The Bay
Bay Area-raised host Ericka Cruz Guevarra talks with local journalists about what’s happening in the greatest region in the country. It’s the context and analysis you need to make sense of the news, with help from the people who know it best. New episodes drop Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.
Episodes
August 1, 2025 • 21 mins
This weekend, San Francisco is hosting shows and celebrations honoring 60 years of the Grateful Dead’s music. Dead & Company, which performs Grateful Dead covers and includes former members of the original band, will be headlining three nights in Golden Gate Park.
For some Deadheads, it’s a chance to celebrate the Dead’s music in the city where the band became famous. Others say that the anniversary shows, which cost $635 for a t...
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July 22, 2025 • 1 min
As you may have heard, last week was a tough one for KQED, NPR, and public media across the country.
Last Tuesday, KQED announced that it is cutting 15% of its staff in response to a budget shortfall and financial uncertainty. While our team was not laid off, we are losing many beloved colleagues.
Then, just a few days later, Congress voted to take back $1.1 billion in funding for public media. These were funds that public media ...
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July 2, 2025 • 1 min
Every year The Bay team takes some time off from making new episodes. This is time we spend planning and recharging. So there will be no new episodes in your feed in the month of July.
In the meantime, we want to thank you for letting us be part of your daily routines. We will be back Friday, August 1 with a new episode. You can still reach us via e-mail at thebay@kqed.org. We always love hearing from you.
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On this month’s edition of The Bay’s news roundup, we introduce you to the Bay Area’s first women’s sports bar, discuss Stanford’s scaling back of gender-related surgical procedures for minors, and the secret sauce of the San Francisco malls defying the ‘doom loop’ narrative.
Links:
The Bay Area’s First Women’s Sports Bar Is Open for Business
Stanford Scales Back Trans Care for Minors Amid Federal Crackdown
Asian ...
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June 27, 2025 • 22 mins
Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley has long been seen as a launchpad for actors and artists. In 2018 the theater commissioned and premiered the Tony-Award winning play “Eureka Day.”
Now, the theater is suspending production, joining a growing list of Bay Area theaters on the brink of closure in what the San Francisco Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiak describes as the “industry’s free fall.”
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June 25, 2025 • 21 mins
The Wood Street encampment in West Oakland was at one point the largest homeless encampment Northern California. In 2023, the city of Oakland completed final evictions of Wood Street residents.
Dozens of Wood Street residents ended up at a city-funded shelter site where part of the encampment used to be. It includes an RV park and a "community cabins" site. Now, this shelter site is scheduled to close on Monday.
Today, Oakland jo...
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June 23, 2025 • 19 mins
Gwenn Craig moved to San Francisco in 1975, as a young woman eager to explore her lesbian identity. She got involved in politics and was a close collaborator of Harvey Milk. In this episode, she talks about her political organizing, what pride has meant to her over the years, and what she hopes for its future.
This episode first aired on June 28, 2023.
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June 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Hip-hop is nearly 52 years old — and when it comes to talking about hip-hop history, it’s no secret that the Bay Area gets overlooked.
Today, we're revisiting an episode with KQED's Eric Arnold and Nastia Voynovskaya about exploring the history of hip-hop — and how our region has shaped it through the years.
Links:
That’s My Word
The Bay Area Was Hip-Hop Before There Was Hip-Hop
That’s My Word, Spotify Playlists celebra...
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June 18, 2025 • 24 mins
After the city of Berkeley ordered the clearing of RV encampments on Second Street, the city began offering cash to people living in their RVs in addition to a room at a motel shelter. Most accepted the offer, and city leaders are hopeful that this approach can expand.
Links:
Berkeley’s Strategy for RV Encampments Could Be a Model for California
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June 16, 2025 • 24 mins
Suisun City in Solano County will begin studying annexing land owned by California Forever, the billionaire-backed group that bought up thousands of acres of land with plans to build a brand new city from scratch in Solano County. KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi joins us to discuss the implications of this decision and why it has divided the local community.
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June 13, 2025 • 24 mins
The Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown has left few safe spaces for immigrants. But in the East Bay, local soccer leagues have provided a rare sense of psychological safety for immigrant newcomers.
Links:
As Safe Spaces Shrink, Immigrant Youth Find Solace in 'The Beautiful Game'
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June 13, 2025 • 24 mins
Since Donald Trump’s first term in office, a UC Berkeley student group called Central Americans for Empowerment (CAFE) has been pushing for a Central American Studies department. For them, it would help raise visibility of Central Americans whose specific stories often get lost in broader conversations about Latinos and immigration in the U.S.
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June 9, 2025 • 24 mins
Fairfax is a small, predominantly white town of about 7,500 people, nestled up against the Mt. Tam watershed in Marin. Wellness and a distrust of authority have long been part of the town’s culture. But since the pandemic, it also became a place where supporters of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine message grew louder and louder.
Links:
The Marin Town Where RFK Jr.’s Message Took Root
...
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June 6, 2025 • 26 mins
This episode contains explicit language.
Next week, San Jose City Council will vote on a controversial plan that would threaten unhoused people with arrest if they refuse multiple offers of shelter. Mayor Matt Mahan says this approach could help open paths to treatment and increase support for more shelter construction. But Santa Clara County officials are skeptical.
Links:
Mahan’s Final San José Budget Focused on Controvers...
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June 4, 2025 • 18 mins
An independent investigation into a massive fire at the Martinez PBF Energy refinery found that human error, worker inexperience and lack of supervision were at the heart of the February fire that prompted shelter in place orders. Today, we revisit an episode about this initial fire that alarmed local residents.
Links:
Massive Martinez Refinery Fire in February Caused by Human Error, Investigation Finds
This episode first...
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June 2, 2025 • 20 mins
In the 1900s, San Francisco eradicated native coyotes from the city. But around 20 years ago, they returned and are now a part of daily life. For some residents, they’re a source of wonder, while others view them as a nuisance and a danger to pets and children.
Links:
The Coyotes of San Francisco
How We Photographed Coyotes in San Francisco
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On this month’s edition of The Bay’s news roundup, we talk about a proposed 10-year ban on state AI regulations that the House of Representatives passed as part of President Trump’s budget bill. Plus, Oakland’s MACRO program – a non-emergency alternative to police – releases new data, and the Bay Area’s very own Ruby Ibarra wins NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest.
Links:
Californians would lose AI protections under bill advancing in Cong...
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May 28, 2025 • 21 mins
More than four years after the Taliban took control of Kabul, thousands of Afghan families are still waiting for the U.S. to fulfill promises it made to take them in for helping the American war effort.
Now, the U.S. is moving to deport thousands of Afghans who have recently arrived here, after the Trump administration announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for people from Afghanistan.
Links:
Bay Area Afghans...
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May 26, 2025 • 21 mins
In 2023, Rise East, a collective of East Oakland nonprofits, received a $50 million grant a from national philanthropic organization. But there was a catch: The money could only be unlocked if Rise East could raise more $50 million more from local donors.
On Thursday, Rise East announced that they had done it. And East Oaklanders have already begun dreaming about what to do with this money to help reimagine their communities.
Thi...
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May 23, 2025 • 29 mins
My Wildest Story is a national live storytelling and comedic trauma-bonding event series from the pop-up comedy collective Fools Circle. Earlier this month, some of the Bay Area’s favorite comedians and storytellers gathered at KQED for this showcase of crazy and jaw-dropping personal experiences that could only happen here.
This episode contains explicit language.
Links:
Watch the full event
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