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"slug": "is-a-san-francisco-sex-cult-subjecting-people-to-sexual-abuse-onetaste-welcomed-consensus",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]n alleged San Francisco sex cult has attempted to groom new members, multiple sources told KQED, even as one of their most well-known former “students” now faces federal charges for practices many past members say she learned while living with the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 6, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/onetaste-founder-and-former-head-sales-indicted-forced-labor-conspiracy\">Nicole Daedone was indicted on forced labor charges\u003c/a> that include \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-18/the-dark-side-of-onetaste-the-orgasmic-meditation-company\">allegations of sexual and emotional abuse at her company, OneTaste\u003c/a>, which she founded in San Francisco. The commune and sexual wellness company sold courses and coaching promoting sexual empowerment and so-called “orgasmic meditation,” a ritual where a group of women would lie naked from the waist down while men wearing clothes would stroke the women’s genitals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former employees said OneTaste took advantage of people with sexual trauma, subjecting members and employees to surveillance, plus emotional, physical and psychological abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before her “orgasmic meditation” startup \u003ca href=\"https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/inside-hollywoods-orgasm-cult/\">took off in Hollywood circles\u003c/a> — and recently came crashing down — Daedone learned the basis for her business model and orgasmic meditation techniques, former affiliates told KQED, while living for two years with the San Francisco-based\u003ca href=\"https://www.welcomed.com/\"> The Welcomed Consensus\u003c/a>, a much older organization that sold thousand-dollar courses promising sexual pleasure, social empowerment and freedom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than enlightenment, however, nearly a dozen ex-members, students and other affiliates have come forward to tell KQED about a consistent pattern of psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of the Welcomed Consensus, and its leader Robert “RJ” Testerman, over the past three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Nicole news, I mean, it made me feel like RJ has done all of this times a hundred, and he’s still doing it,” said Sasha Nelson, who lived with the Welcomed Consensus for about four months at their house in the Glen Park neighborhood in 2018, after a member recruited her via Tinder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people with long hair sit next to each other at a table and look and look at the camera.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Talbott Acosta (left) and Sasha Nelson sit in Christine’s home in San Francisco. Nelson and Talbott Acosta were part of a San Francisco-based alleged sex cult known as The Welcome Consensus and are now trying to warn people about abuse within the group. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED made multiple attempts to reach Testerman at the Welcomed Consensus’ properties in San Francisco and Siskiyou County, but phone calls and emails were not returned. An unnamed person who picked up the phone at a Siskiyou County ranch owned by the Welcomed Consensus declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar to OneTaste, the Welcomed Consensus sold courses on sex and held gatherings where men would stroke undressed women. At its classes and recruiting events, the Welcomed Consensus taught “DOing,” essentially stroking a person’s genitals — most often it would be a man touching a woman. “DO” stood for “deliberate orgasm,” a term still actively trademarked by the Welcomed Consensus, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23892105-trademark-electronic-search-system-tess\">according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former affiliates of Daedone’s say the model was the foundation for her company’s orgasmic meditation or “OMing” practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While keeping a lower profile these days, the Welcomed Consensus has continued recruiting for a different era, now through social media, online dating apps and volunteer programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The Wild West’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christine Talbott Acosta was a member and former recruiter for the Welcomed Consensus. Born and raised in Redwood City, she was initially connected to Testerman while babysitting for a woman who was a family friend of his, while he was working in San Francisco as a hairdresser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was 32 and I was 12, and the first time we had sex, it was three months after my 13th birthday,” said Talbott Acosta, who is now 57 and continues to live in San Francisco. “At 16, my life kind of crumbled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early ’80s, Talbott Acosta was kicked out of her high school and left home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was free drug use where I babysat, and I smoked and drank with RJ. They gave me acid when I was 15,” Talbott Acosta said. “They treated me like an adult and encouraged it. He taught me to lie, and I couldn’t tell anybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She briefly lived in the Tenderloin near Post and Polk Streets. Testerman helped Talbott Acosta acquire birth control, then began prostituting her when she turned 17, she claims. At 18, she also began working as a hairdresser for Testerman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their belief was that you’re born fully responsible [to have sex],” Talbott Acosta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During this time, Talbott Acosta grew estranged from her family, something common among Welcomed Consensus members she has encountered over the years. The distance strengthened the pull Testerman had over her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was my world. I worked for him and he was my lover and my dad and my family, really, my family,” Talbott Acosta said. “RJ referred to that time as the Wild West. We didn’t have any structure, it was just a sex commune with lots of drinking and drugs and violence and drama.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956148\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956148\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair looks out of a window in a residential setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Talbott Acosta stands in her home in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Talbott Acosta then moved into a house near Oak and Fell streets that was affiliated with an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913686/this-bay-area-sex-loving-commune-is-still-going-strong\">East Bay sex commune\u003c/a> called Lafayette Morehouse, which taught and sold sex classes through its so-called More University that began in 1977.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone at her new house was taking classes from More University, with topics ranging from “Advanced Sensuality” to “Expansion of Sexual Potential.” Elite members of Morehouse lived at the commune’s larger property in Lafayette.[aside postID=news_11913686 label='More on Lafayette Morehouse']At around age 20, Talbott Acosta began living with Testerman at a house on Joost Avenue in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood with about seven others while working for him at the hair salon. It was there in the early ’90s that Testerman formed the Welcomed Consensus, using the teachings and financial models he learned with More University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was word for word,” Talbott Acosta said of how the Welcomed Consensus model is based on More University. She added, however, that she never experienced the rigid rules over sex, food, clothing or pressure to leave family with More University as she did with Welcomed Consensus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Daedone would also become affiliated with both Morehouse and the Welcomed Consensus before launching her own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Welcomed Consensus’ inner circle had to pass what was referred to as “validation,” which required performing a three-hour long orgasm in private with Welcomed Consensus members as well as a one-hour orgasm demonstration as part of a public course offering, Talbott Acosta said. Women in the house would take turns performing DOing at workshops, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the inner circle typically lived at the Glen Park house. The group later bought a ranch in far Northern California near the community of Klamath River in rural Siskiyou County, called A Madrone Ranch and Gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former members described typical Welcomed Consensus lessons as a scene where a group of men and women would gather in a room, and men would practice stroking the clitoris of an assigned female partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would get the guys to come in and then all the women in the house would be who they practice on,” Talbott Acosta recalled.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Christine Talbott Acosta, former Welcomed Consensus member\"]‘That was the big hook. These guys who had been coming and ogling at you could do this. If you lived in the house, you were a shill they used as bait to bring guys in.’[/pullquote]For years, Talbott Acosta floated in and out of the Welcomed Consensus community, recruiting new members and participating in classes even as she moved out with a spouse and focused on having her own children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She remembers one particular meeting with Testerman that influenced her split from the group, but it still took years to leave behind that life, even after moving out of the Glen Park house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“RJ just hit me so hard… that I couldn’t imagine doing it again,” Talbott Acosta said of one particular DOing session where he repeatedly slapped her genitals. “The idea of taking my clothes off all of a sudden in public just had me really scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also a “touch and look” course, where Welcomed Consensus students who reached a certain level in the courses could stroke and touch women who lived at the house, like Talbott Acosta, on the floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the big hook,” Talbott Acosta said. “These guys who had been coming and ogling at you could do this. If you lived in the house, you were a shill they used as bait to bring guys in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11956446 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A house in a residential neighborhoods with a verdant front garden.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">827 Joost Avenue in San Francisco’s Sunnyside neighborhood, the house owned by the Welcomed Consensus where members of the group’s inner circle typically lived. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She tried to take on other roles at the house, like cooking, but even then she was required to wear a French maid’s outfit. Any time she objected, she said, “I was told this is my resistance to pleasure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years after leaving the group, Talbott Acosta reported the abuses she faced there to local police in Redwood City and San Francisco. Her reports fell beyond California’s statute of limitations, so she says police told her she would need evidence of Testerman admitting to the abuse, which she did not have. The cases went nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She later tried reaching out to five different law firms to see if she had a civil case she could try, but hit wall after wall with the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Welcomed Consensus and OneTaste\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sasha Nelson grew up in Berlin and traveled all over the world before landing a corporate job in Sonoma County. She didn’t like her static lifestyle, and heard about OneTaste from friends taking workshops. She wanted the freedom and sexual empowerment it advertised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She attended an OMing workshop with OneTaste and said their sorority-rush-like efforts to recruit her were “intoxicating” at first. She described the group as “a typical cult vibe, everyone was euphoric and excited and giddy and making friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she arrived at her first gathering, “you do this horrifying exercise and all these women are taking off their pants in a warehouse of 200 people, getting stroked in front of everybody,” Nelson said. “My first experience was with a man I had an aversion to the entire weekend, but after I felt really close to him and felt like ‘wow, there’s something really to this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as time went on, she became less charmed by the large group events and felt disconnected from the strangers she was having sexual encounters with at the workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in the fall of 2017, she matched with a man named Bill Berndt on Tinder. Text messages shared with KQED show he told her that he was in a sensuality community, and she was curious about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had liked the concept that was taught in Nicole [Daedone’s] workshop, but I didn’t like the scene,” Nelson said of the OneTaste event. “I thought, ‘Oh, here’s maybe another way to explore that. Like a little smaller group.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Welcomed Consensus pushed much harder to recruit Nelson, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was hard for me to believe these women would mislead me,” she told KQED. “It was a higher level of recruiting and grooming” than she experienced at the OneTaste workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She began traveling to San Francisco for weekly “BenchMarks,” essentially cocktail-party-like recruitment gatherings led by Testerman and women who lived at Welcomed Consensus’ house on Joost in Glen Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BenchMarks were the first step in recruitment. Before each meeting, members would discuss who would be in attendance that night, remind each other to be happy and bubbly and not share any negatives about the group, and ultimately, bring in new members with money to spend, multiple former affiliates told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A primary viewpoint of the group is that fun, turned-on women always enthusiastically say ‘Yes’ to offers,” Nelson told KQED. “By saying, ‘No, thank you,’ you are seen as out of agreement, resistant, or just plain unfun… Nobody wants to be deemed unattractive or unfun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair looks out of a window in a residential setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sasha Nelson sits in the home of Christine Talbott Acosta in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson was persuaded to move into the Welcomed Consensus’ San Francisco house in 2018, but left after four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was often physically exhausted while living there — something other former members said was common in the early days of living among the Welcomed Consensus. Like sex, food was strictly controlled in the house, and women’s bodies were heavily scrutinized around weight, Nelson remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“RJ likes skinny girls, that was one of the unspoken rules,” Nelson said. “You would really be pressured to eat the food being made, yet you were also not allowed to be fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another former student named Allyson told KQED she witnessed Testerman, wearing cowboy boots, repeatedly kick a household member who was on the floor. KQED is only using Allyson’s first name due to personal safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time Nelson was being groomed by the Welcomed Consensus, OneTaste was booming. It was still edgy, but good marketing helped it inch its way toward mainstream acceptance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/fashion/15commune.html\">profiles in publications like \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> — and it made lots of money along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Daedone herself was a student with the Welcomed Consensus in the late 1990s and early 2000s, multiple sources told KQED, including a former housemate of hers and a colleague at OneTaste. Talbott Acosta described her mission with OneTaste as attempting to make the courses scalable, startup-style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nicole took the Welcomed Consensus information and put her own twist on it. She used a lot of the same stuff, the basic business plan, but did change some of it,” Talbott Acosta said. “Her goal was to bring it to the masses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘So much social punishment’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After graduating with a degree in ecology during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nat Jennings, then 23, was eager to get out into a world beyond screens to put it to use. In September 2022, she headed to California from Texas to volunteer with A Madrone Ranch and Gardens, which she found through a website that connects volunteers with organic farms to work in exchange for boarding, called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings signed up to work at the farm — a remote property in rural Siskiyou County owned by the Welcomed Consensus — not knowing anything about the group. These days, she describes the experience as, “accidentally signing up to go live in a sex cult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956925\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses inside a room with clothes and chairs and a tall fan.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nat Jennings stands in her bedroom at A Madrone Ranch and Gardens in Sept. 2022, a property in Klamath River, Siskiyou County, owned by the Welcomed Consensus. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nat Jennings)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s really hard to realize what is happening, and to leave,” Jennings told KQED. “If I didn’t have friends on the outside, if I didn’t have a car there, I could have been trapped and I could have, like, not believed myself because I was struggling with sleep deprivation, overworking, like all these factors that were just kind of convincing me I was the crazy one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few red flags stood out to her during her stay. First was early into her stay when women at the house began insisting that she wear a dress to dinner. When she replied she had come to work and didn’t bring a dress, they gave her one to put on. Jennings said she complied out of pressure, but said the dress felt “horribly inappropriate” and the experience made her feel “very uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another day, she went berry picking with one of the house mates, an older man, and he flashed his gun before asking her to go swimming with him and taking off his shirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a lot of love bombing and then taking it away, that type of thing,” Jennings said. Love bombing refers to lavishing someone with affection, and usually revoking that kindness later to manipulate them. “There was so much social punishment if you do anything out of line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956924\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1501px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956924\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses holds a plastic container full of blackberries in a wooded area.\" width=\"1501\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED.jpg 1501w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-800x1066.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-1020x1359.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-1153x1536.jpg 1153w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1501px) 100vw, 1501px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nat Jennings holds a container of blackberries she picked near A Madrone Ranch and Gardens in Sept. 2022. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nat Jennings)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Something felt off. So she and another volunteer in the work-away program dug around online and came across Talbott Acosta’s blog, \u003ca href=\"https://www.truthaboutrj.com/\">TruthAboutRJ.com\u003c/a>, where they saw the faces of several people they were staying with and read stories that started similar to their own — but ended badly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We read all that and had this mutual panic attack like, ‘We have to leave tomorrow. This is ridiculous,’” Jennings said. “So on day 12, we woke up at 4:45 a.m., packed our bags and ran out to our cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear exactly how many members are still active with the Welcomed Consensus community. Jennings said at least five people were living at the house while she was there and Talbott Acosta believes two new members were validated in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talbot Acosta said she reported the group and its ranch to WWOOF, but no action was taken. As of publication, \u003ca href=\"https://wwoofusa.org/en/host/20952-homestead-garden-vegetables-community-ranchlivestock\">the ranch listing was still active on the volunteer farming program’s website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WWOOF did not respond to KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As young women like Jennings have come forward more recently, Talbott Acosta and Nelson fear a new generation of Welcomed Consensus leaders are being elevated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testerman’s daughter, Ginger Mueller-Testerman, completed a master’s thesis in 2021 titled “\u003ca href=\"https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/x633f6180\">Clitoral Analysis: Analysis of Pleasure in Contemporary Sex Instruction Materials\u003c/a>” at San Francisco State in Human Sexuality Studies, where she also taught a course. In Spring 2023, Mueller-Testerman taught a critical studies course including topics on gender and sexual identity at the California College of the Arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon hearing the news about Daedone and discovering Mueller-Testerman was teaching a course related to sex, Talbott Acosta contacted SF State and CCA to report personal experiences of abuse and recruiting for the Welcomed Consensus alongside Mueller-Testerman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SF State and CCA also declined to comment on Talbott Acosta’s reports, but both schools confirmed she taught courses there last spring and said she was not signed up to teach this fall. Mueller-Testerman declined to comment when reached by phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California, cults and the Welcomed Consensus\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took decades before Talbott Acosta and her husband Dennis, who she met at the Welcomed Consensus, to fully cut ties with the group. She said it wasn’t until beginning intensive therapy, and having a total emotional breakdown, that she began to see more clearly the abuse that she encountered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, it was learning about trauma and learning about PTSD and getting the mental health care that I needed to start seeing what was really happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poulomi Saha, a UC Berkeley professor who teaches a course called Cults in Popular Culture, said that type of groupthink and pressure that keeps many members inside groups like the Welcomed Consensus is not uncommon in cults or other intentional communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing you have to ask is ‘Why do people join?’ without diagnosing some kind of brainwashing, mis-recognition or stupidity,” Saha told KQED. “If we begin by believing that followers are already in the wrong, we can’t understand what gets someone somewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These groups draw followers by offering big-ticket items. Bliss. Salvation. Wild financial success. But also things that are big-ticket items that we make mundane like true belonging,” she said. “You also have a structure of authority, and huge financial outlays. People have bought in on every level of their social being. And there’s a leader whose power you actually somewhere really begin to adhere to.”[aside postID=news_11705963]California is often the backdrop to popular culture’s obsession with cults, from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/manson-family-murders-what-need-to-know-180972655/\">Manson Family\u003c/a> to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11705963/do-you-really-want-to-know-one-mans-search-for-family-from-jonestown-and-beyond\">People’s Temple\u003c/a> and more. But there’s been a noticeable shift toward financial exploitation of group members, Saha said, which her research shows took off in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups like the Welcomed Consensus sold their offerings for thousands of dollars. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Suit-It-s-hooking-not-sex-training-3055850.php\">One former member, Erwan Davon, even tried to sue Testerman\u003c/a>, court records show, for putting him out of at least $136,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allyson, who worked as a computer programmer before the Welcomed Consensus recruited her, estimated she spent at least $30,000 on courses with the Welcomed Consensus, plus buying a van for their food program. To get OneTaste up and moving, Daedone later convinced her to hand over the $5,000 she had saved in her 401K plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Welcomed Consensus ran a nonprofit out of the house called \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/freetheneed/\">Free the Need\u003c/a>, through which it claimed to help distribute surplus groceries to hungry families. But multiple former affiliates that spoke to KQED said most of the donated food was kept to feed members of the Welcomed Consensus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two male sources who were associated with the group told KQED that it was common for leaders to probe recruits about their finances and convince students to pay up. In return, they promised to revolutionize their sex life and relationship to women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you couldn’t pay, they would find work for you to do to pay off your debts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I refinished the hardwood floors. We wanted to build a subterranean brewery in the backyard, so we literally dug like 15 feet down,” said Dennis Acosta. “Then we realized we were totally insane and covered it all up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testerman sold freedom from mainstream power dynamics and markets, but, Saha argues, groups like his often recreate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are not outside of the market logic at all. In fact, it’s a place where the market logic is perfected,” said Saha. “How do you draw someone in? Go out and bring four friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, Talbott Acosta is spreading a different message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes people very uncomfortable. But it is important to talk about,” she said. “It’s the only way to let people know that it exists and that it can happen to anyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Welcomed Consensus, which inspired the now-indicted founder of the sexual wellness company OneTaste, has engaged in a pattern of psychological and sexual abuse for decades, according to nearly a dozen ex-members, students and others.",
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"title": "Is a San Francisco 'Sex Cult' Subjecting People to Abuse? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n alleged San Francisco sex cult has attempted to groom new members, multiple sources told KQED, even as one of their most well-known former “students” now faces federal charges for practices many past members say she learned while living with the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 6, \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/onetaste-founder-and-former-head-sales-indicted-forced-labor-conspiracy\">Nicole Daedone was indicted on forced labor charges\u003c/a> that include \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-06-18/the-dark-side-of-onetaste-the-orgasmic-meditation-company\">allegations of sexual and emotional abuse at her company, OneTaste\u003c/a>, which she founded in San Francisco. The commune and sexual wellness company sold courses and coaching promoting sexual empowerment and so-called “orgasmic meditation,” a ritual where a group of women would lie naked from the waist down while men wearing clothes would stroke the women’s genitals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former employees said OneTaste took advantage of people with sexual trauma, subjecting members and employees to surveillance, plus emotional, physical and psychological abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before her “orgasmic meditation” startup \u003ca href=\"https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/inside-hollywoods-orgasm-cult/\">took off in Hollywood circles\u003c/a> — and recently came crashing down — Daedone learned the basis for her business model and orgasmic meditation techniques, former affiliates told KQED, while living for two years with the San Francisco-based\u003ca href=\"https://www.welcomed.com/\"> The Welcomed Consensus\u003c/a>, a much older organization that sold thousand-dollar courses promising sexual pleasure, social empowerment and freedom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rather than enlightenment, however, nearly a dozen ex-members, students and other affiliates have come forward to tell KQED about a consistent pattern of psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of the Welcomed Consensus, and its leader Robert “RJ” Testerman, over the past three decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Nicole news, I mean, it made me feel like RJ has done all of this times a hundred, and he’s still doing it,” said Sasha Nelson, who lived with the Welcomed Consensus for about four months at their house in the Glen Park neighborhood in 2018, after a member recruited her via Tinder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956149\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956149\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people with long hair sit next to each other at a table and look and look at the camera.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67129_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Talbott Acosta (left) and Sasha Nelson sit in Christine’s home in San Francisco. Nelson and Talbott Acosta were part of a San Francisco-based alleged sex cult known as The Welcome Consensus and are now trying to warn people about abuse within the group. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>KQED made multiple attempts to reach Testerman at the Welcomed Consensus’ properties in San Francisco and Siskiyou County, but phone calls and emails were not returned. An unnamed person who picked up the phone at a Siskiyou County ranch owned by the Welcomed Consensus declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similar to OneTaste, the Welcomed Consensus sold courses on sex and held gatherings where men would stroke undressed women. At its classes and recruiting events, the Welcomed Consensus taught “DOing,” essentially stroking a person’s genitals — most often it would be a man touching a woman. “DO” stood for “deliberate orgasm,” a term still actively trademarked by the Welcomed Consensus, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23892105-trademark-electronic-search-system-tess\">according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former affiliates of Daedone’s say the model was the foundation for her company’s orgasmic meditation or “OMing” practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While keeping a lower profile these days, the Welcomed Consensus has continued recruiting for a different era, now through social media, online dating apps and volunteer programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The Wild West’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Christine Talbott Acosta was a member and former recruiter for the Welcomed Consensus. Born and raised in Redwood City, she was initially connected to Testerman while babysitting for a woman who was a family friend of his, while he was working in San Francisco as a hairdresser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was 32 and I was 12, and the first time we had sex, it was three months after my 13th birthday,” said Talbott Acosta, who is now 57 and continues to live in San Francisco. “At 16, my life kind of crumbled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early ’80s, Talbott Acosta was kicked out of her high school and left home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was free drug use where I babysat, and I smoked and drank with RJ. They gave me acid when I was 15,” Talbott Acosta said. “They treated me like an adult and encouraged it. He taught me to lie, and I couldn’t tell anybody.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She briefly lived in the Tenderloin near Post and Polk Streets. Testerman helped Talbott Acosta acquire birth control, then began prostituting her when she turned 17, she claims. At 18, she also began working as a hairdresser for Testerman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their belief was that you’re born fully responsible [to have sex],” Talbott Acosta said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During this time, Talbott Acosta grew estranged from her family, something common among Welcomed Consensus members she has encountered over the years. The distance strengthened the pull Testerman had over her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was my world. I worked for him and he was my lover and my dad and my family, really, my family,” Talbott Acosta said. “RJ referred to that time as the Wild West. We didn’t have any structure, it was just a sex commune with lots of drinking and drugs and violence and drama.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956148\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956148\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair looks out of a window in a residential setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67128_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Talbott Acosta stands in her home in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Talbott Acosta then moved into a house near Oak and Fell streets that was affiliated with an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913686/this-bay-area-sex-loving-commune-is-still-going-strong\">East Bay sex commune\u003c/a> called Lafayette Morehouse, which taught and sold sex classes through its so-called More University that began in 1977.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone at her new house was taking classes from More University, with topics ranging from “Advanced Sensuality” to “Expansion of Sexual Potential.” Elite members of Morehouse lived at the commune’s larger property in Lafayette.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At around age 20, Talbott Acosta began living with Testerman at a house on Joost Avenue in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood with about seven others while working for him at the hair salon. It was there in the early ’90s that Testerman formed the Welcomed Consensus, using the teachings and financial models he learned with More University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was word for word,” Talbott Acosta said of how the Welcomed Consensus model is based on More University. She added, however, that she never experienced the rigid rules over sex, food, clothing or pressure to leave family with More University as she did with Welcomed Consensus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years later, Daedone would also become affiliated with both Morehouse and the Welcomed Consensus before launching her own version.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the Welcomed Consensus’ inner circle had to pass what was referred to as “validation,” which required performing a three-hour long orgasm in private with Welcomed Consensus members as well as a one-hour orgasm demonstration as part of a public course offering, Talbott Acosta said. Women in the house would take turns performing DOing at workshops, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the inner circle typically lived at the Glen Park house. The group later bought a ranch in far Northern California near the community of Klamath River in rural Siskiyou County, called A Madrone Ranch and Gardens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former members described typical Welcomed Consensus lessons as a scene where a group of men and women would gather in a room, and men would practice stroking the clitoris of an assigned female partner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He would get the guys to come in and then all the women in the house would be who they practice on,” Talbott Acosta recalled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘That was the big hook. These guys who had been coming and ogling at you could do this. If you lived in the house, you were a shill they used as bait to bring guys in.