Beginning as early as next year you might see a new fixed monthly charge of up to $24 on your electric bill. That’s if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a proposal to rework how we pay for power. The CPUC, which is taking a vote next week, says that the new charge would lower electricity costs for many Californians. But the reality is more complicated. We take a close look and hear what’s driving high electricity prices in the state.

Guests:

Ben Christopher, reporter, CalMatters

Loretta Lynch, former President, California Public Utilities Commission

In her new book of poems, “woke up no light” Leila Mottley writes: play dead / play docile / play along / stare a beast in its mouth and dare it to bite / this is the only way to know if / the country is still hungry. We talk to Leila Mottley, who was Oakland’s 2018 Youth Poet Laureate, about her poetry, coming of age in the nation’s gaze after the enormous success of her novel, “Nightcrawling,” and her hometown of Oakland.

Guests:

Leila Mottley, author, "woke up no light: poems" - Mottley was the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. She is also the author of "Nightcrawling," a New York Times bestseller.

“Intimacy is about relationships within a person’s self, with others, with communities, with nature, and beyond,” writes Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project and editor of the new anthology, “Disability Intimacy.” When Wong began work on the book, she googled what would become its title — and what was she found was “basic AF” and made her go “Ewwwwww.” That inspired her to commission and collect writing from people with disabilities about what intimacy meant to them. The essays reflect on friendships, parent-child bonds, romantic relationships and disability communities. We’ll hear from Wong and some of the anthology’s contributors about the intimacy of sharing and disclosing our relationships with ourselves, with others and with disability itself. And we’ll hear their stories of “love, care and desire” — and the personal and systemic change that intimacy can bring.

Guests:

Alice Wong, disabled activist, writer and community organizer; editor, "Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire"

s.e. smith, freelance journalist whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "Skin Hunger and the Taboo of Wanting to be Touched"

Yomi Sachiko Young, Oakland-based disability justice activist; dreamer whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "Primary Attachment"

Melissa Hung, writer, editor and journalist whose essay in "Disability Intimacy" is "The Last Walk"; founding editor in chief, Hyphen - an independent Asian American magazine; former director, San Francisco WritersCorps

In 2013, inmates at Pelican Bay, a supermax California prison designed to hold large numbers of inmates in isolation, went on a hunger strike to protest indefinite solitary confinement. The hunger strike grew to include nearly 30,000 California prisoners, and led to an overhaul of prison policies. A new documentary “The Strike” chronicles the prisoner-led resistance and features interviews with men who spent decades in confinement in tiny isolated cells. We talk about the historic hunger strike and the evolution of solitary confinement policies in the state and country.

Guests:

JoeBill Muñoz, director and producer, The Strike; award-winning documentary filmmaker; former KQED video intern in 2018

Lucas Guilkey, director and producer, The Strike

Jack Morris, former prisoner in Pelican Bay; program manager, the Re-entry Integrated Services, Engagement and Empowerment Program (RISE) at St Johns Community Health (SJCH) in Los Angeles, where he serves the formerly incarcerated community

Dolores Canales, director of community outreach, The Bail Project

Summer camping season is around the corner, and California’s parks and recreation areas have something for everyone: secluded sites in the Sierra backcountry, campgrounds with RV hook-ups and a view of the Pacific, yurts, tent cabins and even campsites that float. We’ll get tips on scoring reservations, how to plan for a trip and how to pack. And we’ll hear about your favorite California camping memories.

Guests:

José González, founder, Latino Outdoors; equity officer, East Bay Regional Park District; board member, Parks California (the statutory nonprofit partner to CA State Parks)

Ana Beatriz Cholo, public affairs specialist and spokesperson, Pacific West Region, National Park Service

Peter Ostroskie, staff park and recreation specialist, Bay Area District, California State Parks

Hong Kong’s famed pineapple bun does not contain pineapples. Samosas can be found in many cultures outside of India. And the birria taco owes a lot to indigenous cultures who helped cultivate a love and devotion to chiles. These are some of the surprising food backstories that host Cecilia Phillips and the team behind KQED’s digital program “Beyond the Menu” explore in this new series. We’ll talk to Philips about where our favorite foods come from and hear from you. What dishes do you love that have an intriguing backstory?

