California Sun Podcast

The San Franciso Chronicle columnist Heather Knight keeps her finger on the pulse of City Hall. Her twice-weekly stories have exposed issues around education, political corruption, homelessness, and public accountability, with attention to how they impact the lives of everyday people.

Tracy L Chandler is a photographic artist based in Los Angeles. She talks about her work, which explores fringe communities and addresses themes of seeing and being seen. She examines photography and images as a way to engage the world.

Daniel Lurie, the founder of Tipping Point Community, and Sam Cobbs, its CEO, discuss the grant-making organization's efforts to fight poverty in the Bay Area by putting private dollars to work for the public good.

What were you doing at 25? Assembly member-elect Alex Lee, a Democrat from San Jose, is thinking about what he’ll do on his first day in the Assembly. The youngest state legislature in nearly a century, he embraces a progressive agenda and thinks 16 might be reasonable voting age.

Gary Kamiya, a San Francisco columnist and bestselling author, and Paul Madonna, an award-winning artist, talk about their new illustrated book "Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City," a love letter to the hidden places that capture the soul and heart of the city.

Carolyn Said and Kathleen Pender, both San Francisco Chronicle journalists, look at the real world impacts of Proposition 22, which classifies app-based drivers as as independent contractors, and Proposition 19, which would alter property taxes.   Said noted the vast financial return that Uber and Lyft have already gained on their record campaign spending.   Pender called Proposition 19 the most complicated measure we’ve ever had to vote on.

Peter Lunenfeld, vice-chair of UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts, appreciates Los Angeles as one of the world’s supercities. Even amid Covid, politics, and competition for the future from Silicon Valley, he sees a city thriving with reinvention. The metropolis he depicts in his book "City at the Edge of Forever" is certainly not your father's Los Angeles.

Esther Mobley never thought that being a wine writer would involve covering land use, migrant worker issues, wildfires, and climate change. The San Francisco Chronicle wine critic looks at the lasting impact of these issues on the future of the Napa Valley and the $40 billion California wine industry.

Kendra Atleework's memoir "Miracle Country" is inspired by the work of writers like Mary Hunter Austin and Reyner Banham in capturing the harsh beauty of life in the arid Eastern Sierra. Having grown up in the Owens Valley, she returns amid the 2015 Round Fire to absorb the area's history and celebrate the harsh and majestic environment that lies at the cutting edge of climate change and defines what it means to really appreciate California.

James Thebaut is a Los Angeles ecological documentarian and long-time environmental activist. He argues in his latest documentary, "On The Brink: California’s Watershed," now airing on PBS, that the intensity of California's wildfires is due as much to bad policy as it is to climate change. He talks about the state of California's forest system and how both water scarcity and forest clearing practices are impacting the watershed and the ability of forests to absorb water or resist fires.

Davie Pina and Johnny White, vineyard managers in the Napa Valley, say that every fire teaches them something new. With firefighting resources spread thin, they and their colleagues have had to take on more personal responsibility for fighting fires. They shared the story of how they have faced the threat of repeated wildfires and where the future of private firefighting might be headed in California.

Nick Neely walked for 12 weeks and 650 miles from San Diego to Palo Alto. Recreating the journey taken by the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola in 1769, he became immersed in the history, people, and topography of the Golden State. Writing about both the natural and built landscape along the way for his book "Alta California," one of our premier environmental writers short-circuited time and made yesterday's history today's reality.

Leon Panetta ascended to the highest of jobs in Washington, but he never lost sight of his California roots. The former congressman, Office of Management and Budget director, White House chief of staff, CIA director, and defense secretary reminisces about growing up in Monterey, building the Panetta Institute on the campus of Cal State Monterey, and a remarkable life journey.

Jeffrey Tumlin took a job that almost no one wanted. The head of San Francisco’s Metropolitan Transportation Agency was facing the impossible before the pandemic. Since then, public transportation and increased traffic have become unsustainable. Still, Tumlin hopes to find a way to make his city a model for the nation.

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks wanted to make sure legislation on housing and family and medical leave had her vote. When she was denied a request to vote by proxy, she drove with her 1-month-old girl in tow from her home in Oakland to the State Capitol in Sacramento. What happened next has become a rallying point for working women.

Geoffrey King, an attorney and native of Vallejo, cared deeply about his city. He said he could no longer stand by and watch the underreported killings of civilians by one of the most violent police forces in the nation. So he launched Open Vallejo, a nonprofit newsroom focused on local accountability journalism. He details why he felt it was so important to shine a light on a police department that uses more force per arrest than that of any other police force in California's major cities.

Dr. Jennifer Brokaw, daughter of the news anchor and author Tom Brokaw, is an emergency care physician and patient advocate. In February, she was appointed as the physician for San Francisco’s first responders. She explains how her job overseeing the health of firefighters and paramedics has taken on dimensions she never could have imagined before the pandemic.

Anthony Rendon, a Democrat from Lakewood, became California’s 70th Assembly speaker in 2016. He talks about his work with two very different governors and how the legislative focus has changed from budget surpluses, housing, wildfires, affirmative action, and the gig economy to deficits, eviction, unemployment, health care, and a no-frills future. He also shares the personal journey that prepared him for his role.

Alia Volz reminisces about growing up in the family business in the 1970s and ‘80s, where her mom baked and sold 10,000 “magic” brownies per month in San Francisco. It was a time when growing a single marijuana plant was a felony offense. The business that started selling to hippie craftspeople in Aquatic Park became a cultural icon.

David Randall, author of "Black Death at the Golden Gate," tells a story that reminds us that history may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. He details how the bubonic plague overran San Francisco and the West Coast in 1900, fueling denial of emerging science, quarantines, anti-Chinese racism, and fears of a second wave.