of sort of You know that that common language that doesn't always exist. 1000% 1000% get it. I mean, you know, I was governor at a time when the auto industry was on its knees when we when General Motors and Chrysler were declaring bankruptcy and the suppliers to the auto industry, we're declaring bankruptcy and we produced the internal combustion engine, which relies on fossil fuels. And so when we were in the middle of that crisis, and I honestly think this is the reason why the president asked me to lead the department of Energy is that we said Look at we built car. One point we should be building car two point. Oh, and that means the electric vehicle. And that means the guts to the electric vehicle, which is the battery. So what's the analogy for fossil fuel workers? They they powered this country for over 100 years. And they did right by by their families in doing so, And the question is, we want them to see themselves in the future powering of America and being able to make sure that they are part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If all of these oil companies are doing that, and setting net zero carbon emissions by 2050 goals like the president has said, Well, then why can't we make sure that we do right by these communities? And that means that the president has put forth this intergovernmental working group. It's called on coal and power plant communities. We have identified 25 communities across the country that have been largely reliant on fossil fuels, and that now are really struggling that are on their knees. And so we want to lift. Those communities from their needs to make sure that they see that they get the benefit of job creation. So this is why in the American jobs plan that the president has put put forward 40% of the benefits of those investments will go to communities that have been left behind whether their fossil fuel communities or communities that have lived in the shadows of power plants like communities of color, etcetera, so The president gets it that we can't leave communities behind and that they should see the benefits of this clean energy economy and the surge toward investment and not be left behind him. Had it well in a lot of resistance, of course, comes from big fossil fuel and coal states like West Virginia and Texas and Louisiana. And my understanding is that folks in those communities they don't believe all this green energy pitched like, Oh, there's going to be a place for you in it in part because they see they see the messengers as being sort of coastal elites who don't know their culture and don't know what their needs are and what their communities are. Like. So how do you overcome that? It's true. They do see that. And this is why the president is such a great messenger. It's why I hope I can be able to help this coming from a Midwestern state. I completely get what how families feel when they've had the rug pulled out from under them for no fault of their own. And so for us to be able to devise strategies that bring job providers to those communities, that is what we are focused on. How can we make sure for example in West Virginia, which is a coal mining state, So that's the skills that many of the workers in West Virginia half and so are their analogous kinds of jobs that would make sense to go into West Virginia will look lo and behold, it turns out that West Virginia, partially, for example, is sitting on a geothermal hotspots. If you've mined for coal, maybe you can help mind for geothermal. Or maybe we can take a look at having you be part of the move to attach carbon capture, use and sequestration technology on power plants so that we can reduce and eliminate greenhouse.
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Hey, everyone from KQED Public radio. This is political breakdown. I'm Marisa Lagos and I'm Scott Shaffer and today on the breakdown with triple digit temperatures, scorching much of a drought plagued west. Going to sit down with the Central Valley native and journalists who has spent much of his career chronicling the history of farming and water politics in California. That's right, Mark our exes here, the grandson of Armenian immigrants, he's written four books, Most recently, the dreamt land chasing water and dust Across California. He's also an award winning journalist. We'll get to that in just a second, but first got we have a date. Oh, where we going? We're going to work. The recall. Uh, the recall date for September. 14th was set just on today. Thursday. Remember when I was geniuses were saying it was going to be in like early November? Well, I mean, we didn't know that all of the maneuvering What happened? Greasing of the skids? Yes. So we do know now that this is set for mid September, Everyone will be getting, you know a vote by mail ballot, So perhaps not the sort of same election day as we have gotten used to in the past, but Probably better timing for Newsome than November. I mean, this at least gives him first of all. He won't have to decide on all those controversial bills before the recall election happen. Good point. Yes. Um, and then, obviously fire season the drought we're about to talk about. I mean, there's multiple reasons that most of us think you know his people would like this to happen. I think not that long ago, his people were thinking, Dan Newman, We're looking at you. We're thinking that the longer given give it more time to sort of let the pandemic and things returned to normal. Then Steve Glazer, who I talked to this week, suddenly said, We'll do it now He's in good shape. Now, let's do it as soon as possible, and that seemed message seemed to stick. And so you know Democrats, you could say, put their thumb on several scales in order to expedite that, But you know, it is odd to have an important election in September, and there's going to have to be a lot of education. And you know, I don't know how much interest there is being ultimately, you know, Elections are won by the side that has the most motivated and interested voters, so there's some work to do. Yeah, I mean, although it's weird for everyone to have it on September, so I don't know if that's partisan. I think the bigger challenge is is that it's an off year election period like whether it was November October. Whatever people you know, are in habits of voting at certain times. They certainly hear more when it's a main election. Um so yeah, I mean, it's up to both sides. I think at this point Sort of conventional wisdom is that Newsome is in a pretty strong place, but well, he certainly has enough money. We don't know exactly how much but it's definitely north of 20 Million it will be able to spend on has already spending on commercials and get out the vote. And all those things. Also today got a price tag. We got a price tag $276 million. Most of that the cost that counties will bear but Unlike some elections and some of these, uh you know, um in what do they call those expenses that aren't reimbursed? Mandates state funded mandates. Yeah, or unfunded by the Yeah, they're going to put it it is in the budget will be in the budget to cover the costs of counties to keep those county register is happy. Um, you know, I think originally the estimates were more like 400 million. You know, it is a drop in the bucket. I suppose when you're looking at $263 Billion State budget, but nonetheless, that money could be spent somewhere else. Can you put a price on democracy? Scott? I don't think you can. Um, no, I especially if you put it on your visa card, I think ultimately, Democrats have tried to use this price tag as a political tool. I don't know how successful it is. I'm not sure anybody is going to decide for or against Newsome. Based on this and to your point. I mean, in the 200 billion plus state budget, it's a drop in the bucket. Um, perhaps more interesting, politically as the governor go on at it with his own hand pick Secretary of State. Shirley Weber. Yeah, I filed a lawsuit sort of under the radar. It was, I think Courthouse. New Courthouse News broke that story this week that The governor's attorneys had filed a lawsuit against Shirley Weber. He wants to be designated as a Democrat on the ballot. The top part of the ballot or it's just the Yes. No. Um, he, his lawyers didn't fill out the paperwork properly, and Secretary of State Shirley Weber is following the letter of the law. I'm not sure it really matters. I think in the end, people know who Gavin Newsom is and probably know he's a Democrat. Yeah, like I have a hard time believing that somebody is going to all the trouble of voting in a recall election, and it's like Which party is this guy? And yeah, I mean, I'm not sure that that will be the thing that the Brexit thing, But it is part of what seems like a pattern of his team at least being caught sort of flat footed, right? I mean, they didn't challenge the extension of the signature deadline, which is really what got this on the ballot. They seem to be a little bit. Um Yeah, it's a little bit. That's a good law firm, you know, but clearly those two things that you just mentioned. I think he wish he had to do over. I'm sure he does, but we'll see how that works out. In the end. Like I said, I don't think it matters that much totally all right, just a couple minutes before I break, But we did get to big Supreme Court decisions to Scott you've been covering one upholds an Arizona Arizona voting law that Democrats say is going to really hurt minority voters of people of color people in rural areas. This was not perhaps a huge surprise. We also saw SCOTUS decide that a law requiring that nonprofits will you explain that, um yeah. So in California, the attorney general requires that nonprofits charities disclosed with an IRS form section B. I believe it's called Who their major donors are, and the egg has always said that they want that information in case they need to investigate for fraud and that sort of thing kind of an oversight issue. But a couple of nonprofits on the conservative side, one linked to the Koch brothers sued And said it was an infringement on their First Amendment rights. And it was a had a chilling effect on donors who may not want their names out there and buy a 6 to 3 vote. The usual conservative liberal alignment. The court agreed. And in her dissent, Sonia Sotomayor said. This puts a big bull's eye on the back of all campaign finance laws because this ruling's decision was broader than some thought it needed to be and could be used to, you know, go after other laws. Yes, we can leave the political or the legal sort of analysis of this to others. But I do think when you combine these decisions, I mean, these are Big issues for the Democrats, both questions that are within that for the People Act H R one that is really being held hostage. You could say in the Senate by the fact that it either need 60 votes which Republicans won't give it or that the filibuster needs to be eliminated to get to 51. I do wonder what sort of pressure if any of these Twin decisions put on someone like Senator Joe Manchin or even Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has been pretty unclear about where she stands. Filibuster. Yes, not clear that this is a big issue for Democrats, Perhaps Yeah, I think you know, in the end in the short term, that's neither one of those decisions are going to really have much of an impact on elections here in California, but down the road, they certainly could. We'll see if it really loosens up democratic opposition among like you said Mansion in cinema from Arizona to not change the filibuster in any way, but the kind of screwed unless they get some changes because between all these rules and all these different states, I mean, they're they're going to have to redouble maybe triple their efforts to get people out to the polls. You heard it here first. Scott says it all right. We're going to take a short break. When we return. We will be joined by journalist and author Mark Rx. You're listening to political breakdown from KQED Public radio. It's seven minutes after four o'clock. Good morning. I'm Jean Marie. Stay with us for 30 this morning. It's Washington Week..