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For years, Talbott Acosta floated in and out of the Welcomed Consensus community, recruiting new members and participating in classes even as she moved out with a spouse and focused on having her own children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She remembers one particular meeting with Testerman that influenced her split from the group, but it still took years to leave behind that life, even after moving out of the Glen Park house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“RJ just hit me so hard… that I couldn’t imagine doing it again,” Talbott Acosta said of one particular DOing session where he repeatedly slapped her genitals. “The idea of taking my clothes off all of a sudden in public just had me really scared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also a “touch and look” course, where Welcomed Consensus students who reached a certain level in the courses could stroke and touch women who lived at the house, like Talbott Acosta, on the floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was the big hook,” Talbott Acosta said. “These guys who had been coming and ogling at you could do this. If you lived in the house, you were a shill they used as bait to bring guys in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11956446 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A house in a residential neighborhoods with a verdant front garden.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67218_230724-WelcomeConensusHouse-03-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">827 Joost Avenue in San Francisco’s Sunnyside neighborhood, the house owned by the Welcomed Consensus where members of the group’s inner circle typically lived. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She tried to take on other roles at the house, like cooking, but even then she was required to wear a French maid’s outfit. Any time she objected, she said, “I was told this is my resistance to pleasure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Years after leaving the group, Talbott Acosta reported the abuses she faced there to local police in Redwood City and San Francisco. Her reports fell beyond California’s statute of limitations, so she says police told her she would need evidence of Testerman admitting to the abuse, which she did not have. The cases went nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She later tried reaching out to five different law firms to see if she had a civil case she could try, but hit wall after wall with the justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Welcomed Consensus and OneTaste\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sasha Nelson grew up in Berlin and traveled all over the world before landing a corporate job in Sonoma County. She didn’t like her static lifestyle, and heard about OneTaste from friends taking workshops. She wanted the freedom and sexual empowerment it advertised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She attended an OMing workshop with OneTaste and said their sorority-rush-like efforts to recruit her were “intoxicating” at first. She described the group as “a typical cult vibe, everyone was euphoric and excited and giddy and making friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she arrived at her first gathering, “you do this horrifying exercise and all these women are taking off their pants in a warehouse of 200 people, getting stroked in front of everybody,” Nelson said. “My first experience was with a man I had an aversion to the entire weekend, but after I felt really close to him and felt like ‘wow, there’s something really to this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as time went on, she became less charmed by the large group events and felt disconnected from the strangers she was having sexual encounters with at the workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in the fall of 2017, she matched with a man named Bill Berndt on Tinder. Text messages shared with KQED show he told her that he was in a sensuality community, and she was curious about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had liked the concept that was taught in Nicole [Daedone’s] workshop, but I didn’t like the scene,” Nelson said of the OneTaste event. “I thought, ‘Oh, here’s maybe another way to explore that. Like a little smaller group.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Welcomed Consensus pushed much harder to recruit Nelson, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was hard for me to believe these women would mislead me,” she told KQED. “It was a higher level of recruiting and grooming” than she experienced at the OneTaste workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She began traveling to San Francisco for weekly “BenchMarks,” essentially cocktail-party-like recruitment gatherings led by Testerman and women who lived at Welcomed Consensus’ house on Joost in Glen Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BenchMarks were the first step in recruitment. Before each meeting, members would discuss who would be in attendance that night, remind each other to be happy and bubbly and not share any negatives about the group, and ultimately, bring in new members with money to spend, multiple former affiliates told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A primary viewpoint of the group is that fun, turned-on women always enthusiastically say ‘Yes’ to offers,” Nelson told KQED. “By saying, ‘No, thank you,’ you are seen as out of agreement, resistant, or just plain unfun… Nobody wants to be deemed unattractive or unfun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with long hair looks out of a window in a residential setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67132_230710-OneTasteChristineSasha-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sasha Nelson sits in the home of Christine Talbott Acosta in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson was persuaded to move into the Welcomed Consensus’ San Francisco house in 2018, but left after four months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was often physically exhausted while living there — something other former members said was common in the early days of living among the Welcomed Consensus. Like sex, food was strictly controlled in the house, and women’s bodies were heavily scrutinized around weight, Nelson remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“RJ likes skinny girls, that was one of the unspoken rules,” Nelson said. “You would really be pressured to eat the food being made, yet you were also not allowed to be fat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another former student named Allyson told KQED she witnessed Testerman, wearing cowboy boots, repeatedly kick a household member who was on the floor. KQED is only using Allyson’s first name due to personal safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time Nelson was being groomed by the Welcomed Consensus, OneTaste was booming. It was still edgy, but good marketing helped it inch its way toward mainstream acceptance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/fashion/15commune.html\">profiles in publications like \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> — and it made lots of money along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Daedone herself was a student with the Welcomed Consensus in the late 1990s and early 2000s, multiple sources told KQED, including a former housemate of hers and a colleague at OneTaste. Talbott Acosta described her mission with OneTaste as attempting to make the courses scalable, startup-style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nicole took the Welcomed Consensus information and put her own twist on it. She used a lot of the same stuff, the basic business plan, but did change some of it,” Talbott Acosta said. “Her goal was to bring it to the masses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘So much social punishment’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After graduating with a degree in ecology during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nat Jennings, then 23, was eager to get out into a world beyond screens to put it to use. In September 2022, she headed to California from Texas to volunteer with A Madrone Ranch and Gardens, which she found through a website that connects volunteers with organic farms to work in exchange for boarding, called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings signed up to work at the farm — a remote property in rural Siskiyou County owned by the Welcomed Consensus — not knowing anything about the group. These days, she describes the experience as, “accidentally signing up to go live in a sex cult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956925\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956925\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses inside a room with clothes and chairs and a tall fan.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nat Jennings stands in her bedroom at A Madrone Ranch and Gardens in Sept. 2022, a property in Klamath River, Siskiyou County, owned by the Welcomed Consensus. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nat Jennings)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s really hard to realize what is happening, and to leave,” Jennings told KQED. “If I didn’t have friends on the outside, if I didn’t have a car there, I could have been trapped and I could have, like, not believed myself because I was struggling with sleep deprivation, overworking, like all these factors that were just kind of convincing me I was the crazy one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few red flags stood out to her during her stay. First was early into her stay when women at the house began insisting that she wear a dress to dinner. When she replied she had come to work and didn’t bring a dress, they gave her one to put on. Jennings said she complied out of pressure, but said the dress felt “horribly inappropriate” and the experience made her feel “very uncomfortable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another day, she went berry picking with one of the house mates, an older man, and he flashed his gun before asking her to go swimming with him and taking off his shirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a lot of love bombing and then taking it away, that type of thing,” Jennings said. Love bombing refers to lavishing someone with affection, and usually revoking that kindness later to manipulate them. “There was so much social punishment if you do anything out of line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956924\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1501px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956924\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person with glasses holds a plastic container full of blackberries in a wooded area.\" width=\"1501\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED.jpg 1501w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-800x1066.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-1020x1359.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230731-Nat-Jennings-01-KQED-1153x1536.jpg 1153w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1501px) 100vw, 1501px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nat Jennings holds a container of blackberries she picked near A Madrone Ranch and Gardens in Sept. 2022. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nat Jennings)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Something felt off. So she and another volunteer in the work-away program dug around online and came across Talbott Acosta’s blog, \u003ca href=\"https://www.truthaboutrj.com/\">TruthAboutRJ.com\u003c/a>, where they saw the faces of several people they were staying with and read stories that started similar to their own — but ended badly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We read all that and had this mutual panic attack like, ‘We have to leave tomorrow. This is ridiculous,’” Jennings said. “So on day 12, we woke up at 4:45 a.m., packed our bags and ran out to our cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear exactly how many members are still active with the Welcomed Consensus community. Jennings said at least five people were living at the house while she was there and Talbott Acosta believes two new members were validated in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Talbot Acosta said she reported the group and its ranch to WWOOF, but no action was taken. As of publication, \u003ca href=\"https://wwoofusa.org/en/host/20952-homestead-garden-vegetables-community-ranchlivestock\">the ranch listing was still active on the volunteer farming program’s website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WWOOF did not respond to KQED’s requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As young women like Jennings have come forward more recently, Talbott Acosta and Nelson fear a new generation of Welcomed Consensus leaders are being elevated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testerman’s daughter, Ginger Mueller-Testerman, completed a master’s thesis in 2021 titled “\u003ca href=\"https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/x633f6180\">Clitoral Analysis: Analysis of Pleasure in Contemporary Sex Instruction Materials\u003c/a>” at San Francisco State in Human Sexuality Studies, where she also taught a course. In Spring 2023, Mueller-Testerman taught a critical studies course including topics on gender and sexual identity at the California College of the Arts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon hearing the news about Daedone and discovering Mueller-Testerman was teaching a course related to sex, Talbott Acosta contacted SF State and CCA to report personal experiences of abuse and recruiting for the Welcomed Consensus alongside Mueller-Testerman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SF State and CCA also declined to comment on Talbott Acosta’s reports, but both schools confirmed she taught courses there last spring and said she was not signed up to teach this fall. Mueller-Testerman declined to comment when reached by phone.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California, cults and the Welcomed Consensus\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It took decades before Talbott Acosta and her husband Dennis, who she met at the Welcomed Consensus, to fully cut ties with the group. She said it wasn’t until beginning intensive therapy, and having a total emotional breakdown, that she began to see more clearly the abuse that she encountered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, it was learning about trauma and learning about PTSD and getting the mental health care that I needed to start seeing what was really happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poulomi Saha, a UC Berkeley professor who teaches a course called Cults in Popular Culture, said that type of groupthink and pressure that keeps many members inside groups like the Welcomed Consensus is not uncommon in cults or other intentional communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first thing you have to ask is ‘Why do people join?’ without diagnosing some kind of brainwashing, mis-recognition or stupidity,” Saha told KQED. “If we begin by believing that followers are already in the wrong, we can’t understand what gets someone somewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These groups draw followers by offering big-ticket items. Bliss. Salvation. Wild financial success. But also things that are big-ticket items that we make mundane like true belonging,” she said. “You also have a structure of authority, and huge financial outlays. People have bought in on every level of their social being. And there’s a leader whose power you actually somewhere really begin to adhere to.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California is often the backdrop to popular culture’s obsession with cults, from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/manson-family-murders-what-need-to-know-180972655/\">Manson Family\u003c/a> to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11705963/do-you-really-want-to-know-one-mans-search-for-family-from-jonestown-and-beyond\">People’s Temple\u003c/a> and more. But there’s been a noticeable shift toward financial exploitation of group members, Saha said, which her research shows took off in the 1980s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Groups like the Welcomed Consensus sold their offerings for thousands of dollars. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Suit-It-s-hooking-not-sex-training-3055850.php\">One former member, Erwan Davon, even tried to sue Testerman\u003c/a>, court records show, for putting him out of at least $136,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allyson, who worked as a computer programmer before the Welcomed Consensus recruited her, estimated she spent at least $30,000 on courses with the Welcomed Consensus, plus buying a van for their food program. To get OneTaste up and moving, Daedone later convinced her to hand over the $5,000 she had saved in her 401K plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Welcomed Consensus ran a nonprofit out of the house called \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/freetheneed/\">Free the Need\u003c/a>, through which it claimed to help distribute surplus groceries to hungry families. But multiple former affiliates that spoke to KQED said most of the donated food was kept to feed members of the Welcomed Consensus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two male sources who were associated with the group told KQED that it was common for leaders to probe recruits about their finances and convince students to pay up. In return, they promised to revolutionize their sex life and relationship to women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you couldn’t pay, they would find work for you to do to pay off your debts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I refinished the hardwood floors. We wanted to build a subterranean brewery in the backyard, so we literally dug like 15 feet down,” said Dennis Acosta. “Then we realized we were totally insane and covered it all up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testerman sold freedom from mainstream power dynamics and markets, but, Saha argues, groups like his often recreate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You are not outside of the market logic at all. In fact, it’s a place where the market logic is perfected,” said Saha. “How do you draw someone in? Go out and bring four friends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, Talbott Acosta is spreading a different message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It makes people very uncomfortable. But it is important to talk about,” she said. “It’s the only way to let people know that it exists and that it can happen to anyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'An Impossible Situation': Tensions Rise as Federal Court Weighs Legality of SF Encampment Sweeps",
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"headTitle": "‘An Impossible Situation’: Tensions Rise as Federal Court Weighs Legality of SF Encampment Sweeps | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Protesters and counterprotesters went head-to-head outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday, where a panel of three judges heard arguments over whether to appeal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11950967/advocates-for-unhoused-san-franciscans-say-encampment-sweeps-continue-despite-court-order-call-on-judge-to-rein-city-in\">an injunction that prevents the city from moving unhoused people\u003c/a> under certain circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11926891/unhoused-san-francisco-residents-sue-city-over-displacement-rights-violations\">The legal battle started in September 2022\u003c/a>, when the Coalition on Homelessness sued San Francisco for violating the city’s own ordinances around clearing encampments. Attorneys for the coalition, representing both the ACLU and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, argue that the city has violated federal precedent by not providing appropriate shelter before removing unhoused people, and that it trashed personal belongings during its sweeps.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Zal Shroff, interim legal director for the Lawyers Committee\"]‘They have cited and arrested thousands of unhoused people whose only crime was having nowhere else to go when the city obviously did not have shelter to offer them.’[/pullquote]“They have cited and arrested thousands of unhoused people whose only crime was having nowhere else to go when the city obviously did not have shelter to offer them,” Zal Shroff, interim legal director for the Lawyers Committee, told KQED in an interview before the hearing. “You can still clean the streets, you can enforce your drug laws, you can enforce your accessibility laws, clear all safety hazards, but you can’t keep policing unhoused people from block to block solely for the crime of being too poor to afford a home, when you obviously haven’t given them a place to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions were high outside the packed courthouse, where more than 100 people rallied both for and against the injunction while surrounded by a significant police presence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are compassionate, we are supportive, we continue to help people. But this is not the way,” Mayor London Breed said outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “It is not humane to let people live on our streets in tents, use drugs. We have found dead bodies, we found a dead body in these tents. We have seen people in really awful conditions and we are not standing for it anymore. The goal here is to make sure that the court of appeals understands we want a reversal of this injunction that makes it impossible for us to do our jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958935\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11958935 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Police and protesters with sign stand in front of a San Francisco building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters, counterprotesters, and SFPD are seen at a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. The court is hearing arguments for the city’s appeal of an injunction filed by the Coalition on Homelessness, which has temporarily kept city workers from removing encampments on the streets. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco resident Fred Winograd showed up to the rally to protest the injunction. “It’s unfair to the people on the street and it’s unfair to the city,” Winograd told KQED. “Outside of my door someone can camp and stay there and not be moved because of this injunction. That’s harmful to the residents and businesses of this city, and it’s got to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, like Terri Beswick, came to show their support for the Coalition on Homelessness and its lawsuit. “I love that the court took a stand on this and I hope they stick to it,” Beswick said. “If you want people off the streets, you have to give them somewhere to stay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s hearing laid out initial arguments, but it could be several months before the panel of judges issue their ruling over the injunction, which was first issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Attorney David Chiu formally appealed the injunction in January 2023, with the backing of Mayor Breed, multiple city supervisors and a coalition of residents and business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are trying to address the conditions on the street and this lawsuit makes it harder to do so,” Chiu told KQED. “There are a number of issues with the injunction, which we believe is unnecessarily broad, exceeds legal precedent and has strained our city’s ability to meet practical and legal obligations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plaintiffs maintain that the city can clean its sidewalks and enforce its sit-lie laws so long as shelter is offered and personal belongings are protected. If someone refuses shelter, the plaintiffs said the city could then enforce its laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city is far from meeting the need for temporary shelter beds or permanent supportive housing.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mayor London Breed\"]‘It is not humane to let people live on our streets in tents, use drugs.’[/pullquote]As of Aug. 23, there were \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/services/how-to-get-services/accessing-temporary-shelter/adult-temporary-shelter/shelter-reservation-waitlist/\">448 people\u003c/a> on the waiting list for the city’s recently-opened shelter request system. San Francisco has 7,754 people experiencing homelessness, and at least 4,397 of them living outside as opposed to a shelter, according to the latest citywide count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the city has roughly 3,500 shelter beds in its system. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 2,000 additional beds were brought online through programs like the Shelter-In-Place Hotel program, but that program has since ended.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, Chiu estimated that it could cost $1.45 billion, on top of several years of building and planning, to erect enough shelter for everyone who needs it in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The injunction has put our City in an impossible situation, ignoring the necessary balance between providing compassionate services and shelter to unhoused people and maintaining safe and healthy streets for all,” Chiu said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys representing the city said the injunction was overly broad and left questions as to what options the city has to address street homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In particular, defendants questioned the judges’ definition of “involuntarily homeless,” arguing that the injunction language is not clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The injunction “does not define ‘involuntarily homeless,’ which has created uncertainty about whether the City can enforce laws against those who refuse shelter or have shelter beds but choose to maintain tents on the street,” Chiu said in a press statement ahead of the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is especially problematic as over half of the unhoused individuals approached by City workers reject offers of shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Lee, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said at the hearing that a person could no longer be considered “involuntarily homeless” if they are offered but decline a genuine shelter option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The actual limitation for who the injunction protects is limited to involuntarily homeless individuals,” Lee said. “The city used these laws not in the way that they are intended or in the way that their policy describes they can be used, but used it as a pretext to criminalize homeless individuals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958936\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958936\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"People holding signs stand in front of a grey building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters and counterprotesters gather at a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right after the hearing, Chiu said that his team was “pleasantly surprised to receive this major concession from Plaintiffs during oral argument today,” referring to the clarity over involuntary homelessness. “It never made sense that a person who rejected a shelter offer or had a shelter bed but chose to maintain tents on the street should be considered ‘involuntarily homeless,’” he wrote in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also argued that precedents established in similar cases including \u003ca href=\"https://homelesslaw.org/supreme-court-martin-v-boise/\">Martin v. Boise\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/09/28/20-35752.pdf\">Johnson v. Grants Pass (PDF)\u003c/a> should not apply to San Francisco. In broad terms, those cases found that public agencies can’t enforce public sidewalk sleeping or camping laws if there is no shelter or housing alternative available. The city’s attorney said San Francisco is different because its laws allow for people to sleep outside in certain settings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco has several laws governing and preventing sidewalk camping and sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, voters approved a “sit-lie” law that prohibits sitting or lying on public sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., with certain exceptions. In 2013, the city amended another ordinance to ban sleeping in parks from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If someone is not with their belongings, the city is required to bag and tag items rather than tossing them to the dump during an encampment sweep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958937\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"'More homes less cops' is written in pink chalk\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘More homes less cops’ is written in chalk on the sidewalk during a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Multiple lawsuits were filed earlier this year on behalf of homeless residents who said they lost clothes, cell phones or laptops, sleeping gear, family heirlooms and other important personal items during sweeps. As of February, the city had paid out more than $100,000 in claims to unhoused people in more than 20 different cases, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/02/21/gold-chains-designer-clothes-family-heirlooms-homeless-san-franciscans-sue-the-city-for-thousands-in-lost-property/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> reports\u003c/a>.[aside tag=\"homeless, unhoused\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who spoke at the rally on Wednesday in support of ending the injunction, has proposed legislation, called “A Place for All,” that would dramatically expand the number of temporary shelter beds, including the use of tiny homes and other non-congregate options. But reception to that response has been mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need more shelter, but it needs to be coupled with housing and prevention, otherwise it’s inefficient and we waste city dollars,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness. “Most (permanent) housing options are cheaper than shelter. And it’s not faster to create a shelter program than it would be to expand our section 8 program either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, on Thursday, August 24, the district court will hear a motion to enforce the injunction brought by plaintiffs, alleging the city violated the sweeps ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Billy Cruz contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Protesters and counterprotesters went head-to-head outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday, where a panel of three judges heard arguments over whether to appeal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11950967/advocates-for-unhoused-san-franciscans-say-encampment-sweeps-continue-despite-court-order-call-on-judge-to-rein-city-in\">an injunction that prevents the city from moving unhoused people\u003c/a> under certain circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11926891/unhoused-san-francisco-residents-sue-city-over-displacement-rights-violations\">The legal battle started in September 2022\u003c/a>, when the Coalition on Homelessness sued San Francisco for violating the city’s own ordinances around clearing encampments. Attorneys for the coalition, representing both the ACLU and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, argue that the city has violated federal precedent by not providing appropriate shelter before removing unhoused people, and that it trashed personal belongings during its sweeps.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They have cited and arrested thousands of unhoused people whose only crime was having nowhere else to go when the city obviously did not have shelter to offer them,” Zal Shroff, interim legal director for the Lawyers Committee, told KQED in an interview before the hearing. “You can still clean the streets, you can enforce your drug laws, you can enforce your accessibility laws, clear all safety hazards, but you can’t keep policing unhoused people from block to block solely for the crime of being too poor to afford a home, when you obviously haven’t given them a place to go.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions were high outside the packed courthouse, where more than 100 people rallied both for and against the injunction while surrounded by a significant police presence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are compassionate, we are supportive, we continue to help people. But this is not the way,” Mayor London Breed said outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “It is not humane to let people live on our streets in tents, use drugs. We have found dead bodies, we found a dead body in these tents. We have seen people in really awful conditions and we are not standing for it anymore. The goal here is to make sure that the court of appeals understands we want a reversal of this injunction that makes it impossible for us to do our jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958935\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11958935 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Police and protesters with sign stand in front of a San Francisco building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68263_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-17-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters, counterprotesters, and SFPD are seen at a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. The court is hearing arguments for the city’s appeal of an injunction filed by the Coalition on Homelessness, which has temporarily kept city workers from removing encampments on the streets. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco resident Fred Winograd showed up to the rally to protest the injunction. “It’s unfair to the people on the street and it’s unfair to the city,” Winograd told KQED. “Outside of my door someone can camp and stay there and not be moved because of this injunction. That’s harmful to the residents and businesses of this city, and it’s got to stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Others, like Terri Beswick, came to show their support for the Coalition on Homelessness and its lawsuit. “I love that the court took a stand on this and I hope they stick to it,” Beswick said. “If you want people off the streets, you have to give them somewhere to stay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wednesday’s hearing laid out initial arguments, but it could be several months before the panel of judges issue their ruling over the injunction, which was first issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Attorney David Chiu formally appealed the injunction in January 2023, with the backing of Mayor Breed, multiple city supervisors and a coalition of residents and business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are trying to address the conditions on the street and this lawsuit makes it harder to do so,” Chiu told KQED. “There are a number of issues with the injunction, which we believe is unnecessarily broad, exceeds legal precedent and has strained our city’s ability to meet practical and legal obligations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plaintiffs maintain that the city can clean its sidewalks and enforce its sit-lie laws so long as shelter is offered and personal belongings are protected. If someone refuses shelter, the plaintiffs said the city could then enforce its laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the city is far from meeting the need for temporary shelter beds or permanent supportive housing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It is not humane to let people live on our streets in tents, use drugs.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As of Aug. 23, there were \u003ca href=\"https://hsh.sfgov.org/services/how-to-get-services/accessing-temporary-shelter/adult-temporary-shelter/shelter-reservation-waitlist/\">448 people\u003c/a> on the waiting list for the city’s recently-opened shelter request system. San Francisco has 7,754 people experiencing homelessness, and at least 4,397 of them living outside as opposed to a shelter, according to the latest citywide count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the city has roughly 3,500 shelter beds in its system. (During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 2,000 additional beds were brought online through programs like the Shelter-In-Place Hotel program, but that program has since ended.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email, Chiu estimated that it could cost $1.45 billion, on top of several years of building and planning, to erect enough shelter for everyone who needs it in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The injunction has put our City in an impossible situation, ignoring the necessary balance between providing compassionate services and shelter to unhoused people and maintaining safe and healthy streets for all,” Chiu said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, attorneys representing the city said the injunction was overly broad and left questions as to what options the city has to address street homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In particular, defendants questioned the judges’ definition of “involuntarily homeless,” arguing that the injunction language is not clear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The injunction “does not define ‘involuntarily homeless,’ which has created uncertainty about whether the City can enforce laws against those who refuse shelter or have shelter beds but choose to maintain tents on the street,” Chiu said in a press statement ahead of the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is especially problematic as over half of the unhoused individuals approached by City workers reject offers of shelter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Lee, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said at the hearing that a person could no longer be considered “involuntarily homeless” if they are offered but decline a genuine shelter option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The actual limitation for who the injunction protects is limited to involuntarily homeless individuals,” Lee said. “The city used these laws not in the way that they are intended or in the way that their policy describes they can be used, but used it as a pretext to criminalize homeless individuals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958936\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958936\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"People holding signs stand in front of a grey building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68264_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-24-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters and counterprotesters gather at a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Right after the hearing, Chiu said that his team was “pleasantly surprised to receive this major concession from Plaintiffs during oral argument today,” referring to the clarity over involuntary homelessness. “It never made sense that a person who rejected a shelter offer or had a shelter bed but chose to maintain tents on the street should be considered ‘involuntarily homeless,’” he wrote in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also argued that precedents established in similar cases including \u003ca href=\"https://homelesslaw.org/supreme-court-martin-v-boise/\">Martin v. Boise\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/09/28/20-35752.pdf\">Johnson v. Grants Pass (PDF)\u003c/a> should not apply to San Francisco. In broad terms, those cases found that public agencies can’t enforce public sidewalk sleeping or camping laws if there is no shelter or housing alternative available. The city’s attorney said San Francisco is different because its laws allow for people to sleep outside in certain settings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco has several laws governing and preventing sidewalk camping and sleeping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2010, voters approved a “sit-lie” law that prohibits sitting or lying on public sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., with certain exceptions. In 2013, the city amended another ordinance to ban sleeping in parks from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If someone is not with their belongings, the city is required to bag and tag items rather than tossing them to the dump during an encampment sweep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958937\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958937\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"'More homes less cops' is written in pink chalk\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/RS68271_20230822-HomelessLawsuit-31-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘More homes less cops’ is written in chalk on the sidewalk during a rally in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Multiple lawsuits were filed earlier this year on behalf of homeless residents who said they lost clothes, cell phones or laptops, sleeping gear, family heirlooms and other important personal items during sweeps. As of February, the city had paid out more than $100,000 in claims to unhoused people in more than 20 different cases, the \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2023/02/21/gold-chains-designer-clothes-family-heirlooms-homeless-san-franciscans-sue-the-city-for-thousands-in-lost-property/\">\u003cem>San Francisco Standard\u003c/em> reports\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who spoke at the rally on Wednesday in support of ending the injunction, has proposed legislation, called “A Place for All,” that would dramatically expand the number of temporary shelter beds, including the use of tiny homes and other non-congregate options. But reception to that response has been mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need more shelter, but it needs to be coupled with housing and prevention, otherwise it’s inefficient and we waste city dollars,” said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness. “Most (permanent) housing options are cheaper than shelter. And it’s not faster to create a shelter program than it would be to expand our section 8 program either.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, on Thursday, August 24, the district court will hear a motion to enforce the injunction brought by plaintiffs, alleging the city violated the sweeps ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Billy Cruz contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Boards Want to Keep Pandemic Rules for Public Meetings. Critics Say It's Bad for Democracy",
