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"content": "\u003cp>We reported what we call \u003cem>Project 25\u003c/em>, focusing on young men across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ukraine\">Ukraine\u003c/a> — in Kyiv, Uzhhorod, Irpin and Odesa — whose 25th birthdays are approaching the draft age. As we spoke with them, we heard the same tension again and again: they’re torn between a sense of patriotism and the devastating reality of war, often living with profound disillusionment and fear. Many told us they have to stay busy just to avoid being consumed by thoughts of dying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Repeated ceasefire efforts and diplomatic bids to end the war have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Kyiv, Irpin and Odesa, young men described the moment the war forced them to grow up fast: signing military contracts with no expiration dates; waking to drones buzzing over the city; sleeping on floors that shook with explosions; watching friends or parents head to the front; or, like one aspiring philosopher in Kyiv, trying to write through the fear while drones swarmed overhead. Others shared the heartbreak of losing relationships, losing a sense of self or losing the lives they imagined for themselves long before turning 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there was Ivan, who fled to Europe rather than risk being drafted — a choice that cost him community, certainty and, in many ways, the identity he’d built in Ukraine. His story sits alongside those who stayed: a wounded soldier in Irpin who learned to walk again on titanium prosthetics; an aircraft engine maintenance technician in Kyiv who has remained to develop drones; a 21-year-old in Uzhhorod suddenly raising his four younger siblings after his mother was killed by Russian shelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, their decisions — to fight, to rebuild, to serve in other ways or to leave — reveal the impossible calculus facing young men on the edge of adulthood, trying to build futures for themselves and for Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ivan, 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bratislava\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The point in his life when he would have to join the army, signing a military contract without an expiration date, is coming in a few months. The pressure built until he could not bear it any longer. Ivan, who graduated from a border guard training academy, escaped across Ukraine’s border with the European Union — the border he was supposed to protect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now in Europe, he is confused and lost. He regrets his actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The West has been asking Ukraine why young men aged 18 to 25 are not being mobilized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, President Volodymyr Zelensky allowed men between the ages of 18 and 22 to travel abroad. The Polish data service revealed that more than 40,000 Ukrainian men of that age crossed into Poland in just three weeks following Zelensky’s decision in August. But Ukrainian authorities stick to their decision, thinking that giving freedom would encourage young men to stay patriotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ivan was 23 when he escaped the country, breaking the law. (He requested that his last name not be used, as he left the country illegally.) Looking back at the past year of his life in Europe, he hates the truth: he is a deserter. His girlfriend, who stayed in Ukraine, has left him.[aside postID=news_12047685 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/UkraineMahjong1.jpg']He does not have a job in Slovakia’s capital city, his new home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukraine’s state border meant a lot to Ivan. His father was a border guard. Following his father’s footsteps, Ivan joined the academy in 2019 after completing a yearlong exchange program in the United States. Ivan spent his entire four years of training for the border guard service, wanting to quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was close to quitting before the full-scale invasion, but my father convinced me to stay,” he told us in a recent interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wore his uniform when the war began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The academy students served on campus and outside at checkpoints,” he said. “All of us students were armed with rocket-propelled grenades. All of us slept with grenades. I had no idea whether and when I would be transferred to a combat unit,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was increasingly annoyed by the army rules for one and a half years of his service during the war, he said, before deserting Ukraine by jumping over a fence on the border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking back, I see that I should have stood my ground and not listened to those around me. Now that I’m in Europe, I fully understand this: here I am stuck. In Ukraine, I’m a criminal, but no one needs me here. Everything is complicated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zelensky was criticized for letting young men leave the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a rather poor decision, both from a demographic and social and political perspective. I do not consider any of the justifications I have heard to be serious,” said Oleksandr Hladun, deputy director for scientific affairs. “This age group is the most active contingent. The departure of these people abroad is a loss for the labor market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was another story in Ukraine, the story of men who remain in the country that has no choice but to fight, to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oleksandr Tolochenko, 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Irpin \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a sign on the rusty, black SUV he drove in to meet us: “Tytanovi,” which translates as titanium. When he was 21, Oleksandr dreamed of falling in love and finding his “ other half.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three draft notices arrived at once when the full-scale invasion began. Just recently, he was drinking beer with his friends, traveling to Poland and Germany to make money on construction projects, cracking jokes at family dinners or going on dates. His father and brother left their home to go to the front line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067002\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oleksandr Tolochenko stands in shorts, showing the titanium legs he received after an anti-personnel mine blast in May 2023, which cost him both limbs. Once deemed too young to serve, he volunteered anyway, survived a 17-hour evacuation and an eight-day coma, and now works with Tytanovi Rehab helping other wounded Ukrainian soldiers. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The army rejected him at first, telling him he was too young and inexperienced. After nine months in combat, his father had two heart attacks. His father’s heart was the reason that pushed Oleksandr out of his home to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could have chosen not to go to war. But it was my duty now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2023, he joined an assault battalion. His service lasted five months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On May 11, 2023, during one of our assaults, we got hit by an anti-personnel mine,” Oleksandr told us. “My left leg was blown off at the knee, and my right leg was injured,” Oleksandr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the time and place were wrong, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My evacuation to the hospital took 17 hours, because we were working in the enemy’s territory. It took too long. I was in a coma for eight days. And when I woke up, I realized that both my legs were gone. For many weeks, I had severe phantom pains in my legs as if they were still there,” he recalled.[aside postID=news_12064670 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/CAT-Geeks-of-War_img.png']The sun went down; it smelled of fall. In September, we sat down on a bench by a playground full of cheerful kids going up and down a slope. It was chilly, but Oleksandr wore shorts, so we could see his titanium prosthetic legs. His smile was shy. We were prepared to hear a gut-turning story. Nearly every Ukrainian man we had interviewed for this project told us about their deep sadness and disillusionment at losing a sense of their ordinary selves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against all odds, Oleksandr’s life story turned out to be the most uplifting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, he was transferred from hospital to hospital, rarely coming across another soldier with wounds like his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was hard for me to come to terms with why I didn’t see any other amputees. I thought I was the only one without legs; only when I met guys like me in Lviv, it eased my mind a little,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His amputation was high on his leg. No doctor could figure out how to fit him with a prosthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, “a miracle happened”: Oleksandr met the head of the Tytanovi Rehab, Vyacheslav Zaporozhets, who found sponsors for the titanium implants. Surgeons anchored his prosthesis directly to the bone. Eleven months later, Oleksandr was back on his feet, decommissioned and legally allowed to travel the world. But\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He chose to stay in Ukraine. Tytanovi Rehab gave him a job and a sense of purpose. He now works helping wounded soldiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tell them I live the best version of myself,” he said. “There are too many amputations, unfortunately. We need years of help, but our specialists become so experienced that even Western doctors come to Ukraine to learn from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukraine counts up to 100,000 amputations. Oleksandr drives his rusty SUV to hospitals scattered around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I support young people, because when I was wounded, I suffered from not knowing anything about prosthetics, what awaits me in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Ukrainian mothers have been taking their teen sons abroad, away from the war-torn country. Some have returned home “after failing to adapt to the new conditions in Europe, they realized that Europe and Ukraine were different,” Kateryna Urus, a Kyiv-based psychologist, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who are under 25 years of age, with a few years to spare before military service, hope that the fighting will end after all, before they turn 25,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mothers approach Urus, seeking her assistance in persuading their sons to leave. “The guys share with me if they don’t want to leave the country, we talk about their choices,” Urus told us. “Some teenagers now seem to feel as if they have no real prospects, no future growth here. Still, more guys under 25 are socially active; they hurry to live a full life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dmytro Prymachenko 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Night was falling. The sky above Kyiv was filled with the high-pitched buzzing of drones — another Russian attack on this city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wrapped in a blanket, Dmytro moved to his laptop on the desk by the window. Outside, naked trees waved their branches in the wind. He reread the first part of his manuscript on how to help people see value in books, thinking over ideas by his favorite authors, Umberto Eco and Albert Camus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067003\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1201px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067003\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1201\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko.jpeg 1201w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko-1153x1536.jpeg 1153w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1201px) 100vw, 1201px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Time has never felt more precious to 24-year-old Dmytro Prymachenko, a philosophy graduate who leans on absurdism as he approaches draft age and an uncertain future. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dmytro Prymachenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sipping his tea, he added a new sentence: “Books are still relevant; books are as reliable as scissors or hammers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He moved back to his mattress — he slept on the floor because of his injured back. Every time drones or missiles exploded nearby, he bounced with the mattress. He told us that on the floor, he “felt naked in his insecurity of being constantly woken up by unending booming sounds and vibrations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Time has become more valuable than ever. He needed to learn more; he needed time to finish his book. With a BA in philosophy, he thought about continuing his studies in Boston or California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his 25th birthday was six months away, and he was bound to stay in his home country. That hard decision — whether to stay or leave —he made in February 2022, right in his room. Just like today, the trees were moving their naked branches in the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deeper he analyzed Greek philosophy, the more he realized that all the events in his life were predetermined by fate and that issues highlighted in books thousands of years ago were still relevant today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to be able to say everything as it is, using common language, to be heard, to see justice even as a common man,” he told us. “It’s pretty obvious that it is not working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was one reason he decided to write his book, hoping he had enough time to finish. He was in his cozy room with his favorite octopus toy, remembering his childhood. We asked Dmytro to define his love for absurdity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot ever comprehend the absolute truth, since we are human,” he said. “Absurdism is the philosophy that allows me to function, to live despite the realization that there is no higher meaning for everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some questions were hard to ask. Yes, he was in love, but he tried not to get consumed by the feeling, since his girlfriend was in Europe and he would not like her to experience the nights full of buzzing sounds of death. And no, he was not exempt from military service. Absurdity and hard work helped him not to go insane from the pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oleksandr Zhytynskyi, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pilots and planes always fascinated him. His grandfather was a commander of the Poltava Long-Range Aviation Airfield. As a boy, he spent weekends surrounded by the “incredible atmosphere of airplanes, of freedom,” Oleksandr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He dreamed of becoming a pilot, but when he turned 17, he decided to build planes instead of flying them and went to study aircraft engine maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The war changed everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067005\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the gear he uses to fly drones, Oleksandr Zhytynskyi has stayed in Ukraine to develop new reconnaissance and FPV models with Vyriy, dedicating most of his life to the work as he prepares for what he calls a “responsible” next five years for his country. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oleksandr Zhytynskyi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the first months of the war, I thought I should be a volunteer soldier. My parents were against it. Then I realized that I could be more useful designing drones,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Oleksandr is a drone developer. Since the beginning of the war in 2022, he’s been designing new models of reconnaissance and FPV drones. He can still leave Ukraine anytime if he wants, but he chose to stay in his home city of Kyiv. In late 2022, he joined Vyriy, a Kyiv-based drone manufacturer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Oleksandr talks about his work, his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm: he made the right choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I felt that I was of no use here, I wouldn’t have stayed,” he said. He has matured faster. “I don’t have any close friends — friendship requires effort and time, which I don’t have. I have a girlfriend, parents and a job, which takes about 80% of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oleksandr studies on his own, watching Harvard lectures and reading books on engineering and management to improve his skills in assembling drones. He worries about the future of his country and grows serious when he speaks about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The next five years is a very responsible period for us. We will not be able to sort the war out for a long time. I see myself as one of those people who will sort it out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sviatoslav Chubarev, 25\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sviatoslav is tall and handsome. He is in love, and he is angry. He recently reached a dreadful point in his life: he turned 25. The ministry of sports, where he works, exempts him from military service, but the exemption is temporary, and his future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067006\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067006\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At 25, Sviatoslav Chubarev stands in the woods grappling with a temporary military exemption, a girlfriend he can’t join abroad and a mobilization system he says is rife with corruption. Working three jobs, he wishes for a Ukraine where people are free to choose their own path. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think the government made a bad decision with mobilization. If the government motivated people with a good salary and conditions, many would like to fight, I think,” he told us in an interview at a café in the center of Kyiv. He is angry with the foreign press. “Why don’t you tell your readers more about corruption in the mobilizing services?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike most young Ukrainian men, Sviatoslav is not afraid to express his opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, his school friend was picked by recruitment officers from a street in Odesa. “He had to pay an $800 bribe for them to release him,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some bribes in Odesa can be over $5,000. “This situation with mobilization is great for corruption,” Sviatoslav said. “The moment you are lifted, you pay one amount of money; once you are inside their bus, you pay more. Once they bring you to a recruitment office, you pay double.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We met with Sviatoslav when his girlfriend was on vacation abroad. Ukrainian men between 23 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, so he could not join her and stayed behind, waiting, “like a hostage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sviatoslav works three jobs: at the ministry of sports, at the World Bank and as a taxi driver at night. He wished he lived in an uncorrupted democratic state, where people had the right to express their opinion, to be free to choose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, democracy is when the government does not interfere with people’s lives. The government is failing to fight that corruption, yes. I tell you this truth, though I realize it might be bad for Ukraine’s reputation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Viacheslav Yalov, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Uzhhorod \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is young and could pack up and go abroad, but he does not even consider that option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly three years had gone by, but Viacheslav still swallowed tears telling us about the biggest tragedy in his life: his “angel” mother was mortally wounded by shrapnel in Russia’s shelling of Verkhniotoretske, Donetsk region, now occupied by Russia. She died in his arms when he was just 18.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067007\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viacheslav Yalov, second from left, poses with three of his siblings — from left, Olivia, Nicole and Tymur. After losing their mother to a Russian shelling in Donetsk when he was 18, Viacheslav became the legal guardian of his four younger siblings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mykhailo Melnychenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Furious, heartbroken and desperate, his first intention was to rush to the front and avenge his mother. His tragedy forced him to take on responsibilities that not every adult could bear — taking legal guardianship of his four underage siblings, who had no one else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to save what our mom had built,” he said. “She dedicated her life to us. I’ll do everything to keep our family for her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav received two court denials for custody of his siblings, but he didn’t give up. He eventually convinced the judge that he could be a responsible father. “I am the only one who can give them a happy childhood, the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, he moved them to the safest town in Ukraine, then he took on three jobs to support his family. We spoke with Viacheslav and his three underage siblings in a café on a Sunday morning in Uzhhorod, the westernmost city in Ukraine, bordering Slovakia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_1-scaled-e1765582964804.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viacheslav Yalov hugs his sister, Olivia, one of the four siblings he has cared for since a Russian shelling in Donetsk killed their mother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mykhailo Melnychenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav said their mother was amazing. Despite working several jobs, she always managed to look her best. He couldn’t show weakness to his children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put the children to bed, go out onto the balcony and sob with tears that I can’t describe to you. Sometimes, I don’t understand what to do next, but I keep trying,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav is ambitious. He wants to become a Ukrainian politician and is looking into enrolling in a leadership course to pursue his dreams while staying in Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he “would have trained for a military medic if it was not for his underaged, orphaned siblings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kirilo Shvets, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Odesa\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He stopped singing as the rehearsal ended and stepped out of the theater onto streets blanketed with autumn leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirilo, an opera and musical theater performer, was born and raised in Odesa, where he spent years training in arts schools and performing in theaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“War or no war, arts are the meaning of life in our family: my great-grandfather was an actor; my grandfather, my father, my uncle are all musicians,” Kirilo said in an interview backstage at Odesa’s musical comedy theater. “My uncle took me to all his performances when I was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067009\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067009\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Kirilo_Shvets-scaled-e1765583052418.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kirilo Shvets poses at the Odesa Academic Theatre of Musical Comedy. He channels his art into processing love, loss and the pressures of wartime, saying, “We are hostages of this period. But despite the war, we must live, love and give birth.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kirilo is a tenor. He performs at the Young Theater, Ukrainian Theater, Drama Theater and the Musical Comedy. “My dream is to sing Judas’ part in the \u003cem>Jesus Christ Superstar\u003c/em>,” he said, laughing. Even his laughter is musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late November, he had Romeo and Juliet on his schedule, a rock opera full of acrobatic tricks and impressive battles between the Montagues and Capulets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirilo grows serious, talking about love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, life and death. It was all close to home: his neighbor and his best friend’s brother were serving on the front line. He associated Shakespeare’s play with the reality outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Undoubtedly, there is an intertwining,” he said. “As young people, we should not experience this enmity, violence, the result of older Montagues’ and Capulets’ failures — my youth is passing during wartime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are hostages of this period. But despite the war, we must live, love and give birth, of course.