California LGBTQ+ Youth Build Safe Spaces in Rural San Benito County
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California School Districts Plead With Newsom to Restore Budget
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He said he feels very fluid when it comes to gender expression and started exploring his gender identity in middle school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As time went on, as I continued being called ‘she,’ being called my dead name, I didn’t like it,” Barba-Solis said. “I thought I was okay with it, but it eventually just sort of created like almost this pit in my stomach whenever I was called it. It was putting me in a dark place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The road was messy. He said he felt overwhelmed with thoughts of his identity and would spend nights in tears. Accepting himself, he said, felt like the easy part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that his closest friends, Haiden Dizon, Mae Pung and David, who wished to not include his last name to protect his privacy, have been there for him whenever he needed them and have been like a family. He said his older sister, who’s also in the LGBTQ+ community, was the first person in his family to use his preferred name and pronouns. Through her, he found the confidence to start a trans club at his high school, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082937\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082937\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Founder and President Gael Barba-Solis leads a Mariposa Club meeting at Hollister High School on Jan. 14, 2026. Barba-Solis started the club during his sophomore year of high school to build a transgender community. Students now meet every Wednesday during lunch to discuss trans issues, safe spaces and related topics.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis said he created the Mariposa Club to support transgender teens at Hollister High School and give them the safe space he didn’t feel he always had. Club meetings focus on education, with topics ranging from how to safely use a chest binder (made for flattening the chest for a more masculine appearance) to LGBTQ+-friendly cities for after graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now it’s like I have breathing room. I can actually be who I am,” Barba-Solis said. “I have friends who support me and who are there for me, as well as my parents and my sister.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California approved behavioral health reform through \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/BHT/Pages/FAQ-Prop1.aspx\">Prop 1\u003c/a>. It consists of two parts: the Behavioral Health Services Act and the commitment of $6.4 billion to fund mental health services through the Behavioral Health Bond. BHSA replaces the Mental Health Services Act of 2004 and focuses on substance use disorders, mental illness and housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County will receive funding from Prop. 1 dispersed through multiple agencies, including to Youth Recovery Connections and directly to the county’s Behavioral Health Department. While planning continues, LGBTQ+ youth in the county work to build their own safe spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082938\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082938\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haiden Dizon carries Mae Pung’s backpack as they walk to a local Dollar Tree after school in Hollister, Calif., on March 10, 2026. Pung said she was diagnosed with depression around seventh grade, but since meeting Dizon a few years ago, she feels her symptoms have become more manageable.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it comes to LGBTQ+ awareness and support, San Benito County is lacking compared to nearby areas, said Maxx D’Elia, a trans man who has worked in mental health supporting students in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worked with kids where they’d say ‘I want to be a boy because I want to date girls,’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you don’t have to be a boy to date a girl. You could date a girl and be a girl,” said D’Elia. “I think that’s where a lot more education needs to come in. I would also want these kids to know that it’s okay to slow down as well and take that time to just figure it out. There’s no rush. We’re all just figuring out life one day at a time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2018-2024, the county’s Behavioral Health Department funded San Benito+, a safe space for the queer community to gather at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanbenitocountyca.gov/departments/behavioral-health/esperanza-center\">Esperanza Center\u003c/a> in downtown Hollister.[aside postID=news_12061805 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/IMG_1204-scaled.jpg']“There’s a lot of issues that pop up for this population that may need some specialized care, and usually it’s not addressed quickly and efficiently enough,” Interim Behavioral Health Director Rachel White said regarding the San Benito+ program. “And there’s consequences to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the program was shut down because of a lack of involvement. White said she recognizes that the program missed the mark and that it was just not reaching its community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Losing San Benito+ was a true setback in our little community and we currently lack quality gender and sexuality affirming care in this area,” D’Elia wrote in an email in May 2025. “That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, but it’s so far and few between. If you head over to Gilroy and Morgan Hill, they only have an LGBTQ support group that runs twice a month in Gilroy and twice a month in Morgan Hill at the libraries which are run by the LGBTQ Youth Space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Elia, who worked at San Benito+ with a handful of other part-time employees, said the program would do better with a full-time leader that could put in time to build outreach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health is working to get feedback from youth on what they need for future resources and, depending on those responses, possibly integrate the queer community’s needs into a Transitional Age Youth program, White said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behavioral Health created a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeyrZUJkWOlW0pRDZG1DKwJyun7H36u_KaFm3C9NjiQvSWtUA/viewform\">public survey\u003c/a> to gather input on a possible youth space. It closes on May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082950\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082950\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cyclist passes the Esperanza Center in Hollister, Calif., on April 21, 2026. From about 2018 to 2024, the San Benito County Behavioral Health Department funded San Benito+, a safe space for the queer community to gather at the downtown center.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health has been allocated an average of $4.5 million annually from BHSA under Prop. 1, which goes into effect July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Youth Recovery Connections (YRC), a local organization, was approved for funding through Prop 1 and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>YRC does prevention work focused on substance use and mental health. According to YRC Executive Director Michael Salinas, the group is now working on opening a second site in Hollister with expanded services to include treatment delivered by counselors and clinicians—the only place in the county to do so apart from the Behavioral Health Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BenitoLink interviewed six youths in the LGBTQ+ community for this article. They talked about their lives, the challenges they face and where they find emotional support, be it community organizations, family or significant others. BenitoLink agreed to allow a few to remain unnamed to protect their identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082942\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, holds up a post from her friend’s Instagram profile on April 7, 2026. Muñoz said her friend had been struggling with addiction and recently returned to rehab.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One anonymous local teen, who identifies as gay, said YRC has had a positive impact on his life, supporting him through the loss of loved ones, addiction, self harm and involvement in the juvenile justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both he and his older sister have struggled with addiction. They agreed to go to rehab at the same time but when he finished his program, he learned that his sister took her own life. YRC paid for her funeral, for which he said he was forever grateful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was the second person he lost to suicide, he said, following the death two years ago of his best friend, who identified as queer.\u003cbr>\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 41% of LGBTQ+ students have seriously considered suicide compared to 13% of their cisgender — those whose gender corresponds to their sex assigned at birth — and heterosexual peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After multiple attempts to follow up with this teen, BenitoLink heard from those close to him that he broke parole and returned to rehab. While reporting this story, he also turned 18, qualifying him as a legal adult and thus possibly facing more serious consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, poses for a portrait at a skate park she considers a safe space for herself on April 8, 2026. Muñoz moved to Hollister from San Jos\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">é \u003c/span> last year and still travels out to the city to visit a psychologist for mental health support.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to The Trevor Project, a leading LGBTQ+ suicide prevention nonprofit whose research is used in peer-reviewed publications, communities themselves have an impact on a person’s mental health.[aside postID=arts_13977595 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/2025.04.14_MIDDLETON_SANDYSTONE_15-KQED.jpg']The project’s 2024 survey of nearly 34,000 youth states that “LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, identifies as female and as omnisexual, which falls under the bisexual umbrella of sexual preferences. She moved to Hollister last year after living in San Jose and said she feels like the environment is far less welcoming of queer people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been called a faggot more times than I can count,” Muñoz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recounted a few memories including one where she was denied entry to a church because of her appearance, noting that she was sporting a Pride pin that day. Another time, an acquaintance found out Muñoz had dated a woman and told her to repent while she still could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t even really express the judgment and, like, disdain that is pushed upon you until you’re just walking the street with your friend and somebody yells out ‘faggot!’ and tries to hit you with a coke can,” Muñoz said, describing an incident she experienced at a Hollister Farmers Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082943\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082943\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace MuÒoz, 14, at a skate park she considers a safe space for herself on April 8, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Muñoz said she told her mom around the age of nine that she liked girls, and was generally accepted by her immediate family. She said she feels that her identity is complicated and harder to understand for her extended family, who are Catholic immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her family’s religion factored into her guilt about her sexuality and impacted her mental health, she said. At one time, part of her believed that God didn’t love her, that she had disappointed Him because she was in love with somebody that was not a man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz said she started therapy around the second grade during a tumultuous childhood. A few years ago, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder by a psychologist in San Jose. Despite trying to find services in Hollister, she said her family faced limited options and decided to make the 50-mile commute to San Jose for providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC reports 65% of LGBTQ+ students feeling sad or hopeless compared to 31% of cisgender and heterosexual students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082944\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082944\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anonymous teen who identifies as queer sits for a portrait in California in 2026. He said it felt good to talk about his identity with close friends and to have a space where he felt accepted.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A teen in San Benito County who identifies as queer asked to remain anonymous for this article so he can come out to his family on his own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that when he was about 12, he realized he’s never only been attracted to girls. A few years later, as a sophomore in high school, he started opening up to friends around him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt good to talk about it with people because it’s something that I’d never talked about with anyone before,” he said. “I’m the kind of person where it feels good to get thoughts outside of my head and out into the world. It just feels like less mental weight on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen said that he feels especially safe and comfortable when hanging out with his female friends, as some boys his age have a stigma around queer people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that they’re necessarily unaccepting,” he said. “It’s just that they’re kind of like, ‘Do your own thing and I’ll do my thing and I don’t really want to be associated with it.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082945\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anonymous teen who identifies as queer stands for a portrait in California in 2026. They said they fear for their safety outside of school because they do not know how others feel about queer people.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lingering fear exists for a few of the students interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another teen interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous to protect their identity from their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re very respectful,” they said about their parents. “There’s just some things they don’t really understand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As someone who is a part of the queer community, they specifically mentioned they fear for their safety outside of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I always kind of have to assume how people feel about, like, queer identities or especially transgender people,” they said. “It’s just because I don’t know, I think it’s just really a safety thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gael Barba-Solis attends a rehearsal for \u003cem data-start=\"41\" data-end=\"57\">School of Rock\u003c/em> at Hollister High School on Feb. 27, 2026. One of his tasks that afternoon was recording the cast for a montage that would play during the musical.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis reported being called slurs in middle school, and just outside of Hollister High a stranger threw apples at his back while he carried an LGBTQ+ flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My identity, I’m secure in,” Barba-Solis said. “I know who I am. It’s more of the fear of others, I guess, and sort of kind of like how they would react.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several teens interviewed said their school is where they feel like they can be most open about their sexuality or gender identity. Clubs, and the friends they’ve made through extracurriculars, plus the occasional school counselor or teacher, make up common safe spaces for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, the theater departments at both Anzar and Hollister High schools provide welcoming organizations for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transgender and nonbinary young people who had access to gender-affirming clothing, gender-neutral bathrooms at school, and had their pronouns respected by the people they live with, had lower rates of attempted suicide compared to those who did not,” according to the Trevor Project 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gael Barba-Solis holds a ladder for his friend Xier Perry as he adds graffiti to the \u003cem data-start=\"85\" data-end=\"101\">School of Rock\u003c/em> set at Hollister High School on Feb. 28, 2026. The workday included building and painting set pieces while show tunes played in the background.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students add graffiti to one of the School of Rock set pieces at Hollister High School on Feb. 28, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mae Pung, 17, poses for a portrait at Hollister High School on Feb. 12, 2026. Pung, who identifies as bisexual, said coming out to her family was a smooth process because several relatives are also part of the LGBTQ community, making it feel normalized.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pung, 17, supports her friend, Barba-Solis as vice president of Mariposa Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pung identifies as bisexual but said she feels like her identity isn’t something she’s had to explain to her family. She also takes comfort in knowing she has other family members that identify with the LBGTQ+ community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think my parents are already like normalized—normal to it—I guess. So it was relatively just smooth for me to just come out as bisexual,” Pung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pung said she has struggled with mental health in the past but feels like it’s affected her less in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think I was diagnosed in middle school, but then we lost our insurance to our health care,” Pung said. “I couldn’t go to the doctors anymore. So I couldn’t get my prescription for the antidepressants I was taking. And then I met Haiden [Dizon]. I started dating Haiden and it kind of just went away. I think there are still a little bit of, like, remnants of it there, especially with anxiety occasionally. But for the most part, I’m not too bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dizon and Pung have been dating for just over two years, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haiden Dizon and Mae Pung sit at Hollister High School after getting snacks on March 10, 2026. Pung said she was diagnosed with depression around seventh grade, but since meeting Dizon a few years ago, she feels her symptoms have become less severe.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>D’Elia said hands-on education for community providers and students would be beneficial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis has given presentations to Hollister High staff to help educate them about the LGBTQ+ community. In March, a joint effort of the Gay Straight Alliance and the Mariposa Club resulted in another staff presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youth Alliance, launched its first LGBTQ+-centered meeting in February. It’s currently working with Barba-Solis and the Mariposa Club to create more safe spaces and opportunities for education. The goal is to create two groups, Barba-Solis said, including one for youth and one for parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To find that middle ground and that compromise, it kind of has to be accepted that this is both a journey for you and your parents, because it is,” Barba-Solis said. “It’s to help parents recognize that but also help educate them on how to support their child. Because I know some parents do try. It’s the trouble of understanding and then therefore that leads to miscommunication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional consulting work with community members on the use of resources is documented in the Community Planning Process Report. The BHSA Integrated Plan, outlining the use of funds and a proposed budget for 2026-2029 will be submitted in June to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A draft is available for virtual public comment until May 21. A public hearing for final community input is also set for May 21. Currently, YRC Director Salinas says the goal is to have YRC treatment services available to the community in early 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From top left) Mae Pung, Haiden Dizon, David and Gael Barba-Solis laugh during a portrait in Hollister, Calif., on Jan. 20, 2026. Gael, who identifies as a transgender man, said he has found support in his longtime friends, whom he considers family.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Looking forward, Barba-Solis said he hopes to see centers for students while supporting those who aren’t “out” with discretion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we can just start with support groups or even, like, professionals who do specialize in identities with queer youth, I think that that could be a good start, especially in Hollister.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>24/7 crisis and suicide resources\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health Crisis Line: (831) 902-2911\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TrevorLifeline: 1-866-488-7386 for 24/7 support via phone, text, or online instant messaging\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 9-8-8 is available via call, text and online chat\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "LGBTQ+ youth in San Benito County are building peer-led safe spaces and advocacy networks as local leaders reassess mental health funding, gender-affirming care and support services under California’s Prop. 1 behavioral health reforms.",