"headTitle": "California Boards Want to Keep Pandemic Rules for Public Meetings. Critics Say It’s Bad for Democracy | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For a July meeting, the Little Hoover Commission — an independent state oversight agency — posted notice that the public could attend in Sacramento, but also in Traverse City, Mich., or Southampton, N.Y.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why the locations scattered across the country? Because some commissioners were taking part in the \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/report/master-plan-aging-implementation#schedule\">discussion on aging\u003c/a> while on vacation, but California’s open meetings law requires in-person access to members of state bodies during public meetings, wherever they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The odd setup is a reflection of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/end-of-phe.html\">post-pandemic world\u003c/a>: While COVID-19 public health rules have relaxed around in-person gatherings, remote work continues, even in state government. And as of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB189\">July 1\u003c/a>, some of the in-person requirements suspended during the pandemic are back in place — including disclosing remote meeting locations and making them accessible to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB544\">Senate Bill 544\u003c/a>, sponsored by the \u003ca href=\"https://ccoa.ca.gov/docs/Advocary/CCoA%20SB%20544%20Sponsor%20Support%20Letter%203.22.23.pdf\">California Commission on Aging (PDF)\u003c/a>, which seeks to reinstate some of those exemptions until Jan. 1, 2026. The bill — the latest of several in the last few years seeking to ease open meeting rules — passed the Senate in May, and is awaiting an Assembly appropriations committee hearing.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"State Sen. John Laird\"]‘While the executive order was in place during COVID about public meetings, costs went down 90%. Participation went up from vulnerable populations, and people were able to participate remotely in hearings the way they hadn’t before.’[/pullquote]“While the executive order was in place during COVID about public meetings, costs went down 90%. Participation went up from vulnerable populations, and people were able to participate remotely in hearings the way they hadn’t before, and it was trying to continue those benefits,” said state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/john-laird-1950/\">John Laird\u003c/a>, the bill’s author and a Democrat from Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill seeks to remove requirements to post all teleconference locations, post agendas at each location and make those locations accessible to the public. Instead, boards would only be required to post the physical address for one site, and only one board member or staff member would have to be physically present at that site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill’s opponents — a rare coalition of good government, press, taxpayer and industry groups — say Californians should be able to address their government officials in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really believe that having the opportunity to have that face-to- face interaction … is a really core belief for the democratic institutions,” said Laurel Brodzinsky, legislative director for California Common Cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents also raise concerns that state boards could save the controversial topics for remote-only meetings, where the public may have less opportunity to weigh in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see this all the time here [in Sacramento] — there is a huge line of members of the public for controversial bills choosing to participate,” said Brittney Barsotti, general counsel for the California News Publishers Association, which opposes the bill unless it’s amended further. “And while it might be disruptive for those of us that work in the Capitol every day, like, that’s the point, right? It’s the ability to organize and have your voice heard, instead of being in an empty room with one poor staffer and a speaker.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a concession to those concerns, the bill was amended last week to require that a majority of the members of a board be at the same location for at least half of its meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Rarick, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/\">Little Hoover Commission\u003c/a>, said it supports the bill based on its own positive experience with remote meetings, but also on its \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/sites/lhc.ca.gov/files/Reports/261/Report261.pdf\">June 2021 report on online meetings (PDF)\u003c/a>, which showed that more than half of the 46 state boards surveyed reported greater attendance by members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rarick noted that the Bagley-Keene Act — the law that governs open meetings for state boards and commissions — doesn’t require meetings be livestreamed, which would become a mandate under Laird’s bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more important point for our commission was that it can also increase the kind of people who are able to serve, and thus kind of increase the diversity and representation,” Rarick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barsotti doesn’t buy that justification from the state boards: “They’re not simply expanding access for the public virtually. What they’re doing is trading it off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Charting the new normal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, passed in 1967, says: “The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them … The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staying informed means a state body — any multi-member body that is created by statute or required by law to conduct meetings — is required to post public notices about when they’re meeting, prepare agendas and accept public testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But balancing openness with efficiency can be frustrating, according to the state itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/BudLeg/Bagley-Keene%20Open%20Meeting%20Act%20Requirements.pdf\">handbook by the Attorney General’s office (PDF)\u003c/a>, updated in 2004, notes that the “unnatural communication patterns brought about by compliance with its rules” is an intentional choice to ensure the public has a seat at the table. “Simply put, some efficiency is sacrificed for the benefits of greater public participation in government,” the handbook says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Laird said the state learned a lot during the pandemic on ways to increase public participation while protecting people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While it’s very important to have a majority of people there in person, we’ve been given some options that increase participation and protect people,” he told CalMatters on Tuesday. “And we should leverage those into a public process that really allows people to participate and has a majority of people there all the time in person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958885\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958885\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"Wide shot of two screens in the distance with several people in the audience and several people sitting near microphones.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM.jpeg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Air Resources Board meets at the California Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento on June 23, 2022. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, some of the bill’s provisions remain to be worked out, such as no longer requiring disclosure and access to some remote locations, specifically private homes. Supporters argue that change is necessary to protect the privacy and safety of state board members, particularly those in “vulnerable groups” who may be targeted for “harm or harassment,” according to the bill analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brodzinsky of California Common Cause said she understands the privacy concerns, but aside from emergencies or health issues, doesn’t think it’s appropriate for members who choose to serve on boards and are accountable to the public to participate in meetings from home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks have gotten a little bit too comfortable with that, and saying, ‘Oh, this is really convenient, this is easy,’ and are losing the benefits to the public of being able to meet in person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Common Cause, as well as the California Newspaper Publishers Association, also raised concerns that current language only requires an audio option, and not video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the expected opponents who are raising concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a July opposition letter, the Glass Packaging Institute, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, the American Chemistry Council, the California Association of Winegrape Growers and the American Composites Manufacturers Association wrote that remote participation eliminates eye contact, discourages debate, and stifles pre- and post-meeting discussions.[aside tag=\"politics, state-legislature\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]“The elected and appointed members of government boards and commissions are making consequential decisions that quite literally affect the life, liberty, and property of business and individuals,” the groups wrote. “Those decisions should be made face-to-face, in full view of the public, media, and affected parties. It simply is not enough to sit in front of a computer screen at home or other undisclosed remote location while making such important decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laird said he heard the concerns from last week’s hearing “loudly and clearly,” and is considering amendments, such as on-camera participation and quorum requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe this bill is a work in progress still,” he said. “We’re talking to all the stakeholders to decide what precisely those amendments will look like, but they will move the bill toward where the concerns for that are expressed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn Sept. 14, the senator still hopes to get it passed this session due to what he calls the ongoing need to allow people with disabilities or those with trouble traveling to serve on commissions or boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are still in the middle of COVID. And so I think that we still have to figure out a way that people that are compromised have a way to participate, and that is something that can’t be put off ’til next year,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A concerning trend?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Common Cause says its concern isn’t just with this bill, but with a “dangerous trend” of legislation the last two years that seeks to roll back public access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1733\">similar bill\u003c/a> by former Assemblymember Bill Quirk that would have allowed meetings to be held entirely by teleconference died in committee. But \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2449\">Assembly Bill 2449\u003c/a> passed, extending until 2026 pandemic-era exemptions to teleconferencing rules for local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, at least seven bills have been proposed that would expand the use of teleconferencing for public meetings, three of which have moved forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not just public meetings. Several pandemic-era practices are being carried over by state agencies and the Legislature that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/04/public-information-california-press/\">limit opportunities for the press\u003c/a> to ask questions, such as fewer press conferences, written statements instead of interviews, or the shutdown of media phone lines where journalists could talk to a live staffer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of these bills are trying to present themselves as narrowly tailored and for really specific solutions,” Brodzinsky said. “But when you start looking at it as a trend comprehensively, it’s really concerning that this is going to be kind of the camel’s nose under the tent, to just rolling back all of these long-standing democracy protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters newsletter writer \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/lynn-la/\">Lynn La\u003c/a> contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "State boards are backing a bill to continue carve-outs from California’s open meetings law. An unusual coalition of good government, press, taxpayer and industry groups is fighting back.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For a July meeting, the Little Hoover Commission — an independent state oversight agency — posted notice that the public could attend in Sacramento, but also in Traverse City, Mich., or Southampton, N.Y.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why the locations scattered across the country? Because some commissioners were taking part in the \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/report/master-plan-aging-implementation#schedule\">discussion on aging\u003c/a> while on vacation, but California’s open meetings law requires in-person access to members of state bodies during public meetings, wherever they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The odd setup is a reflection of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/end-of-phe.html\">post-pandemic world\u003c/a>: While COVID-19 public health rules have relaxed around in-person gatherings, remote work continues, even in state government. And as of \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB189\">July 1\u003c/a>, some of the in-person requirements suspended during the pandemic are back in place — including disclosing remote meeting locations and making them accessible to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB544\">Senate Bill 544\u003c/a>, sponsored by the \u003ca href=\"https://ccoa.ca.gov/docs/Advocary/CCoA%20SB%20544%20Sponsor%20Support%20Letter%203.22.23.pdf\">California Commission on Aging (PDF)\u003c/a>, which seeks to reinstate some of those exemptions until Jan. 1, 2026. The bill — the latest of several in the last few years seeking to ease open meeting rules — passed the Senate in May, and is awaiting an Assembly appropriations committee hearing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘While the executive order was in place during COVID about public meetings, costs went down 90%. Participation went up from vulnerable populations, and people were able to participate remotely in hearings the way they hadn’t before.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“While the executive order was in place during COVID about public meetings, costs went down 90%. Participation went up from vulnerable populations, and people were able to participate remotely in hearings the way they hadn’t before, and it was trying to continue those benefits,” said state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/john-laird-1950/\">John Laird\u003c/a>, the bill’s author and a Democrat from Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill seeks to remove requirements to post all teleconference locations, post agendas at each location and make those locations accessible to the public. Instead, boards would only be required to post the physical address for one site, and only one board member or staff member would have to be physically present at that site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bill’s opponents — a rare coalition of good government, press, taxpayer and industry groups — say Californians should be able to address their government officials in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really believe that having the opportunity to have that face-to- face interaction … is a really core belief for the democratic institutions,” said Laurel Brodzinsky, legislative director for California Common Cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents also raise concerns that state boards could save the controversial topics for remote-only meetings, where the public may have less opportunity to weigh in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see this all the time here [in Sacramento] — there is a huge line of members of the public for controversial bills choosing to participate,” said Brittney Barsotti, general counsel for the California News Publishers Association, which opposes the bill unless it’s amended further. “And while it might be disruptive for those of us that work in the Capitol every day, like, that’s the point, right? It’s the ability to organize and have your voice heard, instead of being in an empty room with one poor staffer and a speaker.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a concession to those concerns, the bill was amended last week to require that a majority of the members of a board be at the same location for at least half of its meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Rarick, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/\">Little Hoover Commission\u003c/a>, said it supports the bill based on its own positive experience with remote meetings, but also on its \u003ca href=\"https://lhc.ca.gov/sites/lhc.ca.gov/files/Reports/261/Report261.pdf\">June 2021 report on online meetings (PDF)\u003c/a>, which showed that more than half of the 46 state boards surveyed reported greater attendance by members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rarick noted that the Bagley-Keene Act — the law that governs open meetings for state boards and commissions — doesn’t require meetings be livestreamed, which would become a mandate under Laird’s bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more important point for our commission was that it can also increase the kind of people who are able to serve, and thus kind of increase the diversity and representation,” Rarick said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barsotti doesn’t buy that justification from the state boards: “They’re not simply expanding access for the public virtually. What they’re doing is trading it off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Charting the new normal\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, passed in 1967, says: “The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them … The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Staying informed means a state body — any multi-member body that is created by statute or required by law to conduct meetings — is required to post public notices about when they’re meeting, prepare agendas and accept public testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But balancing openness with efficiency can be frustrating, according to the state itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/BudLeg/Bagley-Keene%20Open%20Meeting%20Act%20Requirements.pdf\">handbook by the Attorney General’s office (PDF)\u003c/a>, updated in 2004, notes that the “unnatural communication patterns brought about by compliance with its rules” is an intentional choice to ensure the public has a seat at the table. “Simply put, some efficiency is sacrificed for the benefits of greater public participation in government,” the handbook says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Laird said the state learned a lot during the pandemic on ways to increase public participation while protecting people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While it’s very important to have a majority of people there in person, we’ve been given some options that increase participation and protect people,” he told CalMatters on Tuesday. “And we should leverage those into a public process that really allows people to participate and has a majority of people there all the time in person.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958885\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958885\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"Wide shot of two screens in the distance with several people in the audience and several people sitting near microphones.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/062322-CARB-MEETING-RL-CM.jpeg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The California Air Resources Board meets at the California Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento on June 23, 2022. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, some of the bill’s provisions remain to be worked out, such as no longer requiring disclosure and access to some remote locations, specifically private homes. Supporters argue that change is necessary to protect the privacy and safety of state board members, particularly those in “vulnerable groups” who may be targeted for “harm or harassment,” according to the bill analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brodzinsky of California Common Cause said she understands the privacy concerns, but aside from emergencies or health issues, doesn’t think it’s appropriate for members who choose to serve on boards and are accountable to the public to participate in meetings from home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks have gotten a little bit too comfortable with that, and saying, ‘Oh, this is really convenient, this is easy,’ and are losing the benefits to the public of being able to meet in person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Common Cause, as well as the California Newspaper Publishers Association, also raised concerns that current language only requires an audio option, and not video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the expected opponents who are raising concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a July opposition letter, the Glass Packaging Institute, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, the American Chemistry Council, the California Association of Winegrape Growers and the American Composites Manufacturers Association wrote that remote participation eliminates eye contact, discourages debate, and stifles pre- and post-meeting discussions.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The elected and appointed members of government boards and commissions are making consequential decisions that quite literally affect the life, liberty, and property of business and individuals,” the groups wrote. “Those decisions should be made face-to-face, in full view of the public, media, and affected parties. It simply is not enough to sit in front of a computer screen at home or other undisclosed remote location while making such important decisions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laird said he heard the concerns from last week’s hearing “loudly and clearly,” and is considering amendments, such as on-camera participation and quorum requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe this bill is a work in progress still,” he said. “We’re talking to all the stakeholders to decide what precisely those amendments will look like, but they will move the bill toward where the concerns for that are expressed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn Sept. 14, the senator still hopes to get it passed this session due to what he calls the ongoing need to allow people with disabilities or those with trouble traveling to serve on commissions or boards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are still in the middle of COVID. And so I think that we still have to figure out a way that people that are compromised have a way to participate, and that is something that can’t be put off ’til next year,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A concerning trend?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Common Cause says its concern isn’t just with this bill, but with a “dangerous trend” of legislation the last two years that seeks to roll back public access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1733\">similar bill\u003c/a> by former Assemblymember Bill Quirk that would have allowed meetings to be held entirely by teleconference died in committee. But \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2449\">Assembly Bill 2449\u003c/a> passed, extending until 2026 pandemic-era exemptions to teleconferencing rules for local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, at least seven bills have been proposed that would expand the use of teleconferencing for public meetings, three of which have moved forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not just public meetings. Several pandemic-era practices are being carried over by state agencies and the Legislature that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/04/public-information-california-press/\">limit opportunities for the press\u003c/a> to ask questions, such as fewer press conferences, written statements instead of interviews, or the shutdown of media phone lines where journalists could talk to a live staffer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of these bills are trying to present themselves as narrowly tailored and for really specific solutions,” Brodzinsky said. “But when you start looking at it as a trend comprehensively, it’s really concerning that this is going to be kind of the camel’s nose under the tent, to just rolling back all of these long-standing democracy protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters newsletter writer \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/lynn-la/\">Lynn La\u003c/a> contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "guide-unsafe-working-conditions-employer-retaliation-and-worker-protections",
"title": "California Farmworkers Guide to Unsafe Working Conditions and Worker Protections",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960536/trabaja-en-los-campos-de-california-que-hacer-si-sufre-represalias\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-one immigrant farmworkers will collectively receive $328,077 from their former employer, Mauritson Farms, a Sonoma County vineyard company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">after the grower reached a settlement with state labor regulators\u003c/a> earlier this summer. Officials with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) announced in July that their investigation determined Mauritson Farms retaliated against the workers — who were in the U.S. on H-2A visas — after they spoke up about unsafe conditions in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such incidents of employer retaliation against workers who speak up are unfortunately not rare. In the agriculture industry, many workers get punished by their boss — or the person that connected them to employment — after they request a better or safer workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to specific advice: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#unsafe\">What’s considered ‘unsafe working conditions’ for farmworkers?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#retaliation\">What is retaliation by an employer?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#undocumented\">Do these protections still apply for undocumented employees?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#enforce\">Which agencies enforce labor rules in California?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#speakingup\">I believe my employer retaliated against me for speaking up about conditions at work. What should I do?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#options\">I am nervous about my immigration situation if I report what happened at work. What are my options?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In California, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against their employee, regardless of their immigration or documentation status. But that still doesn’t prevent some growers from punishing workers that speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why we have created this guide to inform farmworkers about their rights and protections. When you work in the fields, even if you are in the United States without documentation, your employer needs to respect your rights — and this is how they can be held accountable if they don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"unsafe\">\u003c/a>What’s considered unsafe working conditions for farmworkers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/ag-field-operations.pdf\">a complex set of rules for what a safe working environment is in the agriculture industry (PDF)\u003c/a>, which cover things like worker safety during wildfires, handling farm machinery, and even in the case of dairies and grain facilities, how to prevent accidents in confined spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11886628/feeling-the-heat-how-workers-can-advocate-for-safer-working-conditions-under-the-sun\">how hot it is\u003c/a>, employers must always provide farmworkers with enough drinking water near their stations. Each employee should have access to at least one quart of water every hour. And even if folks bring their own water bottles, employers must still have enough water available on site.[aside postID=news_11886628]When temperatures rise above 80 degrees, employers must also provide an area with enough shade to accommodate every worker on-site. On days hotter than 95 degrees, supervisors must check in with laborers consistently throughout the day and ensure workers take breaks that are at least 10 minutes long every 2 hours to prevent overheating. Just “offering” these breaks is not sufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These heat-safety rules apply to workers in all industries, not just the agricultural sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"retaliation\">\u003c/a>What is retaliation by an employer?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In California, retaliation means when an employer fires, punishes or cuts the wages or hours of a worker because that individual sought to improve their working conditions. This includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">cases of growers refusing to rehire seasonal workers for the next harvest after they have spoken up\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asking your boss to improve working conditions doesn’t have to be something big like organizing a strike or a march. It can also include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Asking for more water and shade to be provided on very hot days.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Asking for equipment necessary to keep you safe when working in the fields.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pointing out that some of your wages are missing.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If there is a law concerning your safety, your labor rights or your wages that your employer is not following, you should be able to talk about it with your boss freely and safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"undocumented\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Do these protections still apply for undocumented employees?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes. California’s safety rules benefit all workers, regardless of their immigration status. Your employer cannot use your immigration status as a reason to exclude you from safety protections.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jessica Arciniega, regional director, ALRB\"]‘Immigration status, if that’s an issue, is not anything that our office asks folks about.’[/pullquote]Additionally, undocumented workers can still seek help from state agencies that enforce labor protections — that is, being undocumented doesn’t disqualify them from seeking (and getting) this help from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immigration status, if that’s an issue, is not anything that our office asks folks about,” confirmed Jessica Arciniega, regional director of the ALRB, which investigates possible workplace abuses in the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"withoutcontract\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Do these protections still apply for those working without a formal contract?