This holiday season, The Bay team is sharing their favorite episodes of 2024. Ericka’s pick highlights the work of student journalists covering pro-Palestine protests on college campuses across the Bay earlier this Spring. 

This episode first published on May 3, 2024.

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As we wrap up 2024, we hear from members of KQED’s arts and culture desk about the ‘One Beautiful Thing’ each of them experienced over the past year.

Links:

• Read all of KQED arts and culture’s 2024 ‘One Beautiful Thing’ essays

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Santa Rosa is home to an ice skating rink unlike any other. In 1969, Snoopy’s Home Ice was built by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz and his first wife Joyce. Since then, generations of Santa Rosa residents have visited and skated there — and it's extra special during the holiday season.

Today, KQED’s Gabe Meline takes us inside Snoopy’s Home Ice, where he goes to skate with his family every Christmas Eve.

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Today, we’re sharing this episode from the podcast Sea Change, a show by WWNO in New Orleans and WRKF in Baton Rouge. In it you’ll hear about how three different cities – including San Francisco — are addressing unique challenges around sea level rise.

Links: 

• Sea Change Podcast

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President-elect Donald Trump has doubled down on his campaign promise to deport millions of undocumented people living in the United States. In turn, California officials have promised to protect the state’s undocumented population. KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast sat down with immigration senior editor Tyche Hendricks to talk about how far Trump’s deportation plans can go in California, and how immigrant communities and legal advocacy groups are preparing to fight back. 

Links:

• California Is a Sanctuary State. How Much Will That Protect Immigrants From Trump's Deportation Plans?

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Since Sept. 22, thousands of hotel workers at some of San Francisco’s largest hotels have been in a stalemate with employers, demanding wage increases and affordable health care. KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero explains why this dispute has dragged on, and why everyone has a stake in what happens to the city’s hotel industry. 

This episode was produced by Alan Montecillo and Jessica Kariisa, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Links:

• Episode transcript
• Slow San Francisco Tourism Complicates Hotel Strike Resolution

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The Great Highway is the last road in San Francisco before you hit Ocean Beach. And in this past election, voters passed Prop. K, which permanently closes a portion of it. Supporters hope the highway will become a beachfront park, open to the entire city.

But a majority of people living near the Great Highway voted against Prop. K — particularly those in the city's Sunset neighborhood. Now, a group of residents have filed papers to recall District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who led the effort to close the road.

This episode was produced by Jessica Kariisa and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Episode transcript

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People across the Bay Area were rattled by a tsunami warning alert on Thursday morning, after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the coast of Humboldt County. The warning triggered evacuation orders before it was eventually canceled at approximately 12:00 pm. But it begs the question: What would really happen if a tsunami hit the Bay Area? Back in 2017, our friends at Bay Curious set out to answer this question.

This episode first aired on June 15, 2017.

Links:

• How to Prepare for the Big One
• What Would Really Happen if a Tsunami Hit the Bay Area?

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The push to ban transgender athletes from competitive sports reached San Jose State University this year. In September, the co-captain of the women's volleyball team joined a lawsuit targeting trans women in college sports — including one of her own teammates.

Episode Transcript

This episode was produced by Jessica Kariisa and Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Links: 

• Anti-Trans Suit Seeking to Ban San José State Volleyball Player Is Denied on Appeal
• Inside San Jose State's polarizing volleyball season

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83% of Oakland’s rental housing may contain lead. Despite winning millions of dollars in settlement money from paint companies to help address the problem, the funds have remained unused as residents face potential exposure. 

This episode was updated for clarity. It was produced by Ericka Cruz Guevarra and Jessica Kariisa. It was edited by Alan Montecillo, and hosted by Ericka Cruz Guevarra.

Links:

• Toxic Inaction: Oakland’s lead funding languishes as residents live with serious health risks

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Nestled in the Berkeley Hills, Indian and Mortar rocks are popular hangout spots known in part for epic views of the Bay. For climbers like Berkeleyside reporter Ally Markovich, they’re known for their outsized role in the development of bouldering. But for the native Ohlone, the boulders are a symbol of a destroyed cultural landscape, and an urgent call to protect native history.

This episode first ran on Dec. 23, 2023.

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