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"title": "California LGBTQ+ Youth Build Safe Spaces in Rural San Benito County | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced jointly by \u003ca href=\"https://benitolink.com/\">BenitoLink\u003c/a> and CatchLight as part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.catchlight.io/mental-health\">mental health visual desk\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. \u003cem>\u003cstrong>Jessica Parga\u003c/strong> wrote and photographed for BenitoLink/CatchLight, with illustrations by \u003cstrong>Brea Spencer\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a winter evening, four friends meet to catch up at a local park. Among them is Gael Barba-Solis, a student who created one of the area’s only LGBTQ+ support spaces. They talk about their Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, their classes and teachers, and rehash old stories. They often walk around this spot in their town as it is one of the few areas they like to meet up outside of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis, 17, identifies as a trans man and pansexual, someone who is attracted to others regardless of their gender or sex. He said he feels very fluid when it comes to gender expression and started exploring his gender identity in middle school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As time went on, as I continued being called ‘she,’ being called my dead name, I didn’t like it,” Barba-Solis said. “I thought I was okay with it, but it eventually just sort of created like almost this pit in my stomach whenever I was called it. It was putting me in a dark place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The road was messy. He said he felt overwhelmed with thoughts of his identity and would spend nights in tears. Accepting himself, he said, felt like the easy part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that his closest friends, Haiden Dizon, Mae Pung and David, who wished to not include his last name to protect his privacy, have been there for him whenever he needed them and have been like a family. He said his older sister, who’s also in the LGBTQ+ community, was the first person in his family to use his preferred name and pronouns. Through her, he found the confidence to start a trans club at his high school, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082937\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082937\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Founder and President Gael Barba-Solis leads a Mariposa Club meeting at Hollister High School on Jan. 14, 2026. Barba-Solis started the club during his sophomore year of high school to build a transgender community. Students now meet every Wednesday during lunch to discuss trans issues, safe spaces and related topics.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis said he created the Mariposa Club to support transgender teens at Hollister High School and give them the safe space he didn’t feel he always had. Club meetings focus on education, with topics ranging from how to safely use a chest binder (made for flattening the chest for a more masculine appearance) to LGBTQ+-friendly cities for after graduation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now it’s like I have breathing room. I can actually be who I am,” Barba-Solis said. “I have friends who support me and who are there for me, as well as my parents and my sister.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, California approved behavioral health reform through \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/BHT/Pages/FAQ-Prop1.aspx\">Prop 1\u003c/a>. It consists of two parts: the Behavioral Health Services Act and the commitment of $6.4 billion to fund mental health services through the Behavioral Health Bond. BHSA replaces the Mental Health Services Act of 2004 and focuses on substance use disorders, mental illness and housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County will receive funding from Prop. 1 dispersed through multiple agencies, including to Youth Recovery Connections and directly to the county’s Behavioral Health Department. While planning continues, LGBTQ+ youth in the county work to build their own safe spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082938\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082938\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haiden Dizon carries Mae Pung’s backpack as they walk to a local Dollar Tree after school in Hollister, Calif., on March 10, 2026. Pung said she was diagnosed with depression around seventh grade, but since meeting Dizon a few years ago, she feels her symptoms have become more manageable.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it comes to LGBTQ+ awareness and support, San Benito County is lacking compared to nearby areas, said Maxx D’Elia, a trans man who has worked in mental health supporting students in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I worked with kids where they’d say ‘I want to be a boy because I want to date girls,’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you don’t have to be a boy to date a girl. You could date a girl and be a girl,” said D’Elia. “I think that’s where a lot more education needs to come in. I would also want these kids to know that it’s okay to slow down as well and take that time to just figure it out. There’s no rush. We’re all just figuring out life one day at a time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2018-2024, the county’s Behavioral Health Department funded San Benito+, a safe space for the queer community to gather at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanbenitocountyca.gov/departments/behavioral-health/esperanza-center\">Esperanza Center\u003c/a> in downtown Hollister.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There’s a lot of issues that pop up for this population that may need some specialized care, and usually it’s not addressed quickly and efficiently enough,” Interim Behavioral Health Director Rachel White said regarding the San Benito+ program. “And there’s consequences to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the program was shut down because of a lack of involvement. White said she recognizes that the program missed the mark and that it was just not reaching its community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Losing San Benito+ was a true setback in our little community and we currently lack quality gender and sexuality affirming care in this area,” D’Elia wrote in an email in May 2025. “That’s not to say it doesn’t exist, but it’s so far and few between. If you head over to Gilroy and Morgan Hill, they only have an LGBTQ support group that runs twice a month in Gilroy and twice a month in Morgan Hill at the libraries which are run by the LGBTQ Youth Space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Elia, who worked at San Benito+ with a handful of other part-time employees, said the program would do better with a full-time leader that could put in time to build outreach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health is working to get feedback from youth on what they need for future resources and, depending on those responses, possibly integrate the queer community’s needs into a Transitional Age Youth program, White said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behavioral Health created a \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeyrZUJkWOlW0pRDZG1DKwJyun7H36u_KaFm3C9NjiQvSWtUA/viewform\">public survey\u003c/a> to gather input on a possible youth space. It closes on May 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082950\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082950\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT31-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A cyclist passes the Esperanza Center in Hollister, Calif., on April 21, 2026. From about 2018 to 2024, the San Benito County Behavioral Health Department funded San Benito+, a safe space for the queer community to gather at the downtown center.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health has been allocated an average of $4.5 million annually from BHSA under Prop. 1, which goes into effect July 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Youth Recovery Connections (YRC), a local organization, was approved for funding through Prop 1 and the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>YRC does prevention work focused on substance use and mental health. According to YRC Executive Director Michael Salinas, the group is now working on opening a second site in Hollister with expanded services to include treatment delivered by counselors and clinicians—the only place in the county to do so apart from the Behavioral Health Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BenitoLink interviewed six youths in the LGBTQ+ community for this article. They talked about their lives, the challenges they face and where they find emotional support, be it community organizations, family or significant others. BenitoLink agreed to allow a few to remain unnamed to protect their identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082942\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082942\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH06-KQED-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, holds up a post from her friend’s Instagram profile on April 7, 2026. Muñoz said her friend had been struggling with addiction and recently returned to rehab.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One anonymous local teen, who identifies as gay, said YRC has had a positive impact on his life, supporting him through the loss of loved ones, addiction, self harm and involvement in the juvenile justice system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both he and his older sister have struggled with addiction. They agreed to go to rehab at the same time but when he finished his program, he learned that his sister took her own life. YRC paid for her funeral, for which he said he was forever grateful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was the second person he lost to suicide, he said, following the death two years ago of his best friend, who identified as queer.\u003cbr>\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 41% of LGBTQ+ students have seriously considered suicide compared to 13% of their cisgender — those whose gender corresponds to their sex assigned at birth — and heterosexual peers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After multiple attempts to follow up with this teen, BenitoLink heard from those close to him that he broke parole and returned to rehab. While reporting this story, he also turned 18, qualifying him as a legal adult and thus possibly facing more serious consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082951\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082951\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/JPARGA-EDIT320A-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, poses for a portrait at a skate park she considers a safe space for herself on April 8, 2026. Muñoz moved to Hollister from San Jos\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">é \u003c/span> last year and still travels out to the city to visit a psychologist for mental health support.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to The Trevor Project, a leading LGBTQ+ suicide prevention nonprofit whose research is used in peer-reviewed publications, communities themselves have an impact on a person’s mental health.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The project’s 2024 survey of nearly 34,000 youth states that “LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarabi Grace Muñoz, 14, identifies as female and as omnisexual, which falls under the bisexual umbrella of sexual preferences. She moved to Hollister last year after living in San Jose and said she feels like the environment is far less welcoming of queer people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been called a faggot more times than I can count,” Muñoz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She recounted a few memories including one where she was denied entry to a church because of her appearance, noting that she was sporting a Pride pin that day. Another time, an acquaintance found out Muñoz had dated a woman and told her to repent while she still could.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t even really express the judgment and, like, disdain that is pushed upon you until you’re just walking the street with your friend and somebody yells out ‘faggot!’ and tries to hit you with a coke can,” Muñoz said, describing an incident she experienced at a Hollister Farmers Market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082943\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082943\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH07-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarabi Grace MuÒoz, 14, at a skate park she considers a safe space for herself on April 8, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Muñoz said she told her mom around the age of nine that she liked girls, and was generally accepted by her immediate family. She said she feels that her identity is complicated and harder to understand for her extended family, who are Catholic immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her family’s religion factored into her guilt about her sexuality and impacted her mental health, she said. At one time, part of her believed that God didn’t love her, that she had disappointed Him because she was in love with somebody that was not a man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muñoz said she started therapy around the second grade during a tumultuous childhood. A few years ago, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder by a psychologist in San Jose. Despite trying to find services in Hollister, she said her family faced limited options and decided to make the 50-mile commute to San Jose for providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CDC reports 65% of LGBTQ+ students feeling sad or hopeless compared to 31% of cisgender and heterosexual students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082944\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082944\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH08-KQED-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anonymous teen who identifies as queer sits for a portrait in California in 2026. He said it felt good to talk about his identity with close friends and to have a space where he felt accepted.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A teen in San Benito County who identifies as queer asked to remain anonymous for this article so he can come out to his family on his own timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He shared that when he was about 12, he realized he’s never only been attracted to girls. A few years later, as a sophomore in high school, he started opening up to friends around him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt good to talk about it with people because it’s something that I’d never talked about with anyone before,” he said. “I’m the kind of person where it feels good to get thoughts outside of my head and out into the world. It just feels like less mental weight on me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The teen said that he feels especially safe and comfortable when hanging out with his female friends, as some boys his age have a stigma around queer people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that they’re necessarily unaccepting,” he said. “It’s just that they’re kind of like, ‘Do your own thing and I’ll do my thing and I don’t really want to be associated with it.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082945\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An anonymous teen who identifies as queer stands for a portrait in California in 2026. They said they fear for their safety outside of school because they do not know how others feel about queer people.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A lingering fear exists for a few of the students interviewed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another teen interviewed for this article asked to remain anonymous to protect their identity from their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re very respectful,” they said about their parents. “There’s just some things they don’t really understand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As someone who is a part of the queer community, they specifically mentioned they fear for their safety outside of school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like I always kind of have to assume how people feel about, like, queer identities or especially transgender people,” they said. “It’s just because I don’t know, I think it’s just really a safety thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082939\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082939\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gael Barba-Solis attends a rehearsal for \u003cem data-start=\"41\" data-end=\"57\">School of Rock\u003c/em> at Hollister High School on Feb. 27, 2026. One of his tasks that afternoon was recording the cast for a montage that would play during the musical.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis reported being called slurs in middle school, and just outside of Hollister High a stranger threw apples at his back while he carried an LGBTQ+ flag.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My identity, I’m secure in,” Barba-Solis said. “I know who I am. It’s more of the fear of others, I guess, and sort of kind of like how they would react.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several teens interviewed said their school is where they feel like they can be most open about their sexuality or gender identity. Clubs, and the friends they’ve made through extracurriculars, plus the occasional school counselor or teacher, make up common safe spaces for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Notably, the theater departments at both Anzar and Hollister High schools provide welcoming organizations for students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transgender and nonbinary young people who had access to gender-affirming clothing, gender-neutral bathrooms at school, and had their pronouns respected by the people they live with, had lower rates of attempted suicide compared to those who did not,” according to the Trevor Project 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082940\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082940\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gael Barba-Solis holds a ladder for his friend Xier Perry as he adds graffiti to the \u003cem data-start=\"85\" data-end=\"101\">School of Rock\u003c/em> set at Hollister High School on Feb. 28, 2026. The workday included building and painting set pieces while show tunes played in the background.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260228-JP-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH221-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students add graffiti to one of the School of Rock set pieces at Hollister High School on Feb. 28, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082946\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082946\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mae Pung, 17, poses for a portrait at Hollister High School on Feb. 12, 2026. Pung, who identifies as bisexual, said coming out to her family was a smooth process because several relatives are also part of the LGBTQ community, making it feel normalized.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pung, 17, supports her friend, Barba-Solis as vice president of Mariposa Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pung identifies as bisexual but said she feels like her identity isn’t something she’s had to explain to her family. She also takes comfort in knowing she has other family members that identify with the LBGTQ+ community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think my parents are already like normalized—normal to it—I guess. So it was relatively just smooth for me to just come out as bisexual,” Pung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pung said she has struggled with mental health in the past but feels like it’s affected her less in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think I was diagnosed in middle school, but then we lost our insurance to our health care,” Pung said. “I couldn’t go to the doctors anymore. So I couldn’t get my prescription for the antidepressants I was taking. And then I met Haiden [Dizon]. I started dating Haiden and it kind of just went away. I think there are still a little bit of, like, remnants of it there, especially with anxiety occasionally. But for the most part, I’m not too bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dizon and Pung have been dating for just over two years, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haiden Dizon and Mae Pung sit at Hollister High School after getting snacks on March 10, 2026. Pung said she was diagnosed with depression around seventh grade, but since meeting Dizon a few years ago, she feels her symptoms have become less severe.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>D’Elia said hands-on education for community providers and students would be beneficial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barba-Solis has given presentations to Hollister High staff to help educate them about the LGBTQ+ community. In March, a joint effort of the Gay Straight Alliance and the Mariposa Club resulted in another staff presentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youth Alliance, launched its first LGBTQ+-centered meeting in February. It’s currently working with Barba-Solis and the Mariposa Club to create more safe spaces and opportunities for education. The goal is to create two groups, Barba-Solis said, including one for youth and one for parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To find that middle ground and that compromise, it kind of has to be accepted that this is both a journey for you and your parents, because it is,” Barba-Solis said. “It’s to help parents recognize that but also help educate them on how to support their child. Because I know some parents do try. It’s the trouble of understanding and then therefore that leads to miscommunication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional consulting work with community members on the use of resources is documented in the Community Planning Process Report. The BHSA Integrated Plan, outlining the use of funds and a proposed budget for 2026-2029 will be submitted in June to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A draft is available for virtual public comment until May 21. A public hearing for final community input is also set for May 21. Currently, YRC Director Salinas says the goal is to have YRC treatment services available to the community in early 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/BREA-YOUTH-MENTAL-HEALTH12-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From top left) Mae Pung, Haiden Dizon, David and Gael Barba-Solis laugh during a portrait in Hollister, Calif., on Jan. 20, 2026. Gael, who identifies as a transgender man, said he has found support in his longtime friends, whom he considers family.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Looking forward, Barba-Solis said he hopes to see centers for students while supporting those who aren’t “out” with discretion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we can just start with support groups or even, like, professionals who do specialize in identities with queer youth, I think that that could be a good start, especially in Hollister.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a>\u003c/strong> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>24/7 crisis and suicide resources\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Benito County Behavioral Health Crisis Line: (831) 902-2911\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>TrevorLifeline: 1-866-488-7386 for 24/7 support via phone, text, or online instant messaging\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 9-8-8 is available via call, text and online chat\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "is-canvas-still-down-bay-area-schools-slowly-restore-access-after-global-hack",
"title": "Is Canvas Still Down? Bay Area Schools Slowly Restore Access After Global Hack",
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"headTitle": "Is Canvas Still Down? Bay Area Schools Slowly Restore Access After Global Hack | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area schools were working to restore access to Canvas on Friday after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082828/canvas-hacked-bay-area-colleges-disrupted-by-global-cyberattack-on-learning-platform\">a cyberattack\u003c/a> on the company behind the widely used learning platform left students and teachers around the world without access to homework and exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University, the California State University system and the Peralta Colleges — Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College and Merritt College — were among the institutions that had begun to restore the software’s use on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The situation has been challenging, but people here in the East Bay are resilient,” Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for the Peralta Community College District, told KQED by email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley said access “has largely been restored and final exams will proceed as scheduled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Foothill and De Anza Colleges in the South Bay said their security team restored Canvas access at 1 p.m. Friday, and said the “attacker did not access core Canvas functionality, downloaded but did not have access to and make any changes to user data, grades, or course content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instructure, the Salt Lake City-based company that develops and publishes Canvas, said early Friday that it had brought the platform back online, but many individual schools and groups that use the system were conducting their own checks before restoring access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>University officials \u003ca href=\"https://lts.calstate.edu/csu-canvas-incident-reports\">said Friday\u003c/a> that “in an abundance of caution, CSU has not yet fully reintegrated our campus systems or data connections with Canvas,” though they planned to do so by the afternoon after completing security protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at all 116 California community colleges, along with thousands of K-12 schools, colleges and universities nationwide, rely on the learning software daily to view and submit assignments, take part in class discussions, access syllabi and learning materials, and take exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052037\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052037\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity-1536x1162.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the entrances to the Main Quad on the Stanford University campus on April 9, 2019. \u003ccite>(Rachael Myrow/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A black-hat hacker group named ShinyHunters took credit for the attack, though the group’s role has not yet been confirmed. On Thursday, students like Emily Mills, at City College of San Francisco, were greeted by what appeared to be a ransom note threatening to release sensitive information when they tried logging into Canvas to take their exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe it’s scheduled maintenance, maybe it’s ShinyHunters,” Mills joked in a post on \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/sf_mills/status/2052507484565524640\">X\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heidi Skolnik, part-time faculty at Chabot College in Hayward, said she was teaching an in-person statistics course Thursday when a student showed her the hackers’ message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t really read it very carefully other than to see its threatening and really obnoxious tone, and really alarming dark colors on the screen,” she said.[aside postID=news_12082828 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-7-KQED.jpg']Without access to Canvas to share course materials, Skolnik passed around a flash drive to all 20 students to download the data they needed for class to their laptops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skolnik said the experience made her reflect on how the experience must feel to community college students, particularly those who are only enrolled in online courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is so much a part of their world it seems,” she said,” scams and hacks and all of the privacy issues that come up in online spaces.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Instructure said it took Canvas offline Thursday after “the unauthorized actor involved in our ongoing security incident made changes to the pages that appeared when some students and teachers were logged in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attack “exploited an issue related to Free-For-Teacher accounts,” company spokesperson Brian Watkins said in an email shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, referring to a demo program for educators whose schools weren’t Canvas users. After temporarily shutting down those accounts, Watkins said, the company restored access to Canvas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the California Community Colleges Security Center, Instructure first detected the intrusion April 29, “immediately began containment, and confirmed the incident publicly over the following days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038977\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038977\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students make their on campus at CSU East Bay on Feb. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, CSU officials said Instructure’s CEO and chief security officer notified them of a data breach potentially compromising Canvas users’ personal information, but Canvas remained up and they said there was “no indication of ongoing risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two days later, it appeared the cyberattackers still had access to Instructure’s systems, posting the ransom messages to Canvas login pages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the investigation to date, there is no evidence that passwords, Social Security numbers, financial information, or dates of birth were involved, community college and CSU officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/kkr-instructure-sued-after-data-breach-of-canvas-edtech-tool?taid=69fe4a284bb6d90001e00489&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter\">\u003cem>Bloomberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Instructure was slapped with at least seven federal suits this week, including six filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. KKR, a global investment firm that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instructure.com/press-release/instructure-to-be-acquired-by-KKR\">purchased\u003c/a> Instructure in 2024 for about $4.8 billion, is a named defendant in a case filed in the Southern District of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Powazek, a research program director at UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, said schools are a “treasure trove” of sensitive data, particularly that of minors. They’re also particularly vulnerable because there aren’t many education software vendors like Instructure, and they have a large number of users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies have a very high market share,” Powazek said. “Almost every school in the country at the K-12 level uses some combination of the same tools, which means that there’s a very high value for hackers that are able to intercept or get some sort of access to one of these products — because it means they won’t have access to just one school … they might be able to access the accounts of multiple schools across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powazek and other cybersecurity experts said the attack highlighted education’s reliance on digital technology, which creates a single point of failure in the supply chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cliff Steinhauer, director of Information Security and Engagement at the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/GWxsCyPmRxsAVy4DiZfvUxsEUO?domain=staysafeonline.org/\">National Cybersecurity Alliance\u003c/a>, said it should be a wake-up call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12016604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The UC Berkeley Campus in Berkeley on Aug. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Canvas breach underscores how deeply schools now depend on centralized digital platforms to keep day-to-day academic operations running,” Steinhauer said. “Even if highly sensitive financial information was not exposed, educational records, communications, and identity data can still be valuable to cybercriminals for phishing, impersonation, and future attacks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powazek said the Canvas attack is similar to a 2024 breach of PowerSchool, one of the most widely used student information systems in North America. In that case, a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-hack-powerschool-assumption-university-31923c3df90f72caff12e2175aa8b37e\">Massachusetts \u003c/a>college student was charged for the ransomware attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes of both national incidents, she said, should encourage schools and private companies like Instructure to bolster their security profiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When these services go down, it can impact the entire country’s day of school, which is a massive responsibility for those products,” Powazek said. “And I think it really hammers home how important it is. Some of these really technical cybersecurity controls on the backend can have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of most Americans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area schools were working to restore access to Canvas on Friday after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082828/canvas-hacked-bay-area-colleges-disrupted-by-global-cyberattack-on-learning-platform\">a cyberattack\u003c/a> on the company behind the widely used learning platform left students and teachers around the world without access to homework and exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford University, the California State University system and the Peralta Colleges — Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College and Merritt College — were among the institutions that had begun to restore the software’s use on Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The situation has been challenging, but people here in the East Bay are resilient,” Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for the Peralta Community College District, told KQED by email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley said access “has largely been restored and final exams will proceed as scheduled.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Foothill and De Anza Colleges in the South Bay said their security team restored Canvas access at 1 p.m. Friday, and said the “attacker did not access core Canvas functionality, downloaded but did not have access to and make any changes to user data, grades, or course content.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instructure, the Salt Lake City-based company that develops and publishes Canvas, said early Friday that it had brought the platform back online, but many individual schools and groups that use the system were conducting their own checks before restoring access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>University officials \u003ca href=\"https://lts.calstate.edu/csu-canvas-incident-reports\">said Friday\u003c/a> that “in an abundance of caution, CSU has not yet fully reintegrated our campus systems or data connections with Canvas,” though they planned to do so by the afternoon after completing security protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at all 116 California community colleges, along with thousands of K-12 schools, colleges and universities nationwide, rely on the learning software daily to view and submit assignments, take part in class discussions, access syllabi and learning materials, and take exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052037\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052037\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1513\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/StanfordUniversity-1536x1162.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the entrances to the Main Quad on the Stanford University campus on April 9, 2019. \u003ccite>(Rachael Myrow/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A black-hat hacker group named ShinyHunters took credit for the attack, though the group’s role has not yet been confirmed. On Thursday, students like Emily Mills, at City College of San Francisco, were greeted by what appeared to be a ransom note threatening to release sensitive information when they tried logging into Canvas to take their exams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe it’s scheduled maintenance, maybe it’s ShinyHunters,” Mills joked in a post on \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/sf_mills/status/2052507484565524640\">X\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heidi Skolnik, part-time faculty at Chabot College in Hayward, said she was teaching an in-person statistics course Thursday when a student showed her the hackers’ message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t really read it very carefully other than to see its threatening and really obnoxious tone, and really alarming dark colors on the screen,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Without access to Canvas to share course materials, Skolnik passed around a flash drive to all 20 students to download the data they needed for class to their laptops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skolnik said the experience made her reflect on how the experience must feel to community college students, particularly those who are only enrolled in online courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is so much a part of their world it seems,” she said,” scams and hacks and all of the privacy issues that come up in online spaces.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Instructure said it took Canvas offline Thursday after “the unauthorized actor involved in our ongoing security incident made changes to the pages that appeared when some students and teachers were logged in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The attack “exploited an issue related to Free-For-Teacher accounts,” company spokesperson Brian Watkins said in an email shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, referring to a demo program for educators whose schools weren’t Canvas users. After temporarily shutting down those accounts, Watkins said, the company restored access to Canvas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the California Community Colleges Security Center, Instructure first detected the intrusion April 29, “immediately began containment, and confirmed the incident publicly over the following days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038977\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038977\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250219-CSU-East-Bay-File-MD-09_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students make their on campus at CSU East Bay on Feb. 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, CSU officials said Instructure’s CEO and chief security officer notified them of a data breach potentially compromising Canvas users’ personal information, but Canvas remained up and they said there was “no indication of ongoing risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two days later, it appeared the cyberattackers still had access to Instructure’s systems, posting the ransom messages to Canvas login pages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on the investigation to date, there is no evidence that passwords, Social Security numbers, financial information, or dates of birth were involved, community college and CSU officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/kkr-instructure-sued-after-data-breach-of-canvas-edtech-tool?taid=69fe4a284bb6d90001e00489&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter\">\u003cem>Bloomberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, Instructure was slapped with at least seven federal suits this week, including six filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. KKR, a global investment firm that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instructure.com/press-release/instructure-to-be-acquired-by-KKR\">purchased\u003c/a> Instructure in 2024 for about $4.8 billion, is a named defendant in a case filed in the Southern District of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Powazek, a research program director at UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, said schools are a “treasure trove” of sensitive data, particularly that of minors. They’re also particularly vulnerable because there aren’t many education software vendors like Instructure, and they have a large number of users.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These companies have a very high market share,” Powazek said. “Almost every school in the country at the K-12 level uses some combination of the same tools, which means that there’s a very high value for hackers that are able to intercept or get some sort of access to one of these products — because it means they won’t have access to just one school … they might be able to access the accounts of multiple schools across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powazek and other cybersecurity experts said the attack highlighted education’s reliance on digital technology, which creates a single point of failure in the supply chain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cliff Steinhauer, director of Information Security and Engagement at the \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/GWxsCyPmRxsAVy4DiZfvUxsEUO?domain=staysafeonline.org/\">National Cybersecurity Alliance\u003c/a>, said it should be a wake-up call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12016604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12016604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/230817-UC-BERKELEY-CAMPUS-MD-02_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The UC Berkeley Campus in Berkeley on Aug. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The Canvas breach underscores how deeply schools now depend on centralized digital platforms to keep day-to-day academic operations running,” Steinhauer said. “Even if highly sensitive financial information was not exposed, educational records, communications, and identity data can still be valuable to cybercriminals for phishing, impersonation, and future attacks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powazek said the Canvas attack is similar to a 2024 breach of PowerSchool, one of the most widely used student information systems in North America. In that case, a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/data-hack-powerschool-assumption-university-31923c3df90f72caff12e2175aa8b37e\">Massachusetts \u003c/a>college student was charged for the ransomware attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes of both national incidents, she said, should encourage schools and private companies like Instructure to bolster their security profiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When these services go down, it can impact the entire country’s day of school, which is a massive responsibility for those products,” Powazek said. “And I think it really hammers home how important it is. Some of these really technical cybersecurity controls on the backend can have a real impact on the day-to-day lives of most Americans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082926/californias-governors-race-remains-wide-open-heres-what-to-know-before-the-primary\">California’s Governor’s Race Remains Wide Open. Here’s What to Know Before the Primary\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From controversies to campaign promises, California’s governor’s race is national news. And with ballots landing in mailboxes already, the race is still a toss-up — with eight candidates vying for the state’s top job. We sit down with KQED political correspondents Guy Marzorati and Marisa Lagos to hear more about the candidates and what we should look for in the final weeks before Election Day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082596/in-northern-californias-maternity-desert-a-humboldt-midwife-offers-intimate-births\">\u003cb>In Northern California’s Maternity Desert, a Humboldt Midwife Offers Intimate Births\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite being the nation’s most populous state, there’s increasingly fewer places to give birth. In rural areas, giving birth can be difficult and dangerous as local hospitals shut down maternity wards. In Humboldt County, some women now travel hours in labor to reach the nearest delivery room. One small birth center in Eureka is trying to fill that gap with a different approach to care. There, midwives spend more time with patients and offer a calmer, more personal setting for births. It’s a model that could help address the state’s growing maternity care crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"routes-Site-routes-Post-Title-__Title__title\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082926/californias-governors-race-remains-wide-open-heres-what-to-know-before-the-primary\">California’s Governor’s Race Remains Wide Open. Here’s What to Know Before the Primary\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From controversies to campaign promises, California’s governor’s race is national news. And with ballots landing in mailboxes already, the race is still a toss-up — with eight candidates vying for the state’s top job. We sit down with KQED political correspondents Guy Marzorati and Marisa Lagos to hear more about the candidates and what we should look for in the final weeks before Election Day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082596/in-northern-californias-maternity-desert-a-humboldt-midwife-offers-intimate-births\">\u003cb>In Northern California’s Maternity Desert, a Humboldt Midwife Offers Intimate Births\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite being the nation’s most populous state, there’s increasingly fewer places to give birth. In rural areas, giving birth can be difficult and dangerous as local hospitals shut down maternity wards. In Humboldt County, some women now travel hours in labor to reach the nearest delivery room. One small birth center in Eureka is trying to fill that gap with a different approach to care. There, midwives spend more time with patients and offer a calmer, more personal setting for births. It’s a model that could help address the state’s growing maternity care crisis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Between her two young toddlers, her work as a seaweed farmer on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/humboldt-county\">Humboldt County’s \u003c/a>coast, and a third baby on the way, Leslie Booher doesn’t have a lot of spare time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But her prenatal appointments with her \u003ca href=\"https://midwifemade.com/2509-2/\">midwife, Laura Doyle\u003c/a>, give Booher the opportunity to really focus on the pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, feeling more informed and curious makes you feel much more empowered in your body,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/medical-services/birthplace/pregnancy-newborn-health/prenatal-education/your-pregnancy/schedule-prenatal-care\">typical\u003c/a> 10- to 15-minute OB check-up, Booher and Doyle spent a full hour together in early March, chatting on a comfortable sofa at \u003ca href=\"https://www.moonstonemidwives.com/\">Moonstone Midwives Birth Center\u003c/a> in Eureka, California. The cozy room where they met has kids’ toys in one corner, calm pastel-colored paintings on the wall, and feels more like a friend’s living room than a clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle listened to the baby’s heartbeat, took Booher’s blood pressure, and reviewed her blood test results. The midwife also asked about Booher’s stress levels, whether she’s exercising, and if she’s getting enough time to herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082734\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082734 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle measures expecting parent Leslie Booher’s fundal height during an appointment at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In prenatal care, what I am learning the most is who this person is,” Doyle said. “Yes, I look at blood work. Yes, I’m feeling babies and their growth. More importantly, I’m like: ‘Who are you? What are the relationships like in your life? Are you supported? Are you fearful?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She continued: “Every little story I get out of somebody is like telling me so much about how they are, and often, how their birth will be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across California, and across the U.S., there are now fewer places in which to give birth. Hospitals — facing rising costs, staff shortages and falling birth rates — are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/09/new-maternity-care-closures/\">closing\u003c/a> maternity wards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rural parts of the state are especially impacted: many women in these regions must travel for hours in labor to give birth, which can cause \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciline.org/public-health/obstetric-care-rural-america/\">serious complications\u003c/a> for moms and babies, including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciline.org/public-health/obstetric-care-rural-america/\">higher risk\u003c/a> of pre-term births, c-sections and infant deaths. In California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CFH/DMCAH/Pages/Health-Topics/Pregnancy-Related-Mortality.aspx\">maternal mortality rate\u003c/a> is higher in rural communities than in urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Humboldt and other northwestern parts of the state, two hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units in the past five years, leaving the entire county with just one hospital in which to give birth, Providence St. Joseph in Eureka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12007627 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/AGBontaAP1-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are coming from a couple hours [away] to have their babies,” Doyle said. “We only have one hospital that is doing deliveries for hours in every direction. It’s super stressful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abundant research has shown that midwifery care leads to \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-value-of-midwives-during-prenatal-care-and-birth/\">better\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29944777/\">outcomes\u003c/a> for many of these challenges. As medically-trained healthcare professionals, midwives offer a different kind of care that can help meet this need. They can place IVs, do sutures, and give antibiotics — but they don’t administer epidurals or perform c-sections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing unmedicated birth means we’re relying on preventative care, so good nutrition, really good sleep, low stress and getting these babies in an optimal position,” Doyle said. “Unfortunately, standard medical practice doesn’t have time for that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they offer women longer prenatal appointments, safe birth outside a hospital setting, and regular postpartum check-ups —a crucial time, because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592630/\">most pregnancy-related deaths\u003c/a> occur in the postpartum period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the vast majority of people can’t afford midwifery care. Midwives are not covered by most insurers, and incredibly low reimbursement rates mean that most midwives also can’t accept low-income clients on Medi-Cal. Holly Smith, a midwife and co-lead of \u003ca href=\"https://www.midwiferyaccessca.org/\">Midwifery Access California\u003c/a>, estimated that Medi-Cal reimburses around $3,000 per birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Midwives across the state have told us that the minimum they need is $7,000-$8,000 per birth, in order to sustain their practice,” said Smith, adding that the actual cost is around $14,000-$15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle has found a way to serve low-income families in Humboldt, where the median household income is about 60% of the state median.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always say, we’re all working hard to be poor,” Doyle said. “The stress is real for most people in this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082736\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082736\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082737 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle (right) chats with expecting parent Kaylee Biane and her daughter Josie in the waiting room at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a year of meetings, Doyle was able to negotiate a better deal with the local Medi-Cal payer in Humboldt, Partnership Healthplan. This makes her birth center one of the very few in California able to accept low-income families. Around 75% of current Moonstone clients are on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so frustrating to know that you can only have this if you can afford it,” said Doyle. “That is just wrong. Everybody should have access to good midwifery care. It’s really been the motivator of my career: people should be empowered in their birth experience no matter who they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moonstone is located opposite Humboldt’s last remaining labor and delivery ward, at Providence St. Joseph, so that if a birthing person wants an epidural, needs surgery or the baby has to go to the NICU, the transfer is quick and easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve always been able to reach out to doctors and consult with them,” Doyle said, of the hospital staff. “We’ve built that rapport; they trust us and we trust them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community midwives, meaning those who don’t work in a hospital, attend around \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MaternityCareAlmanac2023.pdf\">1% of births\u003c/a> in California — but \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ListeningMothersCAFullSurveyReport2018.pdf\">research\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/advancing-midwifery-birth-equity-california/\">has shown\u003c/a> that more birthing people would like to have this kind of care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women seek midwifery care because they’ve had a difficult experience in the hospital. Claire Henderson gave birth at Mad River Community Hospital nearby in Arcata, before it closed its maternity ward in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had three birthing rooms and at that time I think nine babies were being born, or were just born, so there was no room for me,” Henderson said. “But I was in full labor, so they stuck me in this little exam room we called a ‘closet,’ and that’s where I had my baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Henderson said she felt unheard by the hospital staff, who kept offering her medicine she didn’t want. Even though her baby was born healthy, she felt overwhelmed — so when she got pregnant a second time, she knew she wanted a midwife instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in hospital births, but I knew I wanted a natural, physiological birth,” she said, “uninterrupted as much as possible, and to have everything calm down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12080800 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/20260309_MIGNON_20-KQED.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Moonstone, Henderson gave birth in a birth suite with the lights dimmed low. “I was very present in my body and brain. The midwives checked the baby here and there, but I wasn’t on continuous monitoring — they left us alone a lot of the time. I was laughing in between contractions. It felt so natural.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, Henderson said: “Birth is really hard. It was still one of the most intense pains of my life. But I didn’t need anything for [it]. I just needed to feel secure and safe – and that was my team and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle said she gave birth to her first baby at home in a very remote area, supported by midwives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most impactful thing was their patience, and [the way they] really listened to me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle trained as a midwife herself and after many years of attending home births, she opened Moonstone with four other midwives in 2014. It’s still the county’s only birth center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we have a really unique culture in Humboldt,” she said. “I always call it the ‘707 culture.’ It’s like a different way of being, and a lot of it was driven by the outlaw culture of marijuana growing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle believes that mindset has influenced birthing people’s approach to their healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these women are like, ‘No, I’m not doing that. I’m declining this, I’m declining that,” she said. “‘I want to do it this way.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082740\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082740\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. The midwives moved to this location in January of 2026 in order to be closer to Providence St. Joseph, the one remaining hospital with a labor and delivery unit in Humboldt county. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a typical day at the birth center, pregnant women will come in for their check-ups or group prenatal classes, while new moms can join postpartum support groups. Moonstone has two birth suites which resemble hotel rooms: comfy queen beds and large tubs for water birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occasionally a mom will drop by with her newborn and a box of cookies or muffins for the midwives, as a little token of thanks. Doyle has lost count of how many babies she’s delivered, but estimated she’s passed the 1,000 mark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can tell that’s what’s happened when I’m going through the grocery store,” she said, laughing, “because I see everybody and it’s hard to get anywhere, which is the sweet thing about being in a small town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Clare Wiley is a Los Angeles based reporter covering women’s health. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F705e1645.streak-link.com%2FC1mohHHz81VdDMSRUwkUFhI3%2Fhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.economichardship.org%252F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C2df2b5528d9e466cdb2608de94ebfbf4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639111938429288639%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0NPfR6pRTwbXNJHuUbcNiAt3kkjrCO%2Bl7shM6fBqucc%3D&reserved=0\">\u003cem>Economic Hardship Reporting Project\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As hospitals across the state shutter, rural midwives provide specialized, and sometimes lifesaving, medical care. \r\n",
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"title": "In Northern California’s Maternity Desert, a Humboldt Midwife Offers Intimate Births | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Between her two young toddlers, her work as a seaweed farmer on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/humboldt-county\">Humboldt County’s \u003c/a>coast, and a third baby on the way, Leslie Booher doesn’t have a lot of spare time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But her prenatal appointments with her \u003ca href=\"https://midwifemade.com/2509-2/\">midwife, Laura Doyle\u003c/a>, give Booher the opportunity to really focus on the pregnancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For me, feeling more informed and curious makes you feel much more empowered in your body,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/medical-services/birthplace/pregnancy-newborn-health/prenatal-education/your-pregnancy/schedule-prenatal-care\">typical\u003c/a> 10- to 15-minute OB check-up, Booher and Doyle spent a full hour together in early March, chatting on a comfortable sofa at \u003ca href=\"https://www.moonstonemidwives.com/\">Moonstone Midwives Birth Center\u003c/a> in Eureka, California. The cozy room where they met has kids’ toys in one corner, calm pastel-colored paintings on the wall, and feels more like a friend’s living room than a clinic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle listened to the baby’s heartbeat, took Booher’s blood pressure, and reviewed her blood test results. The midwife also asked about Booher’s stress levels, whether she’s exercising, and if she’s getting enough time to herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082734\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082734 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_08-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle measures expecting parent Leslie Booher’s fundal height during an appointment at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In prenatal care, what I am learning the most is who this person is,” Doyle said. “Yes, I look at blood work. Yes, I’m feeling babies and their growth. More importantly, I’m like: ‘Who are you? What are the relationships like in your life? Are you supported? Are you fearful?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She continued: “Every little story I get out of somebody is like telling me so much about how they are, and often, how their birth will be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across California, and across the U.S., there are now fewer places in which to give birth. Hospitals — facing rising costs, staff shortages and falling birth rates — are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/09/new-maternity-care-closures/\">closing\u003c/a> maternity wards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rural parts of the state are especially impacted: many women in these regions must travel for hours in labor to give birth, which can cause \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciline.org/public-health/obstetric-care-rural-america/\">serious complications\u003c/a> for moms and babies, including a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciline.org/public-health/obstetric-care-rural-america/\">higher risk\u003c/a> of pre-term births, c-sections and infant deaths. In California, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CFH/DMCAH/Pages/Health-Topics/Pregnancy-Related-Mortality.aspx\">maternal mortality rate\u003c/a> is higher in rural communities than in urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Humboldt and other northwestern parts of the state, two hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units in the past five years, leaving the entire county with just one hospital in which to give birth, Providence St. Joseph in Eureka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are coming from a couple hours [away] to have their babies,” Doyle said. “We only have one hospital that is doing deliveries for hours in every direction. It’s super stressful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abundant research has shown that midwifery care leads to \u003ca href=\"https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/the-value-of-midwives-during-prenatal-care-and-birth/\">better\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29944777/\">outcomes\u003c/a> for many of these challenges. As medically-trained healthcare professionals, midwives offer a different kind of care that can help meet this need. They can place IVs, do sutures, and give antibiotics — but they don’t administer epidurals or perform c-sections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing unmedicated birth means we’re relying on preventative care, so good nutrition, really good sleep, low stress and getting these babies in an optimal position,” Doyle said. “Unfortunately, standard medical practice doesn’t have time for that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And they offer women longer prenatal appointments, safe birth outside a hospital setting, and regular postpartum check-ups —a crucial time, because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK592630/\">most pregnancy-related deaths\u003c/a> occur in the postpartum period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the vast majority of people can’t afford midwifery care. Midwives are not covered by most insurers, and incredibly low reimbursement rates mean that most midwives also can’t accept low-income clients on Medi-Cal. Holly Smith, a midwife and co-lead of \u003ca href=\"https://www.midwiferyaccessca.org/\">Midwifery Access California\u003c/a>, estimated that Medi-Cal reimburses around $3,000 per birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Midwives across the state have told us that the minimum they need is $7,000-$8,000 per birth, in order to sustain their practice,” said Smith, adding that the actual cost is around $14,000-$15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle has found a way to serve low-income families in Humboldt, where the median household income is about 60% of the state median.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always say, we’re all working hard to be poor,” Doyle said. “The stress is real for most people in this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082736\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082736\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082737\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082737 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_29-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Midwife Laura Doyle (right) chats with expecting parent Kaylee Biane and her daughter Josie in the waiting room at Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After a year of meetings, Doyle was able to negotiate a better deal with the local Medi-Cal payer in Humboldt, Partnership Healthplan. This makes her birth center one of the very few in California able to accept low-income families. Around 75% of current Moonstone clients are on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so frustrating to know that you can only have this if you can afford it,” said Doyle. “That is just wrong. Everybody should have access to good midwifery care. It’s really been the motivator of my career: people should be empowered in their birth experience no matter who they are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moonstone is located opposite Humboldt’s last remaining labor and delivery ward, at Providence St. Joseph, so that if a birthing person wants an epidural, needs surgery or the baby has to go to the NICU, the transfer is quick and easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve always been able to reach out to doctors and consult with them,” Doyle said, of the hospital staff. “We’ve built that rapport; they trust us and we trust them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community midwives, meaning those who don’t work in a hospital, attend around \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MaternityCareAlmanac2023.pdf\">1% of births\u003c/a> in California — but \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ListeningMothersCAFullSurveyReport2018.pdf\">research\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/advancing-midwifery-birth-equity-california/\">has shown\u003c/a> that more birthing people would like to have this kind of care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some women seek midwifery care because they’ve had a difficult experience in the hospital. Claire Henderson gave birth at Mad River Community Hospital nearby in Arcata, before it closed its maternity ward in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had three birthing rooms and at that time I think nine babies were being born, or were just born, so there was no room for me,” Henderson said. “But I was in full labor, so they stuck me in this little exam room we called a ‘closet,’ and that’s where I had my baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Henderson said she felt unheard by the hospital staff, who kept offering her medicine she didn’t want. Even though her baby was born healthy, she felt overwhelmed — so when she got pregnant a second time, she knew she wanted a midwife instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe in hospital births, but I knew I wanted a natural, physiological birth,” she said, “uninterrupted as much as possible, and to have everything calm down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Moonstone, Henderson gave birth in a birth suite with the lights dimmed low. “I was very present in my body and brain. The midwives checked the baby here and there, but I wasn’t on continuous monitoring — they left us alone a lot of the time. I was laughing in between contractions. It felt so natural.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, Henderson said: “Birth is really hard. It was still one of the most intense pains of my life. But I didn’t need anything for [it]. I just needed to feel secure and safe – and that was my team and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle said she gave birth to her first baby at home in a very remote area, supported by midwives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most impactful thing was their patience, and [the way they] really listened to me,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle trained as a midwife herself and after many years of attending home births, she opened Moonstone with four other midwives in 2014. It’s still the county’s only birth center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we have a really unique culture in Humboldt,” she said. “I always call it the ‘707 culture.’ It’s like a different way of being, and a lot of it was driven by the outlaw culture of marijuana growing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doyle believes that mindset has influenced birthing people’s approach to their healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of these women are like, ‘No, I’m not doing that. I’m declining this, I’m declining that,” she said. “‘I want to do it this way.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082740\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082740\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/KQED_RURALMATERNALHEALTH_HIRES_37-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior of Moonstone Midwives Birth Center in Eureka on May 4, 2026. The midwives moved to this location in January of 2026 in order to be closer to Providence St. Joseph, the one remaining hospital with a labor and delivery unit in Humboldt county. \u003ccite>(Alexandra Hootnick for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a typical day at the birth center, pregnant women will come in for their check-ups or group prenatal classes, while new moms can join postpartum support groups. Moonstone has two birth suites which resemble hotel rooms: comfy queen beds and large tubs for water birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Occasionally a mom will drop by with her newborn and a box of cookies or muffins for the midwives, as a little token of thanks. Doyle has lost count of how many babies she’s delivered, but estimated she’s passed the 1,000 mark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can tell that’s what’s happened when I’m going through the grocery store,” she said, laughing, “because I see everybody and it’s hard to get anywhere, which is the sweet thing about being in a small town.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Clare Wiley is a Los Angeles based reporter covering women’s health. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F705e1645.streak-link.com%2FC1mohHHz81VdDMSRUwkUFhI3%2Fhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.economichardship.org%252F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C2df2b5528d9e466cdb2608de94ebfbf4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C639111938429288639%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0NPfR6pRTwbXNJHuUbcNiAt3kkjrCO%2Bl7shM6fBqucc%3D&reserved=0\">\u003cem>Economic Hardship Reporting Project\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "cheap-camping-near-bay-area-checklist-gear-cookware-tent-rental-sleeping-bag-pad",
"title": "How Cheaply Can You Camp in the Bay Area — Without Sacrificing Comfort?",
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"headTitle": "How Cheaply Can You Camp in the Bay Area — Without Sacrificing Comfort? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/travel/airfare-bag-fees-fuel-surcharges.html\">cost of travel\u003c/a> continues to skyrocket, with gas and flight prices rising amid the Iran war, even more Californians than usual might be considering camping as a more achievable way to take a vacation this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as many people discover, the costs of camping can quickly rack up. And once you’ve bought your equipment, acquired the extras and secured those endless groceries, a getaway that originally seemed like the cheapest option can suddenly seem oddly expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, it doesn’t have to be. In my role as KQED’s Outdoor Reporter, I talked to local experts and set out to test the cheapest camping trip that would still be fun — and comfortable — right here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The quest for cheap camping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My aim: To keep costs under $200 — what a person might spend for dinner and a night at a hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To run this experiment, I had to set some parameters:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>I couldn’t use the camping gear I already owned\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Anything I brought would have to be something your average person might have at home\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Everything else I would have to borrow, rent or buy as affordably as possible\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079258\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Lake Chabot is seen from Anthony Chabot Family Campground, which sits about 1.5 miles above the lake, on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I also brought my partner with me, because camping with others is nearly always more fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would take some creativity, but I did it — and for far less than $200. All told, my weekend adventure came in at around $180.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading what I learned about camping as cheaply as possible near the Bay Area, and the tips you can use to make your next weekend away as budget-friendly as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#WheretofindfreecampsitesneartheBayArea\">Where to find free campsites near the Bay Area\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#Howtokeepcostsdownwhenrentingcampingequipment\">How to keep costs down when renting camping equipment\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#Wheretobuyorthriftcheapercampingsupplies\">Where to buy (or thrift) cheaper camping supplies\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Try reserving a cheaper ‘walk-in’ campsite …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For my night away, I spent $33 on \u003ca href=\"https://campnab.com/camping-glossary/walk-in-campsite\">a walk-in campsite \u003c/a>— that is, a campsite you have to walk a little way to after parking, as opposed to one where you can pop your tent right next to your vehicle. These are not to be confused with walk-\u003cem>up\u003c/em> campsites, which are “first-come, first-served” and can’t be reserved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I chose a walk-in site because these are usually a few dollars cheaper than drive-up sites. (I even called the reservation office to see if making the $25 campsite reservation by phone could waive the $8 service fee — alas, it did not.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Used and borrowed coolers hold food at a campsite at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. Camper Ernesto Carmona said reusing gear is a key way to keep camping affordable. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the cost of a 5-minute walk with all your stuff, a walk-in site gives you a much more secluded, immersive camping experience. Still, first-time campers may use a regular drive-in site to keep their car close by. Regardless of what you decide, most Bay Area campsites will be in the $30-$50 range per night, including the service fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I chose the East Bay’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebparks.org/parks/anthony-chabot/camping\">Anthony Chabot Campground\u003c/a> because of its beginner-friendly nature, and the short 35-minute drive from downtown Oakland (even closer if you live in Castro Valley or Hayward). Not only did this hillside spot have plenty of available reservations, but it’s beautiful, too: nestled within eucalyptus trees with a view of scenic Lake Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/california/anthony-chabot-regional-park--2\">hiking trails for all levels\u003c/a> — for a relaxed stroll at sunset, we took the easy, mostly flat Towhee Trail, connecting a loop around the campground above Lake Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"WheretofindfreecampsitesneartheBayArea\">\u003c/a>… or choose a dispersed site for even cheaper (or free) camping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Want to keep your costs even lower? You can always “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11920867/how-to-find-free-camping-in-californias-national-forests\">dispersed camp\u003c/a>” in national forests or other federal land — meaning you’ll pitch your tent outside a developed campground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is dispersed camping far cheaper — it’s usually free, although certain forests may require a pass that costs a few dollars — it tends to be quieter and doesn’t usually require a permit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dispersed camping “kind of brings the benefit of backpacking” while still having your car, said Brian Low, general manager at Club Urban Diversion, a Bay Area-based social club that organizes outdoor trips. “You get into the backcountry away from other people and have a really tranquil experience in the wilderness, but you have the benefit of being able to drive right up to your site and camp there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Dillen hikes the Towhee Trail, which circles Anthony Chabot Campground, on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there is a catch: Most of those campsites don’t have any facilities at all, like toilets or showers, and may not be properly marked on maps. Make sure you know you’re camping legally and not on private property beforehand (apps like \u003ca href=\"https://www.gaiagps.com/\">Gaia GPS\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.onxmaps.com/backcountry/app?utm_source=googlesearch&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=PERF_BC_US_NATION_GOOGLE-AC_WEB_ACQ_BRAND_07-23-2025&https://www.onxmaps.com/backcountry/blog/fatmap-alternative&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22520966125&gbraid=0AAAAABs4zQ6QJkac9R-vd5C9tuG0WzE20&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkrzPBhCqARIsAJN460lTK-0LmtCQmpc7Tgsli9ZcuHAFAvNMLcLgGUd-7OSarKtVbhfCukwaAvSyEALw_wcB\">onX Backcountry\u003c/a> can help you navigate).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also call the local land management office where you’re trying to camp, usually the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/offices\">U.S. Forest Service\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/office/central-california-district-office\">Bureau of Land Management\u003c/a>, and ask a ranger or staff member where to camp safely and legally nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure you ask about \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/programs/fire/regional-info/california/fire-restrictions\">any local fire restrictions\u003c/a> or other regulations. You’ll probably also need a \u003ca href=\"http://readyforwildfire.org/permits/campfire-permit/\">California Campfire Permit\u003c/a>, which is free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082554\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A tent is set up in the corner of a campsite at Anthony Chabot Campground on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dispersed camping also means you’ll have to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Bring water in your car (or a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040242/start-backpacking-trails-bay-area-near-me-permits#backpacking-gear\"> water filter\u003c/a>) for the entire weekend\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Expect to pack out your trash (yes, including toilet paper)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Follow other\u003ca href=\"https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/\"> Leave No Trace principles\u003c/a> like camping away from streams …\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>… and burying your poop at least 60 inches deep in the ground.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“It does require a little bit more know-how and skill to camp in those places,” Low said. “So it’s not always the most beginner-friendly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, while dispersed camping will keep reservation costs way down, saving this money might not be worth the stress if you’re more of a beginner camper.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Know the essentials you absolutely \u003cem>shouldn’t \u003c/em>cut corners on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Namely, your “big three”: Your tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. These are the essential pieces of gear you 100% need to safely enjoy a night out camping, even if the weather forecast is perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you go out and you can’t sleep because you’re freezing cold and you’re shivering all night, and then you wake up, tired and groggy and grumpy, you’re just not going to have fun the next day,” Low said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides a warm, comfortable sleep setup, you don’t technically \u003cem>need \u003c/em>anything else to camp. But there are some nice-to-haves, and you can borrow, rent or find them at local thrift stores. Which brings us to …\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Borrow from your community (before you invest in your own costly gear)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Camping with friends or family is the easiest way to keep costs down. You can carpool, share tents and other gear — and you’ll probably have more fun, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also borrow extra equipment from that one friend who has too much or another who can’t make the trip this time. (Full disclosure: I am usually that one friend — I have lent my gear to pretty much anyone who asked. As far as I’m concerned, the more use my gear gets, the better.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lean on your community, friends, family, acquaintances – see if there’s stuff that you can borrow,” Low said. “And then stuff you can’t borrow, see if you can rent it. And \u003cem>then \u003c/em>stuff you can’t rent, consider buying it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marcus Johnson, of Hayward, with his family at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, CA. Bringing used gear and choosing local campsites helps keep trips affordable, according to Mr Johnson. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Your local library may also offer \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2024/01/01/free-hiking-gear-bay-area-libraries/\">rentals for hiking gear\u003c/a> that you can check out the way you would a book — all for free. You can also reserve and check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910495/how-to-get-free-entry-to-california-state-parks-with-your-library-card\">free state parks passes\u003c/a> from your library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re associated with a university, check whether your school has an \u003ca href=\"https://chaosberkeley.org/gear-shed/\">outdoors club\u003c/a>, as these organizations often rent gear for cheap to students and faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this trip, I borrowed a lawn chair from my roommate. It’s been sitting in our house for a while, and was the perfect way to relax around the campfire — so who cares if it wasn’t an actual camping chair?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Howtokeepcostsdownwhenrentingcampingequipment\">\u003c/a>How to affordably rent your most crucial gear\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning on making camping a habit, you may consider buying your “big three” — tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad — but you’ll want to buy it from a reputable outdoors gear store, advised Low. When you buy from sellers on sites like Amazon, you run the risk of receiving dupes or low-quality gear that hasn’t been field-tested and may not hold up in bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once you buy it, good gear can last a lifetime. Case in point: I have used my sleeping bag and pad for hundreds of nights outdoors. And you can trust the recommendations of many outfitters’ salespeople, as they generally don’t work on commission, Low said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign marks the entrance to Anthony Chabot Regional Park at Marciel Gate along Redwood Road on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But what if you’re a more casual camper who’s only planning on sleeping in a tent for a weekend or two per year? In this instance, you don’t have to drop hundreds of dollars on new gear — and if you can’t borrow it as above, you can plan to rent it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For my trip, I rented the big three from Sports Basement in San Francisco, where employees Neil Barbo and Erica Huerta helped me pick up my rentals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sportsbasement.com/pages/camping-rental-rates\">You can make reservations\u003c/a> for gear rentals online ahead of time, but in this case, I just walked in to find everything I needed right there in the store.[aside postID=news_12035515 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-1366211065_qed-1020x681.jpg']As Barbo and Huerta showed me, places like Sports Basement offer bundled \u003ca href=\"https://www.sportsbasement.com/products/sbrents-2-person-car-camping-package-with-duo-sleeping-options\">rental packages\u003c/a> for people who want to go all in. But most campers don’t need \u003cem>everything \u003c/em>in the package, Barbo said — so if keeping costs low is your priority, forget the bundles and just pick and choose what you need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of my setup for the weekend was $108 for a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and camping stove. For the stove, I also had to buy fuel — I bought a refillable one, but most single-use cans go for around $10 (and may be found even cheaper at hardware stores).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I hadn’t used the kind of stove I was renting before, so Barbo offered me a demonstration right there in the shop to ensure I’d be able to make dinner when I got to Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You shouldn’t be afraid of asking rental staff how to use an item, stressed Barbo, because the worst case scenario is spending money to rent something you then can’t figure out how to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another upside of renting, the pair said, is being able to test out different types of gear to see what you do and don’t like before committing to any one brand or item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can kind of figure out, ‘is camping for you?’” Huerta said. “‘Is maybe backpacking more your style?’ There’s different ways to camp, different ways to backpack, and it’s a good way to try out different variations and see what makes you happiest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wheretobuyorthriftcheapercampingsupplies\">\u003c/a>Where to buy or thrift the rest of your camping gear affordably\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you know you want to make camping a habit but don’t want to shell out just yet, online used markets like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are great options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also visit your local thrift store, like Goodwill. For my trip, I went to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.communitythriftsf.org/\">Community Thrift Store\u003c/a> in the Mission and picked up a small cooler for $3, so I wouldn’t need that entire Sports Basement camping package. For another $3, I also found some solar-powered string lights to hang on my tent at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082552\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bin at the Community Thrift Store in San Francisco’s Mission District holds flashlights for sale. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other items I saw at the thrift store that I already owned but would be great to bring camping were:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A headlamp and flashlight\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tons of cookware, utensils, water bottles and Tupperware\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Warm beanies, gloves and sun hats\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hiking boots and sandals\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Lawn toys like frisbees, inflatable footballs and bouncy balls\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Art supplies like colored pencils and paints\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Board games and books galore\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Once I arrived at Chabot, I got chatting to fellow camper Ernesto Carmona, who was there with his family. Lots of their gear was borrowed, said Carmona, but the rest was affordably acquired from places like Costco, Walmart and Target. “As simple as possible is the best way to go,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first time we ever camped, we tried to bring a bunch of fancy stuff, and we were more worried about getting it damaged than enjoying the camping trip,” Carmona said. Instead, he advised bringing things you \u003cem>won’t \u003c/em>miss if they get damaged — or stressed out if they get dirty — and particularly suggested a cheap cooler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You make better memories that way,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082556 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Local thrift stores, including the Community Thrift Store in San Francisco’s Mission District, sell lots of toys and board games that you can bring camping. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carmona even got four or five giant boxes of firewood from Foodmax. He said big box stores fit his needs better than expensive outdoors ones, finding Bass Pro Shop in particular “too purpose-intended.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re worried about staying warm at night around the campfire or in your tent, Sports Basement’s Huerta suggested you head to your local hardware store to pick up \u003ca href=\"https://www.backpacker.com/survival/survival-skills/emergency-shelters/how-and-when-hikers-should-use-space-blankets-and-survival-blankets/\">a space blanket\u003c/a> — those shiny Mylar emergency blankets used to prevent hypothermia — for just a few dollars. If you put one of these blankets down on your tent floor under your sleeping pad, it will reflect your body heat back up to you at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a simple thing and has been such a great saver for a good night of sleep,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I happened to have one already at home, leftover from a race I participated in years ago, and can attest: wearing mine around the campfire at night kept me extra toasty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>You almost certainly don’t need to buy or rent camping clothes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no need to make this part complicated: You probably already have the right clothes for camping. So just bring whatever is comfortable and that you’re not afraid to get dirty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning on hiking, bring gear for that, including sun protection and walking or hiking shoes. Unless you’re planning a major hike, you probably don’t need hiking boots, as regular tennis shoes will perform just fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082553\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dusk falls on a campground at Anthony Chabot Regional Park on April 5, 2026. Campers here thrifted string lights to deck out their tent. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Always check the weather ahead of time — you might need a rain jacket. And be sure to bring more layers for nighttime, as temperatures in the Bay Area can drop dramatically when the sun goes down. A pair of gloves and a beanie go a long way – and can be easily thrifted, if you need to pick some up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Really \u003c/em>worried about being warm at night? Bring a hard-sided Nalgene bottle, if you own one, and fill it with boiling water before bed to act as a space heater in your sleeping bag.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camp food can be as cheap as you’d like\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For this trip, I spent just $15 at the grocery store for food for two, supplemented by a few pantry items from home (more on that below) — and found we had plenty of food to enjoy during our stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We purchased buns, hot dogs and grilled zucchini for dinner and brought instant oatmeal packets and instant coffee from home for breakfast to keep things cheap and easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campers at Anthony Chabot Regional Park cook hot dogs on a two-burner camping stove rented at Sports Basement on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You could easily pack more involved fare, since preparing a somewhat time-consuming meal can be an intrinsic part of the fun when camping. But if you don’t care about making a big meal, some of my go-to cheap and easy camping meals are instant ramen, instant mashed potatoes and boxed mac and cheese — which are all around a dollar at stores like Grocery Outlet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re not dead set on making s’mores, a simple mug of hot chocolate and tea can be a more budget-friendly campfire treat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My partner and I also purchased a $10 bundle of wood at the campground to make our campfire. For extra thriftiness, we used our paper grocery bag as a firestarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Remember: You can bring a ton of stuff from home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While I prefer having a headlamp in a campsite, you can always bring an emergency flashlight from home or use your phone as a flashlight. Just remember, you may not be able to charge it, so airplane mode might be your best bet this trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And you can skip the fancy camping cookware. While I rented a Coleman-style camping stove from Sports Basement, I brought the pots and pans we used for meals right from my kitchen, as well as mugs, tongs for cooking and utensils, along with that extra food already in our pantry. I also brought a trash bag, dish soap and a sponge from home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079256 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firewood and charcoal are sold at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Low also suggested items like takeout containers or Tupperware can be perfect to eat out of or help you prep your food. I took his advice: On my trip, my main eating bowl was a plastic tupperware that I’ve had forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Almost everybody usually has something like that at home,” he said. “So you don’t have to go out and buy everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Money left over? Don’t sleep on the fun optional extras\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For entertainment around camp, bring a book you have lying around but haven’t gotten to, a deck of cards, a board game or even a frisbee. Sports Basement offers hammocks to rent as well. If you’re by a lake, you can even bring a floaty and a small speaker to lean into the beach vibes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Low’s favorite camp games is bocce ball, he said. He even found a set with LEDs so he can play at night with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elena Carmona, 5, holds a toy container with a darkling beetle and a kite at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not serious,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the ground is perfectly level. We’ve played it on a hill before, and it just kind of makes it that much more fun when all the balls roll out there and then roll back towards you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low has also had friends bring musical instruments. On my trip, I brought art supplies and a board game from home to pass the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re car camping, the world is your oyster,” Low said. “If it fits in the car and you think it’s gonna improve your experience and be kind of fun out there, then bring it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Feel like a camping trip can quickly become expensive? We got expert tips on how to keep camping cheap — and tried them out. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/travel/airfare-bag-fees-fuel-surcharges.html\">cost of travel\u003c/a> continues to skyrocket, with gas and flight prices rising amid the Iran war, even more Californians than usual might be considering camping as a more achievable way to take a vacation this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as many people discover, the costs of camping can quickly rack up. And once you’ve bought your equipment, acquired the extras and secured those endless groceries, a getaway that originally seemed like the cheapest option can suddenly seem oddly expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, it doesn’t have to be. In my role as KQED’s Outdoor Reporter, I talked to local experts and set out to test the cheapest camping trip that would still be fun — and comfortable — right here in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The quest for cheap camping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>My aim: To keep costs under $200 — what a person might spend for dinner and a night at a hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To run this experiment, I had to set some parameters:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>I couldn’t use the camping gear I already owned\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Anything I brought would have to be something your average person might have at home\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Everything else I would have to borrow, rent or buy as affordably as possible\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079258\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of Lake Chabot is seen from Anthony Chabot Family Campground, which sits about 1.5 miles above the lake, on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I also brought my partner with me, because camping with others is nearly always more fun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would take some creativity, but I did it — and for far less than $200. All told, my weekend adventure came in at around $180.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading what I learned about camping as cheaply as possible near the Bay Area, and the tips you can use to make your next weekend away as budget-friendly as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#WheretofindfreecampsitesneartheBayArea\">Where to find free campsites near the Bay Area\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#Howtokeepcostsdownwhenrentingcampingequipment\">How to keep costs down when renting camping equipment\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#Wheretobuyorthriftcheapercampingsupplies\">Where to buy (or thrift) cheaper camping supplies\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Try reserving a cheaper ‘walk-in’ campsite …\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For my night away, I spent $33 on \u003ca href=\"https://campnab.com/camping-glossary/walk-in-campsite\">a walk-in campsite \u003c/a>— that is, a campsite you have to walk a little way to after parking, as opposed to one where you can pop your tent right next to your vehicle. These are not to be confused with walk-\u003cem>up\u003c/em> campsites, which are “first-come, first-served” and can’t be reserved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I chose a walk-in site because these are usually a few dollars cheaper than drive-up sites. (I even called the reservation office to see if making the $25 campsite reservation by phone could waive the $8 service fee — alas, it did not.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_018_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Used and borrowed coolers hold food at a campsite at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. Camper Ernesto Carmona said reusing gear is a key way to keep camping affordable. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the cost of a 5-minute walk with all your stuff, a walk-in site gives you a much more secluded, immersive camping experience. Still, first-time campers may use a regular drive-in site to keep their car close by. Regardless of what you decide, most Bay Area campsites will be in the $30-$50 range per night, including the service fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I chose the East Bay’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebparks.org/parks/anthony-chabot/camping\">Anthony Chabot Campground\u003c/a> because of its beginner-friendly nature, and the short 35-minute drive from downtown Oakland (even closer if you live in Castro Valley or Hayward). Not only did this hillside spot have plenty of available reservations, but it’s beautiful, too: nestled within eucalyptus trees with a view of scenic Lake Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.alltrails.com/parks/us/california/anthony-chabot-regional-park--2\">hiking trails for all levels\u003c/a> — for a relaxed stroll at sunset, we took the easy, mostly flat Towhee Trail, connecting a loop around the campground above Lake Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"WheretofindfreecampsitesneartheBayArea\">\u003c/a>… or choose a dispersed site for even cheaper (or free) camping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Want to keep your costs even lower? You can always “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11920867/how-to-find-free-camping-in-californias-national-forests\">dispersed camp\u003c/a>” in national forests or other federal land — meaning you’ll pitch your tent outside a developed campground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only is dispersed camping far cheaper — it’s usually free, although certain forests may require a pass that costs a few dollars — it tends to be quieter and doesn’t usually require a permit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dispersed camping “kind of brings the benefit of backpacking” while still having your car, said Brian Low, general manager at Club Urban Diversion, a Bay Area-based social club that organizes outdoor trips. “You get into the backcountry away from other people and have a really tranquil experience in the wilderness, but you have the benefit of being able to drive right up to your site and camp there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/HikingJosh-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joshua Dillen hikes the Towhee Trail, which circles Anthony Chabot Campground, on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But there is a catch: Most of those campsites don’t have any facilities at all, like toilets or showers, and may not be properly marked on maps. Make sure you know you’re camping legally and not on private property beforehand (apps like \u003ca href=\"https://www.gaiagps.com/\">Gaia GPS\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.onxmaps.com/backcountry/app?utm_source=googlesearch&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=PERF_BC_US_NATION_GOOGLE-AC_WEB_ACQ_BRAND_07-23-2025&https://www.onxmaps.com/backcountry/blog/fatmap-alternative&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22520966125&gbraid=0AAAAABs4zQ6QJkac9R-vd5C9tuG0WzE20&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkrzPBhCqARIsAJN460lTK-0LmtCQmpc7Tgsli9ZcuHAFAvNMLcLgGUd-7OSarKtVbhfCukwaAvSyEALw_wcB\">onX Backcountry\u003c/a> can help you navigate).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also call the local land management office where you’re trying to camp, usually the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/offices\">U.S. Forest Service\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/office/central-california-district-office\">Bureau of Land Management\u003c/a>, and ask a ranger or staff member where to camp safely and legally nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make sure you ask about \u003ca href=\"https://www.blm.gov/programs/fire/regional-info/california/fire-restrictions\">any local fire restrictions\u003c/a> or other regulations. You’ll probably also need a \u003ca href=\"http://readyforwildfire.org/permits/campfire-permit/\">California Campfire Permit\u003c/a>, which is free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082554\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TentView-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A tent is set up in the corner of a campsite at Anthony Chabot Campground on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dispersed camping also means you’ll have to:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Bring water in your car (or a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12040242/start-backpacking-trails-bay-area-near-me-permits#backpacking-gear\"> water filter\u003c/a>) for the entire weekend\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Expect to pack out your trash (yes, including toilet paper)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Follow other\u003ca href=\"https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/\"> Leave No Trace principles\u003c/a> like camping away from streams …\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>… and burying your poop at least 60 inches deep in the ground.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“It does require a little bit more know-how and skill to camp in those places,” Low said. “So it’s not always the most beginner-friendly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, while dispersed camping will keep reservation costs way down, saving this money might not be worth the stress if you’re more of a beginner camper.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Know the essentials you absolutely \u003cem>shouldn’t \u003c/em>cut corners on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Namely, your “big three”: Your tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. These are the essential pieces of gear you 100% need to safely enjoy a night out camping, even if the weather forecast is perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you go out and you can’t sleep because you’re freezing cold and you’re shivering all night, and then you wake up, tired and groggy and grumpy, you’re just not going to have fun the next day,” Low said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides a warm, comfortable sleep setup, you don’t technically \u003cem>need \u003c/em>anything else to camp. But there are some nice-to-haves, and you can borrow, rent or find them at local thrift stores. Which brings us to …\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Borrow from your community (before you invest in your own costly gear)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Camping with friends or family is the easiest way to keep costs down. You can carpool, share tents and other gear — and you’ll probably have more fun, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also borrow extra equipment from that one friend who has too much or another who can’t make the trip this time. (Full disclosure: I am usually that one friend — I have lent my gear to pretty much anyone who asked. As far as I’m concerned, the more use my gear gets, the better.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lean on your community, friends, family, acquaintances – see if there’s stuff that you can borrow,” Low said. “And then stuff you can’t borrow, see if you can rent it. And \u003cem>then \u003c/em>stuff you can’t rent, consider buying it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_025_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marcus Johnson, of Hayward, with his family at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, CA. Bringing used gear and choosing local campsites helps keep trips affordable, according to Mr Johnson. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Your local library may also offer \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2024/01/01/free-hiking-gear-bay-area-libraries/\">rentals for hiking gear\u003c/a> that you can check out the way you would a book — all for free. You can also reserve and check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11910495/how-to-get-free-entry-to-california-state-parks-with-your-library-card\">free state parks passes\u003c/a> from your library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re associated with a university, check whether your school has an \u003ca href=\"https://chaosberkeley.org/gear-shed/\">outdoors club\u003c/a>, as these organizations often rent gear for cheap to students and faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For this trip, I borrowed a lawn chair from my roommate. It’s been sitting in our house for a while, and was the perfect way to relax around the campfire — so who cares if it wasn’t an actual camping chair?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Howtokeepcostsdownwhenrentingcampingequipment\">\u003c/a>How to affordably rent your most crucial gear\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning on making camping a habit, you may consider buying your “big three” — tent, sleeping bag and sleeping pad — but you’ll want to buy it from a reputable outdoors gear store, advised Low. When you buy from sellers on sites like Amazon, you run the risk of receiving dupes or low-quality gear that hasn’t been field-tested and may not hold up in bad weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once you buy it, good gear can last a lifetime. Case in point: I have used my sleeping bag and pad for hundreds of nights outdoors. And you can trust the recommendations of many outfitters’ salespeople, as they generally don’t work on commission, Low said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_001_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign marks the entrance to Anthony Chabot Regional Park at Marciel Gate along Redwood Road on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But what if you’re a more casual camper who’s only planning on sleeping in a tent for a weekend or two per year? In this instance, you don’t have to drop hundreds of dollars on new gear — and if you can’t borrow it as above, you can plan to rent it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For my trip, I rented the big three from Sports Basement in San Francisco, where employees Neil Barbo and Erica Huerta helped me pick up my rentals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sportsbasement.com/pages/camping-rental-rates\">You can make reservations\u003c/a> for gear rentals online ahead of time, but in this case, I just walked in to find everything I needed right there in the store.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As Barbo and Huerta showed me, places like Sports Basement offer bundled \u003ca href=\"https://www.sportsbasement.com/products/sbrents-2-person-car-camping-package-with-duo-sleeping-options\">rental packages\u003c/a> for people who want to go all in. But most campers don’t need \u003cem>everything \u003c/em>in the package, Barbo said — so if keeping costs low is your priority, forget the bundles and just pick and choose what you need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of my setup for the weekend was $108 for a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and camping stove. For the stove, I also had to buy fuel — I bought a refillable one, but most single-use cans go for around $10 (and may be found even cheaper at hardware stores).