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re working for an individual or a business without a formal job contract, labor rights experts say that these protections still apply to you — as long as it can be proven that you, as a worker, have provided labor in exchange for payment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, that proof could include written communication between a worker and an employer — like an email, or a text message — that confirms that an exchange of services for payment took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"enforce\">\u003c/a>Which agencies enforce labor rules in California?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are three state agencies that investigate labor violations and have the authority to penalize bad employers. All three agencies can investigate cases in the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Agricultural Labor Relations Board\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ALRB was created in 1975 after then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975. This legislation also defines what an unfair labor practice is: actions taken by an employer that violate the rights of farmworkers, which includes retaliation — firing or cutting the wages of employees who ask for better working conditions. \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#speakingup\">Jump straight to what you can do if you believe your employer has retaliated against you.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage anybody that’s considering whether or not their rights were violated to call our office,” said the ALRB’s Arciniega. “Not only is our staff bilingual, but they’re culturally competent. Many of them, their families or past generations have worked in agriculture or are farmworkers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can contact the ALRB directly by calling 1-800-449-3699 or \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">reach out to its regional offices located in Santa Rosa, Salinas, Visalia, Oxnard and Indio\u003c/a>. Bay Area workers should contact the Santa Rosa office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ALRB official can talk to you more about workplace safety rules and your rights as a worker specific to your situation. Additionally, they can explain how you can file an unfair labor practice charge against your employer which could set off a formal investigation of your employer by the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California Division of Occupational Safety and Health\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA creates and enforces the state’s rules on workplace safety, making sure that employees are not exposed to dangerous chemicals or placed in risky situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your boss is making you or your colleagues do something you are not sure is safe, you can check in with the agency by calling (833) 579-0927.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Labor Commissioner’s Office\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office — which is also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) — is the part of California’s Department of Industrial Relations that looks into wage theft and retaliation by employers against workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think your boss is not paying you correctly for the hours you work or refuses to pay you for overtime, this is the agency you should contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"speakingup\">\u003c/a>I believe my employer retaliated against me for speaking up about conditions at work. What should I do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pause while you document everything.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you just lost your job or wages, and you think it’s because of retaliation, first take some time to process the situation, and collect your thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d recommend folks to write down everything they remember that led up to this, because with the strong feelings you have at the moment, it is easy to forget important details,” said Ana Salgado, former farmworker and board member of North Bay Jobs With Justice (NBJWJ), a labor rights group that assisted the former employees of Mauritson Farms in their case with the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Believe in yourself and in what you know happened to you,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Collect past evidence\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you’re jotting down your experiences, also look for written messages between you and your employer where you describe conditions at work and your supervisor’s response. This could be letters, emails or even screenshots of a text message conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other important pieces of information to look for are your pay stubs that show a cut in wages or hours after you spoke, or photos of conditions in the fields, your workstation or housing, if it’s employer-provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca id=\"laborrightsgroups\">\u003c/a>Seek help from the professionals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Salgado also recommends looking for the help of a labor rights organization in your area. Advocates can help you create a timeline of what happened, help you contact your employer if you want to try resolving the situation directly, or even prepare you for talking to state officials if you choose to take that step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on their resources, like staff numbers, some groups can provide more help than others. So if you think you may need extra guidance and support, consider reaching out to more than one organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some organizations in the Bay Area that can connect farmworkers with help:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>California Rural Legal Assistance: (800) 337-0690\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Legal Aid at Work: (415) 864-8208\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>North Bay Organizing Project: (707) 843-7858\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus: (415) 896-1701\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Centro Legal de la Raza (Oakland): (510) 437-1554\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>La Raza Centro Legal (San Francisco): (415) 575-3500\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"fileclaim\">\u003c/a>I want to file a claim so officials can investigate my situation. What’s next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you are ready to report what happened, the ALRB will be the agency you contact. You will need a \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/196/2018/05/alrb_form38_en.pdf\">Charge Against Employer form (PDF)\u003c/a>, which you need to print out, complete and either email or mail to your \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">nearest ALRB field office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Bay Area residents, that’s the Santa Rosa office:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Phone: (707) 527-3256\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Email: Contact regional director Jessica Arciniega at \u003ca href=\"Jessica.Arciniega@alrb.ca.gov\">Jessica.Arciniega@alrb.ca.gov\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Mail: 606 Healdsburg Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95401\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you need to complete the form in another language that is not English, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">reach out to your nearest field office directly\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind that the ALRB requires at least two workers to come together to file a charge. If you are nervous about this step, a workers’ rights group can file a charge on your behalf — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">which is what happened in the Mauritson Farms case\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why you should file a charge as soon as possible (even if you’re anxious)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates recommend employees report what happened to them as soon as they can. This gives state officials more time to talk to laborers and investigate what happened in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timing becomes even more important when farmworkers are in the country on a temporary work permit, like the H-2A visa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is completely understandable if you are feeling very nervous about filing a report — especially if you are afraid your employer or the person that got you the job is threatening you with further retaliation. But keep in mind that there is a time limit to report an incident with the state. You only have six months from the moment you experienced retaliation (when your hours were cut, or you were fired or knew you would not be rehired) to file a charge with the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the six-month mark, officials cannot launch an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if your boss — or the individual that connected you with employment, like a job recruiter — continues to threaten you with further retaliation if you talk to the state?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, it could be a good idea to seek help from a labor rights group to protect yourself. \u003ca href=\"#laborrightsgroups\">See a list of labor rights groups you can contact.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Once I file a charge with the ALRB, what happens?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The agency assesses your case.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials will first decide if your situation meets the requirements to begin an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some examples of when the ALRB wouldn’t be able to take your case: if you were fired — two years ago — and you think your boss did that to retaliate against you, that exceeds the ALRB’s six-month time limit and the agency cannot launch an investigation. Or if the incident took place in a farm in another state, that is also out of the ALRB’s jurisdiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An investigation begins, and your employer is notified.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the agency is able to take the case, ALRB officials will confirm that with you. They will then notify your employer about the charge, and that an investigation will begin, says ALRB General Counsel Julia Montgomery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A team of lawyers and investigators will take on the investigation, which can include the workers involved in the investigation, other employees, supervisors and anyone else that could have relevant information,” said Montgomery. Investigators can also request documents and other written records from both employers and workers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This step can take months, or even years. If you are no longer in the U.S. during the investigation because of your immigration situation, the ALRB will still look to contact you. In past cases, agency officials have sought out farmworkers even when they have traveled back to remote rural communities in their countries of origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A decision is made about the charge.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the investigation, officials will determine if there is enough evidence to confirm if retaliation or another unfair labor practice took place. If there is not enough evidence, the charge is dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the evidence is sufficient, however, the ALRB regional director will present a formal complaint against the employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, hold on, that doesn’t mean you have won your case yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the ALRB brings a case against an employer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A date for a hearing will be set and an administrative judge will decide whether the employer did in fact break the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides will have an opportunity to defend their case: your employer and their legal representatives, and the ALRB which will argue that you experienced retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the judge decides in favor of the ALRB and the employees involved, workers can receive compensation to make up for lost wages and potentially even be re-employed if they lost their jobs. ALRB officials will travel to the farm and inform other employees of the case. Additionally, employers could face heavy fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At any step of the process, the ALRB can strike a settlement agreement with the employer. A settlement can also include compensation for the affected workers or even employment offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"options\">\u003c/a>I am nervous about my immigration situation if I report what happened at work. What are my options?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On July 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956315/some-migrant-farmworkers-to-get-free-legal-help-with-immigration\">$4.5 million pilot program to provide free immigration legal services to farmworkers who are involved in state labor investigations\u003c/a>. This would include case-review services, legal advice and representation by an attorney to laborers in California who have a pending case with either the ALRB, the Labor Commissioner’s Office or Cal/OSHA.[aside postID=news_11956315]The goal of this program, officials say, is to address one of the fears that prevents employees from speaking up — the fear of losing their visa or not being rehired — by connecting them to immigration experts who could help them find ways to stay in this country. And earlier this year, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940316/fear-of-deportation-keeps-some-workers-from-reporting-labor-abuses-a-new-biden-program-aims-to-change-that\">Biden administration unveiled a new, streamlined “deferred action” initiative\u003c/a> that allows workers to apply for a work permit and two years of protection from deportation, if they are cooperating with a labor rights investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To learn more about the pilot program and whether your case could qualify for free legal services from the state, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">talk to your ALRB field office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In California, it's illegal for an employer to retaliate against workers, regardless of immigration or documentation status. Still, some employers punish workers for speaking up. Here's what you can do.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11960536/trabaja-en-los-campos-de-california-que-hacer-si-sufre-represalias\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twenty-one immigrant farmworkers will collectively receive $328,077 from their former employer, Mauritson Farms, a Sonoma County vineyard company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">after the grower reached a settlement with state labor regulators\u003c/a> earlier this summer. Officials with the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) announced in July that their investigation determined Mauritson Farms retaliated against the workers — who were in the U.S. on H-2A visas — after they spoke up about unsafe conditions in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such incidents of employer retaliation against workers who speak up are unfortunately not rare. In the agriculture industry, many workers get punished by their boss — or the person that connected them to employment — after they request a better or safer workplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to specific advice: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#unsafe\">What’s considered ‘unsafe working conditions’ for farmworkers?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#retaliation\">What is retaliation by an employer?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#undocumented\">Do these protections still apply for undocumented employees?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#enforce\">Which agencies enforce labor rules in California?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#speakingup\">I believe my employer retaliated against me for speaking up about conditions at work. What should I do?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#options\">I am nervous about my immigration situation if I report what happened at work. What are my options?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>In California, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against their employee, regardless of their immigration or documentation status. But that still doesn’t prevent some growers from punishing workers that speak up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why we have created this guide to inform farmworkers about their rights and protections. When you work in the fields, even if you are in the United States without documentation, your employer needs to respect your rights — and this is how they can be held accountable if they don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"unsafe\">\u003c/a>What’s considered unsafe working conditions for farmworkers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/ag-field-operations.pdf\">a complex set of rules for what a safe working environment is in the agriculture industry (PDF)\u003c/a>, which cover things like worker safety during wildfires, handling farm machinery, and even in the case of dairies and grain facilities, how to prevent accidents in confined spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11886628/feeling-the-heat-how-workers-can-advocate-for-safer-working-conditions-under-the-sun\">how hot it is\u003c/a>, employers must always provide farmworkers with enough drinking water near their stations. Each employee should have access to at least one quart of water every hour. And even if folks bring their own water bottles, employers must still have enough water available on site.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When temperatures rise above 80 degrees, employers must also provide an area with enough shade to accommodate every worker on-site. On days hotter than 95 degrees, supervisors must check in with laborers consistently throughout the day and ensure workers take breaks that are at least 10 minutes long every 2 hours to prevent overheating. Just “offering” these breaks is not sufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These heat-safety rules apply to workers in all industries, not just the agricultural sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"retaliation\">\u003c/a>What is retaliation by an employer?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In California, retaliation means when an employer fires, punishes or cuts the wages or hours of a worker because that individual sought to improve their working conditions. This includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">cases of growers refusing to rehire seasonal workers for the next harvest after they have spoken up\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asking your boss to improve working conditions doesn’t have to be something big like organizing a strike or a march. It can also include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Asking for more water and shade to be provided on very hot days.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Asking for equipment necessary to keep you safe when working in the fields.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pointing out that some of your wages are missing.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If there is a law concerning your safety, your labor rights or your wages that your employer is not following, you should be able to talk about it with your boss freely and safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"undocumented\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Do these protections still apply for undocumented employees?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes. California’s safety rules benefit all workers, regardless of their immigration status. Your employer cannot use your immigration status as a reason to exclude you from safety protections.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Immigration status, if that’s an issue, is not anything that our office asks folks about.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Additionally, undocumented workers can still seek help from state agencies that enforce labor protections — that is, being undocumented doesn’t disqualify them from seeking (and getting) this help from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immigration status, if that’s an issue, is not anything that our office asks folks about,” confirmed Jessica Arciniega, regional director of the ALRB, which investigates possible workplace abuses in the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"withoutcontract\">\u003c/a>\u003cstrong>Do these protections still apply for those working without a formal contract?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re working for an individual or a business without a formal job contract, labor rights experts say that these protections still apply to you — as long as it can be proven that you, as a worker, have provided labor in exchange for payment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, that proof could include written communication between a worker and an employer — like an email, or a text message — that confirms that an exchange of services for payment took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"enforce\">\u003c/a>Which agencies enforce labor rules in California?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There are three state agencies that investigate labor violations and have the authority to penalize bad employers. All three agencies can investigate cases in the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Agricultural Labor Relations Board\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ALRB was created in 1975 after then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975. This legislation also defines what an unfair labor practice is: actions taken by an employer that violate the rights of farmworkers, which includes retaliation — firing or cutting the wages of employees who ask for better working conditions. \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#speakingup\">Jump straight to what you can do if you believe your employer has retaliated against you.\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage anybody that’s considering whether or not their rights were violated to call our office,” said the ALRB’s Arciniega. “Not only is our staff bilingual, but they’re culturally competent. Many of them, their families or past generations have worked in agriculture or are farmworkers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can contact the ALRB directly by calling 1-800-449-3699 or \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">reach out to its regional offices located in Santa Rosa, Salinas, Visalia, Oxnard and Indio\u003c/a>. Bay Area workers should contact the Santa Rosa office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An ALRB official can talk to you more about workplace safety rules and your rights as a worker specific to your situation. Additionally, they can explain how you can file an unfair labor practice charge against your employer which could set off a formal investigation of your employer by the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>California Division of Occupational Safety and Health\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal/OSHA creates and enforces the state’s rules on workplace safety, making sure that employees are not exposed to dangerous chemicals or placed in risky situations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your boss is making you or your colleagues do something you are not sure is safe, you can check in with the agency by calling (833) 579-0927.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Labor Commissioner’s Office\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office — which is also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) — is the part of California’s Department of Industrial Relations that looks into wage theft and retaliation by employers against workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think your boss is not paying you correctly for the hours you work or refuses to pay you for overtime, this is the agency you should contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"speakingup\">\u003c/a>I believe my employer retaliated against me for speaking up about conditions at work. What should I do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pause while you document everything.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you just lost your job or wages, and you think it’s because of retaliation, first take some time to process the situation, and collect your thoughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d recommend folks to write down everything they remember that led up to this, because with the strong feelings you have at the moment, it is easy to forget important details,” said Ana Salgado, former farmworker and board member of North Bay Jobs With Justice (NBJWJ), a labor rights group that assisted the former employees of Mauritson Farms in their case with the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Believe in yourself and in what you know happened to you,” she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Collect past evidence\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As you’re jotting down your experiences, also look for written messages between you and your employer where you describe conditions at work and your supervisor’s response. This could be letters, emails or even screenshots of a text message conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other important pieces of information to look for are your pay stubs that show a cut in wages or hours after you spoke, or photos of conditions in the fields, your workstation or housing, if it’s employer-provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ca id=\"laborrightsgroups\">\u003c/a>Seek help from the professionals\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Salgado also recommends looking for the help of a labor rights organization in your area. Advocates can help you create a timeline of what happened, help you contact your employer if you want to try resolving the situation directly, or even prepare you for talking to state officials if you choose to take that step.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on their resources, like staff numbers, some groups can provide more help than others. So if you think you may need extra guidance and support, consider reaching out to more than one organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some organizations in the Bay Area that can connect farmworkers with help:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>California Rural Legal Assistance: (800) 337-0690\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Legal Aid at Work: (415) 864-8208\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>North Bay Organizing Project: (707) 843-7858\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus: (415) 896-1701\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Centro Legal de la Raza (Oakland): (510) 437-1554\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>La Raza Centro Legal (San Francisco): (415) 575-3500\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"fileclaim\">\u003c/a>I want to file a claim so officials can investigate my situation. What’s next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you are ready to report what happened, the ALRB will be the agency you contact. You will need a \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/196/2018/05/alrb_form38_en.pdf\">Charge Against Employer form (PDF)\u003c/a>, which you need to print out, complete and either email or mail to your \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">nearest ALRB field office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Bay Area residents, that’s the Santa Rosa office:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Phone: (707) 527-3256\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Email: Contact regional director Jessica Arciniega at \u003ca href=\"Jessica.Arciniega@alrb.ca.gov\">Jessica.Arciniega@alrb.ca.gov\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Mail: 606 Healdsburg Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95401\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>If you need to complete the form in another language that is not English, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">reach out to your nearest field office directly\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind that the ALRB requires at least two workers to come together to file a charge. If you are nervous about this step, a workers’ rights group can file a charge on your behalf — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won\">which is what happened in the Mauritson Farms case\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why you should file a charge as soon as possible (even if you’re anxious)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Labor advocates recommend employees report what happened to them as soon as they can. This gives state officials more time to talk to laborers and investigate what happened in the fields.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timing becomes even more important when farmworkers are in the country on a temporary work permit, like the H-2A visa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is completely understandable if you are feeling very nervous about filing a report — especially if you are afraid your employer or the person that got you the job is threatening you with further retaliation. But keep in mind that there is a time limit to report an incident with the state. You only have six months from the moment you experienced retaliation (when your hours were cut, or you were fired or knew you would not be rehired) to file a charge with the ALRB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the six-month mark, officials cannot launch an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if your boss — or the individual that connected you with employment, like a job recruiter — continues to threaten you with further retaliation if you talk to the state?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, it could be a good idea to seek help from a labor rights group to protect yourself. \u003ca href=\"#laborrightsgroups\">See a list of labor rights groups you can contact.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Once I file a charge with the ALRB, what happens?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The agency assesses your case.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials will first decide if your situation meets the requirements to begin an investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some examples of when the ALRB wouldn’t be able to take your case: if you were fired — two years ago — and you think your boss did that to retaliate against you, that exceeds the ALRB’s six-month time limit and the agency cannot launch an investigation. Or if the incident took place in a farm in another state, that is also out of the ALRB’s jurisdiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>An investigation begins, and your employer is notified.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the agency is able to take the case, ALRB officials will confirm that with you. They will then notify your employer about the charge, and that an investigation will begin, says ALRB General Counsel Julia Montgomery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A team of lawyers and investigators will take on the investigation, which can include the workers involved in the investigation, other employees, supervisors and anyone else that could have relevant information,” said Montgomery. Investigators can also request documents and other written records from both employers and workers, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This step can take months, or even years. If you are no longer in the U.S. during the investigation because of your immigration situation, the ALRB will still look to contact you. In past cases, agency officials have sought out farmworkers even when they have traveled back to remote rural communities in their countries of origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A decision is made about the charge.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the investigation, officials will determine if there is enough evidence to confirm if retaliation or another unfair labor practice took place. If there is not enough evidence, the charge is dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the evidence is sufficient, however, the ALRB regional director will present a formal complaint against the employer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, hold on, that doesn’t mean you have won your case yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the ALRB brings a case against an employer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A date for a hearing will be set and an administrative judge will decide whether the employer did in fact break the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides will have an opportunity to defend their case: your employer and their legal representatives, and the ALRB which will argue that you experienced retaliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the judge decides in favor of the ALRB and the employees involved, workers can receive compensation to make up for lost wages and potentially even be re-employed if they lost their jobs. ALRB officials will travel to the farm and inform other employees of the case. Additionally, employers could face heavy fines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At any step of the process, the ALRB can strike a settlement agreement with the employer. A settlement can also include compensation for the affected workers or even employment offers.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"options\">\u003c/a>I am nervous about my immigration situation if I report what happened at work. What are my options?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On July 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956315/some-migrant-farmworkers-to-get-free-legal-help-with-immigration\">$4.5 million pilot program to provide free immigration legal services to farmworkers who are involved in state labor investigations\u003c/a>. This would include case-review services, legal advice and representation by an attorney to laborers in California who have a pending case with either the ALRB, the Labor Commissioner’s Office or Cal/OSHA.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The goal of this program, officials say, is to address one of the fears that prevents employees from speaking up — the fear of losing their visa or not being rehired — by connecting them to immigration experts who could help them find ways to stay in this country. And earlier this year, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940316/fear-of-deportation-keeps-some-workers-from-reporting-labor-abuses-a-new-biden-program-aims-to-change-that\">Biden administration unveiled a new, streamlined “deferred action” initiative\u003c/a> that allows workers to apply for a work permit and two years of protection from deportation, if they are cooperating with a labor rights investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To learn more about the pilot program and whether your case could qualify for free legal services from the state, \u003ca href=\"https://www.alrb.ca.gov/contact-us/\">talk to your ALRB field office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal actions against the Archdiocese and thus allow it to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually, and therefore, after much consideration, concluded that the bankruptcy process was the best solution for providing fair and equitable compensation to the innocent survivors who have been harmed,” Cordileone said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Individual parishes will continue to offer Mass and other religious services to the faithful, Cordileone added. “Our parishes, schools, and other entities are not included in the filing,” he wrote. “Catholic Charities, Catholic cemeteries, and St. Patrick’s Seminary & University will continue their operations as usual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is the third Bay Area diocese to file for bankruptcy after facing hundreds of lawsuits brought under a California law approved in 2019 that allowed decades-old claims to be filed by Dec. 31, 2022. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy in May. And the Diocese of Santa Rosa became the first one in California to file for Chapter 11 protection, in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overwhelming majority of the more than 500 claims stem from allegations of sexual abuse that occurred 30 or more years ago involving priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased, said Cordileone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors of clergy sex abuse criticized the bankruptcy filing, calling it a ploy to keep information hidden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cordileone will use every tactic and tool at his disposal to continue to run from the truth. He refuses to identify offenders in his diocese, he attempts legal maneuvers to eliminate the California Child Victims Act, and now he is attempting a last-ditch effort to hide the truth behind bankruptcy,” Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing over 125 plaintiffs who allege they were sexually abused by clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958737\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large cathedral with a brutalist and modernist design of exposed concrete.