Kqeds Forum

Across California, Latinos have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. They make up about 39 percent of the state’s population, but account for 55 percent of reported infections. Community leaders are calling for more resources to help reduce the spread and risks for Latinos, many of whom have to work outside the home. The pandemic has been especially burdensome for undocumented people and low-income workers -- a significant component of the Latino population. We look at what can be done to blunt the sharp rise in case counts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the United States grapples with civil unrest, many people are questioning how we arrived in this situation and how the nation can change for the better. In his new book, “American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise,” New York times economics reporter Eduardo Porter presents a comprehensive examination of how discrimination based on race has hurt not just members of marginalized groups, but the nation as a whole. While the U.S. has gutted education systems, healthcare programs, and assistance for the poor, he writes, the nation instead diverted resources to incarcerating people. Porter, who has previously served as economics columnist and editorial writer for the New York Times, joins us to discuss his new book and how it relates to current debate over dismantling systemic racism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and state public education leaders announced on Thursday that they’re suing the Trump administration over a new rule requiring foreign college students to leave the U.S. if their classes are online-only when they resume in the fall. California, which is home to the largest population of international students in the country, follows Harvard and M.I.T., who filed a joint suit and asked for an emergency order to stop the new policy. California’s public college systems are now reviewing their ability to offer some in-person classes to protect international students who could be deported or barred from re-entering the country under the new rule, which is raising health and safety concerns. We’ll hear from Attorney General Becerra, as well as from students who could be affected, and discuss the implications of the policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and political advisor Roger Stone, who had been convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering. The next day, former special counsel Robert Mueller defended his investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign and wrote that Stone was "prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes." We'll discuss Trump's move and other national political news with KQED's Marisa Lagos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Newsom announced Friday that the state will release 8,000 people incarcerated in the state's prison system, including 700 in high-risk prisons like San Quentin and Folsom. The move came as Bay Area lawmakers and activists called on Governor Newsom to step in to reduce the prison population at San Quentin, where there have been more than 1300 cases of coronavirus and  at least seven COVID-related deaths.  We’ll get the latest on the situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Close to 2 million unemployment claims filed since the shelter in place orders were issued have not yet been paid out, according to a San Jose Mercury News analysis. And while a new report from the U.S. Labor Department finds first-time jobless claims by Californians have dropped for two consecutive weeks, the continued economic shut-down could cause more workers to lose jobs. The state unemployment agency says it is updating technology and hiring thousands of staff to deal with the deluge of claims. Loree Levy of the California Employment Development Department joins us to answer your questions about the backlog and how to file claims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio joins us to discuss her new memoir, “The Undocumented Americans.” Villavicencio arrived in America when she was five and is one of the first undocumented students to graduate from Harvard. After the election of President Trump in 2016, she began writing about her own experience as well as those of other undocumented immigrants in New York, Miami, Cleveland, Michigan and Connecticut through a series of reported essays. Now a doctoral student at Yale, Villavicencio’s work insists on breaking conventional and sanitized narratives of immigrants in her book, which she calls a punk rock memoir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid a spike in coronavirus cases and calls by President Trump to reopen schools this fall, school districts across California are contemplating the best course of action for next year. San Jose's Alum Rock Union and East Side Union High school districts already announced that a majority of their schools will continue online learning. And while other options include a staggered or hybrid schedule, most school districts are monitoring the pandemic and county health guidelines before making an official announcement. We'll discuss what schools around the Bay Area and the state are planning to do this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout California, statues of controversial historical figures such as Junipero Serra and Christopher Columbus are being removed. This follows a trend across the nation to demolish what some consider symbols of racism, oppression, and injustice. Indigenous leaders have fought for decades against celebrating Serra and Columbus, who they see as having committed genocide against Native Americans. Others argue that destroying statues and monuments could silence some parts of history instead of expanding our knowledge of it. In this hour, we’ll dive into the debate over toppling statues and monuments as well as who we memorialize and why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stanford Graduate School of Business professor and social psychologist Brian Lowery studies the psychology of racial privilege.  Undergirding his work is the notion that although many people support the ideal of a fair and just society, they sometimes end up unconsciously reinforcing extant inequality.  In a Washington Post opinion piece last month, Lowery describes some of the racism he has experienced and calls upon white Americans to engage in a proactive way to address inequality.  Lowery joins us to discuss his research and why he thinks “the time for talk has passed”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a 7-2 opinion issued this morning, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump must turn over his financial records and tax returns to a New York state grand jury investigating his business dealings. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that “the public has a right to ‘every man’s evidence’” and that “since the earliest days of the Republic, ‘every man’ has included the President of the United States.” In a separate case, the court ruled -- again in a 7-2 opinion with Chief Justice Roberts writing for the majority -- that President Trump can -- for now -- block release of his tax and financial records to Congressional committees. In this segment we’ll talk about the legal and real-world implications of these cases with Andrea Bernstein, Co-host of Trump, Inc., and University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Erica Pan has been appointed the new California State Epidemiologist.  She joins us to talk about her experience leading Alameda County’s coronavirus response--including clashes with Elon Musk over the opening of the Fremont Tesla factory and being targeted on social media for shelter in place mandates--and about her vision for the new job. And we’ll ask her about California counties on the coronavirus watch list, recent COVID-related deaths among San Quentin prisoners, and emerging evidence of greater airborne spread of coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a 7 to 2 vote, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in favor of two California churches arguing they should not have to face employment discrimination lawsuits brought by former teachers. The ruling makes it so that religious schools are exempt from most employment discrimination claims, expanding religious freedom. The Supreme Court on Wednesday also cleared the way for the Trump administration to expand exemptions for employers who have religious or moral objections to complying with Obamacare's contraceptive mandate. We talk with David Levine, professor at UC Hastings College of the Law, about these rulings and other Supreme Court decisions expected to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration officially informed the United Nations on Tuesday that the United States is withdrawing from the World Health Organization, effective July 6, 2021. President Trump first announced that he planned to halt funding to the W.H.O. back in April, criticizing its "China-centric" response to the coronavirus pandemic. The withdrawal comes as the United States nears 3 million reported coronavirus cases and almost 540,000 COVID-related deaths worldwide. We'll discuss what led to the U.S's decision as well as the financial and global public health implications of the withdrawal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emerging evidence shows that drug overdose deaths are surging from increased substance abuse driven by feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression during the coronavirus pandemic. Fatal drug overdoses were already ticking upward in 2019, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- a trend the pandemic is accelerating. And more challenging, many treatment programs have been scaled back as the federal government puts some funding for non-COVID-related work on hold indefinitely. We'll discuss the growing concern over this epidemic within the pandemic and what can be done to address it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oakland Zoo announced last week that it may have to shut down permanently unless it's allowed to open its doors to visitors soon. The zoo, which has remained closed since mid-March owing to coronavirus concerns, is spending $2.5 million a month to care for the animals and maintain the facility, and it's quickly burning through its reserves. We'll talk to Oakland Zoo CEO Joel Parrott about the future of the zoo and how other zoos across the state are coping with the pandemic.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, when many Fox News hosts were putting a positive spin on President Trump’s low-turnout Tulsa rally, Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace didn’t mince words. “The arena was empty,” he told a Trump aide, adding that the campaign looked “silly” for not owning up to the crowd size. Moments like these have earned Wallace the ire of Trump, but the anchor also takes heat for his association with the controversial conservative network. Wallace joins Forum to talk about the latest headlines and his new book “Countdown 1945." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a state where more than a quarter of residents are foreign-born, many low-income and undocumented immigrants have dealt with heavy burdens during the coronavirus pandemic. The biggest challenges involve high infection rates, loss of income, and feeling forced to continue working in high-risk environments. Many programs designed to give financial assistance to undocumented workers are running dry as the pandemic persists. Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that processes immigration applications, plans to furlough more than two-thirds of its staff in coming months due to budget cuts. That move could significantly delay citizenship and green card applications as well as asylum cases. We discuss how low-income and undocumented immigrants in California are faring during the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that states are free to punish presidential electors who don’t support the winner of the popular vote. It also upheld almost the entirety of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which bans robocalls to cell phones. Those rulings come after the court issued some unexpected decisions recently in cases involving undocumented immigrants who arrived as children, LGBTQ workers, and abortion rights in Louisiana. More rulings are still to come, including a decision on whether President Trump is required to release his tax returns to house democrats and a New York grand jury. We discuss the cases with Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Law School and host of the new podcast, “Passing Judgment." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With official July 4 fireworks cancelled this year due to coronavirus, amateur displays illuminated the skies around the Bay Area Saturday night. But the illegal displays led to noise complaints -- and are being blamed for at least 100 blazes around the region. Emergency officials even took to social media to warn of fire risks. And it’s not just independence day:  fireworks have been a familiar sound in many cities in recent weeks. We'll talk about the prevalence and impact of fireworks displays around the region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices