The California Report Magazine

The Speaker: A New Podcast on Nancy Pelosi's Unlikely Path to Power Ahead of Nancy Pelosi's retirement, KQED's Scott Shafer traces her improbable 1987 rise in a new podcast The Speaker: How Nancy Pelosi Changed the Face of Power. The first episode revisits her primary against Democratic Socialist Harry Britt, who had hoped to become San Francisco's first openly gay congressman amid the AIDS crisis — a race Pelosi narrowly won on her way to becoming one of the most powerful women in American politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Inside the San Francisco Church Where John Coltrane is a Saint If Coltrane were still alive, he’d be celebrating his 100th birthday this month. In a story from our friends at KQED's Bay Curious podcast, Asal Ehsanipour visits the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco, where Reverend Franzo King and Mother Marina have spent 60 years turning the jazz legend's music into a spiritual practice. What began as a living room listening clinic in the 1960s grew into a congregation that has weathered evictions and a copyright lawsuit. Still, they persist in the belief th...

We’re reprising a story from 2020 that has a lot in common with a case in Massachusetts that has recently made national headlines: the closely-watched murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of murdering her three children. Clancy’s trial has reignited a debate about how the legal system treats cases of women who kill their own children. More than a decade ago in Los Angeles, Carol Coronado killed her three daughters, all under age 3. The two tragedies are very similar: psychiatric experts argued that both Clancy and Coronado were suffering from postpartum psychosis. And lawyers for both wome...

Who's on Route 66 these days? Les Français Route 66 is turning 100 this year, and communities around the state are gearing up for this milestone birthday. The 2,400-mile highway system stretches from Chicago to Santa Monica, and has always drawn tourists. But as KCRW’s Jennifer Swann reports, the promise of Route 66 is not exactly what it used to be.  Meet the Bald Eagles Who Inspired a Movement A pair of majestic bald eagles named Jackie and Shadow became internet sensations after a devoted admirer set up a camera and began livestreaming their nest. Thei...

Detained at Green Card Interview: How a Bay Area Family Is Healing From Sudden Separation Since the Trump Administration’s deportation campaign began last year, more than 100,000 children who are American citizens have had a parent detained, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution. Peter, who is married to an American citizen, was the main caregiver to his son when he was taken into custody at his green card interview in November 2025. As KQED early education reporter Daisy Nguyen reports, the sudden separation took a toll not only on him and his wife, but also on th...

Mendocino’s Tribes, Farmers, Environmentalists Agree: Take Down Eel River’s Dams For over a century, dams have blocked the Eel River’s natural flow of water in Northern California. Now, tribes, environmentalists and utility companies have come up with a plan to tear down the dams, as part of the “Two Basin Solution.” Reporter Sam Anderson found out what a free-running Eel River would mean for local Round Valley Indian Tribes, industry and wildlife.  In Altadena, A Youth Music Scene Crops Up from Eaton Fire’s Ashes After the 2025 Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of...

What does it mean to live, work, and make decisions in a rapidly automated world? Life, Automated explores this urgent question. It's a new podcast distributed by KQED and made by our partners at the Ryan Institute for Complexity at Northwestern University, Episodes drop every other Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco Airport’s Fear of Flying Clinic Welcomes Nervous Passengers Aboard If your stomach drops at the thought of getting on an airplane, you’re not alone. Millions of Americans share a fear of flying. Some psychologists say the way through it is to rewire the brain, by gradually facing the very thing that feels dangerous. But you can’t just hop on a plane whenever you want to practice. That’s where a Bay Area program hosted at San Francisco International Airport can help. For nearly 50 years, they’ve been helping uneasy travelers get back in the air...

Outside Sacramento, California's Largest Urban Bat Colony Takes Flight Thousands of drivers cross a bridge to Sacramento every day, with no idea what lurks beneath them: a quarter-million Mexican free-tailed bats. Each summer at sunset, they burst out in swirling formation, drawing crowds to guided tours. As part of KQED's Hidden Gems series, reporter Srishti Prabha visits the Yolo Causeway to find out what makes these misunderstood creatures worth a closer look. From Mono Lake to the Coast: Why These Seagulls Stay in the Bay Whether they're stealing hamburgers or swiping ice cream...

This week we're featuring two of our favorite stories from the past year. Meet the Duduk Whisperer: A Bay Area Armenian Folk Musician Revives Centuries of Soul San Francisco Bay Area-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian is pushing the boundaries of traditional Armenian music. The vocalist and musician plays the duduk, an ancient double reed wind instrument carved from apricot wood, which has cultural ties to the country. Last October, KQED’s Elize Manoukian brought us this profile about how Khatchadourian is preserving culture through sound. Small Ring, Big Dreams: The Central Valley’s Ba...