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption ahead of Easter Mass in San Francisco on Sunday, April 4, 2021. \u003ccite>(Stephen Lam/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Archdiocese of San Francisco is the only diocese in California yet to release a list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse, Anderson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cordileone said in his statement that a list of priests and deacons who are in good standing can be found on the Archdiocese website. He said those under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse are prohibited from exercising public ministry and are removed from the list.[aside postID=\"news_11927319\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/09/GettyImages-1310855027-1-1020x680.jpg\"]Cordileone has established himself as one of the most prominent and outspoken of the hard-line conservatives within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He attracted national attention in May 2022 when he said that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident and practicing Catholic, would be barred from receiving Communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Archdiocese serves about 440,000 Catholics in the counties of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying the filing is necessary to manage more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by church officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chapter 11 protection filing will stop all legal actions against the Archdiocese and thus allow it to develop a settlement plan with abuse survivors, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The unfortunate reality is that the Archdiocese has neither the financial means nor the practical ability to litigate all of these abuse claims individually, and therefore, after much consideration, concluded that the bankruptcy process was the best solution for providing fair and equitable compensation to the innocent survivors who have been harmed,” Cordileone said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Individual parishes will continue to offer Mass and other religious services to the faithful, Cordileone added. “Our parishes, schools, and other entities are not included in the filing,” he wrote. “Catholic Charities, Catholic cemeteries, and St. Patrick’s Seminary & University will continue their operations as usual.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is the third Bay Area diocese to file for bankruptcy after facing hundreds of lawsuits brought under a California law approved in 2019 that allowed decades-old claims to be filed by Dec. 31, 2022. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland filed for bankruptcy in May. And the Diocese of Santa Rosa became the first one in California to file for Chapter 11 protection, in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overwhelming majority of the more than 500 claims stem from allegations of sexual abuse that occurred 30 or more years ago involving priests who are no longer active in ministry or are deceased, said Cordileone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Survivors of clergy sex abuse criticized the bankruptcy filing, calling it a ploy to keep information hidden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cordileone will use every tactic and tool at his disposal to continue to run from the truth. He refuses to identify offenders in his diocese, he attempts legal maneuvers to eliminate the California Child Victims Act, and now he is attempting a last-ditch effort to hide the truth behind bankruptcy,” Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing over 125 plaintiffs who allege they were sexually abused by clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958737\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A large cathedral with a brutalist and modernist design of exposed concrete.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/GettyImages-1310855020-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption ahead of Easter Mass in San Francisco on Sunday, April 4, 2021. \u003ccite>(Stephen Lam/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Archdiocese of San Francisco is the only diocese in California yet to release a list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse, Anderson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cordileone said in his statement that a list of priests and deacons who are in good standing can be found on the Archdiocese website. He said those under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse are prohibited from exercising public ministry and are removed from the list.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Cordileone has established himself as one of the most prominent and outspoken of the hard-line conservatives within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He attracted national attention in May 2022 when he said that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident and practicing Catholic, would be barred from receiving Communion in his archdiocese because of her support for abortion rights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Archdiocese serves about 440,000 Catholics in the counties of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The FBI arrested nine East Bay police officers on Thursday for alleged civil rights violations, interfering with investigations and defrauding their employers, Ismail Ramsey, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrests were made in a series of raids early Thursday morning across and beyond the Bay Area, following an 18-month FBI investigation and the release of four federal grand jury indictments against the officers. Charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, deprivation of civil rights and destruction of records.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Robert Collins, Antioch resident\"]‘It’s amazing and shocking and sad that the lack of transparency and accountability has led to a police department that is so culturally deficient and problems that are so ingrained, so pervasive.’[/pullquote]“Today is a dark day in our city’s history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.lamarthorpe.com/post/statement-regrading-today-s-fbi-raid-and-grand-jury-indictment-of-several-antioch-police-officers?fbclid=IwAR3L4FdHekzuTheUzSMMklYxPHFn9VEZ3IOS6Tm4QB_HmygYvvDSgfa6HiE\">Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a written statement\u003c/a> shortly after the arrests. “As our city absorbs this tragic news, we must come together as one. Today’s actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FBI arrested nine officers on Thursday and a total of 10 have been charged across four indictments, federal law enforcement officials said at the press conference Thursday. Eight of those arrested have made initial court appearances so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is one of the highest priorities for the San Francisco Field Office,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. “Law enforcement officers bear a tremendous responsibility to police out communities lawfully in keeping with the constitution, and we must always be true to that guiding principle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-800x600.jpg\" alt='A chart in a room that reads at the top \"Charges issued by federal grand jury on August 16, 2023.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A chart showing the list of charges against Antioch and Pittsburg police officers by a federal grand jury on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Today’s announcement reporting the arrest of current and former APD officers is disheartening and undermines the incredible work our staff does on a daily basis,” Acting Antioch Chief of Police Joe Vigil said in a press release. “Any police officer who breaks public trust must be held accountable, especially because our effectiveness relies heavily on confidence and support from our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first indictment includes charges against Morteza Amiri and Samantha Genoveva Peterson of the APD, along with Pittsburg Police Department officers Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa, Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco, and Amanda Carmella Theodosy-Nash, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faking college credits in order to receive pay bumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second indictment alleges that APD officers Daniel Harris and Devon Wenger illegally obtained and distributed anabolic steroids, and for attempting to destroy evidence that they had tried to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timothy Manly Williams of the APD was indicted on obstruction of evidence and for destroying and falsifying records to obstruct a federal investigation using a wiretap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fourth and final indictment announced Thursday alleges that Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough and Devon Wenger, all with the APD, carried out what Ramsey called a “disturbing litany” of civil rights violations. The violations include inappropriately deploying a canine and other weapons in order to deliberately harm individuals in Antioch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramsey said that officers shared photos of their victims’ injuries and collected mementos from attacks, such as ammunition used against people of Antioch. “Defendants boasted about their illegal uses of force,” the federal attorney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation is still ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indictments and subsequent arrests mark a turning point for many \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947876/antioch-police-racist-texting-scandal-confirms-what-many-black-and-brown-residents-have-decried-for-years\">members of the community\u003c/a> who have been reeling from the recent police scandals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation kicked off in 2022 after concerns were raised about police officers who lied about their college degrees. But the FBI and Contra Costa County district attorney’s investigation into the local police department would reveal far more crimes and civil rights violations from Antioch and Pittsburg officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among discoveries was a culture of explicitly racist and homophobic messages sent between numerous Antioch police officers. The investigation revealed officers not only using racial epithets including the N-word and describing Black people as “gorillas,” but it also showed officers had falsified confessions to build cases and physically assault suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In several messages, the officers bragged about racial profiling and beating suspects.[aside postID=\"forum_2010101893101,news_11956286,news_11947876,news_11946551\" label=\"Related Stories\"]California Attorney General \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101893101/ag-rob-bonta-launches-civil-rights-investigation-into-antioch-police-department\">Rob Bonta launched a separate civil rights investigation\u003c/a> into the APD in May, after it was revealed that officers had exchanged racist and homophobic text messages about community members and people in custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is our job to protect and serve all of our communities,” Bonta said in a press release announcing his investigation. “Police departments are on the front lines of that fight every day as they work to safeguard the people of our state. However, where there are allegations of potentially pervasive bias or discrimination, it can undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system. It is our responsibility to ensure that we establish a culture of accountability, professionalism, and zero tolerance for hateful or racist behavior, on or off duty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford announced his retirement last month and officially stepped down on Aug. 11 amid the scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spiraling revelations have impacted nearly half of the department’s sworn officers, and texts were exchanged between nearly 45 Antioch officers. As of July, 40 out of 90 officers were no longer working, the \u003cem>East Bay Times\u003c/em> reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cases that officers in the probe were involved in have since been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946551/antiochs-racist-police-text-message-scandal-could-mean-dropped-charges-in-other-cases\">dropped or derailed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Collins, whose step-son Angelo Quinto was killed by Antioch police in December 2020, told KQED that the arrests were an important step in rebuilding trust that has been lost between the community and its law enforcement officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing and shocking and sad that the lack of transparency and accountability has led to a police department that is so culturally deficient and problems that are so ingrained, so pervasive. But it’s good that there is some accountability and transparency coming out of the results of this federal indictment,” Collins told KQED. “It’s painful, but it’s a first step in improving the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bella Quinto Collins, Quinto’s younger sister, was cautiously optimistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This arrest is really good news,” she told KQED, “But at the same time, I don’t see this as necessarily the end of anything. It’s pretty clear that there’s still an ongoing issue within the culture of APD and there’s so much more work to be done to look into other officers that seem to be involved in various other issues and who are implicated in those text messages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gigi Crowder, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness in Contra Costa, called the arrests “one step in a long road,” and that a lot of young people and families she works with have grown fearful of their own law enforcement agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This might send a message to officers who hold those beliefs but hadn’t been involved … that you can’t get away with being asked to protect and serve and carry these racial belief systems about a community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added: “We get complaints from across the county. If they do deeper probing, they will find it’s not isolated to Pittsburg and Antioch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Thorpe has previously faced criticism for seeking accountability for officer misconduct. In his written statement on Thursday, the mayor wrote: “Today’s arrests are demonstrative of the issues that have plagued the Antioch Police Department for decades. Seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department is not anti-police, it is pro our residents, and pro officers that have served and continue to serve with honor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED reporters Annelise Finney, Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman and Giuliana Salomone contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The FBI arrested nine East Bay police officers on Thursday for alleged civil rights violations, interfering with investigations and defrauding their employers, Ismail Ramsey, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrests were made in a series of raids early Thursday morning across and beyond the Bay Area, following an 18-month FBI investigation and the release of four federal grand jury indictments against the officers. Charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, deprivation of civil rights and destruction of records.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Today is a dark day in our city’s history, as people trusted to uphold the law, allegedly breached that trust and were arrested by the FBI,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.lamarthorpe.com/post/statement-regrading-today-s-fbi-raid-and-grand-jury-indictment-of-several-antioch-police-officers?fbclid=IwAR3L4FdHekzuTheUzSMMklYxPHFn9VEZ3IOS6Tm4QB_HmygYvvDSgfa6HiE\">Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a written statement\u003c/a> shortly after the arrests. “As our city absorbs this tragic news, we must come together as one. Today’s actions are the beginning of the end of a long and arduous process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The FBI arrested nine officers on Thursday and a total of 10 have been charged across four indictments, federal law enforcement officials said at the press conference Thursday. Eight of those arrested have made initial court appearances so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is one of the highest priorities for the San Francisco Field Office,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert K. Tripp. “Law enforcement officers bear a tremendous responsibility to police out communities lawfully in keeping with the constitution, and we must always be true to that guiding principle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11958525\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-800x600.jpg\" alt='A chart in a room that reads at the top \"Charges issued by federal grand jury on August 16, 2023.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/IMG_3467-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A chart showing the list of charges against Antioch and Pittsburg police officers by a federal grand jury on Aug. 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Today’s announcement reporting the arrest of current and former APD officers is disheartening and undermines the incredible work our staff does on a daily basis,” Acting Antioch Chief of Police Joe Vigil said in a press release. “Any police officer who breaks public trust must be held accountable, especially because our effectiveness relies heavily on confidence and support from our community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first indictment includes charges against Morteza Amiri and Samantha Genoveva Peterson of the APD, along with Pittsburg Police Department officers Brauli Rodriguez Jalapa, Ernesto Juan Mejia-Orozco, and Amanda Carmella Theodosy-Nash, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faking college credits in order to receive pay bumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The second indictment alleges that APD officers Daniel Harris and Devon Wenger illegally obtained and distributed anabolic steroids, and for attempting to destroy evidence that they had tried to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timothy Manly Williams of the APD was indicted on obstruction of evidence and for destroying and falsifying records to obstruct a federal investigation using a wiretap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fourth and final indictment announced Thursday alleges that Morteza Amiri, Eric Rombough and Devon Wenger, all with the APD, carried out what Ramsey called a “disturbing litany” of civil rights violations. The violations include inappropriately deploying a canine and other weapons in order to deliberately harm individuals in Antioch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramsey said that officers shared photos of their victims’ injuries and collected mementos from attacks, such as ammunition used against people of Antioch. “Defendants boasted about their illegal uses of force,” the federal attorney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation is still ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indictments and subsequent arrests mark a turning point for many \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947876/antioch-police-racist-texting-scandal-confirms-what-many-black-and-brown-residents-have-decried-for-years\">members of the community\u003c/a> who have been reeling from the recent police scandals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The investigation kicked off in 2022 after concerns were raised about police officers who lied about their college degrees. But the FBI and Contra Costa County district attorney’s investigation into the local police department would reveal far more crimes and civil rights violations from Antioch and Pittsburg officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among discoveries was a culture of explicitly racist and homophobic messages sent between numerous Antioch police officers. The investigation revealed officers not only using racial epithets including the N-word and describing Black people as “gorillas,” but it also showed officers had falsified confessions to build cases and physically assault suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In several messages, the officers bragged about racial profiling and beating suspects.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California Attorney General \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101893101/ag-rob-bonta-launches-civil-rights-investigation-into-antioch-police-department\">Rob Bonta launched a separate civil rights investigation\u003c/a> into the APD in May, after it was revealed that officers had exchanged racist and homophobic text messages about community members and people in custody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is our job to protect and serve all of our communities,” Bonta said in a press release announcing his investigation. “Police departments are on the front lines of that fight every day as they work to safeguard the people of our state. However, where there are allegations of potentially pervasive bias or discrimination, it can undermine the trust that is critical for public safety and our justice system. It is our responsibility to ensure that we establish a culture of accountability, professionalism, and zero tolerance for hateful or racist behavior, on or off duty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford announced his retirement last month and officially stepped down on Aug. 11 amid the scandal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spiraling revelations have impacted nearly half of the department’s sworn officers, and texts were exchanged between nearly 45 Antioch officers. As of July, 40 out of 90 officers were no longer working, the \u003cem>East Bay Times\u003c/em> reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cases that officers in the probe were involved in have since been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946551/antiochs-racist-police-text-message-scandal-could-mean-dropped-charges-in-other-cases\">dropped or derailed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Collins, whose step-son Angelo Quinto was killed by Antioch police in December 2020, told KQED that the arrests were an important step in rebuilding trust that has been lost between the community and its law enforcement officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing and shocking and sad that the lack of transparency and accountability has led to a police department that is so culturally deficient and problems that are so ingrained, so pervasive. But it’s good that there is some accountability and transparency coming out of the results of this federal indictment,” Collins told KQED. “It’s painful, but it’s a first step in improving the situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bella Quinto Collins, Quinto’s younger sister, was cautiously optimistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This arrest is really good news,” she told KQED, “But at the same time, I don’t see this as necessarily the end of anything. It’s pretty clear that there’s still an ongoing issue within the culture of APD and there’s so much more work to be done to look into other officers that seem to be involved in various other issues and who are implicated in those text messages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gigi Crowder, executive director of National Alliance on Mental Illness in Contra Costa, called the arrests “one step in a long road,” and that a lot of young people and families she works with have grown fearful of their own law enforcement agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This might send a message to officers who hold those beliefs but hadn’t been involved … that you can’t get away with being asked to protect and serve and carry these racial belief systems about a community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She added: “We get complaints from across the county. If they do deeper probing, they will find it’s not isolated to Pittsburg and Antioch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Thorpe has previously faced criticism for seeking accountability for officer misconduct. In his written statement on Thursday, the mayor wrote: “Today’s arrests are demonstrative of the issues that have plagued the Antioch Police Department for decades. Seeking to reform the Antioch Police Department is not anti-police, it is pro our residents, and pro officers that have served and continue to serve with honor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED reporters Annelise Finney, Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman and Giuliana Salomone contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Supreme Court Unanimously Ruled Body Camera Footage Can't Take the Place of Witness Testimony",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a woman refused to testify against a man accused of assaulting her, a Los Angeles County judge used the accusations she made the night of the incident that were recorded on a police officer’s body camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.courts.ca.gov/opinions/recent-opinions\">the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled\u003c/a> that the judge erred by using the body camera footage to stand in for the woman’s testimony. Doing so, the court ruled, denied the accused man a chance to confront his accuser in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We emphasize that a defendant’s due process right to confront testimonial witnesses against him is not absolute,” the high court ruled in an opinion issued Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What cannot be done, however, is reducing the analysis to a single determination that hinges solely on whether a statement qualifies as a spontaneous statement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling comes as body cameras have become more common in California police departments, most recently this year \u003ca href=\"https://ktla.com/news/california/body-cameras-coming-to-san-bernardino-county-sheriffs-department/\">in San Bernardino County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While body cameras are not mandatory among California agencies, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2022/03/california-highway-patrol-body-cams/\">CalMatters surveyed large law enforcement agencies\u003c/a> last year and found that some of the largest police and sheriff’s departments in the state have given body cameras to all of their uniformed officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Body camera footage of alleged criminal incidents can be used as evidence in court and in disciplinary proceedings against police officers. The new ruling limits its use with respect to statements made on camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors, including the state Department of Justice, had urged the court to admit the body camera footage, partly because it related to a suspect who was on probation.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Renee Korn, superior court judge, Los Angeles County\"]‘The court actually has the unique opportunity to actually see her, hear her and see her … It’s not just an audiotape. It’s not just the reiteration of an officer of these statements.’[/pullquote]Statements made outside of court that cannot be verified at trial are called hearsay, and are generally prohibited. But there are exceptions, one of them being “\u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/spontaneous_exclamation\">spontaneous statements\u003c/a>,” which are statements made in the moment that don’t leave time for deliberation. Courts have found that these statements tend to accurately reflect what a person was thinking when they said something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case before the Supreme Court this week, a woman called 911 in March 2019, reporting that someone was trying to break into the house where she was working as an aide to a person with a disability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding officers found damage to the front door and Dontrae R. Gray in the back of the house. The woman had bruises and a scratch on her face, and told an officer wearing a body camera that Gray kicked in the door and assaulted her. Gray was on probation for a previous, unrelated assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few days later, the woman partially recanted her story, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.genesisshelter.org/why-victims-of-domestic-violence-recant/\">common among victims of intimate partner violence\u003c/a>, and refused to appear at Gray’s criminal trial despite a subpoena. Los Angeles County prosecutors tried to introduce the body camera evidence, but a judge refused to allow it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The criminal case was dismissed, but prosecutors asked a judge to revoke Gray’s probation, and again tried to use the body camera footage as evidence. This time, it worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Body camera footage a ‘unique opportunity’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The judge at Gray’s probation revocation hearing ruled that the woman’s statements in the body camera footage indeed qualified as a spontaneous statement, revoked Gray’s probation and ordered him to serve a suspended sentence of seven years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court actually has the unique opportunity to actually see her, hear her and see her,” said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Renee Korn, according to trial transcripts cited on appeal. “It’s not just an audiotape. It’s not just the reiteration of an officer of these statements.[aside tag=\"police, body-camera\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]“Rather, it’s actual video footage of who she is and how she presented at the time. (It) gives the court ample basis to find the defendant in violation of probation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On appeal, Gray said the decision to introduce the body camera footage as testimony violated his due process rights. State prosecutors replied in briefs to a state appellate court that due process rights at probation hearings are “flexible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Probationers at revocation hearings are not entitled to the full array of constitutional rights available to defendants at criminal trials,” prosecutors led by Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote, “because probationers, having been validly convicted of crimes, have already been afforded the full panoply of constitutional trial rights in the criminal proceedings that resulted in their convictions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A California appellate court agreed and affirmed the decision to revoke his probation. Then the case went to the state Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California rulings on probation revocation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Previous probation revocation cases relying solely on paper evidence offered varying results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one 1981 case, the Supreme Court rejected prosecutors’ use of a trial court transcript in lieu of a witness’s testimony. Another case affirmed prosecutors’ use of hotel and car rental receipts to prove a defendant had broken the rules of his probation by traveling out of state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the high court agreed that defendants have the right to due process, including the right to confront their accuser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Attorney General asserts that the particular reliability and unique nature of spontaneous statements make them categorically admissible under the due process clause, without requiring a further finding of good cause or a balancing,” the court ruled. “We reject this categorical approach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Second Appellate District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a woman refused to testify against a man accused of assaulting her, a Los Angeles County judge used the accusations she made the night of the incident that were recorded on a police officer’s body camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.courts.ca.gov/opinions/recent-opinions\">the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled\u003c/a> that the judge erred by using the body camera footage to stand in for the woman’s testimony. Doing so, the court ruled, denied the accused man a chance to confront his accuser in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We emphasize that a defendant’s due process right to confront testimonial witnesses against him is not absolute,” the high court ruled in an opinion issued Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What cannot be done, however, is reducing the analysis to a single determination that hinges solely on whether a statement qualifies as a spontaneous statement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling comes as body cameras have become more common in California police departments, most recently this year \u003ca href=\"https://ktla.com/news/california/body-cameras-coming-to-san-bernardino-county-sheriffs-department/\">in San Bernardino County\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While body cameras are not mandatory among California agencies, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2022/03/california-highway-patrol-body-cams/\">CalMatters surveyed large law enforcement agencies\u003c/a> last year and found that some of the largest police and sheriff’s departments in the state have given body cameras to all of their uniformed officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Body camera footage of alleged criminal incidents can be used as evidence in court and in disciplinary proceedings against police officers. The new ruling limits its use with respect to statements made on camera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors, including the state Department of Justice, had urged the court to admit the body camera footage, partly because it related to a suspect who was on probation.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Statements made outside of court that cannot be verified at trial are called hearsay, and are generally prohibited. But there are exceptions, one of them being “\u003ca href=\"https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/spontaneous_exclamation\">spontaneous statements\u003c/a>,” which are statements made in the moment that don’t leave time for deliberation. Courts have found that these statements tend to accurately reflect what a person was thinking when they said something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case before the Supreme Court this week, a woman called 911 in March 2019, reporting that someone was trying to break into the house where she was working as an aide to a person with a disability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding officers found damage to the front door and Dontrae R. Gray in the back of the house. The woman had bruises and a scratch on her face, and told an officer wearing a body camera that Gray kicked in the door and assaulted her. Gray was on probation for a previous, unrelated assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few days later, the woman partially recanted her story, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.genesisshelter.org/why-victims-of-domestic-violence-recant/\">common among victims of intimate partner violence\u003c/a>, and refused to appear at Gray’s criminal trial despite a subpoena. Los Angeles County prosecutors tried to introduce the body camera evidence, but a judge refused to allow it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The criminal case was dismissed, but prosecutors asked a judge to revoke Gray’s probation, and again tried to use the body camera footage as evidence. This time, it worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Body camera footage a ‘unique opportunity’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The judge at Gray’s probation revocation hearing ruled that the woman’s statements in the body camera footage indeed qualified as a spontaneous statement, revoked Gray’s probation and ordered him to serve a suspended sentence of seven years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The court actually has the unique opportunity to actually see her, hear her and see her,” said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Renee Korn, according to trial transcripts cited on appeal. “It’s not just an audiotape. It’s not just the reiteration of an officer of these statements.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Rather, it’s actual video footage of who she is and how she presented at the time. (It) gives the court ample basis to find the defendant in violation of probation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On appeal, Gray said the decision to introduce the body camera footage as testimony violated his due process rights. State prosecutors replied in briefs to a state appellate court that due process rights at probation hearings are “flexible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Probationers at revocation hearings are not entitled to the full array of constitutional rights available to defendants at criminal trials,” prosecutors led by Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote, “because probationers, having been validly convicted of crimes, have already been afforded the full panoply of constitutional trial rights in the criminal proceedings that resulted in their convictions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A California appellate court agreed and affirmed the decision to revoke his probation. Then the case went to the state Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California rulings on probation revocation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Previous probation revocation cases relying solely on paper evidence offered varying results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one 1981 case, the Supreme Court rejected prosecutors’ use of a trial court transcript in lieu of a witness’s testimony. Another case affirmed prosecutors’ use of hotel and car rental receipts to prove a defendant had broken the rules of his probation by traveling out of state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, the high court agreed that defendants have the right to due process, including the right to confront their accuser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Attorney General asserts that the particular reliability and unique nature of spontaneous statements make them categorically admissible under the due process clause, without requiring a further finding of good cause or a balancing,” the court ruled. “We reject this categorical approach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court sent the case back to the Second Appellate District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "dublin-womens-prison-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-sexual-abuse-scandal",
"title": "Dublin Women’s Prison Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Sexual Abuse Scandal",
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"content": "\u003cp>Survivors of sexual abuse on Wednesday filed a class-action lawsuit against guards and officials at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a>, a federal women’s prison where plaintiffs argue there are inadequate systems for preventing, detecting, investigating and responding to rape and sexual assault at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23911040-ccwp-v-bop-complaint\">putative class-action suit\u003c/a> comes after \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/2-more-women-sue-3-dublin-prison-officers-for-illegal-sexual-behavior\">nearly a dozen individual lawsuits\u003c/a> were lodged against guards and officials at the facility. Last month, two additional guards who worked at the federal prison, pled guilty to sexually abusing multiple incarcerated women, bringing the total to \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/two-more-dublin-federal-correctional-officers-plead-guilty-sexually-abusing-multiple\">eight staff members at FCI Dublin\u003c/a> who have been charged in the scandal.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Amaris Montes, attorney, Rights Behind Bars\"]‘Our clients allege that they were forced to engage in various sex acts with officers under threat of retaliation or by being promised basic necessities or special privileges.’[/pullquote]“This litigation shines a light on the systemic nature of the abuse,” said Amaris Montes, an attorney with Rights Behind Bars, one of the law firms representing the eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It was not only the individual officers who were at fault for the abuse, but the whole Bureau of Prisons system where officers at every level literally watched as other officers assaulted incarcerated people and helped to keep survivors silent through retaliation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that for years, people incarcerated at the low-security women’s prison were subject to rampant and ongoing sexual abuse, including rape and sexual assault, drugging, groping and being forced to take explicit photos. It also claims women incarcerated at the facility were subject to abuse during medical exams and that immigrants were threatened with deportation if they did not comply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It further alleges that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was aware of the problems for decades at FCI Dublin, but that the agency failed to respond to the heinous acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our clients allege that they were forced to engage in various sex acts with officers under threat of retaliation or by being promised basic necessities or special privileges,” Montes said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Others were forced to act as lookouts while officers sexually abused their friends and cellmates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit calls for a jury trial and names the eight individuals charged so far, as well as FCI Dublin Warden Thahesha Jusino, BOP Director Colette Peters and other officers at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that the prison staff’s sexual abuse of incarcerated people at FCI Dublin violates the Eighth Amendment, prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"G.M., survivor, plaintiff\"]‘We are someone’s mom, we are someone’s daughter. We are here to be rehabilitated, but when we are abused, we cannot be.’[/pullquote]One plaintiff in the case is cited as having to remove her clothes while officers masturbated in front of her. Another was forced to strip and dance for an officer who was “well known for trading food and basic goods with incarcerated individuals in exchange for sexual acts,” the complaint reads. Multiple plaintiffs said that officers subjected them to relentless harassment, assault and rape, or that they witnessed such behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are someone’s mom, we are someone’s daughter. We are here to be rehabilitated, but when we are abused, we cannot be,” a plaintiff in the suit named G.M. said in a press release. “We are asking for change, and for these officers and this system to be held accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria, who experienced abuse while incarcerated at FCI Dublin, was sent to solitary confinement for nearly two weeks after a guard who abused her friend was exposed. Maria did not use her last name due to privacy and safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was abused and I saw my friends abused by guards,” Maria told reporters through a translator on Wednesday. “They were supposed to protect us. I saw them abusing, grabbing and groping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958362\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958362\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in sunglasses speaks into a microphone in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Lucas, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, and also a survivor of sexual abuse at the prison, speaks in front of the Federal Courthouse in Oakland about the challenges of changing the violence and culture at the facility. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Robin Lucas, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the challenges of changing the violence and culture at the facility, where she also experienced sexual abuse decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1995, Lucas said she was assaulted while placed in the segregated housing unit for men, the facility’s maximum-security confinement. She, along with two others incarcerated at the Dublin prison, sued and reached a $500,000 settlement in 1998.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Robin Lucas, survivor\"]‘I remember what it was like when I see these young girls get up there. They well up with fear and intimidation and hurt, but there is a drive within them to speak up and say this is not right.’[/pullquote]As part of the settlement, the Bureau of Prisons agreed to no longer house women in the men’s maximum security unit at the Dublin facility. It also required the BOP to set up new training policies for staff and to better inform people who are incarcerated about how to report assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, almost 30 years later, Lucas said little has changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember what it was like when I see these young girls get up there,” and come forward to report abuses, Lucas told KQED. “They well up with fear and intimidation and hurt, but there is a drive within them to speak up and say this is not right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">Five former FCI Dublin staff members were already convicted\u003c/a> of sexually abusing incarcerated women in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into the notorious facility. They include Chaplain James Highhouse, Warden Ray J. Garcia and three correctional officers. A case is still pending for charges against correctional officer Darrell Smith, according to federal officials.[aside label='More on Criminal Justice' tag='criminal-justice']Highhouse was sentenced to 84 months in prison and Garcia was sentenced to a 70-month term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nakie Nunley of Fairfield, who pleaded guilty in July, was charged with having sex with five victims while working as a supervisor for UNICOR, a call center staffed by women incarcerated at the prison. Nunley threatened to transfer women or strip them of their employment when confronted about the behavior, according to federal officials. He was also charged with lying to federal investigators with the U.S. attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nunley admitted that he told another victim that if she wanted to keep her job at UNICOR, she needed to pull down her underwear and bend over,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/two-more-dublin-federal-correctional-officers-plead-guilty-sexually-abusing-multiple\">the U.S. attorney’s office said in a release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Jones of Pleasanton, who oversaw the prison’s Food Services Department, also pleaded guilty in July to sexually abusing incarcerated people in multiple places near the FCI Dublin kitchen, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This Office’s ongoing investigation into FCI Dublin has revealed significant findings of wrongdoing by multiple correctional officers at that facility,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey of the Northern District of California in a July press release announcing the latest charges. “The Department of Justice has repeatedly warned that criminal misconduct in the care and safety of incarcerated persons will not be tolerated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Plaintiffs filed the class-action suit on Wednesday on behalf of all people incarcerated at FCI Dublin, a federal women’s prison.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Survivors of sexual abuse on Wednesday filed a class-action lawsuit against guards and officials at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11904298/ap-investigation-dublin-womens-prison-fostered-culture-of-abuse\">FCI Dublin\u003c/a>, a federal women’s prison where plaintiffs argue there are inadequate systems for preventing, detecting, investigating and responding to rape and sexual assault at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23911040-ccwp-v-bop-complaint\">putative class-action suit\u003c/a> comes after \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/2-more-women-sue-3-dublin-prison-officers-for-illegal-sexual-behavior\">nearly a dozen individual lawsuits\u003c/a> were lodged against guards and officials at the facility. Last month, two additional guards who worked at the federal prison, pled guilty to sexually abusing multiple incarcerated women, bringing the total to \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/two-more-dublin-federal-correctional-officers-plead-guilty-sexually-abusing-multiple\">eight staff members at FCI Dublin\u003c/a> who have been charged in the scandal.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Our clients allege that they were forced to engage in various sex acts with officers under threat of retaliation or by being promised basic necessities or special privileges.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This litigation shines a light on the systemic nature of the abuse,” said Amaris Montes, an attorney with Rights Behind Bars, one of the law firms representing the eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “It was not only the individual officers who were at fault for the abuse, but the whole Bureau of Prisons system where officers at every level literally watched as other officers assaulted incarcerated people and helped to keep survivors silent through retaliation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that for years, people incarcerated at the low-security women’s prison were subject to rampant and ongoing sexual abuse, including rape and sexual assault, drugging, groping and being forced to take explicit photos. It also claims women incarcerated at the facility were subject to abuse during medical exams and that immigrants were threatened with deportation if they did not comply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It further alleges that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was aware of the problems for decades at FCI Dublin, but that the agency failed to respond to the heinous acts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our clients allege that they were forced to engage in various sex acts with officers under threat of retaliation or by being promised basic necessities or special privileges,” Montes said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Others were forced to act as lookouts while officers sexually abused their friends and cellmates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit calls for a jury trial and names the eight individuals charged so far, as well as FCI Dublin Warden Thahesha Jusino, BOP Director Colette Peters and other officers at the facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that the prison staff’s sexual abuse of incarcerated people at FCI Dublin violates the Eighth Amendment, prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We are someone’s mom, we are someone’s daughter. We are here to be rehabilitated, but when we are abused, we cannot be.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>One plaintiff in the case is cited as having to remove her clothes while officers masturbated in front of her. Another was forced to strip and dance for an officer who was “well known for trading food and basic goods with incarcerated individuals in exchange for sexual acts,” the complaint reads. Multiple plaintiffs said that officers subjected them to relentless harassment, assault and rape, or that they witnessed such behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are someone’s mom, we are someone’s daughter. We are here to be rehabilitated, but when we are abused, we cannot be,” a plaintiff in the suit named G.M. said in a press release. “We are asking for change, and for these officers and this system to be held accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria, who experienced abuse while incarcerated at FCI Dublin, was sent to solitary confinement for nearly two weeks after a guard who abused her friend was exposed. Maria did not use her last name due to privacy and safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was abused and I saw my friends abused by guards,” Maria told reporters through a translator on Wednesday. “They were supposed to protect us. I saw them abusing, grabbing and groping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11958362\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11958362\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person in sunglasses speaks into a microphone in an outdoor setting.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/08/230816-Dublin-Womens-Prison-Suit-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robin Lucas, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, and also a survivor of sexual abuse at the prison, speaks in front of the Federal Courthouse in Oakland about the challenges of changing the violence and culture at the facility. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Robin Lucas, who was formerly incarcerated at FCI Dublin, spoke to reporters on Wednesday about the challenges of changing the violence and culture at the facility, where she also experienced sexual abuse decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1995, Lucas said she was assaulted while placed in the segregated housing unit for men, the facility’s maximum-security confinement. She, along with two others incarcerated at the Dublin prison, sued and reached a $500,000 settlement in 1998.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As part of the settlement, the Bureau of Prisons agreed to no longer house women in the men’s maximum security unit at the Dublin facility. It also required the BOP to set up new training policies for staff and to better inform people who are incarcerated about how to report assault.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, almost 30 years later, Lucas said little has changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember what it was like when I see these young girls get up there,” and come forward to report abuses, Lucas told KQED. “They well up with fear and intimidation and hurt, but there is a drive within them to speak up and say this is not right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11934639/ex-warden-of-dublin-womens-prison-convicted-of-sexually-abusing-inmates\">Five former FCI Dublin staff members were already convicted\u003c/a> of sexually abusing incarcerated women in the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into the notorious facility. They include Chaplain James Highhouse, Warden Ray J. Garcia and three correctional officers. A case is still pending for charges against correctional officer Darrell Smith, according to federal officials.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Highhouse was sentenced to 84 months in prison and Garcia was sentenced to a 70-month term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nakie Nunley of Fairfield, who pleaded guilty in July, was charged with having sex with five victims while working as a supervisor for UNICOR, a call center staffed by women incarcerated at the prison. Nunley threatened to transfer women or strip them of their employment when confronted about the behavior, according to federal officials. He was also charged with lying to federal investigators with the U.S. attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nunley admitted that he told another victim that if she wanted to keep her job at UNICOR, she needed to pull down her underwear and bend over,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/two-more-dublin-federal-correctional-officers-plead-guilty-sexually-abusing-multiple\">the U.S. attorney’s office said in a release\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrew Jones of Pleasanton, who oversaw the prison’s Food Services Department, also pleaded guilty in July to sexually abusing incarcerated people in multiple places near the FCI Dublin kitchen, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This Office’s ongoing investigation into FCI Dublin has revealed significant findings of wrongdoing by multiple correctional officers at that facility,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey of the Northern District of California in a July press release announcing the latest charges. “The Department of Justice has repeatedly warned that criminal misconduct in the care and safety of incarcerated persons will not be tolerated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "east-bay-priests-accused-of-abuse-still-active",
"title": "Court Records Reveal Names of Active East Bay Priests Accused of Abuse",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Catholic priest in Rodeo remains the active head of a church and parochial school while he faces accusations of molesting a child parishioner decades ago, KQED has learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lawsuit filed in Alameda County in September alleges ongoing abuse in the mid-1980s, including that the priest secluded the unnamed plaintiff in an office and groped his genitals underneath his clothing when he was a parishioner at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Dublin. The plaintiff was around 6 and 7 years old at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priest is not named in the lawsuit. But documents filed in federal bankruptcy court and records from a special proceeding in state court reveal who the priest is: Father Larry Young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was parochial vicar at St. Raymond’s from September 1984 to June 1987, according to the Oakland diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is the current pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone on July 24, Young initially declined to comment. After he and his attorneys were presented with information identifying him as the unnamed defendant, Young sent an Aug. 8 emailed statement calling the accusation against him “absolutely false.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a defamation of my name and character for something I did not — and would not — do to any child of God,” Young said in his statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956782\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED.jpg\" alt='A brightly colored sign hanging on a chain link fence that reads \"Saint Patrick School Now Enrolling.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signage outside the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo on July 27, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The allegation in the lawsuit is not proven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit against Young is among over a thousand claims filed in Northern California courts on behalf of survivors of alleged childhood sexual abuse by clergy under a recent California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys defending the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and two accused clergy who remain in active ministry — Young and another East Bay priest — have been fighting for several months to keep their identities sealed in court and out of public view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They argue that the diocese’s internal investigation found the allegations are without merit and that the priests’ identities have been uncovered in violation of the law. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rick Simons, attorney for victims’ cases against clergy in Northern California\"]‘The reason that the bishop and his lawyers want to keep names of alleged perpetrators confidential is they know that once the name gets out in the public, other potential victims will come forward.’[/pullquote] “This matter has not been deemed credible,” Oakland diocese spokesperson Helen Osman wrote in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former assistant U.S. attorney hired by the diocese found the allegations were not credible, Osman said. The diocese declined to identify the former prosecutor or provide documentation of their findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bankruptcy proceedings effectively froze all the state court cases filed against the Oakland diocese, its facilities and its clergy. Advocates say the diocese is using the bankruptcy process to delay the lawsuits, and that the lack of transparency undermines the diocese’s public stance of compassion for survivors of abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is absolutely abhorrent and irresponsible,” said Rick Simons, one of the lead attorneys managing victims’ cases against clergy in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason that the bishop and his lawyers want to keep names of alleged perpetrators confidential is they know that once the name gets out in the public, other potential victims will come forward,” Simons said. “It’s like the #MeToo movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland diocese sought Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court in May as it faced more than 330 claims filed by the survivors of alleged child sexual abuse under a 2019 state law, the California Child Victims Act, or \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB218\">Assembly Bill 218\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law waived all time limits for those claims from 2020 through the end of last year, and it permanently extended age limits to sue for childhood molestation — from age 26 to 40 years old, or within five years after the discovery of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland diocese was the second California diocese to file for bankruptcy this year in the wake of lawsuits brought under AB 218. The Diocese of Santa Rosa sought Chapter 11 protection in March. The Archdiocese of San Francisco announced Friday it will “very likely” follow suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956783\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='A wooden sign outside a large building that reads \"Welcome: St. Patrick Catholic Church\" and listing the times of services.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signage outside the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo on July 27, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing survivors of alleged molestation are “alarmed that two priests accused of sexual abuse remain currently employed by the [diocese],” according to a recent filing in federal court. “An immediate investigation is necessary with respect to the Accused Employees because they (i) remain in contact with children, and (ii) are continuing to collect a salary and benefits from assets of the [diocese’s] estate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bankruptcy judge granted the diocese’s request last month to keep the names of the two current employees under seal in federal court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys have also sought to keep the priests’ names out of state court filings — and the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Referencing him in a story now is improper and would severely and recklessly harm Father Young and his reputation,” Young’s attorney, Dan Webb, wrote in a June 27 email to KQED.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Father George Mockel, pastor, Santa Maria Church in Orinda\"]‘I have never been involved in any disciplinary action, criminal case, or civil matter and have never been accused of assault or any such wrongdoing in my lifetime. I am deeply saddened and distressed by this maligning of my name and reputation.’[/pullquote] Webb, along with the diocese, argue that naming Young violates rules of civil proceedings created by the California Child Victims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These very issues are in litigation now,” Webb wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law prohibits accused abusers sued as defendants from being named in lawsuits until supporting evidence is presented. It does not apply to the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Father George Mockel, another active East Bay priest, has also been accused of sexually abusing a child in a civil case brought under AB 218.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit filed in December, a plaintiff alleges they were sexually abused by a priest in the mid-1970s. A filing in the case directly identifies Father George Mockel as the alleged perpetrator, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/east-bay-priests-accused-child-sex-abuse-suits/3263850/\">NBC Bay Area reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mockel is the pastor of Santa Maria Church in Orinda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://santamariaorinda.com/fr-george-statement\">a statement that was posted to the church’s website\u003c/a>, but has since been taken down, Mockel denied the allegations:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never abused anyone in any way at any time. That is not who I am,” Mockel said. “I have never been involved in any disciplinary action, criminal case, or civil matter and have never been accused of assault or any such wrongdoing in my lifetime. I am deeply saddened and distressed by this maligning of my name and reputation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs’ attorneys in both cases either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This effort to leave them in ministry is an effort to intimidate other victims from coming forward,” said Dan McNevin, Oakland leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are afraid of powerful priests. Larry Young is a very powerful man within the diocese,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ordained in 1981, Young served at several parishes in the East Bay, including in San Leandro, Fremont and Richmond, according to church records, before becoming pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo over 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956785\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large and circular modern-looking building sitting beside a body of water.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cathedral of Christ the Light and Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Oakland on July 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mockel was previously the vicar general of the diocese, a role that directly supports the bishop in the governance of the diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both priests were listed among diocesan consultors in the 2021 Official Catholic Directory, meaning they are advisors to the bishop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://holyspiritfremont.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/July-2019-Appointments.pdf\">2019 memo (PDF)\u003c/a> includes Mockel and Young among members of the diocese’s Priests Personnel Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know them both, I know them fairly well,” said Tim Stier, a former priest with the Oakland diocese who was an associate pastor at St. Raymond in the early 1990s.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tim Stier, former priest, outspoken critic, Oakland diocese\"]‘When a priest is accused, he’s supposed to be suspended by the bishop while an investigation takes place.’[/pullquote] “I like Larry. I’ve always found him somewhat peculiar and eccentric, but he’s always been nice to me. But then, priests are always nice to fellow priests, generally,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stier has been an outspoken critic of the Oakland diocese’s handling of sexual abuse by its priests. Last year, the Vatican \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/09/vatican-defrocks-priest-who-scolded-oakland-diocese-over-sex-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">officially removed\u003c/a> him from the priesthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a priest is accused, he’s supposed to be suspended by the bishop while an investigation takes place,” Stier said, referring to the Oakland diocese’s process for \u003ca href=\"https://oakdiocese.org/victims-assistance#:~:text=When%20the%20diocese%20receives%20an,temporary%20suspension%20of%20all%20ministry.\">responding to allegations of sexual abuse\u003c/a> by clergy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedures also require the diocese to report any allegations that a priest is sexually abusing a child to law enforcement and the priest’s parish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The diocese has not reported the allegation against Young to law enforcement. He has not been suspended and parishioners of St. Patrick Catholic Church have not been notified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because the diocese’s policies don’t apply to historical allegations brought through a lawsuit, according to spokesperson Helen Osman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Diocese was not aware of the alleged abuse when it allegedly occurred,” Osman said in an email. “We have no records of being contacted. The Diocese also sought to speak with the plaintiff about the allegations after the filing of the complaint and the plaintiff refused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young is also not included in the Oakland diocese’s \u003ca href=\"https://oakdiocese.org/credible-accusations\">list of credibly accused clergy\u003c/a> released in 2019, because, Osman said, he has not been credibly accused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bishop has expressed his support for me and has stated I deserve to maintain my good name,” Young said, adding that he has been advised not to speak about the case beyond his emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I appreciate your understanding, but especially your prayers, not just for me but for everyone involved,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the priests’ identities were revealed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a June 21 conference call in the bankruptcy case, a representative of the Oakland diocese said that two priests recently accused of child abuse in the East Bay remain in active ministry, without naming them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The diocese initially requested that the names of all accused priests and anyone involved in a cover-up of abuse, along with the survivors of alleged abuse, be kept under seal or redacted from the bankruptcy proceedings. The diocese had argued its employees are entitled to protection from identity theft and harassment.[aside label='More on the Oakland Diocese' tag='oakland-diocese']Lawyers representing the survivors among other “unsecured creditors” in the case, opposed the request. The request for confidentiality was later narrowed to just the two priests in active ministry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public should be aware. What we’re doing should not be done behind closed doors,” Jeff Prol, an attorney for the survivors and other creditors in the bankruptcy case, said in an interview with KQED on July 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public interest requires that the priests’ names be disclosed,” he said. “They’re potentially a danger to society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty granted the diocese’s request last month, sealing the names of the two active priests in the bankruptcy case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But cross-referencing filings by the diocese in bankruptcy court and documents filed in state court reveal the identities of the priests and the accusations against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A routine filing in bankruptcy court in early July disclosed that two active priests with the Oakland diocese hired an attorney to address potential violations of California privacy law. That document referenced two Alameda County Superior Court case numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case numbers relate to two lawsuits filed in state court alleging sexual abuse by priests. Mockel is identified as the alleged perpetrator in one of those cases, but Young is not named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a statement filed monthly in state court includes a chart with information from over 1,500 lawsuits filed in the three-year window created by the California Child Victims Act. The chart displays case numbers, attorney names, time periods of the alleged abuse and the names of the alleged perpetrator in hundreds of the cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young and Mockel are listed as alleged perpetrators in the chart, buried among the names of hundreds of other accused clergy. Searching by the two case numbers the diocese identified in bankruptcy court, however, highlights Mockel and Young as the two recently accused priests who remain actively leading parishioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing for secrecy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland diocese spokesperson Osman said attorneys for survivors “ignored the law” when they named Young in the chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California law requires that certain criteria be met before an alleged childhood sexual abuser can be publicly named as a defendant in a lawsuit,” Osman wrote. “Those criteria have not been met in this case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Simons, the plaintiffs’ attorney manager in the special proceeding, said lawyers are required by court order to provide information from their cases for use in the chart.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dan McNevin, Oakland leader, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)\"]‘I think it really defeats justice when these cases are not publicized and we have no visibility into the process that caused a priest to remain in ministry.’