Guests:

Cecilia Phillips, host, "Beyond the Menu" a KQED digital production focused on getting the backstory of some of our favorite dishes; coordinating producer and reporter, "Check, Please! Bay Area"

Emmanuel Galvan, founder and owner, Bolita: Masa y Más L.L.C. - makes and sells artisanal masa and other products

Hetal Vasavada, author, "Milk and Cardamom"; former contestant, MasterChef; Vasavada's work can also be found in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and other publications

Across Mexico, clandestine treatment centers for drug addiction – locally referred to as anexos – have been accused of unethical therapeutic practices and even patient abuse. But among Mexico’s working poor, in the absence of government support, they provide hope and protection from the country’s catastrophic drug war. Anthropologist Angela Garcia spent a decade studying anexos, getting to know the people who run them and families that have come to rely on them. She chronicles their stories and her own reflections in her new book, “The Way That Leads Among The Lost: Life, Death, and Hope In Mexico City’s Anexos.”

Guests:

Angela Garcia, associate professor of anthropology, Stanford; author of the new book “The Way That Leads Among The Lost: Life, Death, and Hope In Mexico City’s Anexos”

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza continue to grow and spread on college campuses in the Bay Area and across the country. The protests gained momentum earlier this month after more than 100 demonstrators were arrested at Columbia University in protests demanding the school divest from companies that do business with Israel. While the actions have been largely peaceful nationwide, there were scuffles between the protesters and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA on Sunday, and hundreds of protesters were arrested over the weekend at other campuses. We’ll check in on what’s happening at UC Berkeley and other Bay Area schools, and talk with a historian about what past movements can teach us about student protests and social change.

Guests:

Malak Afaneh, law student, UC Berkeley; co-president, Law Students for Justice in Palestine

Angus Johnston, professor and historian of American student activism, City University of New York

Noah Cohen, law student, UC Berkeley

Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of public affairs, UC Berkeley

The United Nations on Friday warned of a “dramatic escalation of tensions” among warring parties near El Fasher, North Darfur. The area is already on the brink of famine, according to the UN, and an attack on the city could have devastating consequences for civilians. The crisis in El Fasher comes as Sudan’s calamitous war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces enters its second year. The war has left more than 15,000 people dead and more than 8 million displaced, according to relief agencies. We look at conditions on the ground, the forces that are driving the conflict and how the global community is responding.

Guests:

Beverly Ochieng, senior journalist and Africa analyst, BBC Monitoring

Ali Ali-Dinar, Sudanese scholar and senior lecturer in the department of Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Amb. Susan Page, professor of practice in international diplomacy, University of Michigan; former US ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan (2011-2014)

Susan Stigant, director of Africa programs, United States Institute of Peace

When you walk into the historic, beloved City Lights in San Francisco’s North Beach, it’s easy to get lost in the winding shelves packed with thousands of titles from classic literature, poetry and philosophy to contemporary fiction. There’s a legendary man behind the careful curation. Chief book buyer Paul Yamazaki has worked at City Lights since the 1970’s and has dedicated his career to filling the shelves with titles that spark conversations between books and readers. “Any single book has a constellation of conversations, consequences, and causes,” Yamazaki says in his new book “Reading the Room: A Bookseller’s Tale.” We’ll talk to Yamazaki about independent bookstores and what he sees for the future of books.

Guests:

Paul Yamazaki, chief book buyer, City Lights Bookstore - In 2023, Paul won the National Book Foundation's Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community

Melinda Powers, head book buyer, Book Shop Santa Cruz; president, California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Stephen Sparks, owner, Point Reyes Books and Wayfinder Bookshop

Hannah Oliver Depp, owner, Loyalty bookstore

While covering Trump’s 2016 campaign, NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon understood the white evangelical movement behind his political rise, because she grew up in that world. McCammon left the church troubled by the misogyny, homophobia and racism she witnessed. That experience is at the center of her book “The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church.” We speak to McCammon and hear from you: Have you left organized religion? Why?

Guests:

Sarah McCammon, National Political Correspondent, NPR; co-host, NPR Politics Podcast; author, "The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church"