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Editor’s note:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This reporting was supported by the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://iwmf.org/\">\u003cem>International Women’s Media Foundation’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative, in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Maria Kostenko\u003c/strong> is a freelance journalist who has worked with CNN since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, researching and reporting on the war. She and the CNN Worldwide Ukraine team received the Dupont Columbia Award for broadcast, documentary and online journalism. She is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Nemtsova\u003c/strong> is The Daily Beast’s Eastern Europe correspondent and a contributing writer for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. Her Ukraine reporting has also appeared in \u003cem>The Washington Post\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Newsweek\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em>, \u003cem>USA Today\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>. She is a recipient of the Persephone Miel Fellowship and the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, and is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Evelina Riabenko\u003c/strong> is a freelance journalist who has been producing and reporting for \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. In 2023, she was named a finalist for the Martin Adler Prize, part of the Rory Peck Awards. She is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As their 25th birthdays approach, young Ukrainian men wrestle with the choice to stay, fight, rebuild or flee, navigating fear, patriotism and a life interrupted by war.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We reported what we call \u003cem>Project 25\u003c/em>, focusing on young men across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ukraine\">Ukraine\u003c/a> — in Kyiv, Uzhhorod, Irpin and Odesa — whose 25th birthdays are approaching the draft age. As we spoke with them, we heard the same tension again and again: they’re torn between a sense of patriotism and the devastating reality of war, often living with profound disillusionment and fear. Many told us they have to stay busy just to avoid being consumed by thoughts of dying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Repeated ceasefire efforts and diplomatic bids to end the war have so far failed to produce a lasting settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Kyiv, Irpin and Odesa, young men described the moment the war forced them to grow up fast: signing military contracts with no expiration dates; waking to drones buzzing over the city; sleeping on floors that shook with explosions; watching friends or parents head to the front; or, like one aspiring philosopher in Kyiv, trying to write through the fear while drones swarmed overhead. Others shared the heartbreak of losing relationships, losing a sense of self or losing the lives they imagined for themselves long before turning 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then there was Ivan, who fled to Europe rather than risk being drafted — a choice that cost him community, certainty and, in many ways, the identity he’d built in Ukraine. His story sits alongside those who stayed: a wounded soldier in Irpin who learned to walk again on titanium prosthetics; an aircraft engine maintenance technician in Kyiv who has remained to develop drones; a 21-year-old in Uzhhorod suddenly raising his four younger siblings after his mother was killed by Russian shelling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, their decisions — to fight, to rebuild, to serve in other ways or to leave — reveal the impossible calculus facing young men on the edge of adulthood, trying to build futures for themselves and for Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ivan, 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Bratislava\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The point in his life when he would have to join the army, signing a military contract without an expiration date, is coming in a few months. The pressure built until he could not bear it any longer. Ivan, who graduated from a border guard training academy, escaped across Ukraine’s border with the European Union — the border he was supposed to protect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now in Europe, he is confused and lost. He regrets his actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The West has been asking Ukraine why young men aged 18 to 25 are not being mobilized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, President Volodymyr Zelensky allowed men between the ages of 18 and 22 to travel abroad. The Polish data service revealed that more than 40,000 Ukrainian men of that age crossed into Poland in just three weeks following Zelensky’s decision in August. But Ukrainian authorities stick to their decision, thinking that giving freedom would encourage young men to stay patriotic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ivan was 23 when he escaped the country, breaking the law. (He requested that his last name not be used, as he left the country illegally.) Looking back at the past year of his life in Europe, he hates the truth: he is a deserter. His girlfriend, who stayed in Ukraine, has left him.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He does not have a job in Slovakia’s capital city, his new home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukraine’s state border meant a lot to Ivan. His father was a border guard. Following his father’s footsteps, Ivan joined the academy in 2019 after completing a yearlong exchange program in the United States. Ivan spent his entire four years of training for the border guard service, wanting to quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was close to quitting before the full-scale invasion, but my father convinced me to stay,” he told us in a recent interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He wore his uniform when the war began.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The academy students served on campus and outside at checkpoints,” he said. “All of us students were armed with rocket-propelled grenades. All of us slept with grenades. I had no idea whether and when I would be transferred to a combat unit,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was increasingly annoyed by the army rules for one and a half years of his service during the war, he said, before deserting Ukraine by jumping over a fence on the border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Looking back, I see that I should have stood my ground and not listened to those around me. Now that I’m in Europe, I fully understand this: here I am stuck. In Ukraine, I’m a criminal, but no one needs me here. Everything is complicated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zelensky was criticized for letting young men leave the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a rather poor decision, both from a demographic and social and political perspective. I do not consider any of the justifications I have heard to be serious,” said Oleksandr Hladun, deputy director for scientific affairs. “This age group is the most active contingent. The departure of these people abroad is a loss for the labor market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was another story in Ukraine, the story of men who remain in the country that has no choice but to fight, to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oleksandr Tolochenko, 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Irpin \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a sign on the rusty, black SUV he drove in to meet us: “Tytanovi,” which translates as titanium. When he was 21, Oleksandr dreamed of falling in love and finding his “ other half.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Three draft notices arrived at once when the full-scale invasion began. Just recently, he was drinking beer with his friends, traveling to Poland and Germany to make money on construction projects, cracking jokes at family dinners or going on dates. His father and brother left their home to go to the front line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067002\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Tolochenko_photo_by_Caroline_Gutman-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oleksandr Tolochenko stands in shorts, showing the titanium legs he received after an anti-personnel mine blast in May 2023, which cost him both limbs. Once deemed too young to serve, he volunteered anyway, survived a 17-hour evacuation and an eight-day coma, and now works with Tytanovi Rehab helping other wounded Ukrainian soldiers. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The army rejected him at first, telling him he was too young and inexperienced. After nine months in combat, his father had two heart attacks. His father’s heart was the reason that pushed Oleksandr out of his home to fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I could have chosen not to go to war. But it was my duty now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January 2023, he joined an assault battalion. His service lasted five months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On May 11, 2023, during one of our assaults, we got hit by an anti-personnel mine,” Oleksandr told us. “My left leg was blown off at the knee, and my right leg was injured,” Oleksandr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the time and place were wrong, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My evacuation to the hospital took 17 hours, because we were working in the enemy’s territory. It took too long. I was in a coma for eight days. And when I woke up, I realized that both my legs were gone. For many weeks, I had severe phantom pains in my legs as if they were still there,” he recalled.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The sun went down; it smelled of fall. In September, we sat down on a bench by a playground full of cheerful kids going up and down a slope. It was chilly, but Oleksandr wore shorts, so we could see his titanium prosthetic legs. His smile was shy. We were prepared to hear a gut-turning story. Nearly every Ukrainian man we had interviewed for this project told us about their deep sadness and disillusionment at losing a sense of their ordinary selves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against all odds, Oleksandr’s life story turned out to be the most uplifting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, he was transferred from hospital to hospital, rarely coming across another soldier with wounds like his.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was hard for me to come to terms with why I didn’t see any other amputees. I thought I was the only one without legs; only when I met guys like me in Lviv, it eased my mind a little,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His amputation was high on his leg. No doctor could figure out how to fit him with a prosthesis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, “a miracle happened”: Oleksandr met the head of the Tytanovi Rehab, Vyacheslav Zaporozhets, who found sponsors for the titanium implants. Surgeons anchored his prosthesis directly to the bone. Eleven months later, Oleksandr was back on his feet, decommissioned and legally allowed to travel the world. But\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He chose to stay in Ukraine. Tytanovi Rehab gave him a job and a sense of purpose. He now works helping wounded soldiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tell them I live the best version of myself,” he said. “There are too many amputations, unfortunately. We need years of help, but our specialists become so experienced that even Western doctors come to Ukraine to learn from them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ukraine counts up to 100,000 amputations. Oleksandr drives his rusty SUV to hospitals scattered around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I support young people, because when I was wounded, I suffered from not knowing anything about prosthetics, what awaits me in the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many Ukrainian mothers have been taking their teen sons abroad, away from the war-torn country. Some have returned home “after failing to adapt to the new conditions in Europe, they realized that Europe and Ukraine were different,” Kateryna Urus, a Kyiv-based psychologist, said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who are under 25 years of age, with a few years to spare before military service, hope that the fighting will end after all, before they turn 25,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mothers approach Urus, seeking her assistance in persuading their sons to leave. “The guys share with me if they don’t want to leave the country, we talk about their choices,” Urus told us. “Some teenagers now seem to feel as if they have no real prospects, no future growth here. Still, more guys under 25 are socially active; they hurry to live a full life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dmytro Prymachenko 24\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Night was falling. The sky above Kyiv was filled with the high-pitched buzzing of drones — another Russian attack on this city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wrapped in a blanket, Dmytro moved to his laptop on the desk by the window. Outside, naked trees waved their branches in the wind. He reread the first part of his manuscript on how to help people see value in books, thinking over ideas by his favorite authors, Umberto Eco and Albert Camus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067003\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1201px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067003\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1201\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko.jpeg 1201w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Dmytro_Prymachenko-1153x1536.jpeg 1153w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1201px) 100vw, 1201px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Time has never felt more precious to 24-year-old Dmytro Prymachenko, a philosophy graduate who leans on absurdism as he approaches draft age and an uncertain future. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dmytro Prymachenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sipping his tea, he added a new sentence: “Books are still relevant; books are as reliable as scissors or hammers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He moved back to his mattress — he slept on the floor because of his injured back. Every time drones or missiles exploded nearby, he bounced with the mattress. He told us that on the floor, he “felt naked in his insecurity of being constantly woken up by unending booming sounds and vibrations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Time has become more valuable than ever. He needed to learn more; he needed time to finish his book. With a BA in philosophy, he thought about continuing his studies in Boston or California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But his 25th birthday was six months away, and he was bound to stay in his home country. That hard decision — whether to stay or leave —he made in February 2022, right in his room. Just like today, the trees were moving their naked branches in the wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deeper he analyzed Greek philosophy, the more he realized that all the events in his life were predetermined by fate and that issues highlighted in books thousands of years ago were still relevant today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to be able to say everything as it is, using common language, to be heard, to see justice even as a common man,” he told us. “It’s pretty obvious that it is not working.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This was one reason he decided to write his book, hoping he had enough time to finish. He was in his cozy room with his favorite octopus toy, remembering his childhood. We asked Dmytro to define his love for absurdity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We cannot ever comprehend the absolute truth, since we are human,” he said. “Absurdism is the philosophy that allows me to function, to live despite the realization that there is no higher meaning for everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some questions were hard to ask. Yes, he was in love, but he tried not to get consumed by the feeling, since his girlfriend was in Europe and he would not like her to experience the nights full of buzzing sounds of death. And no, he was not exempt from military service. Absurdity and hard work helped him not to go insane from the pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oleksandr Zhytynskyi, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pilots and planes always fascinated him. His grandfather was a commander of the Poltava Long-Range Aviation Airfield. As a boy, he spent weekends surrounded by the “incredible atmosphere of airplanes, of freedom,” Oleksandr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He dreamed of becoming a pilot, but when he turned 17, he decided to build planes instead of flying them and went to study aircraft engine maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The war changed everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067005\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Oleksandr_Zhytynskyi-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the gear he uses to fly drones, Oleksandr Zhytynskyi has stayed in Ukraine to develop new reconnaissance and FPV models with Vyriy, dedicating most of his life to the work as he prepares for what he calls a “responsible” next five years for his country. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Oleksandr Zhytynskyi)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the first months of the war, I thought I should be a volunteer soldier. My parents were against it. Then I realized that I could be more useful designing drones,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Oleksandr is a drone developer. Since the beginning of the war in 2022, he’s been designing new models of reconnaissance and FPV drones. He can still leave Ukraine anytime if he wants, but he chose to stay in his home city of Kyiv. In late 2022, he joined Vyriy, a Kyiv-based drone manufacturer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Oleksandr talks about his work, his eyes sparkle with enthusiasm: he made the right choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I felt that I was of no use here, I wouldn’t have stayed,” he said. He has matured faster. “I don’t have any close friends — friendship requires effort and time, which I don’t have. I have a girlfriend, parents and a job, which takes about 80% of my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oleksandr studies on his own, watching Harvard lectures and reading books on engineering and management to improve his skills in assembling drones. He worries about the future of his country and grows serious when he speaks about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The next five years is a very responsible period for us. We will not be able to sort the war out for a long time. I see myself as one of those people who will sort it out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sviatoslav Chubarev, 25\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kyiv\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sviatoslav is tall and handsome. He is in love, and he is angry. He recently reached a dreadful point in his life: he turned 25. The ministry of sports, where he works, exempts him from military service, but the exemption is temporary, and his future is uncertain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067006\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067006\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Sviatoslav_Chubarev-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At 25, Sviatoslav Chubarev stands in the woods grappling with a temporary military exemption, a girlfriend he can’t join abroad and a mobilization system he says is rife with corruption. Working three jobs, he wishes for a Ukraine where people are free to choose their own path. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think the government made a bad decision with mobilization. If the government motivated people with a good salary and conditions, many would like to fight, I think,” he told us in an interview at a café in the center of Kyiv. He is angry with the foreign press. “Why don’t you tell your readers more about corruption in the mobilizing services?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike most young Ukrainian men, Sviatoslav is not afraid to express his opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, his school friend was picked by recruitment officers from a street in Odesa. “He had to pay an $800 bribe for them to release him,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some bribes in Odesa can be over $5,000. “This situation with mobilization is great for corruption,” Sviatoslav said. “The moment you are lifted, you pay one amount of money; once you are inside their bus, you pay more. Once they bring you to a recruitment office, you pay double.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We met with Sviatoslav when his girlfriend was on vacation abroad. Ukrainian men between 23 and 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, so he could not join her and stayed behind, waiting, “like a hostage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sviatoslav works three jobs: at the ministry of sports, at the World Bank and as a taxi driver at night. He wished he lived in an uncorrupted democratic state, where people had the right to express their opinion, to be free to choose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me, democracy is when the government does not interfere with people’s lives. The government is failing to fight that corruption, yes. I tell you this truth, though I realize it might be bad for Ukraine’s reputation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Viacheslav Yalov, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Uzhhorod \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He is young and could pack up and go abroad, but he does not even consider that option.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly three years had gone by, but Viacheslav still swallowed tears telling us about the biggest tragedy in his life: his “angel” mother was mortally wounded by shrapnel in Russia’s shelling of Verkhniotoretske, Donetsk region, now occupied by Russia. She died in his arms when he was just 18.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067007\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viacheslav Yalov, second from left, poses with three of his siblings — from left, Olivia, Nicole and Tymur. After losing their mother to a Russian shelling in Donetsk when he was 18, Viacheslav became the legal guardian of his four younger siblings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mykhailo Melnychenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Furious, heartbroken and desperate, his first intention was to rush to the front and avenge his mother. His tragedy forced him to take on responsibilities that not every adult could bear — taking legal guardianship of his four underage siblings, who had no one else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to save what our mom had built,” he said. “She dedicated her life to us. I’ll do everything to keep our family for her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav received two court denials for custody of his siblings, but he didn’t give up. He eventually convinced the judge that he could be a responsible father. “I am the only one who can give them a happy childhood, the future,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, he moved them to the safest town in Ukraine, then he took on three jobs to support his family. We spoke with Viacheslav and his three underage siblings in a café on a Sunday morning in Uzhhorod, the westernmost city in Ukraine, bordering Slovakia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Viacheslav_Yalov_1-scaled-e1765582964804.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viacheslav Yalov hugs his sister, Olivia, one of the four siblings he has cared for since a Russian shelling in Donetsk killed their mother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mykhailo Melnychenko)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav said their mother was amazing. Despite working several jobs, she always managed to look her best. He couldn’t show weakness to his children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I put the children to bed, go out onto the balcony and sob with tears that I can’t describe to you. Sometimes, I don’t understand what to do next, but I keep trying,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viacheslav is ambitious. He wants to become a Ukrainian politician and is looking into enrolling in a leadership course to pursue his dreams while staying in Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he “would have trained for a military medic if it was not for his underaged, orphaned siblings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kirilo Shvets, 21\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Odesa\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He stopped singing as the rehearsal ended and stepped out of the theater onto streets blanketed with autumn leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirilo, an opera and musical theater performer, was born and raised in Odesa, where he spent years training in arts schools and performing in theaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“War or no war, arts are the meaning of life in our family: my great-grandfather was an actor; my grandfather, my father, my uncle are all musicians,” Kirilo said in an interview backstage at Odesa’s musical comedy theater. “My uncle took me to all his performances when I was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067009\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067009\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Kirilo_Shvets-scaled-e1765583052418.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kirilo Shvets poses at the Odesa Academic Theatre of Musical Comedy. He channels his art into processing love, loss and the pressures of wartime, saying, “We are hostages of this period. But despite the war, we must live, love and give birth.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Caroline Gutman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kirilo is a tenor. He performs at the Young Theater, Ukrainian Theater, Drama Theater and the Musical Comedy. “My dream is to sing Judas’ part in the \u003cem>Jesus Christ Superstar\u003c/em>,” he said, laughing. Even his laughter is musical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late November, he had Romeo and Juliet on his schedule, a rock opera full of acrobatic tricks and impressive battles between the Montagues and Capulets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirilo grows serious, talking about love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, life and death. It was all close to home: his neighbor and his best friend’s brother were serving on the front line. He associated Shakespeare’s play with the reality outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Undoubtedly, there is an intertwining,” he said. “As young people, we should not experience this enmity, violence, the result of older Montagues’ and Capulets’ failures — my youth is passing during wartime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are hostages of this period. But despite the war, we must live, love and give birth, of course.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Editor’s note:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This reporting was supported by the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://iwmf.org/\">\u003cem>International Women’s Media Foundation’s\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative, in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Maria Kostenko\u003c/strong> is a freelance journalist who has worked with CNN since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, researching and reporting on the war. She and the CNN Worldwide Ukraine team received the Dupont Columbia Award for broadcast, documentary and online journalism. She is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Nemtsova\u003c/strong> is The Daily Beast’s Eastern Europe correspondent and a contributing writer for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. Her Ukraine reporting has also appeared in \u003cem>The Washington Post\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Newsweek\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Rolling Stone\u003c/em>, \u003cem>USA Today\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Politico\u003c/em>. She is a recipient of the Persephone Miel Fellowship and the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award, and is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Evelina Riabenko\u003c/strong> is a freelance journalist who has been producing and reporting for \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. In 2023, she was named a finalist for the Martin Adler Prize, part of the Rory Peck Awards. She is an IWMF grantee this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "After Vision Zero, San Francisco ‘Overhauls’ Approach to Tackling Traffic Violence",