[/pullquote] Attorneys representing the priests have pushed to keep Young and Mockel’s names confidential in state court filings as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Webb, the attorney representing the two priests, asked an Alameda County Superior Court clerk in late June to seal the chart, blocking public access, while he prepared a motion requesting the priests’ names be removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court responded that no action would be taken based on Webb’s emailed request, but that the priests could file a motion to seal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, no motion has been filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it really defeats justice when these cases are not publicized and we have no visibility into the process that caused a priest to remain in ministry,” said McNevin of SNAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Young] should be suspended. His parish should be informed. All of the parishes where he worked should be informed, and survivors should be invited to come forward from all of those places. That would be the compassionate response to an accusation like this,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Catholic priest in Rodeo remains the active head of a church and parochial school while he faces accusations of molesting a child parishioner decades ago, KQED has learned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lawsuit filed in Alameda County in September alleges ongoing abuse in the mid-1980s, including that the priest secluded the unnamed plaintiff in an office and groped his genitals underneath his clothing when he was a parishioner at St. Raymond Catholic Church in Dublin. The plaintiff was around 6 and 7 years old at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priest is not named in the lawsuit. But documents filed in federal bankruptcy court and records from a special proceeding in state court reveal who the priest is: Father Larry Young.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was parochial vicar at St. Raymond’s from September 1984 to June 1987, according to the Oakland diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is the current pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone on July 24, Young initially declined to comment. After he and his attorneys were presented with information identifying him as the unnamed defendant, Young sent an Aug. 8 emailed statement calling the accusation against him “absolutely false.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a defamation of my name and character for something I did not — and would not — do to any child of God,” Young said in his statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956782\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED.jpg\" alt='A brightly colored sign hanging on a chain link fence that reads \"Saint Patrick School Now Enrolling.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signage outside the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo on July 27, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The allegation in the lawsuit is not proven.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit against Young is among over a thousand claims filed in Northern California courts on behalf of survivors of alleged childhood sexual abuse by clergy under a recent California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys defending the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and two accused clergy who remain in active ministry — Young and another East Bay priest — have been fighting for several months to keep their identities sealed in court and out of public view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They argue that the diocese’s internal investigation found the allegations are without merit and that the priests’ identities have been uncovered in violation of the law. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “This matter has not been deemed credible,” Oakland diocese spokesperson Helen Osman wrote in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former assistant U.S. attorney hired by the diocese found the allegations were not credible, Osman said. The diocese declined to identify the former prosecutor or provide documentation of their findings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bankruptcy proceedings effectively froze all the state court cases filed against the Oakland diocese, its facilities and its clergy. Advocates say the diocese is using the bankruptcy process to delay the lawsuits, and that the lack of transparency undermines the diocese’s public stance of compassion for survivors of abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is absolutely abhorrent and irresponsible,” said Rick Simons, one of the lead attorneys managing victims’ cases against clergy in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason that the bishop and his lawyers want to keep names of alleged perpetrators confidential is they know that once the name gets out in the public, other potential victims will come forward,” Simons said. “It’s like the #MeToo movement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland diocese sought Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court in May as it faced more than 330 claims filed by the survivors of alleged child sexual abuse under a 2019 state law, the California Child Victims Act, or \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB218\">Assembly Bill 218\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law waived all time limits for those claims from 2020 through the end of last year, and it permanently extended age limits to sue for childhood molestation — from age 26 to 40 years old, or within five years after the discovery of the abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland diocese was the second California diocese to file for bankruptcy this year in the wake of lawsuits brought under AB 218. The Diocese of Santa Rosa sought Chapter 11 protection in March. The Archdiocese of San Francisco announced Friday it will “very likely” follow suit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956783\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='A wooden sign outside a large building that reads \"Welcome: St. Patrick Catholic Church\" and listing the times of services.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Signage outside the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo on July 27, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attorneys representing survivors of alleged molestation are “alarmed that two priests accused of sexual abuse remain currently employed by the [diocese],” according to a recent filing in federal court. “An immediate investigation is necessary with respect to the Accused Employees because they (i) remain in contact with children, and (ii) are continuing to collect a salary and benefits from assets of the [diocese’s] estate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bankruptcy judge granted the diocese’s request last month to keep the names of the two current employees under seal in federal court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys have also sought to keep the priests’ names out of state court filings — and the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Referencing him in a story now is improper and would severely and recklessly harm Father Young and his reputation,” Young’s attorney, Dan Webb, wrote in a June 27 email to KQED.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I have never been involved in any disciplinary action, criminal case, or civil matter and have never been accused of assault or any such wrongdoing in my lifetime. I am deeply saddened and distressed by this maligning of my name and reputation.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Webb, along with the diocese, argue that naming Young violates rules of civil proceedings created by the California Child Victims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These very issues are in litigation now,” Webb wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law prohibits accused abusers sued as defendants from being named in lawsuits until supporting evidence is presented. It does not apply to the press.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Father George Mockel, another active East Bay priest, has also been accused of sexually abusing a child in a civil case brought under AB 218.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit filed in December, a plaintiff alleges they were sexually abused by a priest in the mid-1970s. A filing in the case directly identifies Father George Mockel as the alleged perpetrator, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/east-bay-priests-accused-child-sex-abuse-suits/3263850/\">NBC Bay Area reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mockel is the pastor of Santa Maria Church in Orinda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://santamariaorinda.com/fr-george-statement\">a statement that was posted to the church’s website\u003c/a>, but has since been taken down, Mockel denied the allegations:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have never abused anyone in any way at any time. That is not who I am,” Mockel said. “I have never been involved in any disciplinary action, criminal case, or civil matter and have never been accused of assault or any such wrongdoing in my lifetime. I am deeply saddened and distressed by this maligning of my name and reputation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaintiffs’ attorneys in both cases either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This effort to leave them in ministry is an effort to intimidate other victims from coming forward,” said Dan McNevin, Oakland leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are afraid of powerful priests. Larry Young is a very powerful man within the diocese,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ordained in 1981, Young served at several parishes in the East Bay, including in San Leandro, Fremont and Richmond, according to church records, before becoming pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo over 20 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956785\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956785\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A large and circular modern-looking building sitting beside a body of water.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230727-Oakland-Diocese-Sexual-Abuse-MHN-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cathedral of Christ the Light and Catholic Diocese of Oakland in Oakland on July 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mockel was previously the vicar general of the diocese, a role that directly supports the bishop in the governance of the diocese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both priests were listed among diocesan consultors in the 2021 Official Catholic Directory, meaning they are advisors to the bishop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://holyspiritfremont.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/July-2019-Appointments.pdf\">2019 memo (PDF)\u003c/a> includes Mockel and Young among members of the diocese’s Priests Personnel Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know them both, I know them fairly well,” said Tim Stier, a former priest with the Oakland diocese who was an associate pastor at St. Raymond in the early 1990s.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘When a priest is accused, he’s supposed to be suspended by the bishop while an investigation takes place.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> “I like Larry. I’ve always found him somewhat peculiar and eccentric, but he’s always been nice to me. But then, priests are always nice to fellow priests, generally,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stier has been an outspoken critic of the Oakland diocese’s handling of sexual abuse by its priests. Last year, the Vatican \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/09/vatican-defrocks-priest-who-scolded-oakland-diocese-over-sex-abuse/?clearUserState=true\">officially removed\u003c/a> him from the priesthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a priest is accused, he’s supposed to be suspended by the bishop while an investigation takes place,” Stier said, referring to the Oakland diocese’s process for \u003ca href=\"https://oakdiocese.org/victims-assistance#:~:text=When%20the%20diocese%20receives%20an,temporary%20suspension%20of%20all%20ministry.\">responding to allegations of sexual abuse\u003c/a> by clergy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The procedures also require the diocese to report any allegations that a priest is sexually abusing a child to law enforcement and the priest’s parish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The diocese has not reported the allegation against Young to law enforcement. He has not been suspended and parishioners of St. Patrick Catholic Church have not been notified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because the diocese’s policies don’t apply to historical allegations brought through a lawsuit, according to spokesperson Helen Osman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Diocese was not aware of the alleged abuse when it allegedly occurred,” Osman said in an email. “We have no records of being contacted. The Diocese also sought to speak with the plaintiff about the allegations after the filing of the complaint and the plaintiff refused.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young is also not included in the Oakland diocese’s \u003ca href=\"https://oakdiocese.org/credible-accusations\">list of credibly accused clergy\u003c/a> released in 2019, because, Osman said, he has not been credibly accused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bishop has expressed his support for me and has stated I deserve to maintain my good name,” Young said, adding that he has been advised not to speak about the case beyond his emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I appreciate your understanding, but especially your prayers, not just for me but for everyone involved,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the priests’ identities were revealed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a June 21 conference call in the bankruptcy case, a representative of the Oakland diocese said that two priests recently accused of child abuse in the East Bay remain in active ministry, without naming them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The diocese initially requested that the names of all accused priests and anyone involved in a cover-up of abuse, along with the survivors of alleged abuse, be kept under seal or redacted from the bankruptcy proceedings. The diocese had argued its employees are entitled to protection from identity theft and harassment.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lawyers representing the survivors among other “unsecured creditors” in the case, opposed the request. The request for confidentiality was later narrowed to just the two priests in active ministry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public should be aware. What we’re doing should not be done behind closed doors,” Jeff Prol, an attorney for the survivors and other creditors in the bankruptcy case, said in an interview with KQED on July 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public interest requires that the priests’ names be disclosed,” he said. “They’re potentially a danger to society.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bankruptcy Judge William J. Lafferty granted the diocese’s request last month, sealing the names of the two active priests in the bankruptcy case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But cross-referencing filings by the diocese in bankruptcy court and documents filed in state court reveal the identities of the priests and the accusations against them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A routine filing in bankruptcy court in early July disclosed that two active priests with the Oakland diocese hired an attorney to address potential violations of California privacy law. That document referenced two Alameda County Superior Court case numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The case numbers relate to two lawsuits filed in state court alleging sexual abuse by priests. Mockel is identified as the alleged perpetrator in one of those cases, but Young is not named.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a statement filed monthly in state court includes a chart with information from over 1,500 lawsuits filed in the three-year window created by the California Child Victims Act. The chart displays case numbers, attorney names, time periods of the alleged abuse and the names of the alleged perpetrator in hundreds of the cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young and Mockel are listed as alleged perpetrators in the chart, buried among the names of hundreds of other accused clergy. Searching by the two case numbers the diocese identified in bankruptcy court, however, highlights Mockel and Young as the two recently accused priests who remain actively leading parishioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Pushing for secrecy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oakland diocese spokesperson Osman said attorneys for survivors “ignored the law” when they named Young in the chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California law requires that certain criteria be met before an alleged childhood sexual abuser can be publicly named as a defendant in a lawsuit,” Osman wrote. “Those criteria have not been met in this case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Simons, the plaintiffs’ attorney manager in the special proceeding, said lawyers are required by court order to provide information from their cases for use in the chart.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think it really defeats justice when these cases are not publicized and we have no visibility into the process that caused a priest to remain in ministry.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Attorneys representing the priests have pushed to keep Young and Mockel’s names confidential in state court filings as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dan Webb, the attorney representing the two priests, asked an Alameda County Superior Court clerk in late June to seal the chart, blocking public access, while he prepared a motion requesting the priests’ names be removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court responded that no action would be taken based on Webb’s emailed request, but that the priests could file a motion to seal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To date, no motion has been filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it really defeats justice when these cases are not publicized and we have no visibility into the process that caused a priest to remain in ministry,” said McNevin of SNAP.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Young] should be suspended. His parish should be informed. All of the parishes where he worked should be informed, and survivors should be invited to come forward from all of those places. That would be the compassionate response to an accusation like this,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Advocates Push Back Against California Prisons' Strip-Search Policy",
"headTitle": "Advocates Push Back Against California Prisons’ Strip-Search Policy | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Renee Espinoza thought her first strip search at the hands of a California correctional officer guard would be her last. It happened during a visit to Centinela State Prison to see her incarcerated husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later it happened again. And then again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the same process each time. I sign a paper saying it’s ok to search me, they escort me to the same locker room,” Renee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before each search, she filled out the so-called Form 888, a requirement for each visitor who consents to an unclothed search. The first search felt procedural and normal, she recalled. On the second search, she noticed the female officers in the room had mirrors and used a flashlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third search, the correctional officer was more aggressive. “She was asking me to spread my genitals wider. And I’m just like, ‘there’s nothing in there!’ How much wider do you need me to open? How much lower do you need me to bend? What else do you need me to do?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza shared her story last week with other families of state prisoners who are trying to make sense of a proposed change in search policy at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department, which is facing pressure to stem the flow of drugs and cell phones into prisons, plans to make procedural changes that officials said would be minimal and meant to provide more clarity and consistency about the rights for those being searched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only change these regulations implement is in regard to proposed changes to (the state prison system’s) Form 888, which works to include clarity and consistency with existing language describing the search process and the rights of those being searched. The search process itself will remain unchanged,” wrote Alia Cruz, a spokesperson for the corrections agency, in an email.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sharon Dolovich, law professor and director, UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program\"]‘All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.’[/pullquote]But one of the proposed changes in the regulation includes language that suggests correctional officers could have more discretion to perform a strip search. That change would lower the threshold for an officer to request a search from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are worried it could lead to unnecessarily invasive interactions between prisoners’ loved ones and correctional officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who run the visits already have a lot of discretion,” said Sharon Dolovich, a law professor who directs the UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program. “All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Eric Sapp of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an Oakland-based organization, met with families last week ahead of a scheduled public comment hearing on the regulation. He called the proposed change unlawful, inconsistent with other regulations, and said it was “concerning” that the department doesn’t explicitly say whether touching is allowed during unclothed searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s unreasonable that they want to change and harmonize those regulations by lowering ‘probable cause’ to ‘reasonable suspicion’ rather than doing the exact opposite,” he said, suggesting that the standard should remain at probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz, the department’s spokesperson, said the proposed regulation is not intended to change the threshold for searches. She said the standards for strip and cavity searches would remain “unchanged” and would continue to be used only after less invasive means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unclothed searches are completely voluntary unless a search warrant is presented. Unclothed searches are used very sparingly, and only when all other contraband interdiction efforts have been exhausted,” said Cruz. “Contraband interdiction efforts to be used before an unclothed search is proposed includes walk-through metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining a search has a consequence for prison visitors. It means they would not get to meet their incarcerated loved ones, which in some cases could waste an hours-long drive to an institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is the prison search policy coming up now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s corrections agency put forward the proposed policy six months after an Office of Inspector General audit called attention to the flow of contraband into prisons, including during the pandemic when visitor restrictions were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found the Department of Corrections had weak contraband prevention efforts in place and ultimately “allowed” the problem to continue. The inspector general urged the department to strengthen oversight of who and what comes into prisons to keep out drugs, including by searching staff more frequently and making more use of narcotic-detecting canines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state prisons recorded 1,274 overdoses between March 2019 and February 2020. In the following 12 months — after pandemic restrictions took effect — overdoses declined to 796, according to California Correctional Health Care Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of overdoses went down, the cases revealed that drugs found their way into prisons even when families couldn’t visit. Some avenues included staff, contractors, official visitors and mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2021 and 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/contraband-interdiction/\">64 visitors were arrested\u003c/a> across all state prisons for attempting to bring in contraband. In the same year, six prison employees and 46 non-visitors were also arrested, according to the department’s Office of Research. The number of visitors arrested are down from 286 in 2018 and 186 in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug delivery methods have gotten more outlandish. Recently two men were charged for using \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-09/drones-drug-smuggling-california-prisons#\">drones to drop drugs, vape pens, MP3 players and phones into prison yards\u003c/a> across seven prison facilities, according to the \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked to comment on the proposed search changes, Shaun Spillane, a spokesperson for the Inspector General’s office, said there is value in the decision to update policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although drugs still made it into prisons while visitation was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the department have an effective search process for people who visit prisons,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison visits as a civil right\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The request to update search policies comes in the midst of the Newsom administration’s campaign to make prisons friendlier to families. He signed a law last month that \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1226\">allows prisoners to be housed in facilities closer\u003c/a> to where their children under 18 live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration in 2021 added a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2021/07/30/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation-to-launch-third-day-of-in-person-visiting-in-august/\">third day of weekly visitation\u003c/a> at all institutions to make family visits more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/family-ties-during-imprisonment-do-they-influence-future-criminal#:~:text=Five%20empirical%20studies%20of%20the,disciplinary%20infractions%2C%20and%20lower%20recidivism.\">maintaining close family ties while incarcerated\u003c/a> contributes to positive parole outcomes and lowers the likelihood of recidivism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But families say that with intimidating visitor policies in place, they will feel less inclined to visit. Others say they would refuse a search in protest, even if it means losing their visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Close connections to loved ones on the outside is the single biggest predictor of success for re-entry, so why wouldn’t the CDCR try to enhance the experience and enhance the ability for people to visit rather than increasingly burden it?” Dolovich, the professor from UCLA, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Rice, the wife of a prisoner and advocate at Empowering Women Impacted by Incarceration, said that after COVID-19, the department started giving families more freedom during the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, children and mothers are allowed to make Christmas ornaments and picture frames and decorate gingerbread houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a small part of them doing something in a positive manner to make us feel like it’s family,” Rice said. “This is the Department of Rehabilitation. And these little events matter. They make a difference as far as preparing them to come home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature also has advanced a few bills this year to make family ties with prisoners more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB958\">would make visitation a civil right for prisoners\u003c/a> and restrict the Department of Corrections’ power to deny a person from visiting. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AB-990-PDF.pdf\">vetoed a version of this bill (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021, on the basis that he thought the legislation could lead to costly litigation from individuals denied visitation for what may be valid security concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the department is scheduled to hold a public comment hearing about the new search regulations. Advocates have already proposed alternatives to the visitor policy, including raising the standard for an officer to request a strip search, or using non-intrusive technologies instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These proposed changes in particular are unnecessary and dangerous, creating grave potential for abuse and causing undue burdens on visitors,” Sapp wrote in a letter to the department days before the public comment period ends. “We urge that significant changes be made before any regulations in this area are adopted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the department will put in a request for good cause, which would enact the policy immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make prisons a friendlier place for inmate families. An updated strip-search policy has some worried that families will face intrusive encounters during their visits.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Renee Espinoza thought her first strip search at the hands of a California correctional officer guard would be her last. It happened during a visit to Centinela State Prison to see her incarcerated husband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few months later it happened again. And then again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the same process each time. I sign a paper saying it’s ok to search me, they escort me to the same locker room,” Renee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before each search, she filled out the so-called Form 888, a requirement for each visitor who consents to an unclothed search. The first search felt procedural and normal, she recalled. On the second search, she noticed the female officers in the room had mirrors and used a flashlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the third search, the correctional officer was more aggressive. “She was asking me to spread my genitals wider. And I’m just like, ‘there’s nothing in there!’ How much wider do you need me to open? How much lower do you need me to bend? What else do you need me to do?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza shared her story last week with other families of state prisoners who are trying to make sense of a proposed change in search policy at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department, which is facing pressure to stem the flow of drugs and cell phones into prisons, plans to make procedural changes that officials said would be minimal and meant to provide more clarity and consistency about the rights for those being searched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only change these regulations implement is in regard to proposed changes to (the state prison system’s) Form 888, which works to include clarity and consistency with existing language describing the search process and the rights of those being searched. The search process itself will remain unchanged,” wrote Alia Cruz, a spokesperson for the corrections agency, in an email.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But one of the proposed changes in the regulation includes language that suggests correctional officers could have more discretion to perform a strip search. That change would lower the threshold for an officer to request a search from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates are worried it could lead to unnecessarily invasive interactions between prisoners’ loved ones and correctional officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who run the visits already have a lot of discretion,” said Sharon Dolovich, a law professor who directs the UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program. “All this does is expand the scope of discretion to make it easier to justify … I suspect they are already strip-searching anyone they want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorney Eric Sapp of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an Oakland-based organization, met with families last week ahead of a scheduled public comment hearing on the regulation. He called the proposed change unlawful, inconsistent with other regulations, and said it was “concerning” that the department doesn’t explicitly say whether touching is allowed during unclothed searches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do think it’s unreasonable that they want to change and harmonize those regulations by lowering ‘probable cause’ to ‘reasonable suspicion’ rather than doing the exact opposite,” he said, suggesting that the standard should remain at probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz, the department’s spokesperson, said the proposed regulation is not intended to change the threshold for searches. She said the standards for strip and cavity searches would remain “unchanged” and would continue to be used only after less invasive means.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unclothed searches are completely voluntary unless a search warrant is presented. Unclothed searches are used very sparingly, and only when all other contraband interdiction efforts have been exhausted,” said Cruz. “Contraband interdiction efforts to be used before an unclothed search is proposed includes walk-through metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Declining a search has a consequence for prison visitors. It means they would not get to meet their incarcerated loved ones, which in some cases could waste an hours-long drive to an institution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why is the prison search policy coming up now?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s corrections agency put forward the proposed policy six months after an Office of Inspector General audit called attention to the flow of contraband into prisons, including during the pandemic when visitor restrictions were in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report found the Department of Corrections had weak contraband prevention efforts in place and ultimately “allowed” the problem to continue. The inspector general urged the department to strengthen oversight of who and what comes into prisons to keep out drugs, including by searching staff more frequently and making more use of narcotic-detecting canines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California state prisons recorded 1,274 overdoses between March 2019 and February 2020. In the following 12 months — after pandemic restrictions took effect — overdoses declined to 796, according to California Correctional Health Care Services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the number of overdoses went down, the cases revealed that drugs found their way into prisons even when families couldn’t visit. Some avenues included staff, contractors, official visitors and mail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between 2021 and 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/contraband-interdiction/\">64 visitors were arrested\u003c/a> across all state prisons for attempting to bring in contraband. In the same year, six prison employees and 46 non-visitors were also arrested, according to the department’s Office of Research. The number of visitors arrested are down from 286 in 2018 and 186 in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drug delivery methods have gotten more outlandish. Recently two men were charged for using \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-09/drones-drug-smuggling-california-prisons#\">drones to drop drugs, vape pens, MP3 players and phones into prison yards\u003c/a> across seven prison facilities, according to the \u003cem>Los Angeles Times\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked to comment on the proposed search changes, Shaun Spillane, a spokesperson for the Inspector General’s office, said there is value in the decision to update policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although drugs still made it into prisons while visitation was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that the department have an effective search process for people who visit prisons,” Spillane said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison visits as a civil right\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The request to update search policies comes in the midst of the Newsom administration’s campaign to make prisons friendlier to families. He signed a law last month that \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1226\">allows prisoners to be housed in facilities closer\u003c/a> to where their children under 18 live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration in 2021 added a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/2021/07/30/california-department-of-corrections-and-rehabilitation-to-launch-third-day-of-in-person-visiting-in-august/\">third day of weekly visitation\u003c/a> at all institutions to make family visits more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Research shows that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/family-ties-during-imprisonment-do-they-influence-future-criminal#:~:text=Five%20empirical%20studies%20of%20the,disciplinary%20infractions%2C%20and%20lower%20recidivism.\">maintaining close family ties while incarcerated\u003c/a> contributes to positive parole outcomes and lowers the likelihood of recidivism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But families say that with intimidating visitor policies in place, they will feel less inclined to visit. Others say they would refuse a search in protest, even if it means losing their visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Close connections to loved ones on the outside is the single biggest predictor of success for re-entry, so why wouldn’t the CDCR try to enhance the experience and enhance the ability for people to visit rather than increasingly burden it?” Dolovich, the professor from UCLA, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Rice, the wife of a prisoner and advocate at Empowering Women Impacted by Incarceration, said that after COVID-19, the department started giving families more freedom during the holidays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, children and mothers are allowed to make Christmas ornaments and picture frames and decorate gingerbread houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is a small part of them doing something in a positive manner to make us feel like it’s family,” Rice said. “This is the Department of Rehabilitation. And these little events matter. They make a difference as far as preparing them to come home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature also has advanced a few bills this year to make family ties with prisoners more accessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One, sponsored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB958\">would make visitation a civil right for prisoners\u003c/a> and restrict the Department of Corrections’ power to deny a person from visiting. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/AB-990-PDF.pdf\">vetoed a version of this bill (PDF)\u003c/a> in 2021, on the basis that he thought the legislation could lead to costly litigation from individuals denied visitation for what may be valid security concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday, the department is scheduled to hold a public comment hearing about the new search regulations. Advocates have already proposed alternatives to the visitor policy, including raising the standard for an officer to request a strip search, or using non-intrusive technologies instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These proposed changes in particular are unnecessary and dangerous, creating grave potential for abuse and causing undue burdens on visitors,” Sapp wrote in a letter to the department days before the public comment period ends. “We urge that significant changes be made before any regulations in this area are adopted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the department will put in a request for good cause, which would enact the policy immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Lawyers for Antioch Police Officers Seek to Reframe Racist Texts in Court",