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I hadn’t used the kind of stove I was renting before, so Barbo offered me a demonstration right there in the shop to ensure I’d be able to make dinner when I got to Chabot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You shouldn’t be afraid of asking rental staff how to use an item, stressed Barbo, because the worst case scenario is spending money to rent something you then can’t figure out how to use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another upside of renting, the pair said, is being able to test out different types of gear to see what you do and don’t like before committing to any one brand or item.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can kind of figure out, ‘is camping for you?’” Huerta said. “‘Is maybe backpacking more your style?’ There’s different ways to camp, different ways to backpack, and it’s a good way to try out different variations and see what makes you happiest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wheretobuyorthriftcheapercampingsupplies\">\u003c/a>Where to buy or thrift the rest of your camping gear affordably\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you know you want to make camping a habit but don’t want to shell out just yet, online used markets like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are great options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also visit your local thrift store, like Goodwill. For my trip, I went to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.communitythriftsf.org/\">Community Thrift Store\u003c/a> in the Mission and picked up a small cooler for $3, so I wouldn’t need that entire Sports Basement camping package. For another $3, I also found some solar-powered string lights to hang on my tent at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082552\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082552\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Flashlights-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bin at the Community Thrift Store in San Francisco’s Mission District holds flashlights for sale. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other items I saw at the thrift store that I already owned but would be great to bring camping were:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>A headlamp and flashlight\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tons of cookware, utensils, water bottles and Tupperware\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Warm beanies, gloves and sun hats\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Hiking boots and sandals\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Lawn toys like frisbees, inflatable footballs and bouncy balls\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Art supplies like colored pencils and paints\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Board games and books galore\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Once I arrived at Chabot, I got chatting to fellow camper Ernesto Carmona, who was there with his family. Lots of their gear was borrowed, said Carmona, but the rest was affordably acquired from places like Costco, Walmart and Target. “As simple as possible is the best way to go,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The first time we ever camped, we tried to bring a bunch of fancy stuff, and we were more worried about getting it damaged than enjoying the camping trip,” Carmona said. Instead, he advised bringing things you \u003cem>won’t \u003c/em>miss if they get damaged — or stressed out if they get dirty — and particularly suggested a cheap cooler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You make better memories that way,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082556\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082556 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GamesThrift-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Local thrift stores, including the Community Thrift Store in San Francisco’s Mission District, sell lots of toys and board games that you can bring camping. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carmona even got four or five giant boxes of firewood from Foodmax. He said big box stores fit his needs better than expensive outdoors ones, finding Bass Pro Shop in particular “too purpose-intended.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re worried about staying warm at night around the campfire or in your tent, Sports Basement’s Huerta suggested you head to your local hardware store to pick up \u003ca href=\"https://www.backpacker.com/survival/survival-skills/emergency-shelters/how-and-when-hikers-should-use-space-blankets-and-survival-blankets/\">a space blanket\u003c/a> — those shiny Mylar emergency blankets used to prevent hypothermia — for just a few dollars. If you put one of these blankets down on your tent floor under your sleeping pad, it will reflect your body heat back up to you at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a simple thing and has been such a great saver for a good night of sleep,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I happened to have one already at home, leftover from a race I participated in years ago, and can attest: wearing mine around the campfire at night kept me extra toasty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>You almost certainly don’t need to buy or rent camping clothes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s no need to make this part complicated: You probably already have the right clothes for camping. So just bring whatever is comfortable and that you’re not afraid to get dirty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re planning on hiking, bring gear for that, including sun protection and walking or hiking shoes. Unless you’re planning a major hike, you probably don’t need hiking boots, as regular tennis shoes will perform just fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082553\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Sunset-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dusk falls on a campground at Anthony Chabot Regional Park on April 5, 2026. Campers here thrifted string lights to deck out their tent. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Always check the weather ahead of time — you might need a rain jacket. And be sure to bring more layers for nighttime, as temperatures in the Bay Area can drop dramatically when the sun goes down. A pair of gloves and a beanie go a long way – and can be easily thrifted, if you need to pick some up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Really \u003c/em>worried about being warm at night? Bring a hard-sided Nalgene bottle, if you own one, and fill it with boiling water before bed to act as a space heater in your sleeping bag.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camp food can be as cheap as you’d like\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For this trip, I spent just $15 at the grocery store for food for two, supplemented by a few pantry items from home (more on that below) — and found we had plenty of food to enjoy during our stay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We purchased buns, hot dogs and grilled zucchini for dinner and brought instant oatmeal packets and instant coffee from home for breakfast to keep things cheap and easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/Cooking-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campers at Anthony Chabot Regional Park cook hot dogs on a two-burner camping stove rented at Sports Basement on April 5, 2026. \u003ccite>(Sarah Wright/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You could easily pack more involved fare, since preparing a somewhat time-consuming meal can be an intrinsic part of the fun when camping. But if you don’t care about making a big meal, some of my go-to cheap and easy camping meals are instant ramen, instant mashed potatoes and boxed mac and cheese — which are all around a dollar at stores like Grocery Outlet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you’re not dead set on making s’mores, a simple mug of hot chocolate and tea can be a more budget-friendly campfire treat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My partner and I also purchased a $10 bundle of wood at the campground to make our campfire. For extra thriftiness, we used our paper grocery bag as a firestarter.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Remember: You can bring a ton of stuff from home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While I prefer having a headlamp in a campsite, you can always bring an emergency flashlight from home or use your phone as a flashlight. Just remember, you may not be able to charge it, so airplane mode might be your best bet this trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And you can skip the fancy camping cookware. While I rented a Coleman-style camping stove from Sports Basement, I brought the pots and pans we used for meals right from my kitchen, as well as mugs, tongs for cooking and utensils, along with that extra food already in our pantry. I also brought a trash bag, dish soap and a sponge from home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079256 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_003_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Firewood and charcoal are sold at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Low also suggested items like takeout containers or Tupperware can be perfect to eat out of or help you prep your food. I took his advice: On my trip, my main eating bowl was a plastic tupperware that I’ve had forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Almost everybody usually has something like that at home,” he said. “So you don’t have to go out and buy everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Money left over? Don’t sleep on the fun optional extras\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For entertainment around camp, bring a book you have lying around but haven’t gotten to, a deck of cards, a board game or even a frisbee. Sports Basement offers hammocks to rent as well. If you’re by a lake, you can even bring a floaty and a small speaker to lean into the beach vibes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Low’s favorite camp games is bocce ball, he said. He even found a set with LEDs so he can play at night with friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040526CheapCamping_GH_021_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elena Carmona, 5, holds a toy container with a darkling beetle and a kite at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s not serious,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the ground is perfectly level. We’ve played it on a hill before, and it just kind of makes it that much more fun when all the balls roll out there and then roll back towards you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low has also had friends bring musical instruments. On my trip, I brought art supplies and a board game from home to pass the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re car camping, the world is your oyster,” Low said. “If it fits in the car and you think it’s gonna improve your experience and be kind of fun out there, then bring it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>This column was reported for Political Breakdown, a bi-monthly newsletter offering analysis and context on Bay Area and California political news. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\">Click here to subscribe\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/5.4.2026-GGN-Letter-to-ROVs-SIGNED.pdf\">sent a letter\u003c/a> to election officials in California’s 58 counties this week with a simple request: count votes faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom and state lawmakers have spent years building a vote-by-mail system that maximizes convenience and accessibility for California voters. The tradeoff: a longer vote count that President Donald Trump and Republicans have seized on to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077846/threats-to-californias-vote-by-mail-mount-before-june-primary\">spread false claims of voter fraud\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We must acknowledge that the longer the voting count takes, the more mis- and disinformation spreads,” Newsom wrote. “That means we must do all that we can to tabulate votes quickly and accurately. Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 80% of California voters cast ballots by mail in the November 2024 election. Unlike in-person voting, where verification happens upfront, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913446/planning-to-vote-by-mail-this-november-what-californians-need-to-know\">mail-in ballots\u003c/a> often arrive in bulk just before or after Election Day. This surge creates a backlog of ballots that must be inspected and have their signatures verified before they can be counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before, you went and you signed it right there at the desk and you voted and that was it, that was all the verification,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber at a press conference Tuesday. “Now you have, obviously, vote-by-mail…they take your ballots in, they have to verify every signature on that ballot.”[aside label=\"2026 California Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide,Learn everything you need to cast an informed ballot for the 2026 primary election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Voter-Guide-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]That process has led to notable delays. In 2024, one county reported results for less than a third of its ballots 10 days after the election — and three other counties had less than three-quarters of their ballots counted, according to an analysis by state legislative staff. In the 2025 special election for Oakland mayor, Alameda County did not \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036247/the-race-for-oakland-mayor-is-still-far-from-the-finish-line\">report an updated count\u003c/a> for three days after Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed California’s vote-counting process is to blame for Republican leads that “magically whittled away” after Election Day. Trump echoed those conspiracy theories when he pushed for a federal takeover of vote-by-mail — an action met with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078711/california-sues-to-block-trumps-order-on-vote-by-mail\">a legal challenge\u003c/a> from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The balance between speed and accuracy has been a delicate one for California leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In previous years, Weber and many election advocates were hesitant to call for a faster count — fearing they would be playing into conservative claims about Democrats being advantaged in a prolonged count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a now-deleted post on X last year, Weber’s office wrote “Faster counting doesn’t increase accuracy — it only makes it more costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that stance appears to be shifting, ever so slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Weber called Newsom’s letter a “good thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to count fast, we want to be effective and efficient,” she said. “But at the same time we want to make sure that we’re accurate.”[aside label=\"2026 Bay Area Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/bayarea,Learn about every single race and measure across the nine Bay Area counties' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-Bay-Area-Voter-Guide-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]The state Legislature is also taking some steps to speed up ballot processing. A new law signed by Newsom last year requires counties to report results for all ballots by the 13th day after the election — with notable exceptions for ballots that arrive late or have a mismatched signature. Another new law allows counties that send out ballots more than a month before the election to begin processing returned ballots immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that we take full advantage of these tools to accurately count every lawfully cast ballot as quickly as possible to mitigate what are likely to be unprecedented and misleading attempts to undermine faith in the integrity of our election,” Newsom wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those changes may only make a difference around the edges. Election officials argue they need a major investment in workers, machines and larger spaces to handle a voting system their offices were never designed to accommodate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of my top priorities in budget talks is to try to get more funding for our counties to be able to buy the equipment they need or get the space that they need or hire the temporary staff that they need to try to count ballots as quickly as possible,” Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case that could also result in a faster vote count — at the price of ballot access. Justices are considering a challenge to a Mississippi election law that, like California’s, allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decision is expected in the coming weeks — as California’s primary election is already underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>This column was reported for Political Breakdown, a bi-monthly newsletter offering analysis and context on Bay Area and California political news. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\">Click here to subscribe\u003c/a>.\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/5.4.2026-GGN-Letter-to-ROVs-SIGNED.pdf\">sent a letter\u003c/a> to election officials in California’s 58 counties this week with a simple request: count votes faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom and state lawmakers have spent years building a vote-by-mail system that maximizes convenience and accessibility for California voters. The tradeoff: a longer vote count that President Donald Trump and Republicans have seized on to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077846/threats-to-californias-vote-by-mail-mount-before-june-primary\">spread false claims of voter fraud\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We must acknowledge that the longer the voting count takes, the more mis- and disinformation spreads,” Newsom wrote. “That means we must do all that we can to tabulate votes quickly and accurately. Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 80% of California voters cast ballots by mail in the November 2024 election. Unlike in-person voting, where verification happens upfront, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913446/planning-to-vote-by-mail-this-november-what-californians-need-to-know\">mail-in ballots\u003c/a> often arrive in bulk just before or after Election Day. This surge creates a backlog of ballots that must be inspected and have their signatures verified before they can be counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before, you went and you signed it right there at the desk and you voted and that was it, that was all the verification,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber at a press conference Tuesday. “Now you have, obviously, vote-by-mail…they take your ballots in, they have to verify every signature on that ballot.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That process has led to notable delays. In 2024, one county reported results for less than a third of its ballots 10 days after the election — and three other counties had less than three-quarters of their ballots counted, according to an analysis by state legislative staff. In the 2025 special election for Oakland mayor, Alameda County did not \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036247/the-race-for-oakland-mayor-is-still-far-from-the-finish-line\">report an updated count\u003c/a> for three days after Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed California’s vote-counting process is to blame for Republican leads that “magically whittled away” after Election Day. Trump echoed those conspiracy theories when he pushed for a federal takeover of vote-by-mail — an action met with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078711/california-sues-to-block-trumps-order-on-vote-by-mail\">a legal challenge\u003c/a> from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The balance between speed and accuracy has been a delicate one for California leaders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In previous years, Weber and many election advocates were hesitant to call for a faster count — fearing they would be playing into conservative claims about Democrats being advantaged in a prolonged count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a now-deleted post on X last year, Weber’s office wrote “Faster counting doesn’t increase accuracy — it only makes it more costly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that stance appears to be shifting, ever so slightly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, Weber called Newsom’s letter a “good thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to count fast, we want to be effective and efficient,” she said. “But at the same time we want to make sure that we’re accurate.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The state Legislature is also taking some steps to speed up ballot processing. A new law signed by Newsom last year requires counties to report results for all ballots by the 13th day after the election — with notable exceptions for ballots that arrive late or have a mismatched signature. Another new law allows counties that send out ballots more than a month before the election to begin processing returned ballots immediately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is critical that we take full advantage of these tools to accurately count every lawfully cast ballot as quickly as possible to mitigate what are likely to be unprecedented and misleading attempts to undermine faith in the integrity of our election,” Newsom wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those changes may only make a difference around the edges. Election officials argue they need a major investment in workers, machines and larger spaces to handle a voting system their offices were never designed to accommodate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of my top priorities in budget talks is to try to get more funding for our counties to be able to buy the equipment they need or get the space that they need or hire the temporary staff that they need to try to count ballots as quickly as possible,” Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, told me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case that could also result in a faster vote count — at the price of ballot access. Justices are considering a challenge to a Mississippi election law that, like California’s, allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decision is expected in the coming weeks — as California’s primary election is already underway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Vinyl Found in San Francisco Contains Echoes of a Filipino American Love Story",