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"content": "\u003cp>About every 15 hours, someone is rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with severe injuries from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/transportation\">traffic crash \u003c/a>— a rate that medical experts describe as a public health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on months of efforts by the Board of Supervisors, and following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055304/after-vision-zero-san-francisco-looks-to-a-new-approach-to-traffic-safety\">the passage of the Street Safety Act,\u003c/a> San Francisco on Friday launched a citywide overhaul of how it handles traffic safety after its Vision Zero policy expired last year. At City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced an executive directive that formally links police enforcement with public health data and transportation engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move creates a unified command structure to address the rising number of severe injuries and fatalities on city streets and aims to bring higher levels of commitment and accountability to the issue within the city government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The injuries from these accidents and crashes are some of the hardest things I’ve ever seen as a doctor,” said Dr. Christian Rose, an emergency physician at San Francisco General Hospital who spoke at the ceremony. “If you were hit by a vehicle going 40 mph, that’d be the equivalent of falling off of a five-story building.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement followed a number of recent tragedies on San Francisco streets. Earlier this month, a 72-year-old staff member at Self-Help for the Elderly was killed in a crash in the Russian Hill neighborhood, at Mason Street and Broadway. And on Sunday, a 1-year-old was struck and killed by a car in Hayes Valley, the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone deserves to feel safe on the roads,” Anni Chung, Self-Help for the Elderly’s CEO, said. She noted that seniors make up a large portion of pedestrians in neighborhoods\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020559/can-san-francisco-stop-traffic-violence-so-far-efforts-failing\"> like Chinatown and the Tenderloin that are at high risk\u003c/a> for traffic accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12045967 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bicyclists pedaling down Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Police Department will co-chair the new Street Safety Initiative Working Group. While these agencies have collaborated in the past, Lurie’s order mandates a higher level of coordination and requires senior leaders from each department to meet regularly to align their strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lurie framed the city’s initiative as a more aggressive implementation of the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ots.ca.gov/the-safe-system/\">Safe System\u003c/a>” approach, of which zero deaths on the roads is the goal. Lurie said the policy directs streets to be built to handle human error, managing vehicle speeds so that common mistakes don’t become fatal tragedies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too often, traffic injuries are the result of predictable patterns and preventable conditions,” Lurie said. “This initiative will make streets safer for everyone … In San Francisco, safety is non-negotiable.”[aside postID=news_12058605 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/RS40878_001_KQED_MarketStCarFree_01232020_8469-qut-1020x680.jpg']However, some transportation experts and advocates have questioned whether a Safe System approach, the official strategy for roadway safety in the U.S., goes far enough to end traffic violence. One oft-cited concern is the idea of “\u003ca href=\"https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/02/26/why-safe-systems-are-not-enough-to-end-road-violence\">shared responsibility\u003c/a>” on the road for all users, a key pillar of the approach, which critics have said obscures the main causes of traffic crashes — such as speeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we actually want to save lives and reduce crashes, then we need to really put the spotlight on who has disproportionate power to save lives,” David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, told KQED earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, the city has addressed the issue of speeding through the expansion of electronic enforcement. Earlier this year, San Francisco became the first city in California to launch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058605/sf-speed-cameras-are-issuing-tons-of-tickets-and-slowing-drivers-sfmta-says\">automated speed cameras\u003c/a>. Early data from the pilot program shows a 78% reduction in speeding vehicles at camera locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christopher White, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said the shift toward automated enforcement is critical for protecting cyclists and pedestrians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is that officers cannot be everywhere all the time,” White told KQED. “Having the consistency of automated speed enforcement and automated red light enforcement has had such an impact … We want to see it expanded throughout the city, and I think that the mayor’s initiative is going to give a lot of power behind that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040819\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Traffic safety advocates from Walk San Francisco, Families for Safe Streets, and the Vision Zero Coalition gather on the steps of San Francisco City Hall on May 19, 2025, to demand the adoption of a new Vision Zero policy by July 30. The demonstrators placed white shoes on the steps, symbolizing the pedestrians who have lost their lives in traffic crashes. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>2024 was the worst year for traffic fatalities in San Francisco since 2007, with 41 deaths recorded both years. So far, in 2025, the city has seen 16 pedestrian fatalities in traffic crashes — 23 total deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary task within the first 100 days of this directive is to confirm and publish the 2025 High Injury Network — the map of the specific streets where the vast majority of severe crashes occur. Once confirmed, the city is tasked with identifying a priority list of “quick-build” projects, which use paint and physical barriers to rapidly improve safety in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within six months, the working group is required to release a Traffic Enforcement Strategy Report identifying the top crash-causing behaviors to target.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For advocates who have spent years pushing for safer streets, the directive represents a hopeful, yet overdue, step. White noted that while the Bicycle Coalition sees this as an extension of previous work, the direct involvement of the mayor’s office offers a new level of accountability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/reports/biking-and-rolling-plan-final-version\"> Biking and Rolling Plan\u003c/a> passed earlier in 2025, and we want to see that rolled out much faster,” White said. ‘It’s not addressed in the initiative until after year one. We can do a lot of the things in the Biking and Rolling plan sooner than that. It just takes the leadership and will to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>About every 15 hours, someone is rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with severe injuries from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/transportation\">traffic crash \u003c/a>— a rate that medical experts describe as a public health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building on months of efforts by the Board of Supervisors, and following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055304/after-vision-zero-san-francisco-looks-to-a-new-approach-to-traffic-safety\">the passage of the Street Safety Act,\u003c/a> San Francisco on Friday launched a citywide overhaul of how it handles traffic safety after its Vision Zero policy expired last year. At City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced an executive directive that formally links police enforcement with public health data and transportation engineering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move creates a unified command structure to address the rising number of severe injuries and fatalities on city streets and aims to bring higher levels of commitment and accountability to the issue within the city government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The injuries from these accidents and crashes are some of the hardest things I’ve ever seen as a doctor,” said Dr. Christian Rose, an emergency physician at San Francisco General Hospital who spoke at the ceremony. “If you were hit by a vehicle going 40 mph, that’d be the equivalent of falling off of a five-story building.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement followed a number of recent tragedies on San Francisco streets. Earlier this month, a 72-year-old staff member at Self-Help for the Elderly was killed in a crash in the Russian Hill neighborhood, at Mason Street and Broadway. And on Sunday, a 1-year-old was struck and killed by a car in Hayes Valley, the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone deserves to feel safe on the roads,” Anni Chung, Self-Help for the Elderly’s CEO, said. She noted that seniors make up a large portion of pedestrians in neighborhoods\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020559/can-san-francisco-stop-traffic-violence-so-far-efforts-failing\"> like Chinatown and the Tenderloin that are at high risk\u003c/a> for traffic accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12045967 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250228-WaterCitiesSF-06-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bicyclists pedaling down Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Police Department will co-chair the new Street Safety Initiative Working Group. While these agencies have collaborated in the past, Lurie’s order mandates a higher level of coordination and requires senior leaders from each department to meet regularly to align their strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lurie framed the city’s initiative as a more aggressive implementation of the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ots.ca.gov/the-safe-system/\">Safe System\u003c/a>” approach, of which zero deaths on the roads is the goal. Lurie said the policy directs streets to be built to handle human error, managing vehicle speeds so that common mistakes don’t become fatal tragedies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Too often, traffic injuries are the result of predictable patterns and preventable conditions,” Lurie said. “This initiative will make streets safer for everyone … In San Francisco, safety is non-negotiable.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>However, some transportation experts and advocates have questioned whether a Safe System approach, the official strategy for roadway safety in the U.S., goes far enough to end traffic violence. One oft-cited concern is the idea of “\u003ca href=\"https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/02/26/why-safe-systems-are-not-enough-to-end-road-violence\">shared responsibility\u003c/a>” on the road for all users, a key pillar of the approach, which critics have said obscures the main causes of traffic crashes — such as speeding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we actually want to save lives and reduce crashes, then we need to really put the spotlight on who has disproportionate power to save lives,” David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, told KQED earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, the city has addressed the issue of speeding through the expansion of electronic enforcement. Earlier this year, San Francisco became the first city in California to launch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058605/sf-speed-cameras-are-issuing-tons-of-tickets-and-slowing-drivers-sfmta-says\">automated speed cameras\u003c/a>. Early data from the pilot program shows a 78% reduction in speeding vehicles at camera locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christopher White, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said the shift toward automated enforcement is critical for protecting cyclists and pedestrians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact is that officers cannot be everywhere all the time,” White told KQED. “Having the consistency of automated speed enforcement and automated red light enforcement has had such an impact … We want to see it expanded throughout the city, and I think that the mayor’s initiative is going to give a lot of power behind that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040819\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250519-VISIONZEROACTIVISM-15-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Traffic safety advocates from Walk San Francisco, Families for Safe Streets, and the Vision Zero Coalition gather on the steps of San Francisco City Hall on May 19, 2025, to demand the adoption of a new Vision Zero policy by July 30. The demonstrators placed white shoes on the steps, symbolizing the pedestrians who have lost their lives in traffic crashes. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>2024 was the worst year for traffic fatalities in San Francisco since 2007, with 41 deaths recorded both years. So far, in 2025, the city has seen 16 pedestrian fatalities in traffic crashes — 23 total deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A primary task within the first 100 days of this directive is to confirm and publish the 2025 High Injury Network — the map of the specific streets where the vast majority of severe crashes occur. Once confirmed, the city is tasked with identifying a priority list of “quick-build” projects, which use paint and physical barriers to rapidly improve safety in high-risk areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within six months, the working group is required to release a Traffic Enforcement Strategy Report identifying the top crash-causing behaviors to target.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For advocates who have spent years pushing for safer streets, the directive represents a hopeful, yet overdue, step. White noted that while the Bicycle Coalition sees this as an extension of previous work, the direct involvement of the mayor’s office offers a new level of accountability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/reports/biking-and-rolling-plan-final-version\"> Biking and Rolling Plan\u003c/a> passed earlier in 2025, and we want to see that rolled out much faster,” White said. ‘It’s not addressed in the initiative until after year one. We can do a lot of the things in the Biking and Rolling plan sooner than that. It just takes the leadership and will to do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Students From Mixed-Status Families: What Should You Know About FAFSA This Year?",
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"content": "\u003cp>Applying for student aid can be a stressful, fraught process at the best of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the past two years, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fafsa\">FAFSA\u003c/a>) has been a particular source of anxiety for mixed-status families — when the college applicant has a Social Security number, but one or both parents don’t, due to their immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to 2023 numbers from \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantdataca.org/indicators/mixed-status-families?breakdown=by-age-group\">the California Immigrant Data Portal\u003c/a>, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after this group faced the challenge of a glitch in the 2024-25 FAFSA that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979367/fafsa-2024-the-big-error-affecting-mixed-status-families-and-what-to-do-if-youre-an-affected-student\">locked many students from mixed-status families out of their applications\u003c/a> entirely, a new concern has emerged for this year’s applicants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration crackdown\u003c/a> and news of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035735/what-we-now-know-about-the-irs-ice-tax-data-deal\">an agreement\u003c/a> between the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">mixed-status students are concerned\u003c/a> that filling out the FAFSA can put their family members at risk of deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2020-2021/appendices/appx-g-higher-education-act-1965-table-contents-august-26-2020\">Higher Education Act\u003c/a> prohibits the use of data for any purposes other than financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration showing a pair of hands holding a yellow sheet of paper that reads FAFSA. In the background, a number of figures representing family members talk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Completing FAFSA nearly always means involving your family in discussions about finances. For many students, that’s far from a simple conversation. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the network warned students and their families that it can no longer “assure” them that data submitted through the FAFSA “will continue to be protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has confirmed that ED has not and will not share information that breaks the law, we understand many families’ confidence in this statement may not be as certain under the current administration,” the network’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">guidance reads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Education did not respond to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priority application deadline for most colleges and institutions is just a few months away, on March 2, 2026. Keep reading to see what guidance is available for mixed-status families — while bearing in mind that this is not legal advice, and you should consult with an expert on your specific situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What advice do California officials have for mixed-status families about financial aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) maintains that students from mixed-status families, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/file-attachments/california_dream_act_application_1.pdf\">undocumented students\u003c/a>, can apply to the state-based \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">California DREAM Act\u003c/a> (CADAA). This application allows access to state aid but not federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We encourage all mixed-status families to use that application,” said Daisy Gonzales, the Executive Director of CSAC, during a Dec. 3 press conference. “That is California’s solution to access financial aid.”[aside postID=news_12059007 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/GettyImages-1403066184-1020x680.jpg']According to \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a>, “any information you provide on a CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) is only used to determine eligibility for state financial aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your information is never shared with the federal government or used for immigration enforcement,” the notice reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a mixed-status family chooses to complete the FAFSA, the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">emphasized\u003c/a> that they “should be prepared to provide consent to direct data exchange with the IRS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since “direct data exchange does not yet work for non-SSN contributors,” these applicants “will also be asked to manually enter their tax information from 2024,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a> explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What advice do advocates have for mixed-status families?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, there isn’t one simple answer for a student and a family, said Catherine Marroquín, senior director at \u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,” she said. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies — and identify what they have already shared in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-800x517.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1020x659.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1536x993.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to 2023 numbers from the California Immigrant Data Portal, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a student was born here, their parents are undocumented, but the parents have done taxes before or have an ITIN number, then the IRS already has their information,” Marroquín said. If families have never filed taxes or requested an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">Individual Taxpayer Identification Number\u003c/a>, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still possible to receive financial aid for college by only completing CADAA and not FAFSA, but students may need to put in extra work and look for private scholarships to make up for the loss in federal financial aid. In fact, Mission Graduates is even “encouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students — like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccsf.edu/free-city\">City College of San Francisco\u003c/a> — and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín said that programs like hers want to emphasize “power, not panic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we prepare our families?” she said. “For them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they’re making … this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Marroquín recommended consulting a spreadsheet of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EDEaggHiMvXk1Vdg-34T_Njwgfw9GzXzaklS_mgP0LE/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">aid available to mixed-status and undocumented families\u003c/a> created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising also has a list of \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resource/list-of-scholarships-and-fellowships/\">scholarships and fellowships\u003c/a> that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places you can find support include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://firstgenempower.org/advising-students-ca\">First Gen Empower\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">California Student Aid Commission’s guidance\u003c/a> for mixed-status families\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://contigoed.org/blog/supportingmixedstatusfamilies\">ContingoEd\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resources?