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"And the listeners of KQED. Good morning. I'm Beth. Hi, Zynga. It's been a minute with Sam Sanders. That's coming your way in about 18 minutes. This is weekend edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon turned out a turkey where a feud between the government and they convicted organized crime boss as much of the country. Hunched over their computer screens. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that weekly video messages with explosive allegations of high level corruption have infuriated President Erdogan, who vows revenge. For more than a month. Accusation filled videos from Turkish mob boss said that Pecker have dropped every week in the movie theater troupe, for Like, You know, this Trigger will literally the day any company. They include tales of vicious infighting among groups close to president regift. I appear to one and shadowy ties between monsters and officials. And although the allegations are uncorroborated they've become must see viewing for many people across the country. Party, A 41 year old Istanbul resident who asked that his family name not be used for fear of retaliation by the authorities says it reminds him of when he was growing up, and mob activity seemed virtually unchecked Books on Land Mafia Is there several Sweden I was born in 1980. I lived in the nineties Mafia Turkey. This is an extension of that period. This is the 2000 model of the same thing. One of peckers bombshell allegations involves the son of a former Turkish prime minister. Pecker says was instrumental in setting up a new route for narcotics from Venezuela to Turkey, allegedly concealed in packages of imported cheese party says that really got his attention. You wouldn't care on their e don't shake the drug issue he mentioned. What was the name of that guy with the chief? I think that's unbelievably fantastic. Ex vice president Ben Ali Yildirim denied that allegation..
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Good times, and it's not just individuals. It's households. Yeah, earning up to $75,000 go. Yeah, You know, this is it's funny because you know, in a lot of ways Gavin Newsom when Jerry Brown left office was handed California on a golden platter. You know, And then the pandemic hit and you know where there was a projected $54 billion. This is like platinum. Well, man, I mean, I think And now remember, there's a projected $54 billion deficit, which turned out to be a little overstated. But this is just extraordinary. And of course, the timing could not be better for the governor because he is facing a recall election. It's interesting to me and we'll ask the speaker about this just how they were able to keep this number secret because I don't think this number blew everybody away. $76 billion. I mean, that is bigger than the entire state budget of all but three states in the country. S o it zits. Obviously, it's all good news for him emerges there to certain Get some pushback from Republicans were saying Hey, like Kevin Faulkner saying, Hey, we should just cut taxes. Don't just send him a check. Let's make some real sort of permanent long term. Changes here because we obviously don't need all this revenue, But I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon. Yeah, I mean, it is obviously great timing for the governor and we've seen I mean, I'll just tick through. We'll get into these with the speaker and a little bit. But in addition to these rebates to taxpayers, he's talking about $12 billion on housing and homeless issues. Universal transitional kindergarten for all four year olds. That's a limited pool right now. Who can get that and new programs for low income students on Dove course you know, he's some drought related relief as well. And then just today, I think, a billion and a half for small business grant so really trying to Sprinkle this around, right? T all of the people who are hurting after this past year. Well on, of course, another 26 $27 billion will be coming. That's part of 100 billion, but you know about a quarter of it is coming from the federal gun. Run Mitt Romney tweeted out this week. This is why Republicans opposed giving California so much money and other states because they didn't really need it. I think you could. You know you could make that argument if you're Republican. Certainly. But the governor's gonna put it to good use. It's interesting. You know, this is you know, they say, a billion here in a billionaire, You're pretty soon You're talking real money. But even like when you talk about creating thousands of new Units of housing for homeless people. Remember, there's like 160,000 people in California who don't have homes. And while this is certainly going to be sort of a down payment to addressing the problem, even something of this magnitude, which is enormous. I mean, just that alone is bigger than the state budget of a lot of states. It Z. You know, we will see maybe some indication some impact from that, but it's not gonna solve these problems. No. I mean it will be. I think worth watching How combined with the federal proposals that Biden has put forward, including. You know, some of those tax rebates are payments related families that that could make some impact. But you're right. I mean, some of these problems are so huge and we, of course, don't know what things are gonna look like a year or two down the road. What we also don't know is whether Newsom will be running the state then. But Scott, he did get some good news in the form of a UC Berkeley pull this week before we break. Tell us tell us what we saw in that poll. Yeah, really, given all the things that have happened since January, the one thing that hasn't changed is the amount of support for the recall in this Berkeley ideas. Pole. It was 36% in January. It's 36% now. What we did see is opposition to the recall taking up a little bit. I don't have the numbers right in front of you, but I think it was from 45 to 49% 49% now oppose the recall the rest undecided. So that's a long way from 36 to 50% plus one, and then the Republicans and, like sort of tepid interest in the Republicans. The top two contenders for that second part of the ballot were Falconer and John Cox, each getting 22% and then to go see the former congressman at 14, Caitlyn Jenner. I think a lot of people were curious to see how the celebrity Would fare in that poll, and she it's interesting. She had the smallest percentage of people saying they had no opinion of her on the highest percentage of people saying they wouldn't vote for her. So she was at. I think, 6% so not not well, and she kind of bomb hold some of her roll out in the past week. And, you know, Cox is out there with the bear and Faulkner did roll out a pretty massive middle class tax cut proposal. So Some substantive policy. But I feel like a lot of what we've heard from the opposition to Newsome. You know, in terms of these candidates has not been a substantive and certainly not some of those questions to general. All right. We're going to take a short break. Now. When we return, we can keep talking about all this will be joined by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. You're listening to political breakdown from KQED Public radio. This morning at 4 30. It's Washington Week. House Republicans voted to remove representative lived Liz Cheney from leadership this week following her steady refusal to accept former President Trump's false claims about the 2020 election. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy denied the party is questioning the election results. But Republican statements suggest that much of the party still embraces Trump's election lies here. That story coming up at 4 30 here on KQED Public radio. We're taking the weekend off from our pledge drive, but we're still far from our goal of $1.5 million. We have a $25,000 challenge granite work this weekend, but we need 100 new sustaining members, or we have to offer to return that money. You can choose a monthly amount that works for you at kqed dot org's slash donate. That's kqed dot org's slash donate. And thanks for your support, the time.