Vinyl Album Found in San Francisco Contains Echoes of a Filipino American Love Story Jess Garcia loves perusing San Francisco thrift stores for treasures. One day, she came across a vinyl record titled "In Baghdad By the Bay: Cora and Santos Beloy," which piqued her curiosity. She rushed home to listen and was amazed at the sweet nostalgic quality of the voices she heard. When she looked for more information on the couple she couldn't find much, but had this feeling there must be more to their story. It turns out this Filipino American couple were "San...

This week on The California Report Magazine: What Skid Row Taught Acclaimed Violinist Vijay Gupta About Music When violinist Vijay Gupta joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at just 19 years old, he was the youngest to ever take a chair in a major orchestra in the U.S. But despite that shining achievement, he was desperately unhappy. Now in his late 30s, Gupta has a new memoir out called Restrung. It explores how, after years of struggling to live up to other people’s expectations, he found his true voice working with homeless people on the st...

‘Podcasting Democracy’ Helps Constitution Come to Life for Teens As America gets ready to celebrate its 250th birthday, a new project called Podcasting Democracy is helping high school and middle school students engage with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Participants created a series of audio commentaries connecting how those founding documents still affect their lives today, and how they can use constitutional principles to create positive change in their own communities.The curriculum is free and available to teachers nationwide. It was written by KQED Education’s Rachel Roberson, who along with 17-year-old student Eumari King P...

How a Pacifica Bar Became a Flashpoint for Queer Civil Rights The San Francisco Bay Area is known as one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly areas in the country but it wasn’t always this way. Back in 1956, the beachside city of Pacifica was the scene of a police raid at a local bar, known to be friendly to the queer community. Hazel’s Inn’s owner, Hazel Nikola had her liquor license revoked and was arrested along with 90 of her patrons. As Ana De Almeida Amaral reports for the podcast Bay Curious, the raid would be a blue...

Connecting With My Father, and My Heritage, in Mandarin Many children of immigrants grow up hearing a language at home that they never fully learn to speak. For second generation kids in the US, the top three heritage languages are Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog. Mandarin Chinese is the native language of reporter Anna Zou. But up until a few months ago, she could barely speak it. Central Valley Father and Daughter Train Together For National Boxing Championship In the rural Central Valley of Avenal, Shavana Trejo is getting national attention for her amateur...

Recent Graduates Reflect on How AI Is Reshaping Their Future Over the past few weeks, several college commencement speakers who praised artificial intelligence were booed by graduates. As these graduates  enter an uncertain job market, they’re grappling not only with an unpredictable economy but also with the feeling that artificial intelligence is unstoppable. AI can impact whether or not you get your resume in front of a hiring manager or what career you decide to pursue. We hear from some recent California graduates and other students who talk about not whether  AI will impact them, but how...

June is Pride Month, and for this week’s show we’re featuring excerpts from our Love You for You series, which recently won a regional Murrow award from the Radio Television Digital News Association. Gender-expansive youth are often talked about in the news but we rarely hear from them, in their own words, especially about how they can thrive with loving support from their families and communities. So we’re featuring three conversations between these youth and the people in their lives who love, support, and mentor them.  Learn more about your ad choi...

Uncovering Women Miners’ Forgotten Legacy in the ‘Swiss Alps’ of Sequoia National Park  Mineral King is located in the southern part of Sequoia National Park but its remote location means it gets fewer visitors than other parts of the park. So the campers and backpackers that make the trek are rewarded with a spectacular mountain range with rushing waterfalls. There are only a handful of buildings here, including some historic wooden cabins that belong to a few families who’ve been here long before this was a national park. One of those cabins belongs to Laile Di Silvestro...

Going for a Hike in a California Park? Don’t Forget Your Sewing Supplies Hiking clubs are nothing new. But a group in Los Angeles is now trying to stretch their creative muscles while making new community. Los Angeles’ Hike and Sew members gather every other week in Los Angeles to get into nature with their needle and thread.  Reporter Clare Wiley joined the group as part of our Community Connections series, highlighting Californians who are bringing joy to their neighbors in big and small ways.  Motorized Wheelchairs Making Back Country Hiking More Accessible Cali...

The Story Behind the Bear on the California Flag is Bigger Than One Legend The grizzly bear on California’s state flag makes it distinctive and recognizable. Many people believe the bear is Monarch, one of the last California grizzlies. Captured in the mountains in 1889, he was held in captivity and displayed to the public for the last 22 years of his life. The KQED podcast Bay Curious wanted to find out if it really was Monarch on the flag, and to sort through some of the other legends around the bear. They sent reporter Katherine Monahan to fi...