_sft_topics=higher-education\">Immigrants Rising\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Applying for student aid can be a stressful, fraught process at the best of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the past two years, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fafsa\">FAFSA\u003c/a>) has been a particular source of anxiety for mixed-status families — when the college applicant has a Social Security number, but one or both parents don’t, due to their immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to 2023 numbers from \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantdataca.org/indicators/mixed-status-families?breakdown=by-age-group\">the California Immigrant Data Portal\u003c/a>, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after this group faced the challenge of a glitch in the 2024-25 FAFSA that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979367/fafsa-2024-the-big-error-affecting-mixed-status-families-and-what-to-do-if-youre-an-affected-student\">locked many students from mixed-status families out of their applications\u003c/a> entirely, a new concern has emerged for this year’s applicants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration crackdown\u003c/a> and news of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035735/what-we-now-know-about-the-irs-ice-tax-data-deal\">an agreement\u003c/a> between the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">mixed-status students are concerned\u003c/a> that filling out the FAFSA can put their family members at risk of deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2020-2021/appendices/appx-g-higher-education-act-1965-table-contents-august-26-2020\">Higher Education Act\u003c/a> prohibits the use of data for any purposes other than financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration showing a pair of hands holding a yellow sheet of paper that reads FAFSA. In the background, a number of figures representing family members talk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Completing FAFSA nearly always means involving your family in discussions about finances. For many students, that’s far from a simple conversation. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the network warned students and their families that it can no longer “assure” them that data submitted through the FAFSA “will continue to be protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has confirmed that ED has not and will not share information that breaks the law, we understand many families’ confidence in this statement may not be as certain under the current administration,” the network’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">guidance reads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Education did not respond to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priority application deadline for most colleges and institutions is just a few months away, on March 2, 2026. Keep reading to see what guidance is available for mixed-status families — while bearing in mind that this is not legal advice, and you should consult with an expert on your specific situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What advice do California officials have for mixed-status families about financial aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) maintains that students from mixed-status families, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/file-attachments/california_dream_act_application_1.pdf\">undocumented students\u003c/a>, can apply to the state-based \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">California DREAM Act\u003c/a> (CADAA). This application allows access to state aid but not federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We encourage all mixed-status families to use that application,” said Daisy Gonzales, the Executive Director of CSAC, during a Dec. 3 press conference. “That is California’s solution to access financial aid.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a>, “any information you provide on a CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) is only used to determine eligibility for state financial aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your information is never shared with the federal government or used for immigration enforcement,” the notice reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a mixed-status family chooses to complete the FAFSA, the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">emphasized\u003c/a> that they “should be prepared to provide consent to direct data exchange with the IRS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since “direct data exchange does not yet work for non-SSN contributors,” these applicants “will also be asked to manually enter their tax information from 2024,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a> explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What advice do advocates have for mixed-status families?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, there isn’t one simple answer for a student and a family, said Catherine Marroquín, senior director at \u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,” she said. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies — and identify what they have already shared in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-800x517.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1020x659.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1536x993.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to 2023 numbers from the California Immigrant Data Portal, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a student was born here, their parents are undocumented, but the parents have done taxes before or have an ITIN number, then the IRS already has their information,” Marroquín said. If families have never filed taxes or requested an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">Individual Taxpayer Identification Number\u003c/a>, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still possible to receive financial aid for college by only completing CADAA and not FAFSA, but students may need to put in extra work and look for private scholarships to make up for the loss in federal financial aid. In fact, Mission Graduates is even “encouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students — like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccsf.edu/free-city\">City College of San Francisco\u003c/a> — and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín said that programs like hers want to emphasize “power, not panic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we prepare our families?” she said. “For them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they’re making … this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Marroquín recommended consulting a spreadsheet of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EDEaggHiMvXk1Vdg-34T_Njwgfw9GzXzaklS_mgP0LE/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">aid available to mixed-status and undocumented families\u003c/a> created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising also has a list of \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resource/list-of-scholarships-and-fellowships/\">scholarships and fellowships\u003c/a> that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places you can find support include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://firstgenempower.org/advising-students-ca\">First Gen Empower\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">California Student Aid Commission’s guidance\u003c/a> for mixed-status families\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://contigoed.org/blog/supportingmixedstatusfamilies\">ContingoEd\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resources?_sft_topics=higher-education\">Immigrants Rising\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With federal health care subsidies set to expire, Democrats are pushing to make next year’s midterm elections a referendum on Republicans’ approach to health care. Part of their strategy is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060682/california-at-forefront-as-democrats-tap-doctors-for-high-stakes-house-races\">recruiting doctors to run for office\u003c/a> in 2026. Scott and Marisa talk with Guy about this tactic and how it’s playing out in two key California congressional races. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains and Rep. Ami Bera are two California doctors running in GOP-held seats seen as key to Democrats’ chances of flipping the House.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With federal health care subsidies set to expire, Democrats are pushing to make next year’s midterm elections a referendum on Republicans’ approach to health care. Part of their strategy is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060682/california-at-forefront-as-democrats-tap-doctors-for-high-stakes-house-races\">recruiting doctors to run for office\u003c/a> in 2026. Scott and Marisa talk with Guy about this tactic and how it’s playing out in two key California congressional races. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tens of thousands of student loan borrowers who say their schools misled them may soon find out whether that debt will be cleared after a Thursday ruling from a federal judge in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup denied the Department of Education’s request for an 18-month deadline extension, as the agency grapples with roughly 250,000 applications for student loan relief, originally filed in the latter half of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think [Alsup]’s really come to see the way that the system has failed and that there are obligations in the law that are put on the people with power and authority, and they can ignore them and just leave students and individuals holding the bag,” said Eileen Connor, executive director for the Project on Predatory Student Lending and co-counsel for borrowers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling stems from a class-action lawsuit by plaintiffs who claimed the Department of Education illegally delayed processing or improperly denied hundreds of thousands of borrower defense claims, a process that allows federal loans to be wiped out if a school engaged in misconduct or the student was misled when applying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a settlement reached in June 2022, the Department of Education was expected to meet a Jan. 28, 2026, deadline to decide on applications filed between late June and mid-November of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup ruled that the government must abide by that looming deadline for applicants who attended schools with previous evidence of misconduct, or clear the debt entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11974333 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation.jpg\" alt=\"A tight shot captured from behind of hundreds of students in blue and yellow graduation caps sitting down.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nearly 43 million individuals — one in six adult Americans — have federal student loan debt. \u003ccite>(Vanessa Rancano/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For applicants from any other schools, Alsup granted the government an extension to April 15, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Department of Education said it is still evaluating the impact of Alsup’s order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We remain committed to doing the right thing for students, families, and taxpayers,” Press Secretary Ellen Keast said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alice Panzo is a clinical psychologist who racked up roughly $250,000 in loans attending the for-profit, and now-defunct, Argosy University for her graduate degree between 2009 and 2014.[aside postID=news_12065967 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/IMG_1280-2000x1500.jpg']“What I was sold on when I accepted and started attending was not at all what the program was,” Panzo said. “It was promises about an [American Psychological Association] accredited internship is guaranteed coming out of our program. That was a lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the years since graduating, Panzo said compounding interest ballooned her debt to roughly $400,000, despite making consistent payments. She applied for borrower defense in 2022 and has been waiting for a decision ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been literally waiting in limbo,” Panzo said. “My husband and I have put off pursuing IVF until we know … it seems irresponsible to start doing that if we are going to have to pay all of these loans back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Panzo said the debt has ruined her credit score.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When her father died last month, Panzo said she didn’t qualify for a low-interest loan to cover the funeral expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, I was going to find whatever way I could, whether this is wise or not, to have a funeral for my father. So, I ended up having to take out an embarrassingly high-interest rate loan just to cover those expenses,” Panzo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students on campus at Santa Clara University on Nov. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Argosy was among the list of roughly 150 schools with known misconduct allegations, so Panzo said she expects to learn the fate of her debt in just a few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s incredibly comforting,” Panzo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panzo acknowledged that the government could choose to deny her application, meaning she will have to pay down that roughly $400,000, but she said it’s better than having to live with the uncertainty.[aside postID=news_12063723 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-01-KQED.jpg']Though the government is now working to review the applications in this group by the established deadlines, new applications continue to pour in from other students claiming to have been defrauded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court documents, 250,000 applications for borrower defense were filed between late 2022, after the group covered by the ruling, and May 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connor, the co-counsel for borrowers, expressed concern that, without significant change, the department will fall behind again, leaving new claimants in limbo for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This settlement was meant to put leverage and pressure onto the department to stand up a system that would be able to handle the volume of borrower defense applications and force other reforms,” Connor said. “I don’t have confidence that that message has quite gotten through yet or that those reforms have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the contrary, Connor said the problem might be worsened by cuts and massive layoffs as part of the Trump administration’s “efficiency” initiative this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem of fraud is only going to grow, because there’s no enforcement happening at the Department of Education right now,” Connor said. “It’s a failure on a very large scale, and it’s going to hurt a lot of people. And some people will make money off of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tens of thousands of student loan borrowers who say their schools misled them may soon find out whether that debt will be cleared after a Thursday ruling from a federal judge in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge William Alsup denied the Department of Education’s request for an 18-month deadline extension, as the agency grapples with roughly 250,000 applications for student loan relief, originally filed in the latter half of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think [Alsup]’s really come to see the way that the system has failed and that there are obligations in the law that are put on the people with power and authority, and they can ignore them and just leave students and individuals holding the bag,” said Eileen Connor, executive director for the Project on Predatory Student Lending and co-counsel for borrowers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling stems from a class-action lawsuit by plaintiffs who claimed the Department of Education illegally delayed processing or improperly denied hundreds of thousands of borrower defense claims, a process that allows federal loans to be wiped out if a school engaged in misconduct or the student was misled when applying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of a settlement reached in June 2022, the Department of Education was expected to meet a Jan. 28, 2026, deadline to decide on applications filed between late June and mid-November of 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alsup ruled that the government must abide by that looming deadline for applicants who attended schools with previous evidence of misconduct, or clear the debt entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11974333 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation.jpg\" alt=\"A tight shot captured from behind of hundreds of students in blue and yellow graduation caps sitting down.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/Graduation-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nearly 43 million individuals — one in six adult Americans — have federal student loan debt. \u003ccite>(Vanessa Rancano/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For applicants from any other schools, Alsup granted the government an extension to April 15, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, the Department of Education said it is still evaluating the impact of Alsup’s order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We remain committed to doing the right thing for students, families, and taxpayers,” Press Secretary Ellen Keast said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alice Panzo is a clinical psychologist who racked up roughly $250,000 in loans attending the for-profit, and now-defunct, Argosy University for her graduate degree between 2009 and 2014.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What I was sold on when I accepted and started attending was not at all what the program was,” Panzo said. “It was promises about an [American Psychological Association] accredited internship is guaranteed coming out of our program. That was a lie.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the years since graduating, Panzo said compounding interest ballooned her debt to roughly $400,000, despite making consistent payments. She applied for borrower defense in 2022 and has been waiting for a decision ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been literally waiting in limbo,” Panzo said. “My husband and I have put off pursuing IVF until we know … it seems irresponsible to start doing that if we are going to have to pay all of these loans back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Panzo said the debt has ruined her credit score.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When her father died last month, Panzo said she didn’t qualify for a low-interest loan to cover the funeral expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Obviously, I was going to find whatever way I could, whether this is wise or not, to have a funeral for my father. So, I ended up having to take out an embarrassingly high-interest rate loan just to cover those expenses,” Panzo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12063651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12063651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251110-COLLEGE-STUDENTS-CALFRESH-MD-07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students on campus at Santa Clara University on Nov. 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Argosy was among the list of roughly 150 schools with known misconduct allegations, so Panzo said she expects to learn the fate of her debt in just a few weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s incredibly comforting,” Panzo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panzo acknowledged that the government could choose to deny her application, meaning she will have to pay down that roughly $400,000, but she said it’s better than having to live with the uncertainty.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Though the government is now working to review the applications in this group by the established deadlines, new applications continue to pour in from other students claiming to have been defrauded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to court documents, 250,000 applications for borrower defense were filed between late 2022, after the group covered by the ruling, and May 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connor, the co-counsel for borrowers, expressed concern that, without significant change, the department will fall behind again, leaving new claimants in limbo for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This settlement was meant to put leverage and pressure onto the department to stand up a system that would be able to handle the volume of borrower defense applications and force other reforms,” Connor said. “I don’t have confidence that that message has quite gotten through yet or that those reforms have happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the contrary, Connor said the problem might be worsened by cuts and massive layoffs as part of the Trump administration’s “efficiency” initiative this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem of fraud is only going to grow, because there’s no enforcement happening at the Department of Education right now,” Connor said. “It’s a failure on a very large scale, and it’s going to hurt a lot of people. And some people will make money off of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "trumps-ai-order-provokes-pushback-from-california-officials-and-consumer-advocates",
"title": "Trump’s AI Order Provokes Pushback from California Officials and Consumer Advocates",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the last decade, California has passed 42 laws to regulate artificial intelligence, more than any other state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report\">Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI\u003c/a>. So it comes as no surprise that state leaders reacted with ire to President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/eliminating-state-law-obstruction-of-national-artificial-intelligence-policy/\">executive order\u003c/a> slapping down state efforts to regulate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clash highlights the growing friction between California’s push for consumer protections and the tech industry’s efforts to neutralize regulation. The executive order follows \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-silicon-valley-campaign-to-win-trump-over-on-ai-regulation-214bd6bd\">previous failures\u003c/a> led by Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, now the president’s AI and crypto advisor, to pass a moratorium on state AI regulation through Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy — they’re running a con. And every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a statement on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an earlier draft of the order circulated in Washington, critics warned it would neuter state laws designed to protect children and adults from the more predatory forms of commercial AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s executive order echoed talking points articulated by Silicon Valley leaders, including calls for a uniform federal regulatory framework, and concerns that state regulations could slow the pace of AI innovation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“POTUS stepping in creates space for builders to focus on innovation while Congress finishes the job,”\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/Collin_McCune/status/1999264399459066212?s=20\"> wrote\u003c/a> Collin McCune, who leads government affairs for the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is among the companies that have spent tens of millions of dollars to block or weaken Congressional action. “Now lawmakers have to act. Our standing in the global AI race—and the direct benefits Americans will see from it—depend on it,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1999257391356125348\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry push to get the White House to supersede state legislation is “shortsighted,” said State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, who has worked to pass several of California’s state bills governing AI. “I think they’re going to pay the price in the long run.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just how big of an effect the order will have on California’s AI regulations is unclear. It includes exemptions for laws that cover child safety, data center infrastructure, state government use of AI and “other topics as shall be determined.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is going to sow massive confusion in the industry,” Becker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becker is wondering about the future of several AI bills he co-authored, including one regulating AI companion chatbots, due to go into effect in January, which Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/13/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-further-strengthen-californias-leadership-in-protecting-children-online/\">signed\u003c/a> into law as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059714/newsom-vetoes-most-watched-childrens-ai-bill-signs-16-others-targeting-tech\">broader package\u003c/a> of online safety and emerging-tech protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is that affected by this? Because there’s a big part of it that deals with kids and chatbots, but there were parts of the bill that dealt with other things,” Becker said.[aside postID=forum_2010101912169 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/11/GettyImages-2203864303-2000x1333.jpg']The executive order is widely expected to prompt legal challenges because only Congress has the authority to override state laws. Speaking in Sacramento on Friday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said it was too early to determine any legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where it’s headed, and what it intends to do, raises great concerns and flags. But we don’t sue until there’s action that we can take. Sometimes that’s upon the issuance of the executive order. Sometimes it’s later,” said Bonta, whose office has sued the Trump administration 49 times this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s measured stance contrasts with state lawmakers who see imminent danger in this latest move from the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“President Trump’s executive order is a dangerous attack on states’ constitutional authority to protect our residents from urgent AI harms,” wrote Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, who has authored multiple AI bills regulating everything from algorithmic discrimination and transparency to protections for children and Hollywood creatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the tech industry lobbies for deregulation, women are being victimized by AI-powered nudification apps, artists and creators are having their livelihoods cannibalized without notice, deepfakes are being weaponized for harassment and fraud, and AI systems are perpetuating discrimination in housing, employment, and lending. These aren’t theoretical risks— they’re happening now and demand action,” Bauer-Kahan wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not alone in its efforts to regulate AI at the state level. This year, all 50 states and territories introduced AI legislation and 38 states adopted about 100 laws, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/as-ai-tools-become-commonplace-so-do-concerns\">National Conference of State Legislatures\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This executive order is an outrageous betrayal of the states that, as Congress has stalled, have worked tirelessly to protect their residents from the very real risks of AI,” wrote James Steyer, head of Common Sense Media. The advocacy group has sponsored state bills in California and elsewhere. “Stripping states of their constitutional rights to protect their residents from unsafe AI — while holding critical broadband funding hostage, no less — erases the progress they are making and puts lives in danger,” Steyer wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "President Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to challenge, preempt or otherwise neutralize state AI rules is widely seen as a win for Silicon Valley companies that lobbied against regulation, but blowback is expected imminently.\r\n",