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Approval ratings. Also a look at how covert 19 has ripped through the prison system in one of the state's worst outbreaks. Plus we talked with KQED is Michael Krasny, about his decades as a prominent journalist and his final morning as the host of Forum, which was today and we take you to the tiny and Tony town of Tiburon to meet an iron horse in this week's edition of Something Beautiful. Welcome to KQED newsroom I'm Priya David Clemens. Governor Newsome heralded the opening of multiple mass vaccination centers this week. As coronavirus case counts rapidly declined, the governor warns, were still in a severe pandemic, but at least we seem to be on an upswing. Meanwhile, whether California schools will reopen at large remains in limbo. Joining us now to discuss all things political in California this week are KQED, senior editor of Politics and government. Scott Shaffer and KQED politics reporter Katie or they join us by Skype. From San Francisco and Sacramento. Katie the governor has promised to share some new steps to get in California schools reopened. So where does that stand? The governor is still in negotiations with the Legislature over a $6.6 billion reopening plan. Governor Gavin Newsom had said that they might be able to reach a deal as early as today. That has not happened. We haven't heard much more about it. They would phase in learning in person learning, starting with the youngest students, so kindergarteners through second phrase that What they're telling us. A sticking point is whether or not teachers and staff who are required to go back to schools get prioritized for vaccinations. Of course, teachers unions want that to be the case. Other people say, you know, if you take proper safety precautions, like masking and social distancing, you don't necessarily need to have everyone vaccinated because of course, supplies are still really limited. So Scott are the improvements in the Corona virus situation, helping to halt the drop in the governor's approval ratings and what's the latest on the recall effort? Well, it's really too soon to say that any of this is helping the governor mean people don't get excited When the positivity rate drops to 4%. They'll get excited when they have a vaccine when they can see their parents and their grand parents. They are. Kids are in school on all those things that air part of normal life. I think people have just have pandemic fatigue, and they're not happy with the way the governor has handled this. He's hit the road this week. He was in San Francisco today on he was in Fresno earlier in the week. Oakland San Diego. I think he's trying to bring some Democrats with him who are literally behind him cheering Too kind of, you know, just give really to buck him up because he's been taking it from all sides. The recall is getting close to the number of signatures it needs to get on the ballot on, so I think it's pretty clear that he is going to be facing that recall, probably later in the year, like October, November on, do you know, I think For him. He needs to get vaccines and as many arms as he can to make people feel better about him, it's a KT switching gears. There seems to be this alarming rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans How our politicians looking at tackling that Right. So the AP I legislative caucus in Sacramento came out today with a pretty impassioned news conference, saying that they're angry. They're not going to sit by and be the quote unquote model minority anymore. They're going to speak out against these acts of violence, which we have been seen throughout California and in the bay, including the Bay Area, and they really seem to have been targeting elderly. Asian Americans as well, which is even more concerning this'll is highlighted today by the Lunar New Year at this press conference, legislators were saying this should be a day that we're celebrating. Instead, we're here asking for help. They are talking about putting forward a number of bills in the coming weeks to try and address this issue. From the legislative standpoint, definitely troubling. Scott. There was a new poll out, which shows Senator Dianne Feinstein approval rating at a historical low. What does that say to you? Well, you know, Dianne Feinstein has been in the Senate for 29 years, and for most of those years, he's had a fairly positive, quite positive approval rating. But in recent years, you know people. Democrats, in particular, have sort of fallen out of love with her politics. She's maybe two bipartisan and this particular era calls for the hearings. Recent confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices. There were questions about how well she handled that of the last one with Amy Cockney. Barrett ended with her hugging Lindsey Graham, who was just You know the devil to a lot of Democrats, lot of Democrats, so I think you're just seeing, you know voters looking at some of the reports of her cognitive decline, seeing it for themselves. I'm feeling like, you know, maybe it's time for someone new. She is 87 years old. She's the oldest member of the U. S Senate. And, you know, I think some people may feel was a mistake for her run for re election or term goes through 20 24th a long time to be in the Senate. Serve that out. Well, that remains to be seen. I mean, I think a lot of people assumed that she would not do that that she would step down at some point give Governor Newsome on appointment to replace her. This could become an issue in the recall, actually, because if Newsom were recalled and say, replaced by Kevin Faulconer, the Republican mayor, former mayor of San Diego He's not going to appoint, most likely a Democrat to take her place, and so that issue could could play out. It could become an issue. He has refused to say at this point who, what kind of person he would point but I think Democrats will be looking at that very carefully. Okay. Katy catches up on what help on his representatives in Washington D C have been doing is the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump began this week. Right. California has two representatives on the team, trying the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, representative Eric Swalwell and representative Ted Lieu. Um Representative Lou actually made a compelling argument for why Senator should vote to convict President Donald Trump, he says if they don't and he can run again for president in the next four years, I'm Louis actually concerned about what would happen if President Trump ran and lost. He is worried that we would see a new insurrection similar to what we saw on January 6. Very interesting. Katie Orr and Scott Shaffer both with KQED. Thanks for your time and your insights Thank.
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"Good morning on KQED. I'm day Freeman, and the time is 5 30 lie from KQED News. I'm Brian What Governor Newsome says California is not receiving nearly enough covert 19 vaccine to meet its overwhelming demand. And he says that won't change in the near term counties in the state are increasingly using their limited supplies. To focus on people who need second shots to complete their inoculations. California health officials say about 800,000 state residents are fully immunized. Millions of others who are eligible have yet to receive their first doses. Newsome says the state received just over a million doses last week. The next weekly shipment is expected to be only slightly larger. State lawmakers are looking into what led to last summer's massive covert 19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison KQ BDs Katie or has more from a hearing yesterday. Report from California's inspector General Roy Wesley found the mismanaged transfer of prisoners to San Quentin lead to 75% of the prison's population being infected with Cove. It 28 inmates and one staff member died. Wesley says the initial transfer was done to keep medically fragile inmates safe. However, he says it was deeply flawed. For instance, what alarms were raised by medical staff that no testing had recently been done. Those concerns of medical staff were ignored by their managers, Wesley says. When inmates arrived at San Quentin, including some showing symptoms of Cove it they were not isolated from the rest of the population. Assemblyman Mark Levin, whose district includes San Quintin, questioned why it took so long for prison officials to take the outbreak seriously, he says early on, he called for a number of steps to be taken. For an operational command to be set up for an alternate care site to be set up for spacing for the incarcerated people so limit spread. None of this took place until July. The federal receiver who oversees the state's prison health care system, acknowledges the transfer happened too fast. It says the agency was dealing with an urgent situation. In Sacramento. I'm Katie or KQED News. San Francisco officials are considering offering a settlement in a lawsuit brought by Maurice Caldwell, a man whose conviction for a 1990 murder was overturned 10 years ago. KQED Smell a see you reports. Caldwell's long running lawsuit against the city alleges of the San Francisco Police Department mishandled his case leading to a wrongful conviction. The city has argued in the civil case that despite his conviction being overturned, Caldwell is guilty. The city attorney's office has asked supervisors to approve the settlement offer capped $2.5 million. Spokesman said. So far, they haven't decided whether to offer the settlement to Caldwell. But supervisor's approval would allow the city to do so in the future. I'm l assume KQED news, and I'm Brian what? In Oakland, There's more at KQED dot or there is more morning edition Ahead on KQED in just a few minutes. Former President Trump's second impeachment trial begins today with a debate on constitutionality. Live coverage starts at 10 on K. Q. B. DE LA professor whose work is cited extensively by Trump lawyer says his points have been seriously misrepresented ahead. A report from NPR legal affairs.
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"I just donated to KQED because I heard about the wonderful programming you're offering to the Children that are at home learning. I'm a regular donor to the news program. But hearing of you stepping up to the plate from need time and people haven't you learned virtually, and all the educational programming made me Especially proud of cake, sweetie. Thank you. Hey, Lee, so that it's so lovely of you to be an ongoing member and then step it up a little bit. That really does do do us great. We're honored by your commitment and you know what the educational side of this organization has to be the best kept secret. But this pandemic has brought people more and more people to understanding how much we do for teachers. How much we do for students and now how much we do for parents who are having to become teachers. If you go to our website, you can see all sorts of resource is if you're struggling at home with kids during this pandemic, it is a great place to go. My own daughter is a kindergarten teacher, and I know she utilizes the resource is and we're delighted to be there for tens of thousands of teachers all over Northern California. We're delighted to have Lisa's extra gift of support, and we really would like to get some support from you, whether it's extra or brand new and there's a great reason to do it right now on the last day of our drive is they're not there and there's a great reason Greg a triple challenge Our It's dollar for dollar for dollar donations They are worth three times the amount Stephen and Mary Swig in another generous donor or each giving $2000 towards listener donations during this hour and remember the challenge grant rules if we don't make the challenge. Before the hour's over. We have to offer to return the money Stephen and Mary Swig and this other generous donor don't want to do that. So give us a call. It's the last day of our winter pledge drive. We have shortened it and we need your support. Procrastinators delight right now. 1 809 378850 or pledge online at kqed dot org's slash donate that, of course, Sandy Old house and I'm Greg Sherwood and we are here on what has become the last day of our already seriously shortened big winter. Dr. Traditionally was a 14 day, Dr. We decided to cut it down to seven because we did a quiet drive the week before, which was successful. Then we lost another day, not up to us. But the fact that the Senate is going to into trial tomorrow we chose not to try toe. Pledge around that which I think is a very good decision. We always put breaking news first. But that means today we really, really, really could use your support. And if you like Lisa are proud of the work that we do, and we have done keeping you informed or keeping your Children educated or just keeping you entertained on your commute. This is a great time to call 1 800. 9378850.
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"Coming up on KQED Science next hour. Californians with disabilities have been speaking out against the rollout of the covert 19 vaccine, and it appears that state is starting to listen. KQED is Brian Watt gets the latest from KQED Health correspondent April Damn, Bosque. Join us for KQED science coming right up for you next hour at 8 22 right here. It's morning edition from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. I'm Sasha Pfeiffer and I'm Steve Inskeep. After last month's attack on democracy at the Capitol, Ryan Goodman did some research. He edits the website just security, which made a timeline of the attack. It wasn't just a list of events on January 6th. He tracked false claims conspiracy theories and calls to violence. Going back Almost a year with the timeline helps us understand is While we should be focused on the events of January 6, we shouldn't be hyper focused on them. The groundwork was laid well in advance. House impeachment managers say the same their legal brief for this week's impeachment trial sites. Former President Trump's acts long before January 6th. His lawyers respond that Trump had a right to free speech that the Senate has no right to try, um, that he didn't intend violence. They have not specifically denied what he did from various sources. We made our own timeline, beginning with the White House briefing on April 7th 2020 that day. Then President Trump made false claims about the security of mail in ballots. Male belts a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters. Go and collect him their fraudulent. In many cases, Trump's claim was itself fraudulent. Many states have used voting by mail safely. For years, states were expanding mail in balloting during the pandemic, which Trump made a partisan issue. Attorney General William Barr followed Trump's lead even though on June 25. He told NPR he had no evidence. I think it would be very bad, but but one of the things I mentioned was the possibility of counterfeiting. Did you have evidence to raise that specific concern? No, it's obvious. Trump was laying the groundwork to reject his looming defeat. On July 18. The president spoke with Chris Wallace of Fox News. I think, Malin Voting is going to rig the election. I really do. Are you suggesting that you might not accept the results of the election? I have to say Look. Well, let's try it again. Can you give a direct answer? You will accept the election to see Look, you have to see. I'm not going to just say yes or no. In August 19 at the White House briefing, Trump deepened his embrace of a popular conspiracy theory. Human on movement has think appears to be getting a lot of followers. Can you talk about what you think about that and what you have to say to people who are following this movement right now? Well, I don't know much about the movement. Other than I understand. They like me very much. Which I appreciate purveyors of Cuban On portrayed. Trump is the master of a grand plan to expose a global network of Satan worshiping pedophiles. The FBI had previously warned that such fantasies could lead people to violence. Later, Trump gave a mention to an extremist group. I'm Chris Wallace of Fox News, and I welcome you to the first of the 2020 presidential debates on September 29, the embattled president repeated his false claims of fraud. He also sent a message to the proud boys, which the Southern poverty Law Center links to white supremacists. Ryan Goodman, who did the timeline for just security was watching. He is asked point blank. Will you essentially condemn white supremacists and the message he has to? The proud boys is stand back and stand by. I'm willing to do anything. I want to see peace. Do it, sir. Do it say Do you want to call them? What do you want to call him? Give me a name. Give me a white supremacist right to condemn Proud boy Simpson, right problem, Stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what and standby is thought of as a signal to them. That's actually quite positive and very quickly. You know, they take to Twitter and parlor and Or celebrating the president's endorsement of them. They say. Yes, sir. Standing by Sir Trump later said he meant for them to stand down. By then. A big part of the president's plan was widely understood. He was expected to claim victory on election night before the vote. Counting was complete. Okay, time out. This is a big development, the Fox news decision does. He's calling Arizona for Joe Biden. As it turned out, Trump was defeated badly enough that he wasn't even leading on election night. He claimed victory Anyway. We were Getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election..
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"And that queer nightlife scene And then beyond that, I think also just city and state. And maybe even federal with this new administration governments realizing the value of the arts, and how if we wanna have vibrant culture and arts and our communities Please. You need government support, especially in such an expensive place like California. So, for example, San Francisco's experimenting with universal basic income for artists, and if that takes off, I think that will be really beneficial. Vanessa Kun, Can I ask you the same question something that you've seen people or or things that are happening? That's a positive beyond that. The community organizations that I mentioned in the way that they've stepped up one thing that I've heard both from teachers and from some students is that There are people. I mean, either a lot of students who have computers and Internet at home who never did before, right? So I think that's a good thing. And a lot of those students are going to get to keep those computers at least in Oakland beyond the pandemic. They're learning out of use email, and they're learning how to use some of these other tools that some of their wealthier peers, you know. Were well versed in already, so I think that's a pretty positive thing. Bright spots. Not my not my strong suit. All right, I'm gonna give you to give you one. It's an actual bright spot. I'm gonna be one that's like a kind of a bright spot. The one bright spot is, uh, I guess in the context of if you look the last 50 years and the redirection of money and resources to shareholders instead of workers. There's an increase of marker power an awareness now so union for that Amazon but also at Google. They just announced a worker union and I've never seen anything like that in the tech industry s. Oh, that's you know again. If you think workers need more power, that's a bright spot. And then the pseudo bright spot is that there's a lot more awareness now, with more class awareness like And the things that happened in the last four years. But like like upper middle class, people are finally waking up to the fact that there's major problems in this country and there's major income inequality and the pandemic exposed that. S so that's a bright spot, although on a bad thing. Well, thanks. I'm gonna turn it tick audience questions and listener questions now for the remaining of the time not see, the first one goes to you. It's from Don is. Oh, I think it's how you say last name. How do you see the music venue space bouncing back when the new normal returns to normal course in quotes being in the East Bay I've seen uptown and star line clothes I used to love Star line. Do you think there's a space for a new independent venue? Space in the in the Bay, particularly in Oakland that could see success. Thanks for the great question. Yeah, it's it's tricky, like the rest of the music venue. Landscape will definitely be different, at least for a while. When we come back like you mentioned Starling in the town close in Oakland. Spirit House Gallery also closed the store pub. And so Oakland didn't have that many live music venues to begin with. And these are the places that nurture you're kind of like Open coming acts so there will be fewer places for smaller acts to play s O. I'm envisioning in the beginning about my only two maybe a resurgence and underground events and warehouse spaces and things like that. Which you know, like, isn't necessarily always see if as we saw what the ghost ship fired, Um, but I am somewhat hopeful about new venues popping up in Oakland. After all, this is over because Basically it's there more large like real estate parcels and Oakland, where people could set up music venues because to have a music venue, they're all these kind of like zoning restrictions, like it can't be too close to residential. It needs to have like a big open space without huge beams, blocking the stage and stuff like that. So there are fewer places like that for venues to move into in San Francisco, and there are more in Oakland. So Hopefully, we'll see a new quote Things happening, but Yeah, this next question Sam is going to you from SJ require. Can you shed any light on the decision by safe way to shift delivery to door dash doored Asher's versus their own drivers. This this far into the pandemic Simple it makes them more profit. I mean that that's that's the That's the impetus they're saving so much money. Unemployed benefits on contractors are cheaper. And now that prop 22 made illegal, why not? And we're gonna see a ton more of this. I mean, this is just again just the tip. Um of iceberg on this because corporations for for the last 