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"content": "\u003cp>Antioch police officers who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947876/antioch-police-racist-texting-scandal-confirms-what-many-black-and-brown-residents-have-decried-for-years\">sent racist text messages\u003c/a> are seeking additional defense protections and to avoid testifying altogether, as cases questioning whether racism factored into arrests they made get their day in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as lawyers for four men accused of murder and attempted murder in a 2021 shooting sought to dismiss the charges against their clients during a hearing on Friday. They argued the messages sent by the investigating officers prove that the officers had a racial bias against the men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing is one of the first major tests of the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2542&search_keywords=racial+justice+act\">Racial Justice Act\u003c/a>, a 2021 California law prohibiting the state from seeking a conviction based on race. It’s also the first time officers involved in the texting scandal are set to publicly speak about the fiasco.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ellen McDonnell, public defender, Contra Costa County\"]‘It’s critical that there be a full hearing and that each officer be questioned regarding their role in these text messages and the way they handled policing in this case.’[/pullquote]In the last few months, an ongoing federal investigation into criminal wrongdoing in the Antioch Police Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/07/15/im-already-good-at-racial-profiling-new-batch-of-antioch-cops-texts-show-how-much-racism-and-policing-intertwined/\">uncovered hundreds of racist text messages\u003c/a> sent between officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/11/exclusive-inside-the-antioch-police-departments-secret-racist-texting-group/\">reported first by the East Bay Times\u003c/a>. Nearly half of the police officers in the department were named in connection to the texts, with the majority of messages being sent between 2020 and 2021. The texts used racial slurs to describe Black and Latino Antioch residents, including Police Chief Steven Ford and Mayor Lamar Thorpe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the texts talk specifically about two of the four defendants in Friday’s hearing. All four are young Black men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the text messages, officers referred to the men using the n-word, joked about assaulting them during their arrests and shared photos of the injured men in their hospital beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police attorneys argued that the officers — subpoenaed to appear as witnesses — should have their own lawyers present to defend them. Typically, witnesses answer questions from the district attorney and lawyers for the defendants and do not have their own lawyers present. In a packed courtroom on Friday, an attorney for the officers, Nicole Pifari, said that if the court found the nine officers to be racist, they would suffer “instantaneous, far reaching and likely permanent damage” to their reputations and employment opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested the officers’ attorneys be allowed to ask their own questions and call their own witnesses to defend the officers during the hearing — steps she said were essential to providing the full context of the message exchanges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you are accused of something very serious, you have the right to defend yourself,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11947876,news_11946168,news_11946551\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Presiding Superior Court Judge David Goldstein agreed with the principle but said the Racial Justice Act does not provide for officers to have their own defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that if the court rules that the officers acted out of racism, it would not be the ruling that made the officers racist, but the underlying evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He denied her request, but agreed that officers’ attorneys could be present to advise their clients on whether or not to invoke the Fifth Amendment: the officers’ right to stay silent if answering a question might incriminate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, is if the officers testify at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Chief Ford — also subpoenaed to testify — successfully argued to excuse the chief from testimony because he joined the department after the text messages were sent. Last Wednesday, the chief \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=654987546653981&set=a.228771749275565\">announced that he will retire on Aug. 11\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, at least five of the nine subpoenaed officers are claiming they are injured and cannot make it to court, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/18/antioch-claims-subpoenaed-officers-have-industrial-injuries-to-avoid-testifying-about-racism-alleged-crimes/\">according to the East Bay Times\u003c/a>. But defense attorney Carmela Caramagno disputed that, saying her investigator saw allegedly injured officers driving tractors, hosting pool parties and walking leisurely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like, what kind of medical leave you guys are on? For accountability, you guys need to be here,” said Shrielle Cobbs, the mother of defendant Trent Allen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Public Defender Ellen McDonnell agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a situation where officers exchanged animal memes of Black and brown people, where they explained that they were targeting Black people based on their race. And we have four young Black men on trial here,” she said on Friday. “It’s critical that there be a full hearing and that each officer be questioned regarding their role in these text messages and the way they handled policing in this case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the messages was devastating for the families of the young men. Mariah Thomas is the fiancée of Eric Windom, and the cousin of Trent Allen, two of the defendants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They wanted to kill my cousin Trent Allen. Eric Windom, that’s my partner, my lover. The stuff that they said about them … it’s horrible,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing will continue on Aug. 25 and all nine officers are under subpoena to appear. If they do not appear when called, Judge Goldstein could explore other ways to compel them to testify.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Antioch police officers who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947876/antioch-police-racist-texting-scandal-confirms-what-many-black-and-brown-residents-have-decried-for-years\">sent racist text messages\u003c/a> are seeking additional defense protections and to avoid testifying altogether, as cases questioning whether racism factored into arrests they made get their day in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as lawyers for four men accused of murder and attempted murder in a 2021 shooting sought to dismiss the charges against their clients during a hearing on Friday. They argued the messages sent by the investigating officers prove that the officers had a racial bias against the men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing is one of the first major tests of the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB2542&search_keywords=racial+justice+act\">Racial Justice Act\u003c/a>, a 2021 California law prohibiting the state from seeking a conviction based on race. It’s also the first time officers involved in the texting scandal are set to publicly speak about the fiasco.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s critical that there be a full hearing and that each officer be questioned regarding their role in these text messages and the way they handled policing in this case.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the last few months, an ongoing federal investigation into criminal wrongdoing in the Antioch Police Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/07/15/im-already-good-at-racial-profiling-new-batch-of-antioch-cops-texts-show-how-much-racism-and-policing-intertwined/\">uncovered hundreds of racist text messages\u003c/a> sent between officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/11/exclusive-inside-the-antioch-police-departments-secret-racist-texting-group/\">reported first by the East Bay Times\u003c/a>. Nearly half of the police officers in the department were named in connection to the texts, with the majority of messages being sent between 2020 and 2021. The texts used racial slurs to describe Black and Latino Antioch residents, including Police Chief Steven Ford and Mayor Lamar Thorpe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the texts talk specifically about two of the four defendants in Friday’s hearing. All four are young Black men.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the text messages, officers referred to the men using the n-word, joked about assaulting them during their arrests and shared photos of the injured men in their hospital beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police attorneys argued that the officers — subpoenaed to appear as witnesses — should have their own lawyers present to defend them. Typically, witnesses answer questions from the district attorney and lawyers for the defendants and do not have their own lawyers present. In a packed courtroom on Friday, an attorney for the officers, Nicole Pifari, said that if the court found the nine officers to be racist, they would suffer “instantaneous, far reaching and likely permanent damage” to their reputations and employment opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She requested the officers’ attorneys be allowed to ask their own questions and call their own witnesses to defend the officers during the hearing — steps she said were essential to providing the full context of the message exchanges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you are accused of something very serious, you have the right to defend yourself,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Presiding Superior Court Judge David Goldstein agreed with the principle but said the Racial Justice Act does not provide for officers to have their own defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said that if the court rules that the officers acted out of racism, it would not be the ruling that made the officers racist, but the underlying evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He denied her request, but agreed that officers’ attorneys could be present to advise their clients on whether or not to invoke the Fifth Amendment: the officers’ right to stay silent if answering a question might incriminate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, is if the officers testify at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers for Chief Ford — also subpoenaed to testify — successfully argued to excuse the chief from testimony because he joined the department after the text messages were sent. Last Wednesday, the chief \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=654987546653981&set=a.228771749275565\">announced that he will retire on Aug. 11\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, at least five of the nine subpoenaed officers are claiming they are injured and cannot make it to court, \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/07/18/antioch-claims-subpoenaed-officers-have-industrial-injuries-to-avoid-testifying-about-racism-alleged-crimes/\">according to the East Bay Times\u003c/a>. But defense attorney Carmela Caramagno disputed that, saying her investigator saw allegedly injured officers driving tractors, hosting pool parties and walking leisurely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Like, what kind of medical leave you guys are on? For accountability, you guys need to be here,” said Shrielle Cobbs, the mother of defendant Trent Allen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa Public Defender Ellen McDonnell agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a situation where officers exchanged animal memes of Black and brown people, where they explained that they were targeting Black people based on their race. And we have four young Black men on trial here,” she said on Friday. “It’s critical that there be a full hearing and that each officer be questioned regarding their role in these text messages and the way they handled policing in this case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seeing the messages was devastating for the families of the young men. Mariah Thomas is the fiancée of Eric Windom, and the cousin of Trent Allen, two of the defendants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They wanted to kill my cousin Trent Allen. Eric Windom, that’s my partner, my lover. The stuff that they said about them … it’s horrible,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearing will continue on Aug. 25 and all nine officers are under subpoena to appear. If they do not appear when called, Judge Goldstein could explore other ways to compel them to testify.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the last days of June, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954612/u-s-supreme-court-strikes-down-affirmative-action-barring-california-private-universities-from-considering-race-in-admissions\">the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action\u003c/a>, opened the door to LGBTQ+ discrimination and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954741/supreme-court-student-loan-decision-how-affects-you\">outlawed the Biden administration’s plan to forgive student loans\u003c/a>. These are monumental rulings that directly affect people of color, queer folks, prospective college students and the 43 million Americans with federal student loans — leaving many devastated and fearful for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/explaining-the-supreme-court\">our series explaining this summer’s Supreme Court decisions\u003c/a>, we’re unpacking how these rulings will affect you — and what can be done now. This explainer focuses on the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — which saw the court rule in favor of a web designer who refused to make wedding websites for gay couples — and what it could mean for discrimination against LGBTQ+ folks in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED gathered legal and judicial insight on this ruling at a panel hosted at Manny’s, a community space in San Francisco. On this panel were:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.keker.com/Lawyers/courtney-j-liss\">Courtney Liss\u003c/a>, associate at San Francisco law firm Keker, Van Nest and Peters\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.keker.com/Lawyers/Harris-Cody\">Cody Harris\u003c/a>, partner at Keker, Van Nest and Peters\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.uchastings.edu/people/matt-coles/\">Matthew Coles\u003c/a>, professor of practice at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What was the Supreme Court’s decision about LGBTQ+ discrimination?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a Christian graphic artist who designs wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">\u003cstrong>Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s liberal justices, wrote in a dissent that the decision’s effect is to “mark gays and lesbians for second-class status” and that the ruling opens the door to further discrimination. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1182121291/colorado-supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-decision\">Read more about the case from NPR\u003c/a> or read \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf\">the Supreme Court’s ruling (PDF)\u003c/a> for yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What will change for queer people in the US after this case?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This ruling has opened the door for LGBTQ+ people to be discriminated against when requesting services from certain professionals, says UC Law San Francisco’s Coles, specifically in situations involving the use of words or the creation of images and films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Smith \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf\">framed her website services as “expressive in nature” (PDF)\u003c/a> because she designed them to be customized, original and intended “to communicate a particular message.” Consequently, other professionals operating what could be termed an “expressive business” could use this ruling to deny service to LGBTQ+ people as well.[aside label='Unpacking the Recent Supreme Court Decisions' tag='explaining-the-supreme-court']Coles’ advice to folks in the community? “Find out in advance whether this business has said that it doesn’t want to serve [queer people],” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practically, the website case now means that someone like Lorie Smith, the Colorado graphic designer, can refuse service to LGBTQ+ folks “without fear of government sanction on them,” said Harris of Keker, Van Nest and Peters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris adds that hate speech laws as most people think of them — those that would make it a crime to say something hateful — don’t really exist. Hate speech is “awful and odious, and it makes me angry,” he said, “but it’s constitutional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How was this case even won?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lorie Smith, the web designer involved in the case, was challenging her home state of Colorado’s public accommodations law — the type of law that, in most states, bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Her claim was that the state was unconstitutionally forcing her to create a message she opposes because she can’t deny service to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court sided with Smith, ruling that forcing her to create websites for queer couples would violate her free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith should have lost her case on several fronts, said Coles — just one being that her website work “is commercial speech,” and not personal expression (free speech), because Smith “was being paid to write words for somebody else.” And it’s well-established, says Coles, that commercial speech is not as protected as other forms of speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court ignored this analysis of the First Amendment in its ruling, says Coles. A majority of the justices, he adds, believe that if Smith created websites for same-sex couples, she would be forced to use words to celebrate things she does not want to celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Responding to \u003ca href=\"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/supreme-court-web-designer-fake-case-b2370226.html\">lingering questions over the legitimacy of this case\u003c/a> — namely, whether the web designer in question had ever really been asked to design a site for a gay wedding — Coles said he didn’t think it’s “a fake case.” The real question, he said, is whether the designer has taken steps to “start working on websites or not — and the answer is yes. She made a pretty decent showing in the court that she’d done a lot of research. She had models together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notions of this being a “fake case” get away from the point, says Liss, of Van Nest and Peters. She stresses that this case is “an important door,” one that this court has chosen to open and go through by taking up the case in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11955692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11955692\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/GettyImages-972695008-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A rainbow flag hangs over a government building.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco-based attorney Courtney Liss advises businesses to make it very clear that they \u003cem>do\u003c/em> want to provide services to LGBTQ+ communities, with signs and clear website notices. ‘I personally do not want to go anywhere where I’m not welcome,’ she said. \u003ccite>(JasonDoiy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>What could the long-term ramifications of this case be?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Coles says that what surprised him about the Supreme Court’s decision was that it did not draw upon the clause in the Constitution that protects people’s right to practice their religion. Instead, the ruling draws upon the free speech clause, “because [Lorie Smith] was involved in expressive conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coles believes that the Court’s conservative justices disagree on how to interpret the free exercise-of-religion clause. But he cautions that there may come a day when the conservative justices privilege religious exemptions in their rulings. “And that religious exception to nondiscrimination laws is not going to be limited to expressive businesses,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Run through the list of everything that we’ve managed to cover with our civil rights laws,” Coles said, referring to protections for race, religion, gender and disability. By itself, he said, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis is “not going to completely eviscerate discrimination laws,” but he believes it “portends something in the future, which is a good deal worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How can you voice your opposition to this ruling?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court’s recent raft of rulings against LGBTQ+ rights, affirmative action and student loan forgiveness has drawn vehement criticism sharply focused on the Court’s conservative supermajority. For example, in speaking out against the student loan decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954741/supreme-court-student-loan-decision-how-affects-you\">U.S Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) called the body a “corrupt, right-wing court.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the court’s rulings has also come from within, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying that the website designer ruling saw the Supreme Court “taking steps backward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people,” she added. “The immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Guides from KQED' tag='kqed-guides']Coles notes that at the end of the student loan decision, Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent features a “very pointed dialogue” that strongly criticizes the Supreme Court for what she sees as violations of the separation of powers in their ruling — and that Justice John Roberts’ reply bristles at the suggestion that the court is not legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So I think they’re beginning to get sensitive to the notion that there’s a wide, ever-growing public belief that some of what they’re doing is not legitimate,” said Coles of the conservative justices. “It’s really important if you think what they’re doing is not legitimate, to keep voicing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss urged people to “call your congresspeople and your other elected representatives” to express that, if so. You might also feel like this “legitimacy crisis” is sharpened, she says, by “\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow\">the lack of standards that the Supreme Court holds themselves to in terms of accepting gifts\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On an everyday scale, Liss advises businesses to make it very clear that they \u003cem>do\u003c/em> want to provide services to LGBTQ+ communities, with signs and clear website notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally do not want to go anywhere where I’m not welcome,” said Liss. “I don’t want to give a single dollar to someone who wouldn’t be excited to take my very gay dollar.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting from The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "What protections do LGBTQ+ people have in the US against discrimination after the latest Supreme Court ruling? The answers — and what to do about them — are in our guide.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the last days of June, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954612/u-s-supreme-court-strikes-down-affirmative-action-barring-california-private-universities-from-considering-race-in-admissions\">the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action\u003c/a>, opened the door to LGBTQ+ discrimination and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954741/supreme-court-student-loan-decision-how-affects-you\">outlawed the Biden administration’s plan to forgive student loans\u003c/a>. These are monumental rulings that directly affect people of color, queer folks, prospective college students and the 43 million Americans with federal student loans — leaving many devastated and fearful for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/explaining-the-supreme-court\">our series explaining this summer’s Supreme Court decisions\u003c/a>, we’re unpacking how these rulings will affect you — and what can be done now. This explainer focuses on the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis — which saw the court rule in favor of a web designer who refused to make wedding websites for gay couples — and what it could mean for discrimination against LGBTQ+ folks in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED gathered legal and judicial insight on this ruling at a panel hosted at Manny’s, a community space in San Francisco. On this panel were:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.keker.com/Lawyers/courtney-j-liss\">Courtney Liss\u003c/a>, associate at San Francisco law firm Keker, Van Nest and Peters\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.keker.com/Lawyers/Harris-Cody\">Cody Harris\u003c/a>, partner at Keker, Van Nest and Peters\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.uchastings.edu/people/matt-coles/\">Matthew Coles\u003c/a>, professor of practice at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What was the Supreme Court’s decision about LGBTQ+ discrimination?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a Christian graphic artist who designs wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">\u003cstrong>Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s liberal justices, wrote in a dissent that the decision’s effect is to “mark gays and lesbians for second-class status” and that the ruling opens the door to further discrimination. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/30/1182121291/colorado-supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-decision\">Read more about the case from NPR\u003c/a> or read \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf\">the Supreme Court’s ruling (PDF)\u003c/a> for yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What will change for queer people in the US after this case?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This ruling has opened the door for LGBTQ+ people to be discriminated against when requesting services from certain professionals, says UC Law San Francisco’s Coles, specifically in situations involving the use of words or the creation of images and films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why? Smith \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf\">framed her website services as “expressive in nature” (PDF)\u003c/a> because she designed them to be customized, original and intended “to communicate a particular message.” Consequently, other professionals operating what could be termed an “expressive business” could use this ruling to deny service to LGBTQ+ people as well.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Coles’ advice to folks in the community? “Find out in advance whether this business has said that it doesn’t want to serve [queer people],” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Practically, the website case now means that someone like Lorie Smith, the Colorado graphic designer, can refuse service to LGBTQ+ folks “without fear of government sanction on them,” said Harris of Keker, Van Nest and Peters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris adds that hate speech laws as most people think of them — those that would make it a crime to say something hateful — don’t really exist. Hate speech is “awful and odious, and it makes me angry,” he said, “but it’s constitutional.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How was this case even won?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lorie Smith, the web designer involved in the case, was challenging her home state of Colorado’s public accommodations law — the type of law that, in most states, bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Her claim was that the state was unconstitutionally forcing her to create a message she opposes because she can’t deny service to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court sided with Smith, ruling that forcing her to create websites for queer couples would violate her free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith should have lost her case on several fronts, said Coles — just one being that her website work “is commercial speech,” and not personal expression (free speech), because Smith “was being paid to write words for somebody else.” And it’s well-established, says Coles, that commercial speech is not as protected as other forms of speech.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court ignored this analysis of the First Amendment in its ruling, says Coles. 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She stresses that this case is “an important door,” one that this court has chosen to open and go through by taking up the case in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11955692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11955692\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/GettyImages-972695008-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A rainbow flag hangs over a government building.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco-based attorney Courtney Liss advises businesses to make it very clear that they \u003cem>do\u003c/em> want to provide services to LGBTQ+ communities, with signs and clear website notices. ‘I personally do not want to go anywhere where I’m not welcome,’ she said. \u003ccite>(JasonDoiy/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>What could the long-term ramifications of this case be?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Coles says that what surprised him about the Supreme Court’s decision was that it did not draw upon the clause in the Constitution that protects people’s right to practice their religion. Instead, the ruling draws upon the free speech clause, “because [Lorie Smith] was involved in expressive conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coles believes that the Court’s conservative justices disagree on how to interpret the free exercise-of-religion clause. But he cautions that there may come a day when the conservative justices privilege religious exemptions in their rulings. “And that religious exception to nondiscrimination laws is not going to be limited to expressive businesses,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Run through the list of everything that we’ve managed to cover with our civil rights laws,” Coles said, referring to protections for race, religion, gender and disability. By itself, he said, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis is “not going to completely eviscerate discrimination laws,” but he believes it “portends something in the future, which is a good deal worse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How can you voice your opposition to this ruling?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court’s recent raft of rulings against LGBTQ+ rights, affirmative action and student loan forgiveness has drawn vehement criticism sharply focused on the Court’s conservative supermajority. For example, in speaking out against the student loan decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954741/supreme-court-student-loan-decision-how-affects-you\">U.S Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) called the body a “corrupt, right-wing court.”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism of the court’s rulings has also come from within, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying that the website designer ruling saw the Supreme Court “taking steps backward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people,” she added. “The immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Coles notes that at the end of the student loan decision, Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent features a “very pointed dialogue” that strongly criticizes the Supreme Court for what she sees as violations of the separation of powers in their ruling — and that Justice John Roberts’ reply bristles at the suggestion that the court is not legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So I think they’re beginning to get sensitive to the notion that there’s a wide, ever-growing public belief that some of what they’re doing is not legitimate,” said Coles of the conservative justices. “It’s really important if you think what they’re doing is not legitimate, to keep voicing that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liss urged people to “call your congresspeople and your other elected representatives” to express that, if so. You might also feel like this “legitimacy crisis” is sharpened, she says, by “\u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow\">the lack of standards that the Supreme Court holds themselves to in terms of accepting gifts\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On an everyday scale, Liss advises businesses to make it very clear that they \u003cem>do\u003c/em> want to provide services to LGBTQ+ communities, with signs and clear website notices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I personally do not want to go anywhere where I’m not welcome,” said Liss. “I don’t want to give a single dollar to someone who wouldn’t be excited to take my very gay dollar.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains reporting from The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, practical explainers and guides about COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
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