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"description": "President Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to challenge, preempt or otherwise neutralize state AI rules is widely seen as a win for Silicon Valley companies that lobbied against regulation, but blowback is expected imminently.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the last decade, California has passed 42 laws to regulate artificial intelligence, more than any other state, according to \u003ca href=\"https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report\">Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI\u003c/a>. So it comes as no surprise that state leaders reacted with ire to President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/eliminating-state-law-obstruction-of-national-artificial-intelligence-policy/\">executive order\u003c/a> slapping down state efforts to regulate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The clash highlights the growing friction between California’s push for consumer protections and the tech industry’s efforts to neutralize regulation. The executive order follows \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-silicon-valley-campaign-to-win-trump-over-on-ai-regulation-214bd6bd\">previous failures\u003c/a> led by Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, now the president’s AI and crypto advisor, to pass a moratorium on state AI regulation through Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy — they’re running a con. And every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a statement on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an earlier draft of the order circulated in Washington, critics warned it would neuter state laws designed to protect children and adults from the more predatory forms of commercial AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s executive order echoed talking points articulated by Silicon Valley leaders, including calls for a uniform federal regulatory framework, and concerns that state regulations could slow the pace of AI innovation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“POTUS stepping in creates space for builders to focus on innovation while Congress finishes the job,”\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/Collin_McCune/status/1999264399459066212?s=20\"> wrote\u003c/a> Collin McCune, who leads government affairs for the Menlo Park-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is among the companies that have spent tens of millions of dollars to block or weaken Congressional action. “Now lawmakers have to act. Our standing in the global AI race—and the direct benefits Americans will see from it—depend on it,” he added.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The industry push to get the White House to supersede state legislation is “shortsighted,” said State Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, who has worked to pass several of California’s state bills governing AI. “I think they’re going to pay the price in the long run.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just how big of an effect the order will have on California’s AI regulations is unclear. It includes exemptions for laws that cover child safety, data center infrastructure, state government use of AI and “other topics as shall be determined.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is going to sow massive confusion in the industry,” Becker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becker is wondering about the future of several AI bills he co-authored, including one regulating AI companion chatbots, due to go into effect in January, which Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/13/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-further-strengthen-californias-leadership-in-protecting-children-online/\">signed\u003c/a> into law as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059714/newsom-vetoes-most-watched-childrens-ai-bill-signs-16-others-targeting-tech\">broader package\u003c/a> of online safety and emerging-tech protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is that affected by this? Because there’s a big part of it that deals with kids and chatbots, but there were parts of the bill that dealt with other things,” Becker said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The executive order is widely expected to prompt legal challenges because only Congress has the authority to override state laws. Speaking in Sacramento on Friday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said it was too early to determine any legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Where it’s headed, and what it intends to do, raises great concerns and flags. But we don’t sue until there’s action that we can take. Sometimes that’s upon the issuance of the executive order. Sometimes it’s later,” said Bonta, whose office has sued the Trump administration 49 times this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bonta’s measured stance contrasts with state lawmakers who see imminent danger in this latest move from the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“President Trump’s executive order is a dangerous attack on states’ constitutional authority to protect our residents from urgent AI harms,” wrote Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, who has authored multiple AI bills regulating everything from algorithmic discrimination and transparency to protections for children and Hollywood creatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the tech industry lobbies for deregulation, women are being victimized by AI-powered nudification apps, artists and creators are having their livelihoods cannibalized without notice, deepfakes are being weaponized for harassment and fraud, and AI systems are perpetuating discrimination in housing, employment, and lending. These aren’t theoretical risks— they’re happening now and demand action,” Bauer-Kahan wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is not alone in its efforts to regulate AI at the state level. This year, all 50 states and territories introduced AI legislation and 38 states adopted about 100 laws, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/as-ai-tools-become-commonplace-so-do-concerns\">National Conference of State Legislatures\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This executive order is an outrageous betrayal of the states that, as Congress has stalled, have worked tirelessly to protect their residents from the very real risks of AI,” wrote James Steyer, head of Common Sense Media. The advocacy group has sponsored state bills in California and elsewhere. “Stripping states of their constitutional rights to protect their residents from unsafe AI — while holding critical broadband funding hostage, no less — erases the progress they are making and puts lives in danger,” Steyer wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pentagon Diverted $2 Billion of Military Spending to Immigration Enforcement, Democrats Say",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Bay Area lawmaker is among a group of Democrats who say the Pentagon has diverted more than $2 billion in military funds toward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058799/trumps-national-guard-moves-are-part-of-a-dangerous-plan-california-ag-warns\">the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement\u003c/a> agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/john-garamendi\">Rep. John Garamendi, D-Fairfield,\u003c/a> whose district includes Travis Air Force Base, on Thursday said deploying soldiers and funding to the Southern border undermines national security and threatens military readiness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>The [Army’s] 101st Division, which is one of the three divisions that we keep always ready to go in a moment’s notice, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.northcom.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Article/4323057/joint-task-forcesouthern-border-conducts-transfer-of-authority-from-10th-mounta/\">diverted\u003c/a> to border activities,” said Garamendi, who serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “So the management, the infrastructure, the logistics — all of that is totally disrupted. And they are not prepared to depart at a moment’s notice to some urgency around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/cost_report_on_diverting_military_resources_for_immigration_enforcement.pdf\">review \u003c/a>of Pentagon border funding, co-authored by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and nine other members of Congress, found that the Department of Defense has committed $1.3 billion for border enforcement, including troops and wall construction. And the agency’s budget \u003ca href=\"https://comptroller.war.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2026/FY2026_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf\">request\u003c/a> for fiscal year 2026 indicated plans to spend an additional $5 billion on southern border operations alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also highlighted the Pentagon’s commitment to spend:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$250 million to deploy troops in U.S. cities, aiding immigration operations\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$420 million for detention operations on military bases, including Guantanamo\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$55 million to reassign military lawyers as immigration judges\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$40 million for air transport of detainees, including deportation flights\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“What is clear is that the public can expect DoD to spend billions more on immigration enforcement in the near future,” the report stated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democrats called the diversion of funds a waste of taxpayer resources and “baffling,” in light of the Republican-controlled Congress’s unprecedented $170 billion allocation to the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037936\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A KC-10 Extender is parked on the ramp as a C-5M Super Galaxy takes off at Travis Air Force Base, California, on March 16, 2017. \u003ccite>(Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year, Garamendi has strenuously resisted the Pentagon’s use of military aircraft for deportation flights, the use of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for immigration detention, and a proposal — first reported by KQED — to build \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037889/trump-administration-considers-immigration-detention-bay-area-military-base-records-show\">an immigration detention center at Travis\u003c/a>. After he and North Bay Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson raised questions, Garamendi said military officials told them the plan had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055651/trump-administrations-plans-for-ice-detention-on-bay-area-military-base-are-on-hold\">put on hold\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawmaker also said he believes redirecting troops to immigration efforts at the border and in cities such as Los Angeles is a violation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066202/california-renews-push-to-bring-national-guard-back-under-newsoms-command\">the Posse Comitatus Act\u003c/a>, an 1878 law that limits the use of military personnel to police domestic laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things we’ve learned about the Trump administration is they don’t much care what the law is. They simply will do what they want to do, regardless of the law. It’s kind of like, ‘catch me if you can,’” he said\u003cem>.\u003c/em> “We’re gonna call it out. We’re gonna say it’s illegal. It’s the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.”[aside postID=news_12066492 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240212-ImmigrationCourt-31-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']The Defense Department has not addressed the question of legality. But in a statement, Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson affirmed that the Pentagon is committing resources to immigration efforts. With a nearly $1 trillion defense budget, there’s plenty of money to go around, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operations with the Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t be necessary if Joe Biden didn’t turn the Southern Border into a national security threat, but this administration is proud to fix the problem Democrats started,” she said. “Spending allocated money on one mission does not mean other missions become depleted. That’s ludicrous and just plain stupid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Dec. 9 \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/cover_letter_to_pentagon_on_immigration_deployment_costs_report.pdf\">letter\u003c/a>, the Democrats shared the report with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and asked a series of pointed questions about how the military funds are being used. They also cited news reports that the deployments in support of Homeland Security operations are hurting troop morale and raising concerns about retention and recruitment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar deployments during the first Trump administration led to higher instances of alcohol and drug abuse amongst servicemembers assigned to these missions, and potentially contributed to several tragic suicides,” the letter said. “We urge you to uphold the commitment you made to the Senate during your confirmation process and stop using the military for these political stunts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padilla noted that the report comes on the heels of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066625/federal-judge-orders-trump-to-return-national-guard-troops-in-la-to-state-control\">federal judge’s ruling on \u003c/a>Wednesday ordering the Trump administration to end the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles and return the federalized troops to California’s control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a \u003ca href=\"https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/to-receive-testimony-on-the-administrations-deployment-of-the-national-guard-across-the-united-states\">hearing\u003c/a> on the deployment of the National Guard across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A new investigation, led by Bay Area Rep. John Garamendi and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, says the President’s immigration agenda may come at the cost of military readiness and morale. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Bay Area lawmaker is among a group of Democrats who say the Pentagon has diverted more than $2 billion in military funds toward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058799/trumps-national-guard-moves-are-part-of-a-dangerous-plan-california-ag-warns\">the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement\u003c/a> agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/john-garamendi\">Rep. John Garamendi, D-Fairfield,\u003c/a> whose district includes Travis Air Force Base, on Thursday said deploying soldiers and funding to the Southern border undermines national security and threatens military readiness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>The [Army’s] 101st Division, which is one of the three divisions that we keep always ready to go in a moment’s notice, has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.northcom.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Article/4323057/joint-task-forcesouthern-border-conducts-transfer-of-authority-from-10th-mounta/\">diverted\u003c/a> to border activities,” said Garamendi, who serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “So the management, the infrastructure, the logistics — all of that is totally disrupted. And they are not prepared to depart at a moment’s notice to some urgency around the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/cost_report_on_diverting_military_resources_for_immigration_enforcement.pdf\">review \u003c/a>of Pentagon border funding, co-authored by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and nine other members of Congress, found that the Department of Defense has committed $1.3 billion for border enforcement, including troops and wall construction. And the agency’s budget \u003ca href=\"https://comptroller.war.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/FY2026/FY2026_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf\">request\u003c/a> for fiscal year 2026 indicated plans to spend an additional $5 billion on southern border operations alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also highlighted the Pentagon’s commitment to spend:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$250 million to deploy troops in U.S. cities, aiding immigration operations\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$420 million for detention operations on military bases, including Guantanamo\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$55 million to reassign military lawyers as immigration judges\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$40 million for air transport of detainees, including deportation flights\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“What is clear is that the public can expect DoD to spend billions more on immigration enforcement in the near future,” the report stated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Democrats called the diversion of funds a waste of taxpayer resources and “baffling,” in light of the Republican-controlled Congress’s unprecedented $170 billion allocation to the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037936\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037936\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/TravisAirForceBaseGetty2-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A KC-10 Extender is parked on the ramp as a C-5M Super Galaxy takes off at Travis Air Force Base, California, on March 16, 2017. \u003ccite>(Hum Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year, Garamendi has strenuously resisted the Pentagon’s use of military aircraft for deportation flights, the use of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for immigration detention, and a proposal — first reported by KQED — to build \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037889/trump-administration-considers-immigration-detention-bay-area-military-base-records-show\">an immigration detention center at Travis\u003c/a>. After he and North Bay Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson raised questions, Garamendi said military officials told them the plan had been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055651/trump-administrations-plans-for-ice-detention-on-bay-area-military-base-are-on-hold\">put on hold\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawmaker also said he believes redirecting troops to immigration efforts at the border and in cities such as Los Angeles is a violation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066202/california-renews-push-to-bring-national-guard-back-under-newsoms-command\">the Posse Comitatus Act\u003c/a>, an 1878 law that limits the use of military personnel to police domestic laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the things we’ve learned about the Trump administration is they don’t much care what the law is. They simply will do what they want to do, regardless of the law. It’s kind of like, ‘catch me if you can,’” he said\u003cem>.\u003c/em> “We’re gonna call it out. We’re gonna say it’s illegal. It’s the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Defense Department has not addressed the question of legality. But in a statement, Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson affirmed that the Pentagon is committing resources to immigration efforts. With a nearly $1 trillion defense budget, there’s plenty of money to go around, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operations with the Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t be necessary if Joe Biden didn’t turn the Southern Border into a national security threat, but this administration is proud to fix the problem Democrats started,” she said. “Spending allocated money on one mission does not mean other missions become depleted. That’s ludicrous and just plain stupid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a Dec. 9 \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/cover_letter_to_pentagon_on_immigration_deployment_costs_report.pdf\">letter\u003c/a>, the Democrats shared the report with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and asked a series of pointed questions about how the military funds are being used. They also cited news reports that the deployments in support of Homeland Security operations are hurting troop morale and raising concerns about retention and recruitment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Similar deployments during the first Trump administration led to higher instances of alcohol and drug abuse amongst servicemembers assigned to these missions, and potentially contributed to several tragic suicides,” the letter said. “We urge you to uphold the commitment you made to the Senate during your confirmation process and stop using the military for these political stunts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Padilla noted that the report comes on the heels of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066625/federal-judge-orders-trump-to-return-national-guard-troops-in-la-to-state-control\">federal judge’s ruling on \u003c/a>Wednesday ordering the Trump administration to end the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles and return the federalized troops to California’s control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a \u003ca href=\"https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/to-receive-testimony-on-the-administrations-deployment-of-the-national-guard-across-the-united-states\">hearing\u003c/a> on the deployment of the National Guard across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘A Morale Bomb’: National Park Workers Face Wage Cuts and 'Dubiously Legal' Review System",