50 years I've been trying to shift workers from employees the contractor to deny the benefits. So yeah, their work. I mean, there were some workers in the Bay Area who unionized and delivery workers and who are not going to be replaced with door dash contractors, but hundreds are getting laid off. This next question's for Vanessa and Sam. This questions from Natalie. Do you see it is a bright spot that with remote learning and working, we're commuting less using less fossil fuel and polluting less. Thinking about climate change. Doesn't this benefit us all in the face of climate change? But I mean, my first thought to that question is it's great if you could do it, But there's so many people who you know, need to commute to work on. Also, so many people who need Have their kids in school, so because you know they have a job or two and I can't care care for them. So an ideal world we will all be in the position where we get again work those 15 10 15 hours a week and take care of her kids and not commute. I think it's been really hard on a lot of low income folks. Yeah, I mean, I basically agree with that. I think the experiences have just been so radically different from one family to the next. Some kids were really doing quite okay in distance learning. And their kids, on the other hand, who just are not showing up, and we really don't know where they are, So I think we should be worried about them. Climate change notwithstanding. Known eleventy. But yes, I was actually curious are a lot of kids like gaming. The system like I heard a story of a kid like took a still photo of himself and put it on Zoom, And that was like playing his video game, which was like that kid that is learning some life skills right there that might come in handy later later in life. Yet the attendant system is totally different during distance learning. So you, for instance, could simply check in with your teacher via text and tell them I'm having issues. I can't connect right now. And you're not absent like don't mark you as present. So so it's a really different system. But I will say, having watched my To my brother and sister who are in high school. Watching them do distance sorting. My little brother would turn on his class in some cases and then start watching Orange is the new black and just be little fully laying on the couch watching TV. And occasionally he would hear his name and run over to his computer. Sounds tricky. Tricky. Yeah. I mean, there's all I feel like There's a lot of people who like I mentioned beginning who've gotten engaged in 2020. They want to continue that. Maybe they have the means to contribute or to help out in some way, and we're getting ah lot of questions about how people can help. So I want to ask each each of you thinking about your beets and what you cover. What? How can everyday people contribute or or help out an innovative ways to solve some of these critical challenge that you're all talking about? And nasty? I think I'll start with you. Yeah, I think that's great that people are interested in that. And I would say if you want to support the arts, um, support the artist's directly if you can buy their music on band camp, you know, sometimes it gives you the option to pay more than the list of the price if you can do that. Contribute to some of these mutual aid efforts like the Queer Nightlife Funder, the Plant Workers Fund also, you know, one thing's like the Saver stages Act that passed in the last stimulus package are being debated in Congress. Call your lawmakers. Thanks, Sam. What about you? I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is is actually just like awareness. I think being aware of class privilege and where you fit into this hierarchy, I mean, Anyone who I mean, there's someone.
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"A special edition of the Bay Podcast from KQED. I'm Devin Katayama. So you've been hearing a live virtual event that we did recently with a group of KQED reporters all about what life in the bay will be like this year. Spoke with education reporter Vanessa Ran Kanye Arts, associate editor Nasty of Window Scalia and Tech and Labor reporter Sam Barnett. Sam. I want to talk about work now because this is interrelated with everything that's intersecting with their lives right now. School and work and you know you have been reporting on a lot of statewide issues in California related to work. And the big One I think was prop 22. Can you just explain just a little bit about prop 22? What happened this last year? And how you're thinking about that in 2021. Yeah, the nutshell. Prop 22 legalized the gig Worker model, which just means that companies like uber and insta card can deny their workers employee benefits. It's one of the biggest labor stories in the last few decades, you know, earlier and follow Did this this project how we got here, which was looking back in the last 50 years of how corporations have undermined the working class. How in America more and more has shifted from shareholders on away from workers and the gig. Economy is that is the tip of that transition. And how are you seeing that ripple out in the Bay Area? Well, it's Vanessa was saying, I mean, I was think about when Vanessa was talking, just thinking about school and stuff, and I've interviewed so many people who used to have a service job, you know, they lost their service job. Now they're doing instead. Carter door dash and you interview them at their home. They had, like two or three kids on zoom calls doing school. They're like going to go do their instant card shift. I mean, it's a mess. Um, you know, so I think a lot of people You know, your rant went down a tiny bit, but still, it's really none of extremely unaffordable here on Dure. Just seeing people are desperate for any kind of work that they could get. And this work is unprotected and, you know, people. Just in a difficult position. It's also the gig workers there is it is the type of work that a lot of people are turning to now, having lost other jobs. I know Nastya, you've reported a lot about the arts sector, taking a huge hit during the pandemic. So when you think about 2021 what There's so many things to think about with the arts. But what's on your mind? Yeah, on definitely thinking about which places can make it through the rest of the pandemic. Events won't be back at their full capacity until everyone is vaccinated. So what does that mean for the small theaters and independent then use the aren't backed by giant corporations like Live nation or aren't huge nonprofits backed by a Balti Foundation? And then what happens to other people that worked at those places like the light text sound? People on the bartenders and people like that. Most of them are still unemployment, So I think whatever federal Unemployment relief that can come from the Biden administration will make a huge difference for these people, in addition to state and local efforts, and then also, I'm looking out for what audiences can expect, because you know, we we won't have in person music or theater events any time soon, so people are getting creative of Online events and then also, as the sea opens back up, We'll see more things like driving concerts as well. Well, interesting. Let's talk a little bit about those creative fixes or short term solutions that are happening in the arts. Is that Is what's happening to kind of fill that void or that gap enough. And if not, then who is filling that gap? It's not. I mean, is it state? Is it federal money that has to come in or people finding other ways to do it? You kind of talked a little bit about Having the means to be able to do that. Maybe that means like fundraising and things like that, But I'm curious. How are those gaps getting filled? Yeah, a lot of independent artist, sir just purely out of work because they can't tour and that was for music. At least that was the main way that they made their income. So, yeah, A lot of them are getting unemployment, others who may be more underground or emerging, beginning artists whose income from their artisan all documented and on the books. May not qualify for unemployment, so I know it's kind of a mixed bag. I know a lot of people are applying for artists grants. There's been a lot of non profits that have come out like hardly strictly, for example, that are giving pretty big grants to artists. Well, not big, but you know, at least something Tonto lost a couple of months. But yeah, and then I think this is where my be really crosses over with Sam's where a lot of these people are turning to get work. There's things like insta car. A lot of artists have created accounts on Pastry on and even websites like on Lee fans. I interviewed a touring musician who now is a kindergarten teacher for an unofficial learning pod. So there's just lots of things like that going on. Wow. Uh, I mean, I guess I'm not surprised in the arts that there's a lot of creativity and how they do their work. I think Vanessa like thinking about schools and house structured schools are in terms of where they get their money. And what even a day look like day looks like I wonder like, how are the gaps in education getting filled if they are getting filled? There are some community organizations in different parts of the state in Oakland in L. A that have stepped up and created some of their own supply. Words really their own distance learning model that at least according to parents, I've talked to who are doing that is working better than the district's model. Beyond that. Teachers and other educators have stepped up in some pretty amazing ways. I'm when we saw lots of people donate their their relief checks to students. They've their food distribution efforts. People are dealing with trying to get people Immigration lawyer's trying to get them protected if they're under threat of eviction, So just a lot of like one on one help and like I said huge, huge Tech support efforts by teachers. And then there's been a ton. I mean, Sam maybe can speak to this. But there already was a trend towards schools turning to private sector funding because of Disinvestment at the state level. And I think that we've only seen that accelerate, You know, 10 Million of the $13 million that Oakland raised by devices for students came from Jack Dorsey. And I mean, we've seen that another like at the statewide level we've seen our officials turned toe. The private sector and philanthropic dollars in some cases, and you know, we all know who did well in the pandemic right along musk bays owes, you know they're all they're worth tens and tens of millions of more dollars and A grievance has been really interesting to see this turned to the private sector. Not even think of two simple things like right now we're on Zoom, which is owned by a third party organization. You know, we all use Google docks now and Black and so that in the workplace, that's that's an issue and then also in schools like they're using private, you know, uh, software controlled by private companies. I mean, I think the same thing about the jobs and instead card indoor dash. I mean the argument that the good companies are making are like, Hey, listen, there's no jobs right now. We're filling in the gap. But the flip side of that is Good companies because they classified the workers. Contractors never played paid into state unemployment. So there's no unemployment for all the uber and lyft drivers when they couldn't drive because of the pandemic, So it does. I mean, this is the biggest story. I think I think for all of us is this private public? You know how much is it gonna be totally free market and privatize And how much is the federal and state and local governments going to step step in I I want end, at least, are part of the conversation on a smudge of a positive note. As we can so Nazi, I'm gonna go back to you and ask you over the last year. What's one bright spot that you've seen come out of Your art's reporting our people in the arts that you'd like to share. The bright spot that early emergence for me, I think mutually A lot of people have really banded together to donate unemployed workers. The prayer nightlife fund comes to mind. It's AH, It's an organization that spring up during the pandemic, and they're giving out survival grants to people who are unemployed.
