With Gov. Gavin Newsom limited to two terms, California’s got a wide open governor’s race. Eight Democrats and two Republicans will be on the ballot in the June primary; from there, the top two finishers, regardless of party, will head to a runoff in November. KQED’s Guy Marzorati explains why this governor’s race is the most wide-open in decades.

Links:

• California’s Governor’s Race Is Breaking an 80-Year Political Mold | KQED

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West Oakland’s 18th Street is one of the city’s most dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, with wide lanes, hidden stop signs, and virtually nonexistent crosswalks in a residential area. It's one of many Oakland roads that has not been fixed for decades.

Now, improvements are finally coming to 18th Street. The Oaklandside’s Jose Fermoso joins us to talk about what changes are on the horizon, and how upgrading roads can pave the way for broader changes in the city.

Links:

• 18th St. is one of Oakland’s most dangerous. Here’s how the city is fixing it

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The 67 is Muni’s most delayed bus line, snaking through the hills along Alemany Boulevard and Bernal Heights, ending at the 24th and Mission BART station. However unreliable it can be, it still serves an estimated 800 daily riders. But as SFMTA faces a budget deficit of more than $300 million in July, the 67 and other bus lines are at risk of disappearing if voters don’t approve ballot measures to fund transit this November.

Links:

• It’s San Francisco’s Most Delayed Bus. For Riders, a Frustrating Problem May Get Worse

• Amid Bid to Save Bay Area Transit, Muni Gets a Campaign of Its Own
  

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Many Iranian Americans across California are still in disbelief after the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes in Iran over the weekend. On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who ruled the Islamic Republic of Iran for nearly a half century. Hundreds more have been killed, including at least 6 American military servicemembers. Some Iranian Americans are overjoyed at the death of Khamenei, while others are critical of the U.S. and Israel’s involvement in yet another war in the Middle East.

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San Francisco’s immigration courts are being hollowed out by the Trump Administration, with plans to close one of the courts downtown by the end of the year. Mission Local’s Clara-Sophia Daly explains how day to day operations — including asylum hearings — have changed.

Links:

• Inside San Francisco’s hollowed-out immigration court, where asylum is ‘essentially over’

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In this month’s edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup we discuss the effect of the booming AI industry on San Francisco’s rental market, Rep. Jared Huffman’s visit to his “radically redrawn” district since the passage of Prop. 50, and the revelation that Waymo employs remote workers in the Philippines. 

Links: 

• AI is pushing S.F. rents higher and higher. Here’s how tenants are dealing (Mission Local)
• In his radically redrawn new district, a Marin congressman gets thrown to the wolves (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Here’s How Many Remote Operators Waymo Has Per Self-Driving Taxi (Futurism)

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Search and rescue crews have recovered all 9 bodies of those killed in last Tuesday’s avalanche in Tahoe, which is now the deadliest in California’s modern history. Four of the victims were women from the Bay Area. 

KQED’s Sarah Wright explains what we know so far, and how this tragedy highlights the Bay Area’s deep ties to outdoor recreation in Tahoe.

Links:

• After Deadly Tahoe Avalanche, Backcountry Skiing Is Under Scrutiny. Here’s What to Know

• All 9 Tahoe Avalanche Victims Identified and Bodies Recovered
  

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For several weeks, a red pay phone sat outside a tattoo parlor in San Francisco’s Mission District — with a sign reading ‘Call a Republican.’ If you picked it up, a blue pay phone with the sign ‘Call a Democrat’ in the conservative city of Abilene, Texas would ring.

This project, created by a company called Matter Neuroscience, aimed to connect Americans from vastly different backgrounds via the old-fashioned phone. 

Links:

• What Happens When Democrats in San Francisco Call Up Republicans in Texas? It’s Pretty Cordial | KQED
  

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If you’ve noticed more crows in the night sky this winter, you’re not imagining it. The Bay Area crow population has been on a steady rise since about 1975 — and after 2000 or so, the population exploded. So what’s behind the boom?

This episode of Bay Curious first aired on June 6, 2019.

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Nearly 31,000 health care workers with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have been on strike for the last four weeks. Nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists and other workers at Kaiser Permanente say that their wages have not kept up with inflation and that their workloads have negatively impacted patient care. As the strike drags on and negotiations continue to stall, more patients face canceled surgeries and appointments without an end in sight.

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Silicon Valley once resisted cooperating with the U.S. military. Google, Meta and OpenAI even had policies banning the use of AI in weapons.

Those days now feel like a bygone era, as Big Tech has now embraced working closely with the federal government during President Donald Trump's second term, in large part due to lucrative contracts for military and surveillance technology.

This episode first aired on Sept. 3, 2025.

Links:

• The Militarization of Silicon Valley

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