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"content": "\u003cp>As National Park Service leaders grapple with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054083/yosemite-sequoia-and-kings-canyon-workers-unionize-amid-fears-of-further-firings\"> reduced staffing\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065920/trump-orders-dei-out-of-national-park-bookstores\">restrictive, ideological policies\u003c/a>, maintenance workers at Yosemite National Park are now also facing a pay cut in 2026 that could reduce hourly wages by as much as $3.50 for some positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the National Park Service told its staff that pay for newly hired or promoted employees will now be based on rates for the Fresno area, instead of Stockton, as they have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/05/13/E9-11193/prevailing-rate-systems-redefinition-of-the-fresno-and-stockton-ca-appropriated-fund-federal-wage\">for the last 16 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Federation of Federal Employees’ Local 465, which represents NPS employees at five national parks, including Yosemite, put out a press release this week saying workers were told of the wage change in late November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes as park service leaders nationwide say they’re being told to make changes to employee reviews and performance ratings that they worry could influence future potential layoffs they fear are coming in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former national park employee Elizabeth Villano, a spokesperson for advocacy group Resistance Rangers, called the changes to the review process a “morale bomb” for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to continue to push out qualified, passionate civil servants from their job,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060933 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A National Park Service employee at Yosemite National Park, California, on March 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any wage-grade employee, like maintenance workers for park facilities and trails, hired, promoted or changing positions as of Jan. 1, 2026, will have their pay changed — “a reduction,” the NFFE release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One NPS employee who is also a NFFE union representative called the change a “slap in the face” for the hundreds of employees affected, many of whom commute one or even two hours into work and face steep costs of living in and around the Yosemite area. KQED has agreed not to publish the names of employees because they fear retribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National parks are still suffering from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npca.org/articles/9551-staffing-crisis-at-national-parks-reaches-breaking-point-new-data-shows-24\">24% reduction\u003c/a> in their workforce. While the Department of the Interior has technically \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/human-resources-policy/memo-2025-lifting-may-2-2025-personnel-actions-freeze\">lifted\u003c/a> its hiring freeze, the NFFE is continuing to raise concerns about the Trump administration’s ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-cost-efficiency-initiative/\">policies\u003c/a> promoting government efficiency, which have instructed parks to reduce their workforces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The loss in pay and the pressure to fill gaps will likely result in added stress to the Yosemite [wage-grade] workers, lower retention, fewer opportunities for workers to detail into different positions to gain career experience, and slower overall park operations,” the release states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management “created new locality areas for the Federal Wage System effective October 1,” which meant that “most wage system employees will see a pay increase under the new structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A small number of locations, including Yosemite, will see a decrease based on the updated OPM tables,” said the DOI spokesperson. “We are coordinating with the Office of Human Capital to understand the impacts and to identify options that may help affected employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding reviews within the parks system, the DOI said that “There is no percentage cap on [Employee Performance Appraisal Plan] ratings,” and that “consistent with OPM’s government-wide performance management guidance, we are working to normalize ratings across the agency. The goal of this effort is to ensure fair, consistent performance evaluations across all of our parks and programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reviews an ‘insult to injury’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently underway at parks nationwide is a wider discussion about employee performance plans, whose drafting and implementation have been delayed all year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to several national park employees from across the country, NPS leadership has instructed them to abide by a new “quota” or “cap” on high performance ratings — currently issued on a one-to-five scale. Under the revised system, the employees say they’ve been told, only around 30% of employees appear to be allowed to get high ratings. Different parks have been given different numbers over the past week, Villano said, only adding to the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1846156476-scaled-e1759449061670.jpg\" alt=\"state parks\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign is seen at the Yosemite National Park on Dec. 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The NPS employees say this mandate has essentially forced park leaders to artificially deflate their employees’ performance reviews — a move Villano said is akin to “asking employees and supervisors to lie.” She also called the action “dubiously legal” and potentially in violation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-430/subpart-B/section-430.208\">federal code\u003c/a> that outlines how performance ratings must occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s them taking a dagger into the backs of everyone who’s been working overtime, crushing themselves just to keep the parks open, safe, accessible and the resources protected,” Villano said. “It feels like an insult to injury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park superintendents, she said, were “told explicitly that the management of their park, no matter how above and beyond they were going, was a three, except for if they were managing more than one park, then they could maybe get a four,” Villano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One park superintendent, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or firing, said by the time they got the new instructions, they had already sent out their initial performance reviews. Now, they’re being told to rescind and resubmit them because they didn’t conform to the new requirements, they said.[aside postID=news_12065920 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251027-YosemiteShutdown-51-BL_qed.jpg']“Employees across the parks know what they would have gotten and are now going to get something different,” the superintendent said. “All of the park superintendents are having to carry the liability for this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also concerning is the potential “self-fulfilling prophecy” of giving mid-tier grades to most employees, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they know ahead of time that they’re gonna be rated as average … over time, that’s exactly what they’re gonna get,” Wade said. “It defies all good sense of leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villano said while there is no denying that the park service’s normal system of performance reviews is flawed, these changes have not been thought out or systematic, and she’s worried that low scores could be used to justify future layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/11/agency-layoff-rules-get-overhaul-under-nearly-finalized-trump-administration-proposal/409706/\">report \u003c/a>from \u003cem>Government Executive\u003c/em>, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is set to propose new formulas for federal layoffs that would base decisions on the weighted sum of their three most recent performance ratings — rather than their time of service at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ethical and legal questions, the anonymous NPS employee and NFFE union representative said the Yosemite wage and performance review changes create a major morale issue for current workers, and are likely to deter prospective ones, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you how many people are looking for jobs actively outside the park,” they said. “It’s just not a winning deal right now to come work for the National Park Service, and that’s a sad thing to say about one of our most beloved institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A park ranger holds a map at the entrance to Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Oct. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wade agreed, saying that even with the hiring freeze now lifted, the loss of a quarter of permanent positions at the NPS since January 2025 – in addition to reduced numbers of applicants to federal jobs and continued restrictions on hiring – he’s most worried about a coming “experience gap” at parks, and what that would mean for the future of these treasured landmarks..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are being asked to do more with less,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the changes, Villano said park leaders and employees are organizing — the most coordination she’s seen since the February 2025 mass layoffs dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/02/25/national-park-service-layoffs-what-to-know/80234977007/\">Valentine’s Day massacre\u003c/a>.” She said some have even planned to unilaterally give out the same exact score to everyone so as not to deflate some and not others’ reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took it a step too far this time by asking by asking us to turn on each other and tell each other that we’re doing bad work when day in and day out we know how deeply untrue that is,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resistance Rangers, she said, is offering information and resources on how to respond, including instructions to help supervisors and employees create a paper trail of how their ratings may be changing and what options they may have, including refusing to sign new performance reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My message to rangers right now is that even just showing up to work when every single day you’re being told that your work doesn’t matter, and the agency you work for is slowly disintegrating around you — that in and of itself is heroic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a community of rangers who are fighting together to make sure that your work doesn’t go unappreciated and unrewarded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As National Park Service leaders grapple with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054083/yosemite-sequoia-and-kings-canyon-workers-unionize-amid-fears-of-further-firings\"> reduced staffing\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065920/trump-orders-dei-out-of-national-park-bookstores\">restrictive, ideological policies\u003c/a>, maintenance workers at Yosemite National Park are now also facing a pay cut in 2026 that could reduce hourly wages by as much as $3.50 for some positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the National Park Service told its staff that pay for newly hired or promoted employees will now be based on rates for the Fresno area, instead of Stockton, as they have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/05/13/E9-11193/prevailing-rate-systems-redefinition-of-the-fresno-and-stockton-ca-appropriated-fund-federal-wage\">for the last 16 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Federation of Federal Employees’ Local 465, which represents NPS employees at five national parks, including Yosemite, put out a press release this week saying workers were told of the wage change in late November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes as park service leaders nationwide say they’re being told to make changes to employee reviews and performance ratings that they worry could influence future potential layoffs they fear are coming in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former national park employee Elizabeth Villano, a spokesperson for advocacy group Resistance Rangers, called the changes to the review process a “morale bomb” for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to continue to push out qualified, passionate civil servants from their job,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060933 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A National Park Service employee at Yosemite National Park, California, on March 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any wage-grade employee, like maintenance workers for park facilities and trails, hired, promoted or changing positions as of Jan. 1, 2026, will have their pay changed — “a reduction,” the NFFE release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One NPS employee who is also a NFFE union representative called the change a “slap in the face” for the hundreds of employees affected, many of whom commute one or even two hours into work and face steep costs of living in and around the Yosemite area. KQED has agreed not to publish the names of employees because they fear retribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National parks are still suffering from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npca.org/articles/9551-staffing-crisis-at-national-parks-reaches-breaking-point-new-data-shows-24\">24% reduction\u003c/a> in their workforce. While the Department of the Interior has technically \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/human-resources-policy/memo-2025-lifting-may-2-2025-personnel-actions-freeze\">lifted\u003c/a> its hiring freeze, the NFFE is continuing to raise concerns about the Trump administration’s ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-cost-efficiency-initiative/\">policies\u003c/a> promoting government efficiency, which have instructed parks to reduce their workforces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The loss in pay and the pressure to fill gaps will likely result in added stress to the Yosemite [wage-grade] workers, lower retention, fewer opportunities for workers to detail into different positions to gain career experience, and slower overall park operations,” the release states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management “created new locality areas for the Federal Wage System effective October 1,” which meant that “most wage system employees will see a pay increase under the new structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A small number of locations, including Yosemite, will see a decrease based on the updated OPM tables,” said the DOI spokesperson. “We are coordinating with the Office of Human Capital to understand the impacts and to identify options that may help affected employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding reviews within the parks system, the DOI said that “There is no percentage cap on [Employee Performance Appraisal Plan] ratings,” and that “consistent with OPM’s government-wide performance management guidance, we are working to normalize ratings across the agency. The goal of this effort is to ensure fair, consistent performance evaluations across all of our parks and programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reviews an ‘insult to injury’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently underway at parks nationwide is a wider discussion about employee performance plans, whose drafting and implementation have been delayed all year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to several national park employees from across the country, NPS leadership has instructed them to abide by a new “quota” or “cap” on high performance ratings — currently issued on a one-to-five scale. Under the revised system, the employees say they’ve been told, only around 30% of employees appear to be allowed to get high ratings. Different parks have been given different numbers over the past week, Villano said, only adding to the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1846156476-scaled-e1759449061670.jpg\" alt=\"state parks\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign is seen at the Yosemite National Park on Dec. 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The NPS employees say this mandate has essentially forced park leaders to artificially deflate their employees’ performance reviews — a move Villano said is akin to “asking employees and supervisors to lie.” She also called the action “dubiously legal” and potentially in violation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-430/subpart-B/section-430.208\">federal code\u003c/a> that outlines how performance ratings must occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s them taking a dagger into the backs of everyone who’s been working overtime, crushing themselves just to keep the parks open, safe, accessible and the resources protected,” Villano said. “It feels like an insult to injury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park superintendents, she said, were “told explicitly that the management of their park, no matter how above and beyond they were going, was a three, except for if they were managing more than one park, then they could maybe get a four,” Villano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One park superintendent, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or firing, said by the time they got the new instructions, they had already sent out their initial performance reviews. Now, they’re being told to rescind and resubmit them because they didn’t conform to the new requirements, they said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Employees across the parks know what they would have gotten and are now going to get something different,” the superintendent said. “All of the park superintendents are having to carry the liability for this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also concerning is the potential “self-fulfilling prophecy” of giving mid-tier grades to most employees, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they know ahead of time that they’re gonna be rated as average … over time, that’s exactly what they’re gonna get,” Wade said. “It defies all good sense of leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villano said while there is no denying that the park service’s normal system of performance reviews is flawed, these changes have not been thought out or systematic, and she’s worried that low scores could be used to justify future layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/11/agency-layoff-rules-get-overhaul-under-nearly-finalized-trump-administration-proposal/409706/\">report \u003c/a>from \u003cem>Government Executive\u003c/em>, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is set to propose new formulas for federal layoffs that would base decisions on the weighted sum of their three most recent performance ratings — rather than their time of service at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ethical and legal questions, the anonymous NPS employee and NFFE union representative said the Yosemite wage and performance review changes create a major morale issue for current workers, and are likely to deter prospective ones, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you how many people are looking for jobs actively outside the park,” they said. “It’s just not a winning deal right now to come work for the National Park Service, and that’s a sad thing to say about one of our most beloved institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A park ranger holds a map at the entrance to Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Oct. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wade agreed, saying that even with the hiring freeze now lifted, the loss of a quarter of permanent positions at the NPS since January 2025 – in addition to reduced numbers of applicants to federal jobs and continued restrictions on hiring – he’s most worried about a coming “experience gap” at parks, and what that would mean for the future of these treasured landmarks..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are being asked to do more with less,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the changes, Villano said park leaders and employees are organizing — the most coordination she’s seen since the February 2025 mass layoffs dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/02/25/national-park-service-layoffs-what-to-know/80234977007/\">Valentine’s Day massacre\u003c/a>.” She said some have even planned to unilaterally give out the same exact score to everyone so as not to deflate some and not others’ reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took it a step too far this time by asking by asking us to turn on each other and tell each other that we’re doing bad work when day in and day out we know how deeply untrue that is,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resistance Rangers, she said, is offering information and resources on how to respond, including instructions to help supervisors and employees create a paper trail of how their ratings may be changing and what options they may have, including refusing to sign new performance reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My message to rangers right now is that even just showing up to work when every single day you’re being told that your work doesn’t matter, and the agency you work for is slowly disintegrating around you — that in and of itself is heroic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a community of rangers who are fighting together to make sure that your work doesn’t go unappreciated and unrewarded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">President Donald Trump is using National Guard troop deployments to pressure cities and counties into following his conservative agenda. But attorney Jill Habig says he is also using the federal pursestrings to bend them to his will. That’s why she founded the Oakland-based Public Rights Project to take on the administration, fighting in court on behalf of those cities and counties that have seen their policies challenged, funding cut or even troops deployed to their streets. Habig joins Marisa and Scott in studio to discuss their lawsuits and strategy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>The suspension of a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059351/the-cal-lecturer-who-went-on-a-38-day-hunger-strike-for-gaza\">who went on a hunger strike over the war in Gaza\u003c/a> and made pro-Palestinian remarks in the classroom has raised questions about free speech and the scope of academic freedom on the Bay Area campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, UC Berkeley administrators notified Peyrin Kao, 26, of his six-month unpaid suspension, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The suspension, handed down at a time of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032030/uc-berkeley-faculty-rally-to-defend-free-speech-and-protest-cuts\">heightened tensions over free speech on campus\u003c/a>, drew criticism from groups and faculty advocates, who immediately called for his reinstatement and launched a hunger strike in solidarity on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some argued that the university’s decision was a blatant violation of Kao’s First Amendment rights and part of a broader effort to chill pro-Palestinian speech on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxdR0hTEkSqv4LcHqp3t7SNU1BcWbrI0/view\">an October letter\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin, Kao misused the classroom “by distorting the instructional process” and deviated from “the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom” during the spring 2024 and fall 2025 semesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintains that he followed university policy by making the comments outside of official class time. He said his suspension is part of what’s called “\u003ca href=\"https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-times/article/8/1/1/400618/Beyond-the-Palestine-Exception\">the Palestine exception\u003c/a>,” or the selective enforcement of rules to restrict Palestinian advocacy. Kao questioned whether he would have been suspended if he criticized the U.S. government or international issues that have drawn \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/23/with-3-million-gift-berkeley-prepares-to-build-premier-ukrainian-studies-program/\">condemnation\u003c/a> by the university, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066692 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1200x675.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peyrin Kao speaking at a UC Regents meeting on Sept. 17, 2025, at UCSF Mission Bay. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peyrin Kao )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s this gaping exception in this so-called free speech that our university and our country champions,” Kao told KQED. “The university loves to talk about how they are ‘the free speech university,’ ‘the home of the free speech movement,’ … but when it comes to Palestine: ‘Sorry, we’re drawing the line, your free speech does not apply.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore declined to comment, saying the university doesn’t comment on confidential personnel matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Hermalin’s report, Kao was accused of twice violating Regents’ Policy 2301, a \u003ca href=\"https://evcp.berkeley.edu/news/political-advocacy-academic-freedom-and-instruction\">rule\u003c/a> that explicitly prohibits “political indoctrination” as misuse of the classroom and has been frequently cited by the university to regulate campus protest in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062192/uc-berkeley-law-school-says-school-likely-violated-civil-rights-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">Berkeley law students found that the university’s administration\u003c/a> enforces the rule more harshly against faculty who speak in support of Palestinians, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Bay Area office, said the policy’s vague language lends itself to weaponization against Palestine advocacy.[aside postID=news_12062192 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/uc-berkeley-malak-afaneh-handout_qed-1020x680.jpg']“One very important question: Is the policy being enforced in an even-handed way?” said Eugene Volokh, a former First Amendment law scholar at UCLA. “I do think that people ought to be asking, well, are you doing this fairly with regard to all viewpoints?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Volokh and other free speech advocates, however, questioned whether an argument for pedagogical autonomy works in this case, and argued that Kao’s use of the classroom to advocate for his political beliefs may have gone a step too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, the protection of free speech and academic freedom of students and faculty is essential to providing for the education of students and teaching them how to think — the university’s chief role, Volokh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the same time, we have to recognize that in order for the educational process to work, there have to be limits on what is said in the classroom,” he continued. “In a classroom, I’m talking to a captive audience of students who are there to learn a particular subject, presumably not for political indoctrination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspension is not Kao’s first brush with the administration over his vocal support for Palestinian human rights: the letter notes a 2023 censure by a former chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences over the school’s anti-advocacy policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of the school year, Kao’s name appeared on a list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055827/uc-berkeley-gives-trump-administration-160-names-in-antisemitism-investigation\">160 staff and faculty members whose identities UC Berkeley disclosed to the federal Department of Education\u003c/a> as part of what the university described as an antisemitism investigation. Around the same time, Kao began a 38-day hunger strike to protest the war and “how our tech is being to fuel genocide in Gaza,” the lecturer told KQED’s The Bay in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058103\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sather Tower at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Sept. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April 2024, after dismissing students of an introductory computer science course at the end of his last lecture of the semester, Kao spoke for about four minutes about ethics in technology — using Google’s collaboration with the Israeli military as an example — and expressed solidarity with fellow educators in Gaza, according to the university’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao made those comments after the end of class, and prefaced his remarks by saying that students were free to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But again, if you want to go, then I don’t take any offense. It’s all good. And I will try not to waste too much of your time because it’s after 2 [pm],” Kao said, according to a transcription created by the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Kao drew attention to his hunger strike in class, informing students that he was in poor health due to his activism — without explicitly stating that the act was in protest of the war in Gaza.[aside postID=news_12066592 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-9_qed.jpg']“Just a heads up that the lectures I give may be a little bit wobbly and poor quality,” Kao allegedly said during a class in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on these statements, the university determined that Kao “misused” his authority over students. Even without explicit acknowledgement of the advocacy during class time, the “visible toll” of the hunger strike, and Kao’s own admission that the strike may have affected his teaching, was enough for the university to determine it a violation of policy, Hermalin wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University Council–American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents lecturers, filed a grievance against the “wrongful discipline” of Kao, said field representative Jessica Conte. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.stem4pal.org/\">STEM 4 Palestine\u003c/a>, a campus group that Kao co-founded, announced a hunger strike beginning Wednesday, in solidarity with Kao and other “repressed academics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Peyrin is known as a committed educator. He is not just committed to students at Berkeley,” the group told KQED by email. “Putting his own body on the line, he demonstrated public commitment to the students of Palestine, whose universities have been bombed into rubble using technology our university builds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintained that all of the discussions in question took place outside of official class time, during an optional lecture that many students elected not to attend, and that the hunger strike took place entirely outside of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very careful not to talk about it in class with any of our students or any of my students or my staff. And it was something that I think is totally protected by the First Amendment, because I’m doing it in my own capacity,” Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1536x1043.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1920x1304.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024, in Berkeley, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He also pushed back against the university’s claims that his ethics discussion — and his presentation on cloud-computing contracts between Google and Amazon with Israel — was not germane to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are companies that our students are going to work for. We’re giving our students the tools that they’re then going to use to go and work for these companies and others that are complicit in this ongoing American-Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Kao said. “When you don’t talk about this, that is also making a political decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic freedom enshrined in the First Amendment protects a professor’s right to discuss pedagogically relevant material during class, and allows some breathing room — as long as it’s furthering the purpose of the course, said Zach Greenberg, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/legal-support/faculty-legal-defense-fund\">Faculty Legal Defense Fund\u003c/a> at advocacy group FIRE. However, the university has some leeway to limit free speech of faculty within the bounds of the institution’s own academic freedom and, ultimately, to make the judgment call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question that we always ask when it comes to political speech is, what’s related to the class and what were they speaking as a professor or as a private citizen?” Greenberg said. “And if you’re going on tangents during class or expressing a political advocacy to students during class as a professor, you’re on company time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a California state employee, Kao was entitled to a Skelly hearing, in which the proposed disciplinary action is reviewed by a third party. The lecturer met with Eric Meyer, the dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Information, but his appeal was denied, Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s currently working to \u003ca href=\"https://chuffed.org/project/157643-make-back-peyrins-salary\">fundraise\u003c/a> the salary he will lose for the next semester, about $68,000, Kao said, which he vowed to donate to mutual-aid efforts in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tgoldberg\">\u003cem>Ted Goldberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Peyrin Kao, a computer science instructor, was disciplined over his discussions of his pro-Palestinian activism in the classroom, raising questions about academic freedom and its limits on campus.",
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"title": "‘Your Free Speech Does Not Apply’: Suspended UC Berkeley Lecturer Speaks Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The suspension of a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059351/the-cal-lecturer-who-went-on-a-38-day-hunger-strike-for-gaza\">who went on a hunger strike over the war in Gaza\u003c/a> and made pro-Palestinian remarks in the classroom has raised questions about free speech and the scope of academic freedom on the Bay Area campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, UC Berkeley administrators notified Peyrin Kao, 26, of his six-month unpaid suspension, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The suspension, handed down at a time of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032030/uc-berkeley-faculty-rally-to-defend-free-speech-and-protest-cuts\">heightened tensions over free speech on campus\u003c/a>, drew criticism from groups and faculty advocates, who immediately called for his reinstatement and launched a hunger strike in solidarity on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some argued that the university’s decision was a blatant violation of Kao’s First Amendment rights and part of a broader effort to chill pro-Palestinian speech on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxdR0hTEkSqv4LcHqp3t7SNU1BcWbrI0/view\">an October letter\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin, Kao misused the classroom “by distorting the instructional process” and deviated from “the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom” during the spring 2024 and fall 2025 semesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintains that he followed university policy by making the comments outside of official class time. He said his suspension is part of what’s called “\u003ca href=\"https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-times/article/8/1/1/400618/Beyond-the-Palestine-Exception\">the Palestine exception\u003c/a>,” or the selective enforcement of rules to restrict Palestinian advocacy. Kao questioned whether he would have been suspended if he criticized the U.S. government or international issues that have drawn \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/23/with-3-million-gift-berkeley-prepares-to-build-premier-ukrainian-studies-program/\">condemnation\u003c/a> by the university, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066692 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1200x675.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peyrin Kao speaking at a UC Regents meeting on Sept. 17, 2025, at UCSF Mission Bay. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peyrin Kao )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s this gaping exception in this so-called free speech that our university and our country champions,” Kao told KQED. “The university loves to talk about how they are ‘the free speech university,’ ‘the home of the free speech movement,’ … but when it comes to Palestine: ‘Sorry, we’re drawing the line, your free speech does not apply.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore declined to comment, saying the university doesn’t comment on confidential personnel matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Hermalin’s report, Kao was accused of twice violating Regents’ Policy 2301, a \u003ca href=\"https://evcp.berkeley.edu/news/political-advocacy-academic-freedom-and-instruction\">rule\u003c/a> that explicitly prohibits “political indoctrination” as misuse of the classroom and has been frequently cited by the university to regulate campus protest in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062192/uc-berkeley-law-school-says-school-likely-violated-civil-rights-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">Berkeley law students found that the university’s administration\u003c/a> enforces the rule more harshly against faculty who speak in support of Palestinians, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Bay Area office, said the policy’s vague language lends itself to weaponization against Palestine advocacy.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“One very important question: Is the policy being enforced in an even-handed way?” said Eugene Volokh, a former First Amendment law scholar at UCLA. “I do think that people ought to be asking, well, are you doing this fairly with regard to all viewpoints?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Volokh and other free speech advocates, however, questioned whether an argument for pedagogical autonomy works in this case, and argued that Kao’s use of the classroom to advocate for his political beliefs may have gone a step too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, the protection of free speech and academic freedom of students and faculty is essential to providing for the education of students and teaching them how to think — the university’s chief role, Volokh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the same time, we have to recognize that in order for the educational process to work, there have to be limits on what is said in the classroom,” he continued. “In a classroom, I’m talking to a captive audience of students who are there to learn a particular subject, presumably not for political indoctrination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspension is not Kao’s first brush with the administration over his vocal support for Palestinian human rights: the letter notes a 2023 censure by a former chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences over the school’s anti-advocacy policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of the school year, Kao’s name appeared on a list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055827/uc-berkeley-gives-trump-administration-160-names-in-antisemitism-investigation\">160 staff and faculty members whose identities UC Berkeley disclosed to the federal Department of Education\u003c/a> as part of what the university described as an antisemitism investigation. Around the same time, Kao began a 38-day hunger strike to protest the war and “how our tech is being to fuel genocide in Gaza,” the lecturer told KQED’s The Bay in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058103\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sather Tower at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Sept. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April 2024, after dismissing students of an introductory computer science course at the end of his last lecture of the semester, Kao spoke for about four minutes about ethics in technology — using Google’s collaboration with the Israeli military as an example — and expressed solidarity with fellow educators in Gaza, according to the university’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao made those comments after the end of class, and prefaced his remarks by saying that students were free to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But again, if you want to go, then I don’t take any offense. It’s all good. And I will try not to waste too much of your time because it’s after 2 [pm],” Kao said, according to a transcription created by the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Kao drew attention to his hunger strike in class, informing students that he was in poor health due to his activism — without explicitly stating that the act was in protest of the war in Gaza.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Just a heads up that the lectures I give may be a little bit wobbly and poor quality,” Kao allegedly said during a class in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on these statements, the university determined that Kao “misused” his authority over students. Even without explicit acknowledgement of the advocacy during class time, the “visible toll” of the hunger strike, and Kao’s own admission that the strike may have affected his teaching, was enough for the university to determine it a violation of policy, Hermalin wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University Council–American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents lecturers, filed a grievance against the “wrongful discipline” of Kao, said field representative Jessica Conte. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.stem4pal.org/\">STEM 4 Palestine\u003c/a>, a campus group that Kao co-founded, announced a hunger strike beginning Wednesday, in solidarity with Kao and other “repressed academics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Peyrin is known as a committed educator. He is not just committed to students at Berkeley,” the group told KQED by email. “Putting his own body on the line, he demonstrated public commitment to the students of Palestine, whose universities have been bombed into rubble using technology our university builds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintained that all of the discussions in question took place outside of official class time, during an optional lecture that many students elected not to attend, and that the hunger strike took place entirely outside of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very careful not to talk about it in class with any of our students or any of my students or my staff. And it was something that I think is totally protected by the First Amendment, because I’m doing it in my own capacity,” Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1536x1043.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1920x1304.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024, in Berkeley, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He also pushed back against the university’s claims that his ethics discussion — and his presentation on cloud-computing contracts between Google and Amazon with Israel — was not germane to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are companies that our students are going to work for. We’re giving our students the tools that they’re then going to use to go and work for these companies and others that are complicit in this ongoing American-Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Kao said. “When you don’t talk about this, that is also making a political decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic freedom enshrined in the First Amendment protects a professor’s right to discuss pedagogically relevant material during class, and allows some breathing room — as long as it’s furthering the purpose of the course, said Zach Greenberg, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/legal-support/faculty-legal-defense-fund\">Faculty Legal Defense Fund\u003c/a> at advocacy group FIRE. However, the university has some leeway to limit free speech of faculty within the bounds of the institution’s own academic freedom and, ultimately, to make the judgment call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question that we always ask when it comes to political speech is, what’s related to the class and what were they speaking as a professor or as a private citizen?” Greenberg said. “And if you’re going on tangents during class or expressing a political advocacy to students during class as a professor, you’re on company time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a California state employee, Kao was entitled to a Skelly hearing, in which the proposed disciplinary action is reviewed by a third party. The lecturer met with Eric Meyer, the dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Information, but his appeal was denied, Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s currently working to \u003ca href=\"https://chuffed.org/project/157643-make-back-peyrins-salary\">fundraise\u003c/a> the salary he will lose for the next semester, about $68,000, Kao said, which he vowed to donate to mutual-aid efforts in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tgoldberg\">\u003cem>Ted Goldberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Federal Judge Orders Trump to Return National Guard Troops in LA to State Control",
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"content": "\u003cp>A federal judge on Wednesday \u003ca href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.cand.450934.225.0_3.pdf\">ordered\u003c/a> President Donald Trump to end his deployment of 300 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles and return control to Gov. Gavin Newsom, ruling that there is no evidence to justify the ongoing military presence among civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, which followed a Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066202/california-renews-push-to-bring-national-guard-back-under-newsoms-command\">hearing,\u003c/a> bluntly rejects the Trump administration’s argument that the troops’ presence in Los Angeles remains necessary in order to enforce federal laws and flatly dismisses their contention that the courts have no place to review such an order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” Breyer wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way — let alone significantly. What’s more, defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops,” he added in his scathing opening remarks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California leaders celebrated the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once again, a court has firmly rejected the president’s attempt to make the National Guard a traveling national police force,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The president is not king. And he cannot federalize the National Guard whenever, wherever, and for however long he wants, without justification. This is a good day for our democracy and the strength of the rule of law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058864\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058864\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta is briefed by members of his Civil Rights Enforcement Section on litigation challenging the Trump administration at his offices in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ruling will not take effect until Monday, giving the Trump administration time to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which earlier this year \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043920/judge-weighs-californias-lawsuit-over-trumps-troop-deployment-in-la\">halted\u003c/a> a previous, temporary ruling by Breyer that also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043935/how-solid-is-californias-legal-case-against-trump-deploying-troops-to-la\">blocked the president from using the troops\u003c/a>. The appeals court later \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/06/9th-circuit-los-angeles-national-guard/\">ruled in favor\u003c/a> of the president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appeals court is also considering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054322/judge-rules-trump-violated-law-by-sending-troops-to-los-angeles\">separate decision\u003c/a> from Breyer that prohibited the administration from using troops to patrol civilians in L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice declined to comment on the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue in the current ruling is whether Trump had the authority to call up 300 members of the California National Guard over Newsom’s objections in June, amid immigration raids and subsequent protests in L.A. The state sued after that initial deployment. In August, the president extended the deployment through Nov. 4 — Election Day in California — and then, in October, moved again to lengthen the deployment through Feb. 2, 2026.[aside postID=news_12066492 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/240212-ImmigrationCourt-31-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson said that although the 9th Circuit might accord the Trump administration more deference on appeal, Breyer’s order painstakingly spells out why the government has not met the necessary standard under the law it used to justify the deployment: that it was unable to execute federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have here is a decision that basically says the Trump administration doesn’t get to just point to statutory language and say that the conditions are satisfied,” she said. “And Judge Breyer spends a good deal of time in this 35-page decision saying, I think you are able to execute federal law through the regular forces. And what happened on the ground doesn’t rise to the level of what you need to, as a president, do to take this fairly extraordinary step of federalizing National Guard members — again, when a governor doesn’t want you to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breyer homed in on that question of whether there was an ongoing inability to execute federal laws in L.A., noting that in mid-August, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “announced that the immigration enforcement mission had succeeded: the administration had ‘Removed the Worst of the Worst Illegal Aliens,’ arresting ‘4,481 illegal aliens in the Los Angeles area’ since June 6.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In August of 2025, the situation in Los Angeles was calm,” Breyer wrote, adding that the administration at that point justified the extension of the deployment through Election Day by citing the June protests and a July incident in Ventura County — 50 miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The October extension order, he wrote, was similarly justified based on past events, minor recent incidents and the situation in another state, Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1328\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles during a “No Kings” protest on June 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Richard Vogel/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Breyer noted that the law cited by the Trump administration states that the president may call up National Guard troops when he “is unable” to execute federal law, writing that it’s clear “that the word ‘is’ conveys the present tense,” and that mere risk of future violence cannot justify something as serious as using military troops to police civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is also a core right of the people to be able to gather in protest of their government and its policies — even when doing so is provocative, and even when doing so causes inconvenience,” Breyer wrote. “It is profoundly un-American to suggest that people peacefully exercising their fundamental right to protest constitute a risk justifying the federalization of military forces. Such logic, if accepted, would dangerously water down this precondition for federalization and run headfirst into the First Amendment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump has also deployed troops to Illinois, Oregon and Washington, D.C., over local objections. Lawsuits related to those cases are pending; the Illinois case is before the U.S. Supreme Court. California has filed in support of all of those cases, and also secured a ruling in October blocking the deployment of California National Guard troops to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levinson said those cases will remain separate because the legality of the deployment hinges on the facts on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So these cases can’t really be consolidated,” she said. “This is not just a question of what does the law say. It’s a question of what does the law allow under different circumstances. … And so, what we see in all of these cases is federal judges looking at what’s actually happening. Are these protests turning violent? Can ICE agents execute immigration law?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A federal judge on Wednesday \u003ca href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.cand.450934.225.0_3.pdf\">ordered\u003c/a> President Donald Trump to end his deployment of 300 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles and return control to Gov. Gavin Newsom, ruling that there is no evidence to justify the ongoing military presence among civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, which followed a Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066202/california-renews-push-to-bring-national-guard-back-under-newsoms-command\">hearing,\u003c/a> bluntly rejects the Trump administration’s argument that the troops’ presence in Los Angeles remains necessary in order to enforce federal laws and flatly dismisses their contention that the courts have no place to review such an order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” Breyer wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way — let alone significantly. What’s more, defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops,” he added in his scathing opening remarks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California leaders celebrated the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once again, a court has firmly rejected the president’s attempt to make the National Guard a traveling national police force,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The president is not king. And he cannot federalize the National Guard whenever, wherever, and for however long he wants, without justification. This is a good day for our democracy and the strength of the rule of law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058864\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058864\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/RobBontaTrumpGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta is briefed by members of his Civil Rights Enforcement Section on litigation challenging the Trump administration at his offices in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ruling will not take effect until Monday, giving the Trump administration time to appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which earlier this year \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043920/judge-weighs-californias-lawsuit-over-trumps-troop-deployment-in-la\">halted\u003c/a> a previous, temporary ruling by Breyer that also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12043935/how-solid-is-californias-legal-case-against-trump-deploying-troops-to-la\">blocked the president from using the troops\u003c/a>. The appeals court later \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/06/9th-circuit-los-angeles-national-guard/\">ruled in favor\u003c/a> of the president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The appeals court is also considering a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054322/judge-rules-trump-violated-law-by-sending-troops-to-los-angeles\">separate decision\u003c/a> from Breyer that prohibited the administration from using troops to patrol civilians in L.A.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Justice declined to comment on the ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At issue in the current ruling is whether Trump had the authority to call up 300 members of the California National Guard over Newsom’s objections in June, amid immigration raids and subsequent protests in L.A. The state sued after that initial deployment. In August, the president extended the deployment through Nov. 4 — Election Day in California — and then, in October, moved again to lengthen the deployment through Feb. 2, 2026.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson said that although the 9th Circuit might accord the Trump administration more deference on appeal, Breyer’s order painstakingly spells out why the government has not met the necessary standard under the law it used to justify the deployment: that it was unable to execute federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have here is a decision that basically says the Trump administration doesn’t get to just point to statutory language and say that the conditions are satisfied,” she said. “And Judge Breyer spends a good deal of time in this 35-page decision saying, I think you are able to execute federal law through the regular forces. And what happened on the ground doesn’t rise to the level of what you need to, as a president, do to take this fairly extraordinary step of federalizing National Guard members — again, when a governor doesn’t want you to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breyer homed in on that question of whether there was an ongoing inability to execute federal laws in L.A., noting that in mid-August, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “announced that the immigration enforcement mission had succeeded: the administration had ‘Removed the Worst of the Worst Illegal Aliens,’ arresting ‘4,481 illegal aliens in the Los Angeles area’ since June 6.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In August of 2025, the situation in Los Angeles was calm,” Breyer wrote, adding that the administration at that point justified the extension of the deployment through Election Day by citing the June protests and a July incident in Ventura County — 50 miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The October extension order, he wrote, was similarly justified based on past events, minor recent incidents and the situation in another state, Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1328\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/NationalGuardLAAP-1536x1020.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles during a “No Kings” protest on June 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Richard Vogel/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Breyer noted that the law cited by the Trump administration states that the president may call up National Guard troops when he “is unable” to execute federal law, writing that it’s clear “that the word ‘is’ conveys the present tense,” and that mere risk of future violence cannot justify something as serious as using military troops to police civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is also a core right of the people to be able to gather in protest of their government and its policies — even when doing so is provocative, and even when doing so causes inconvenience,” Breyer wrote. “It is profoundly un-American to suggest that people peacefully exercising their fundamental right to protest constitute a risk justifying the federalization of military forces. Such logic, if accepted, would dangerously water down this precondition for federalization and run headfirst into the First Amendment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump has also deployed troops to Illinois, Oregon and Washington, D.C., over local objections. Lawsuits related to those cases are pending; the Illinois case is before the U.S. Supreme Court. California has filed in support of all of those cases, and also secured a ruling in October blocking the deployment of California National Guard troops to Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levinson said those cases will remain separate because the legality of the deployment hinges on the facts on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So these cases can’t really be consolidated,” she said. “This is not just a question of what does the law say. It’s a question of what does the law allow under different circumstances. … And so, what we see in all of these cases is federal judges looking at what’s actually happening. Are these protests turning violent? Can ICE agents execute immigration law?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A hearing in the case of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested for breaking into and vandalizing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> president’s office was marked Tuesday by heated discussions over the word genocide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the court session focused on pretrial motions — which attorneys and the judge use to lay out the ground rules for a trial — a debate over whether the term genocide should be allowed during the proceedings elicited the most impassioned arguments from defense attorneys and a deputy district attorney alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point, defense attorneys and the county prosecutor verbally sparred over whether Israel’s actions in Gaza being characterized as a genocide is a settled fact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Using the word genocide is the same as saying the sky is blue. It is what it is,” Leah Gillis, a defense attorney in the case, said in court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Robert Baker, the prosecutor heading up the case for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, said Gillis’ comment was offensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s absolutely absurd. And I think there’s people who were murdered in World War II that would probably think that the word genocide is a lot different than just the word blue,” Baker said, raising his voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flashpoint between attorneys in court stemmed from discussions on Tuesday about one of the central fights in the case thus far: the motivations of the protesters during their action on June 5, 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Robert Baker listens during a Dec. 9, 2025, pretrial hearing in San José in the case of a group of pro-Palestinian protesters charged with vandalism and conspiracy for breaking into the Stanford University president’s office last year. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gillis and other defense attorneys representing the five former and current Stanford students in the trial have emphasized in court filings and in court on Tuesday that their clients’ actions were motivated by what they believe is a genocide in Gaza, and their protest was aimed at saving Palestinian lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prosecution has questioned the validity of those arguments and has tried to limit the scope of what the jury could be influenced by during the trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear the whole point of this argument is to prevent the defense from blaming a country that is currently litigating that very point,” Baker said of Israel’s dispute over its actions being labeled as genocide. “It is currently the subject of litigation in the United Nations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Hanley Chew ultimately agreed to allow the use of the word genocide, he asked defense attorneys to be “very judicious” about it, and warned that if he felt they overused it, he would change his mind.[aside postID=news_12064351 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251117-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-7_qed.jpg']“I’m not going to exclude the use of the word genocide, but I don’t want the word genocide paraded throughout this trial. And if it is, I will exclude it,” Chew said. “As all of you have pointed out, the word genocide is very powerful and is very politically charged. And if I feel that the parties are exploiting that word with their own use … I will exclude its further use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The courtroom at the Hall of Justice in San José was packed with several dozen people on Tuesday, nearly all of whom appeared to be supporting the protesters and donning keffiyehs, patterned black and white scarves that have become a visible signifier of Palestinian solidarity and resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group of what was 12 protesters said on social media at the time they entered the university offices that they wanted Stanford leaders to “address their role in enabling and profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The action came amid a series of larger campus demonstrations aimed at pressuring the school to divest from companies that support Israel’s military bombardment in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Defense attorneys emphasized that international bodies and experts, such as the International Association of Genocide Scholars and an independent United Nations commission, have labeled Israel’s actions genocide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using a word like genocide is “setting the stage” for what was in the minds of their clients when they took their actions, Gillis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062229\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus in Stanford on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prosecution asked the court to bar all use of the word genocide, arguing it is “inflammatory” and could prejudice the case, and also sought to exclude explanations of the motives of the protesters during testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker said the motives of the protesters are irrelevant to a jury trying to decide whether they are guilty of felony vandalism and conspiracy charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they were protesting the Gaza War, if they were protesting the 2020 election, if they were protesting President Biden, if they were protesting President Trump, it makes no difference,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to transform this trial into a political forum rather than a search for the truth and determinative facts,” Baker said. “I think there needs to be significant limitations to sanitize what is presented to a jury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Chew took a middle stance in his ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062228\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk and bike past the fountain outside Memorial Auditorium at Stanford University in Stanford on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to do a blanket prohibition on defendants speaking about their motivation. However, I will severely limit that ability to speak about motivation,” Chew said, noting he would ban any hearsay evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chew also decided to exclude, for now, testimony from a professor of human rights whom Gillis argued the defense should be able to use during the trial as an expert witness, to help establish facts around “Palestine and the genocide and the motivations of these young people in their request to Stanford to divest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point during the hearing, some people in the audience of the courtroom chuckled, sighed or let out brief comments in response to arguments from Baker, prompting Chew to later issue a warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the court, and you should act in accordance with the fact that you are in a courtroom. If there are any additional outbursts, I will clear this courtroom. You understand that?” Chew said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter Taylor-Black, one of the defendants, said the trial amounts to “political persecution.”[aside postID=news_12065375 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/240508-Berkeley-High-File-MD-03_qed.jpg']Taylor-Black said the case from prosecutors feels “meant to discourage future student activists from acting on the things they believe in in the ways that student activists have acted in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While students at campuses across the country were arrested last spring for Gaza-related demonstrations, few of those arrests resulted in felony charges or trials, making the Stanford case unusual. And defense attorneys argued earlier this year that the District Attorney’s office was overcharging the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five defendants chose to go to trial last month, after six other protesters who were charged in the case entered into mental health diversion programs, or indicated they would take a court-offered deal that would include pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges, with a pathway to potential dismissal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One other protester, Jack Richardson, served as a witness for prosecutors in a grand jury indictment and is now enrolled in a youth deferred entry of judgment program. Such programs allow young people to eventually have a charge dismissed if they do not commit crimes while free, and often include rehabilitative requirements like counseling and community service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Germán González, also a defendant in the trial, said after the court hearing that it was disheartening to hear “genocide denialism” in the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout this sort of fear and anxiety that I do feel in the courtroom, I am just reminding myself that it is a privilege,” González said. “Nothing that happens in a courtroom or what happened to me is as severe as what’s happening to the Palestinians, who are facing genocide right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More pretrial conferences are scheduled this week, including a hearing over whether or not the provost of Stanford, Jenny Martinez, will be called to testify as a witness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jury selection in the trial is set to begin in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Robert Baker, the prosecutor heading up the case for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, said Gillis’ comment was offensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s absolutely absurd. And I think there’s people who were murdered in World War II that would probably think that the word genocide is a lot different than just the word blue,” Baker said, raising his voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The flashpoint between attorneys in court stemmed from discussions on Tuesday about one of the central fights in the case thus far: the motivations of the protesters during their action on June 5, 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066600\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-4_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Robert Baker listens during a Dec. 9, 2025, pretrial hearing in San José in the case of a group of pro-Palestinian protesters charged with vandalism and conspiracy for breaking into the Stanford University president’s office last year. \u003ccite>(Joseph Geha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gillis and other defense attorneys representing the five former and current Stanford students in the trial have emphasized in court filings and in court on Tuesday that their clients’ actions were motivated by what they believe is a genocide in Gaza, and their protest was aimed at saving Palestinian lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prosecution has questioned the validity of those arguments and has tried to limit the scope of what the jury could be influenced by during the trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s very clear the whole point of this argument is to prevent the defense from blaming a country that is currently litigating that very point,” Baker said of Israel’s dispute over its actions being labeled as genocide. “It is currently the subject of litigation in the United Nations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Hanley Chew ultimately agreed to allow the use of the word genocide, he asked defense attorneys to be “very judicious” about it, and warned that if he felt they overused it, he would change his mind.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’m not going to exclude the use of the word genocide, but I don’t want the word genocide paraded throughout this trial. And if it is, I will exclude it,” Chew said. “As all of you have pointed out, the word genocide is very powerful and is very politically charged. And if I feel that the parties are exploiting that word with their own use … I will exclude its further use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The courtroom at the Hall of Justice in San José was packed with several dozen people on Tuesday, nearly all of whom appeared to be supporting the protesters and donning keffiyehs, patterned black and white scarves that have become a visible signifier of Palestinian solidarity and resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group of what was 12 protesters said on social media at the time they entered the university offices that they wanted Stanford leaders to “address their role in enabling and profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The action came amid a series of larger campus demonstrations aimed at pressuring the school to divest from companies that support Israel’s military bombardment in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Defense attorneys emphasized that international bodies and experts, such as the International Association of Genocide Scholars and an independent United Nations commission, have labeled Israel’s actions genocide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using a word like genocide is “setting the stage” for what was in the minds of their clients when they took their actions, Gillis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062229\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus in Stanford on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The prosecution asked the court to bar all use of the word genocide, arguing it is “inflammatory” and could prejudice the case, and also sought to exclude explanations of the motives of the protesters during testimony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baker said the motives of the protesters are irrelevant to a jury trying to decide whether they are guilty of felony vandalism and conspiracy charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they were protesting the Gaza War, if they were protesting the 2020 election, if they were protesting President Biden, if they were protesting President Trump, it makes no difference,” Baker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to transform this trial into a political forum rather than a search for the truth and determinative facts,” Baker said. “I think there needs to be significant limitations to sanitize what is presented to a jury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judge Chew took a middle stance in his ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062228\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062228\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk and bike past the fountain outside Memorial Auditorium at Stanford University in Stanford on Oct. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’m not going to do a blanket prohibition on defendants speaking about their motivation. However, I will severely limit that ability to speak about motivation,” Chew said, noting he would ban any hearsay evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chew also decided to exclude, for now, testimony from a professor of human rights whom Gillis argued the defense should be able to use during the trial as an expert witness, to help establish facts around “Palestine and the genocide and the motivations of these young people in their request to Stanford to divest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point during the hearing, some people in the audience of the courtroom chuckled, sighed or let out brief comments in response to arguments from Baker, prompting Chew to later issue a warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the court, and you should act in accordance with the fact that you are in a courtroom. If there are any additional outbursts, I will clear this courtroom. You understand that?” Chew said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunter Taylor-Black, one of the defendants, said the trial amounts to “political persecution.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Taylor-Black said the case from prosecutors feels “meant to discourage future student activists from acting on the things they believe in in the ways that student activists have acted in the past.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While students at campuses across the country were arrested last spring for Gaza-related demonstrations, few of those arrests resulted in felony charges or trials, making the Stanford case unusual. And defense attorneys argued earlier this year that the District Attorney’s office was overcharging the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The five defendants chose to go to trial last month, after six other protesters who were charged in the case entered into mental health diversion programs, or indicated they would take a court-offered deal that would include pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges, with a pathway to potential dismissal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One other protester, Jack Richardson, served as a witness for prosecutors in a grand jury indictment and is now enrolled in a youth deferred entry of judgment program. Such programs allow young people to eventually have a charge dismissed if they do not commit crimes while free, and often include rehabilitative requirements like counseling and community service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Germán González, also a defendant in the trial, said after the court hearing that it was disheartening to hear “genocide denialism” in the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout this sort of fear and anxiety that I do feel in the courtroom, I am just reminding myself that it is a privilege,” González said. “Nothing that happens in a courtroom or what happened to me is as severe as what’s happening to the Palestinians, who are facing genocide right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More pretrial conferences are scheduled this week, including a hearing over whether or not the provost of Stanford, Jenny Martinez, will be called to testify as a witness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jury selection in the trial is set to begin in early January.\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": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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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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"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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"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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"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.",
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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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"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.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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"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": {
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"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.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
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"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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"snap-judgment": {
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