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"It feels so good to give and then to know that your gift is tripled. Thanks to the generosity of these kind people. It just makes the whole thing work for us. But it doesn't work unless you take action. So do so right now. 1 809 378850 or kqed dot org's slash donate. All right, thank you very much great. Sure would tear a Siler will be here with KQED news and the slug on her audio file is brain fog. So, uh, stand by for KQED news with Tara Siler after look at traffic, including some better news in the ultimate passed. He was Julie Deputy, and you finally clear that stall big rig on the past. He spent 5 80 before Grant Line Road but to now in the back up in Livermore, a big problem eastbound 5 88 airwaves. Got a new crash there, Blackie, the right lane. Within 6 80 corridor. It's been a tough drive 42 minutes from the Dublin interchange all the way up to highway for truly Tepesch work. E Q. E D. All right, thank you. Julie. Support for KQED comes from S. F jazz, presenting Fridays at five Livestream concert featuring the SF Jazz collective. Performing the music of Sly and the Family, Stone and Miles. Davis. Friday, February 12 at 5 p.m. s f jazz dot or you're listening to 88.5 KQED San Francisco And 89.3 K Q. E II north HIGHLAND Sacramento. And the time is 5 30 Live from KQED News. I'm terrorist. Siler. The death toll from Coburg 19.
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"He keeps us here to serve the public interest. We're asking for 10 $2030 a month $60 a month. We appreciate whatever you can manage to support our mission to inform involved and inspired the community. But if the contribution doesn't work right now, we understand. We only ask that you contribute if it works in your budget. If it doesn't, Please use the service without guilt. But if you can't afford to help keep the station here for people who haven't been so fortunate during this pandemic, we'd appreciate you making even an extra gift to help us. Meet this dollar for dollar challenge and help us continue to do the important work are joining our journalism supports and engaged and informed public. And your donations enable us to do that. The number again is 1 809 378850 to give us a call. If it's a lovely afternoon, and you're giving your out giving a dog walk and listening to us and thinking, OK, when I get back to the house, I'll give him a call. It's super easy to remember kqed dot org's slash donated where you can find us online. Or 1 809 37 88 50, Of course, its guests 88 50 88 50 being our frequency on the FM dial. So if you can keep that in mind while you're out with your hound, and then when you get home, give us a call. That would be great. If you've been thinking about how we've kept you company and informed you throughout the year throughout this very troubling pandemic year. Dude. If you have a moment in time and in space in your budget to stick us in there and give us some of your support, we would really appreciate it. 1 809 378850 or kqed dot org's slash donate. And remember, when you do, call the number and make a contribution. If you would like to leave a listener comment we would love to hear from you and find out what made you Get up and go to the phone today and make a pledge. 1 809 378850 Making a donation may seem like a small thing to do. But it is a valuable investment in news, information, culture and connection for the whole KQED community. So when you leave your comment, we hope you'll encourage other people to call in. And make a donation is well. Individual. Individual contributions provide almost 60% of our budget. That's more than all the rest of our funding sources combined one after another small contributions add up to the money. We need to pay for this service. The telephone number if you'd like to call make a donation, leave a comment. Tell the operator that you want to pick up one of the thank you gifts..
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Which is desperately needed now more than ever in our country's history. When I really need news coverage, and I need to really know what's going on and not shift around through all the various media sources, and I need the real deal. You're where I go. So thank you so much every one of you for doing what you do. Kristin. Thank you for those heartfelt words. Thank you for supporting us. And thanks for coming through for us and reminding us just how valuable it is to have that little oasis of sanity in the midst of all the news we're dealing with every day. I'm Michelle handing and she's Michele Hand again. I'm Cynthia Marcucci. Some days. You know, Michelle by the end of the day, we're not quite sure. But I am sure of this. The phone number that we want you to call right now is 1 809 378850. You can call us You can text the word Give to that number or you can pledge online at kqed dot org's slash donate. And however you make your donation you have another few minutes to have it doubled thanks to a dollar for dollar challenge. It's a $2000 dollar for dollar challenge, thanks to a partnership between Sally and Craig, Faulcon Hagen and other generous KQED donors. But remember the challenge Grant rules this Cynthia mentioned. If we don't make the challenge before this hour is over, we have to offer to return the money. So help us to meet this $2000 dollar for dollar challenge by baking donation of any amount that works in your budget $10 a month $20 a month, a one time gift of $100, a one time gift of $30. It's fine. It'll be doubled by this partnership between Sally and Craig Faulcon Hagen and other generous KQED donors. If you make that donation in the next eight minutes, the number is 1 809 378850 Donations are also being doubled at our website. The Web addresses kqed dot org's slash donate and time is of the essence. Not just for this dollar for dollar challenge Our But also for this fundraiser. We are trying to what we've been trying for the last several fundraisers to cut back on the amount of time to really keep them as lean and mean as we possibly can, and this year our hand is going to get forced by the impeachment trial that will start on Tuesday. So we have a goal of $1.5 million to raise We can get there. But we'd love to get there sooner rather than later and you have the power to make that happen. So give us a call right now. 1 809 378850. You can come up with any amount that feels good to your budget. Some budgets, especially with the stock market roaring. Some budgets are in pretty good shape right now. And if you've got a little extra room in yours, you can put more toe work for us. We will appreciate it. And it will be worth twice as much. Thanks to this dollar for dollar challenge from Sally and Craig, Welcome, Hagen and some other generous KQED donors. Now all we need is you all we need you to do is make that move. So let us hear from you in the next few minutes. 1 800. 9378850 support from our sustaining members has been crucial to KQED over the past year that steady support of so many people giving just a few dollars a month kept our finances on an even keel. You can sign up as a sustaining member with an ongoing monthly contribution of $5 a month or more. You just use a credit or.
KQED Radio
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"It's to rename 44 schools in the name of social justice. Also Tahoe with no snow for skiing. We talked with a climate change expert about a stunning new prediction and with the Tahoe Conservancy about what they're doing to preserve the region, plus a look at California's coastline is this week's take on something beautiful. Welcome to KQED newsroom I'm Priya David Clemens. The week began with a case of whiplash in California as governor, Gavin Newsom unexpectedly reversed course and lifted the strict statewide stay at home order. Once again, we can dine outdoors, gather with a few friends and even get a manicure. Governor Newsome's reopening announcement. Press conference Monday took many by surprise. Still, it's welcome news to the thousands of restaurants and small businesses that have been struggling to stay afloat. The governor said. He lifted the order because I see you capacity and infection rates are all trending in positive directions. Meanwhile, the state's rollout of the Corona virus vaccine continues to be somewhat rocky. Switching to prioritizing age over occupation has significant implications for California's goal of equitable vaccine distribution. To chew on this week's big political stories. I'm joined now via Skype from Oakland by San Francisco Chronicle senior political writer Joe Gara Foley and KQED politics and government correspondent Marie Salah goes, She joins us via Skype from San Francisco. Thank you both for joining us. Governor Newsom's decision to reopen California took us all by surprise. What was behind the sudden turn around, Marissa. You know, I think some of it was obviously political pressure. He's been getting basically in coming from all sides. You know so much concern fairly among small businesses and others who are really struggling, you know, and the numbers are going down. We have seen that spike that really hit a peak nationally in early January does seem to be subsiding hospitals or no longer thinking about things like rationing care. So I would guess it's a combination of the data and the political pressure on the fact that we might get into you know, Newsome is now Facing the possibility of a recall and I think is really watching his back around a lot of these things. All right. Each other was a lot of pressure from the restaurant association as well and from a lawsuit that was just filed by wine country restaurants that we talked about here last week. Are those also playing into this decision. Sure all these things are playing this decision as the California's air economically hurting right now, with so many people are out of work. The state unemployment rates about 10%, which is doubles and what it was about a year ago. But I think the politics is very saluted do is we're gonna hurt Newsome here because this A lot of legislators were caught by surprise by this, Evan Lo said that you found out on you know from his constituents. The other people said they found out from the governor's press relief. And if Newsom is could be facing a re fall, and it looks increasingly like he made, he's going to need all the Democrats behind that. He doesn't want to be thinking off every anybody right now. And so we are looking at a recall effort that's gathering steam against Governor Newsome. Let's talk a little bit about some of the potential Republican challengers who were out there. We've got to mouth palate, Attea and Kevin Faulconer. What can you tell us about both of these gentlemen, Let's start with your mouth. Well, he is a Silicon Valley Tech of executive. I think very much in the vein of previous folks we've seen run for office. You'll remember, you know, Kashkari challenging Jerry Brown. My equipment also challenging Jerry Brown, Curly Fiorina running for Senate. I mean, this is not an unusual thing right to see somebody step in and say, Hey, I did well in business. I could take that into government. He has some interesting ideas that I look forward to is a reporter kind of Taking into like this idea that we could eliminate state income tax and still increased school funding a little confusing to me, But you know, we'll see. And then, of course, having Faulkner San Diego mayor more moderate Republican really historically tried to distance himself from Trump, and he's expected regardless of this recall to challenge Newsome in 2022 Asses joke and get into the numbers are not on Republican side, so a recall may actually be a better opportunity for them than an actual normal election. Joe. I mean, Republicans have been locked out of the California governor's office for a very long time. Do you think there's a chance of that changing Well, what the Republicans don't have right now is a guy named Arnold Schwarzenegger that someone with 100% name recognition who can who can sell fund his campaign to a certain extent? Absent that you can say yeah, Newsome's terrible But okay, so who were going to replace him with the the If you look back at the recall in 2003 when Schwarzenegger was the elected That was a two month long process. You need to have someone who can have name recognition. Who can who can explain what they're all about? And who they are in a very huge sprint and remember This is gonna be. It's not going to be just a couple people running. There's gonna be hundreds and hundreds of people running because the bar so low, it's going to be a circuit. And so to stand out among the circus as a legit candidate. You're going to need someone with some name recognition or someone who has the money to gain some name recognition. Well. One of the other criticisms was that Newsome had not been releasing coronavirus data. The state did release that data, and I'm hopeful that analysts are pouring through that right now, and we'll be seeing some more information about what it all says. But Bottom line. Does this sudden re opening help? Or hurt Gavin Newsom? Politically, Marissa? I mean, I think all of this depends on what happens in the next few months. If we're in a situation by the summer, where most Californians are vaccinated, where schools are on track to reopen fully in the fall, where the economy is coming back, I don't think This recall stands a great chance. I think a lot of the tensions were saying that Joe mentioned between you know, Democrats in the Legislature and Newsome are not as serious as they focus on the other side might hope. I think a lot of those people were annoyed by him, but maybe are not yet ready to say run against him..
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"That Biden Junior stepped into office. He's accompanied by California native Vice President Kamila Harris, the first woman to hold this office and the first black and Asian American. In this position. The two had launched into the 1st 100 days of the new administration with vigor. Be sending dozens of Trump era decisions related to immigration, the environment and the pandemic. They're also building a cabinet that includes several California heavy hitters. Joining us now by Skype from Oakland is Politico's senior writer Carla Marinucci and KQED senior editor of Politics and Government. Scott Shaffer joins us from San Francisco. Hello to you both. Thank you for joining me. And what is one of the busiest weeks in a political journalist? Life? Inauguration Week. Carla did you report from here in California? Did you travel back to D? C like usual? Usually we would we would be right there Watching in person this year. The pandemic has changed it open. We were. We were here in Oakland, doing it from afar. And it was an interesting event to do it This way. So what was it that struck you as most interesting this week? You know, I think watching Kamila Harris of a woman who was born in Oakland, raised on the streets of Berkeley who honed her political skills in the San Francisco Hall of Justice. Who came up and became the top cop in California, watching her raise her hand with her husband next door. Doug Imhoff, the first gentleman's the 1st 1st moment. I mean, all of these things were moments where I think women have waited for these moments. Decades for generations. Women of color have waited for these moments, and I think there it was the evidence that we had turned a page in American politics. He was seeing a new generation, a new moment and a moment in which I think California is going to take his place in the White House in a very big and different way. It was absolutely a significant time. And Scott, you've seen many inaugurations. What stayed with you this week. Certainly Kamila Harris. I mean, we're have spoiled here in San Francisco. We've had the speaker of the house. Nancy Pelosi, representing us. And now we also have the vice president. Although she lives in L. A s o. That certainly was incredible to see. You know, I was in D C four years ago, and I remember First of all started raining as soon as Donald Trump started speaking. And remember that and The tone of his speech was so negative and dystopia and he talked about American carnage, and this speech was just so different in every way in terms of the entertainment in terms of the tone, and I think it was just like a weight being lifted from the country in a way, you know the sense that we now have a president who was at least gonna try to bring us together. It's easier said than done, of course. But that really struck me then, of course, the 22 year old poet Amanda Gorman. I mean, she was just awesome, just in every way. So both those things it'll stick with and she's another California and as well. So Scott, we've been hearing a lot this week about the fact that Biden issued these 17 executive orders right away, and most of them were rolling back President Trump's policies. How are those orders affecting California? Well, I mean, First of all, I think the executive orders just in general reflect California's values more than the ones that are being rolled back. But super swell just on the epidemic, the endemic, you know, to have a national strategy. Instead of having the federal government basically just dumped vaccines on the states and say good luck. We have what Appears to be. You know, I really thought through strategy. So all those executive orders are gonna you know, eventually, not immediately, but eventually have an impact. Obviously, what he did on immigration. We have 3 to 4 million undocumented immigrants in California, many of whom have worried about deportation. A lot of them live in mixed status families. A lot of that fear will be alleviated by these orders. Obviously, DACA students are gonna have a particular Benefit from that on, But I think also the clean air standards and which maybe we'll talk more about the environmental policy later. But you know that and then LGBT rights being expanded among federal employers again, just a huge change in tone. That affect a lot of people who live in California. Yeah, I do want to come back to that question about environmental change and the policies. But first, let's talk about California's representation in the federal government beyond Kamila Harris and Nancy Pelosi and and Feinstein, of course, but But now with the by an administration many Californians have been tapped to go to Washington. Carla, can you talk through? Some of those people are This is a powerhouse California presents Now we're going to see in Washington. I mean, this is really cannot be underestimated. Because Kamila Harris, you know the first woman, The first woman of color is not just window dressing in the bike administration. That's very clear. She's with him in the office, a partner in all of the initiatives that we're going to shake that's going to be very important to you, but I think you know when you look at the Biden cabinet The most important people are gonna be driving policy. So many of them are Californians. Janet Yellen, UC Berkeley at that's the Fed on monetary Policy, Janet Jennifer Grand home. Have you sued Berkeley heading the energy Department. When you're talking about initiatives on auto emissions on alternative energies on carbon emissions, All of that brand home was gonna help Dr. Alejandro my yours? I said Homeland security talking about border security. But in a way that now I think instead of the wall as trump well, we're going to be talking about Technology and border security and homeland security in a way that we haven't seen before. Of course. The new senator Alex Padilla, who has said that covert covert covert is his main Initiative. He's gonna be working on that, and I'll have your butt Sarah at health and human Services. Remember that California shows with the way when Obama care was under attacks with the Trump administration? The health care issue is going to be his main initiative, and I think on all of those front, California is gonna have an influence that we haven't seen in generations in the White House. Scott California has been a leader in climate change. Are there any specific policies or programs that were launched here that we may see roll out nationally? I think so. And you know, In addition to the names that Carla mentioned, Mary Nichols, who is now with the California Air Resources Board, was thought to be in line to be the EPA director. That didn't happen. But you know, California has led the way on climate change. I think you could see, for example, something along the lines of what we've done here, which is to require utilities to purchase electricity from.
KQED Radio
"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"Dad or G'kar. It's four o'clock tonight on KQED newsroom, California Congress members Barbara Lee and Eric Swalwell talk with us about the historic second impeachment of President Trump and the troubling rise of white nationalism. Also, mass vaccination sites are beginning to open in California, and some regions are rolling back lockdown restrictions. We talked with state epidemiologist Dr Eric upon about efforts to expand vaccine distribution plus presidents and plagues have come and gone. But these California redwoods have endured for centuries We visit the ancient giants for this week's look at something beautiful. Welcome to KQED newsroom I'm Priya David Clemens. President Donald Trump has certainly made his mark on the office, accomplishing what no other US president has managed to do. He's been impeached not once but twice. Joining me now by Skype to discuss the impeachment, and this week's biggest political stories are two members of KQED is politics and government team. Scott Shaffer and Marisa Lagos. Thank you both for joining us, Marissa Once again this week, I found myself frequently using words like historic and unprecedented. How are you describing this week's events? I mean, the same. I think. What's actually most shocking about this week are the details. We've learned about that insurrection on the capital last week. How much more serious? It could have been, if not for the quick action of some law enforcement on Ben. Of course, I think Noting that we did have 10 Republicans in the house peel off and vote to impeach Trump. Even Kevin McCarthy has had some harsh words. Mitch McConnell seems open to impeachment. So it does feel like the ground is moving fast. But given how serious things were last week, it Z almost amazing that it hasn't gone further with the Republican Party. Honestly, Scott, what? What stood out to you? You know everything, Marissa said. I agree with there was a photo in the New York Times this week that really struck me and it was a picture of National Guardsmen who were in the capital to provide security and they were all sort of on the floor, sleeping mostly. And they were hold around them a bust of George Washington, and I thought that image really captured the history of our country and the reminder that George Washington as the first president really established this idea of not running for a third term or establishing a peaceful transition, and that's something that was very much I think at at stake, you know, and everything we've been seeing in Washington and so it really I thought just the history of this and I remember being a young kid watching the Watergate hearings and I think of the young Folks today we're watching this unfold. And what are they going to remember? What are they gonna take away? Yeah, it is one of those moments in history. One of those inflection points, Marie. So you mentioned the 10 Republican members of Congress who broke with their party to vote for impeachment. One of them was from California. What can you tell us about him? David Bellagio just won back his seat he had lost two years ago. Very purple District. More Democrats. Actually, this is a Central Valley district. I think you know that he has always been a little bit more cautious. Of course, he wasn't in office for two years of Trump's terms. We don't fully know how he would have acted during that time. I was a little surprised to see that no other Republicans went along in California, but, you know, I do think that Ballade Oh, has his pulse on that district and its needs on Do you know we could see more of that movie? Before with other Republicans. Quite frankly. And Scott, you did some other reporting about house Minority leader Another Californian, Kevin McCarthy. He seems to be walking a pretty fine line here. How's that going for him? Yeah, well, it's it is difficult. I mean, he's been one of President Trump's staunchest allies. In fact, the president has called him my Kevin. That's where really well for him in the past four years, But has the ground is shifting. It's much more of a challenge. We saw this. Cheney, a number another member of the House, Republican leadership, peel off and say she's voting for impeachment. I mean, the thing that McCarthy has to do is juggle his caucus mean right now it's a pretty staunchly pro Trump. Uh, caucus and he has to keep those members in the fold. But also if he's gonna become speaker in two years, he's got to have a more diverse caucus that can win peel off more of those Democratic seats. And so the question for him is Can he maintain that support from the pro trump loyalist, But also, you know, be seen as a leader who could be a have a broader tent. Has the speaker, potentially. But now as the minority leader, you know, I thought it was really fascinating to see Liz Cheney take that stand this past week I covered her dad. Vice President Cheney when I was a Cub reporter in Washington, D C. Marissa, Where do you see the Republican Party going from this? How do you see it falling apart, coming back together, Reforming. Yeah, it's really hard to tell At this point. I really do think we're an inflection point. I think the way that the impeachment is handled in the Senate is going to make a difference in that Liz Cheney has kind of stuck her neck out at this point, and I think she sees herself as part of the establishment Republicans that McCain's of the world who have really tried to walk the line starts talking about but felt like last week was a breaking point. I'm not sure yet we have members of Kun on in Congress. So it's really a hard moment for Republican leaders and I think what what Trump?.
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"kqed" Discussed on KQED Radio
"21st century. And the listeners of KQED looks like we're going to see some showers maybe coming in a day or two light showers in the North Bay through San Francisco Friday night into Saturday, But New Year's Eve looks partly cloudy and try time now for fresh air. It's 706 on KQED public radio. This is fresh air. I'm Terry Gross. Happy New Year. We're happy to say goodbye to 2020, and we want to end it with something enjoyable and entertaining. So we're going to listen to a performance and interview we recorded earlier this month. Here's that show. Over the past few months, I haven't been able to listen to as much music as I'd like, because so much of my listening time has been devoted to shows and podcasts about politics. The election. And Cove it But when I do listen to music, really good music. I feel especially vulnerable to the mood, whether it's joy or sadness, and that's how I felt when I listen to the new album by Loudon, Wainwright and Vince Giordano of songs from the 19 twenties and thirties. It's the period Yordano typically draws from with the 11 piece band. He leads the Nighthawks. During normal times. The band attracts devoted followers who come to listen and dance. He plays tuba base and bass saxophone. This is not the music you'd associate with Loudon Wainwright, who's best known for writing and performing his own songs, which range from confessional songs about family dysfunction to satirical songs about politics and other issues. His Children include singer songwriters Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright, Roach, and they sometimes write songs about family, too. Loudon, Wainwright and Vince Giordano previously worked together on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, which was set during Prohibition and was about Gangsters who made bootleg liquor and who served it in nightclubs in Atlantic City. Giordano and his band performed a lot of the music for the show. Loudon Wainwright, saying a couple of the songs the title track of their new album, I'd Rather lead a band is a song from the Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers movie. Follow the fleet. The album also features songs by Rodgers and Hart, Fats Waller, Harold Arlen Frank, Lesser and others. Vince Giordano and Loudon Wainwright are joining us from the hobo Sound studio in New Jersey, where they're socially distanced in separate rooms. They brought their instruments and are going to perform some songs for us, But let's start with a track from the album that may help brighten your mood. If you're feeling down, it's called so the bluebirds and the Blackbirds got together..