"publishDate": 1778148045,
"format": "audio",
"headTitle": "A Vinyl Found in San Francisco Contains Echoes of a Filipino American Love Story | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jess Garcia has a little game she and her husband like to play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll enjoy a big pitcher of margaritas on Valencia Street in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, and then wander over to the nearby thrift stores to see what kinds of treasures they’ll find. One day, they were rummaging through the vinyls when they found an album that caught their eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cover had hand-painted illustrations of San Francisco landmarks, including cable cars, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, and the Golden Gate Bridge — all circling a portrait of a Filipino couple wearing a blue suit and a white lace dress. The album title was etched across the top in thick black letters: \u003cem>Cora and Santos, In Baghdad by the Bay.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t really understand what type of album this was at first,” Garcia said. Her first impression was that it was a 50th anniversary album given to their guests as gifts. But when she rushed home to play the record, she realized it was something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[When] the music started playing, it just had this really nostalgic feeling to it,” she said. “Their voices were just so vibrant and sentimental. And I’ve never heard of Cora and Santos Beloy before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Memorabilia from Cora and Santos Beloy, including a 45 rpm record, photographs and album materials, are arranged together in San Francisco on April 25, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garcia did a little research and discovered the Beloys recorded their album at \u003ca href=\"https://www.hydestreet.com/history.html\">Wally Heider Studio\u003c/a>, which had once hosted iconic Bay Area bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. Garcia had heard of those bands, of course, which made her wonder if there was more to Cora and Santos Beloy’s story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just really interested to know what their life was like, the types of achievements that I can’t find on the internet, and just curious about their legacy overall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, a simple internet search of Cora and Santos Beloy doesn’t yield much information. There’s a beautiful obituary for Cora, who died in 2022, but nothing about Santos’ funeral. You might also find a smattering of Facebook posts about the couple’s involvement in their Catholic parish. On the surface, it all feels pretty mundane. But then you’ll find a handful of links to Cora and Santos’ music, especially their rendition of the classic Filipino love song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7o5weu-YE&list=RDiHI2RypmtmI&index=2\">Dahil Sa Iyo\u003c/a>” — an anthem among Filipinos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7o5weu-YE&list=RDyY7o5weu-YE&start_radio=1\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos’ version is a duet, where Santos takes the classic Tagalog, while Cora croons in the lesser-known English translation. According to Cora and Santos’ daughter, Cissy Beloy Sherr, this arrangement was a kind of role reversal because Cora was fluent in Tagalog and Santos was not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She could sing in seven languages, and Dad could barely remember his Tagalog words in a song,” Sherr said. “So when you say that opposites attract, I think that they were meant to be together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos also grew up in dramatically different ways. Cora was raised on a sugar plantation in the Philippines, while Santos was raised in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. Cora sang to entertain the Japanese soldiers occupying her town during World War II. Santos was a young soprano who sang on the radio. Cora immigrated to the US alone at 18, while Santos was a veteran.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their paths crossed in the early 1950s when Cora attended a mixer for Filipinos in San Francisco. One night, she heard Santos singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember her saying, ‘Once I heard your dad’s voice, that was it,’” Sherr said. “It didn’t take a long time for them to fall in love with each other. I know that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12070415 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251221_JohnColtraneChurch_December_GH-15_qed.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos shared the kind of love where they forgot about everything else when they were together, Sherr said. They had a whole rolodex of special songs, just their own, and a little whistle to catch each other’s attention at parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After they married, the couple took a long honeymoon to the Philippines so Santos could meet Cora’s family. While there, Cora, under her maiden name “Cora Delfino,” recorded a handful of songs with her brother, who was a well-known musician in the Philippines. Overnight, she became a star. Songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPgSFXm9DeI&list=RDHPgSFXm9DeI&start_radio=1\">Silver Moon\u003c/a>” took over Manila airwaves, and her single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bkjT4WQHE\">My Song of Love\u003c/a>” soared to the very top of the Filipino charts in the early 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People to this day remember their grandparents singing it to them to sleep,” said Sherr. “I mean, I can see where my mom’s voice had that calming lullaby tone to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora’s singing aligned with the \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4FlxtqjkBY0tKRUUdjAcEb\">classic kundiman style\u003c/a>, a type of Filipino music — mostly smooth, romantic ballads — sung in Tagalog. Cora gave it a modern twist by singing in English, a common trend applied to Filipino folk songs at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s something about her songs,” Sherr said. “The way she sang, the minor key of it, the melody. There’s this bittersweet sadness of love and just the emotion with it. It’s kind of in your soul, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Truly a performer’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Cora and Santos returned to San Francisco, Cora didn’t try to leverage her mega-hit in the Philippines into a flashy music career stateside. Instead, she prioritized motherhood. Cora was already pregnant with Sherr’s older brother, Chris Beloy, by the time she and Santos returned from their honeymoon. They settled down in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco and Santos took a day job as a technician for Bank of America, working on the predecessor to the ATM machine. Cora stayed home, and Cissy came along a few years after Chris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But between the hustle and bustle of potty training and school drop-offs, Cora never stopped playing music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bkjT4WQHE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She was just truly a performer,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora once confessed a secret to Cissy about this time when the kids were young. While Sherr and her brother were in school, Cora would get dressed up and sneak out to perform for the shoppers at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo with a group of musicians. That surprised Sherr, who had no idea of her mom’s secret performances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe it wasn’t sneaking out,” Cissy said. “Maybe it was fitting it into everything else, you know? Maybe her love of singing … she got to do that as well as be a mom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mall gigs were also surprising to Sherr because at the time, her mom was getting offers for other glamorous, high-profile jobs. At one point, the comedian Phyllis Diller approached Cora for a nightly stint at a legendary comedy club in San Francisco called \u003ca href=\"https://www.comedyhistory101.com/comedy-history-101/2019/3/4/history-of-the-purple-onion-comedy-club-in-san-francisco\">The Purple Onion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cissy said her mother turned the job down, claiming it would interfere with her ability to be present with her family. Instead, Cora only took the so-called “casuals,” referring to gigs that were short-term and close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her niche became performing at local hotels, the lead vocalist for big bands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never got to see her perform because I was just too little,” Sherr said. “I got to see her get dressed. That was the show for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on the night, Cora would don Filipino formalwear or a sparkly evening gown. Sherr’s favorite, though, was her mom’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000544/\">Carmen Miranda\u003c/a> outfit, a reference to the Brazilian pop star famous for wearing a massive hat with fake fruit piled on top. “I don’t know how she even got in the car with that thing,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father, Santos, loved the spotlight as much as Cora. Back then he would work a full day, come home, throw on a Hawaiian shirt or a matching band suit and join his wife onstage. Over the years, Cora and Santos played restaurants, weddings, and anniversary parties. In 1964, they even decided to record their music. This record had just two tracks, including their famous duet of “Dahil Sa Iyo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To this day people tell me ‘Oh, Cora and Santos, ‘Dahil Sa Iyo,’ that was my favorite,’” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cora Beloy poses with fellow musicians. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cissy Beloy Sherr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Beloys worked on the record with Tom Spinosa, a bandleader who had opened a small music label in the 1950s. To this day, Spinosa is the one typically credited with popularizing “Dahil Sa Iyo” to English speakers in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really want to give him credit because I don’t know that I have a positive recollection of him,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though her parents loved everybody, they had no desire to work with Spinosa again, Sherr said. Even now, she has a feeling that Spinosa could have helped put her parents on the map in a bigger way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like that record should have probably made them some money. I don’t think it did,” she said. “Here’s my impression, they were naive about whatever the business of it was. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they just said, ‘Okay, we did it for the love of music.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos doubled down on their love of music, expanding their reach as a family band around the state, and even performing on cruise ships around the world. Eventually, Cora and Santos landed their most iconic gig as the house band at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Performing alongside stars\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Fairmont was a nightly destination for live music. Some of the world’s biggest stars performed at the hotel’s Venetian Room, including Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/story-tony-bennett-i-left-heart-san-francisco-18254163.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=content_acquisition&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23286310966&gbraid=0AAAAADfW6kE7McpsTc-vgAQgwHkuK5L3i&gclid=CjwKCAiA-__MBhAKEiwASBmsBNb_pn1CBbHh_3UtFLZeN_yEKTDE-9A3pfyvO0TIBS8KFkEkRbrKXhoCWbUQAvD_BwE\">famously sang\u003c/a> “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” during his 1961 residency there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos performed five nights a week at the New Orleans Room, a cocktail lounge adjacent to the Venetian Room. Its high profile location allowed them to befriend people such as Tony Bennett himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysw4svDmcxc\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherr’s godsister, Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter, still remembers arriving at the Beloys’ house for dinner one night, decades ago, to find the music legend sitting in the Beloys’ living room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Tony Bennett] just hung out and we were all laughing” she said. “We had Auntie’s chili; she made lumpias and she treated him just like family. It could have been any other night.” And to top it all off, Cora Santos and Tony Bennet played a duet at the living room piano. Ofalsa-Nutter also said that she’d witnessed a similar experience with The Lettermen, whose lead singer \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124650/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm\">Tony Butala\u003c/a> became a good friend to the Beloys. And one night while performing at the Fairmont, the Beloys invited Sammy Davis Jr. to perform onstage with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite never achieving the level of mega stardom that surrounded them, Cora and Santos became “San Francisco famous,” especially through their performances at The Fairmont Hotel’s Polynesian-themed tiki bar, the Tonga Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos performed their showstopping set on a barge that floated over the Tonga Rooms’s indoor swimming pool, as a synthetic thunderstorm poured around them. Cora knew how to work a crowd, and Santos entranced the audience by playing multiple instruments at once. The performance was so elaborate, it garnered a kind of cult following. One of their fans included the man their niece, Ange Beloy Wesley, was dating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He went in there once and saw them, and so he just kept going back,” Wesley said. She hadn’t known that her now-husband was a fan of her aunt and uncle until she introduced them for the first time. “‘[Are they] the little Filipino couple on the boat,’” she recalled him asking her. “He’s going, ‘They are a bad ass couple!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cora and Santos Beloy performing the traditional Filipino bamboo dance. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cissy Beloy Sherr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wesley’s husband wasn’t the only one taken by Cora and Santos. Sherr said that more than once, her parents would return from a night at the Tonga Room, and tell her about the customers who had jumped into the indoor swimming pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d have to fish them out of the water because they drank too much,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Sherr remembers these performances with nostalgia, she also admits it was a heavy lift for her dad, who was still working his day job at the bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It must have been hard to come home, power nap, and then go 9 to 1 at the Fairmont Hotel,” she said. “I think a lot of it he did for Mom because it was Mom’s dream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Building community out of music\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Aside from music, Sherr said her mom’s other dream was to have a big family. But since Cora and Santos couldn’t have more children, they volunteered all their free time to St. Anne’s Catholic Church, several blocks away from their house in the Inner Sunset. In the early 1960s, Cora and Santos became advisors for the church teen program, chaperoning dozens of kids to bowling nights and ski trips. Cora also ran the children’s choir, and together, she and Santos taught Filipino folk dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There weren’t any Filipinos – very few Filipino people in the parish,” Sherr said. “So they were really involved in trying to bring the Philippine culture to all those white people,” Cissy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12080794 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260408-baycurioustacobell01913_TV.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, Cora and Santos also provided music lessons to countless children around the neighborhood. Oftentimes, the couple would give away instruments for free, just to ensure their students had access to music all the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, they also taught music to their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had specific lessons. They made sure of that,” said Cora and Santos’ niece, Chelle Lindahl. “There was a set time and then we practiced every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindahl’s parents divorced when she was about 8 years old. Soon after, her mom left, and her dad was overwhelmed raising three young girls. So Lindahl and her sisters, including Wesley, went to live with their Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took on the parent roles,” Lindahl said. “They had two children of their own, and to take on three even younger children who are struggling with their mother leaving and all of that … That was incredibly generous on their part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Auntie and uncle had taken over so fiercely,” Wesley agreed. “We were living in a good environment, we were fed and clothed, and all our needs were met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindahl and Wesley said that their aunt and uncle made them feel special during a time when they especially needed love and tending to. They performed alongside Cora and Santos at weddings and The Tonga Room. And Cora, who had begun writing jingles for local businesses, invited the girls to record what she had written for a popular local burger chain — Doggie Diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just brought a joy to all of this that we wouldn’t have had otherwise in our life,” said Lindahl. “Just no way. And it was just them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Recording an album on their own terms\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, after several years performing at the Fairmont Hotel, Cora and Santos released their only full-length record — In Baghdad By The Bay. The title is a reference to a nickname for San Francisco given by beloved \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> columnist \u003ca href=\"https://www.norcalmediamuseum.org/?page_id=218\">Herb Caen\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Beloys decided to produce this record on their own terms — no middlemen — under the label Cora & Santos Enterprise. The whole record is a homage to the city where they fell in love and raised their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos asked a friend to design the cover and invited local musicians to perform with them. Lindahl and Wesley recalled celebrating the album’s release at Cora and Santos’ home in the Inner Sunset.“That was a big, big deal,” Lindahl said. “But Auntie and Uncle singing together, that’s some kind of magic there. They were beautiful together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos continued singing love songs to each other until Santos died of cancer in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, Mom just sadly carried on,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Ange Westly, Cissy Sherr and Tisha Nutter, relatives of Cora and Santos Beloy, are photographed with the album In Baghdad By the Bay in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco on April 25, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Cora never stopped performing, taking the stage at nursing homes, birthday parties, and anywhere else she could get her hands on a microphone. Into her nineties, Cora would ask to play the piano at restaurants with in-house entertainment, rather than eat her food. Cora performed her last song in 2022, just weeks before she passed away at 93-years-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout Cora and Santos’ musical careers in San Francisco, they brushed elbows with the stars that have become household names, but that lifestyle wasn’t what called to them. They wanted their music to make the people around them happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherr acknowledged that people may not have stories about “the famous Cora and Santos,” but they do have stories about the generous couple who wouldn’t accept payment for playing at a wedding or the skillful teachers who instilled a love of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos Beloy were legends at the Tonga Room and larger than life figures at home. Their legacy may not have made it to the internet, but for the people who knew them, they were stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Jess Garcia, has a little game she and her husband like to play…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>They’ll enjoy a big ole pitcher of margaritas on Valencia St in San Francisco, and then wander over to the nearby thrift stores to see what kinds of treasures they’ll find. They were rummaging through the vinyls one day when they saw something that caught their eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>So when we saw this album, obviously it attracted our attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The album cover has these hand-painted illustrations of San Francisco landmarks. Cable cars, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge – and they’re all circling this portrait of a Filipino couple. It looks like a wedding photo from the 70s or 80s, maybe. He’s in a blue suit with a purple ruffled shirt underneath. She’s in a white lace dress. And in thick black letters, the album title reads “Cora and Santos, In Baghdad by the Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>We didn’t really understand like what type of album this was at first. My first impression was that, like maybe it was like a 50th anniversary album that, like they gave out to like friends and family with like just like their favorite songs on it which I thought was like such a cute idea. And then we actually did kind of rush home because we were eager to listen to the album. So when we put it on and the music started playing it just had this like really nostalgic feeling to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Spanish Eyes” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>The very first track is Spanish Eyes. And you know, a couple of seconds into the track, Cora and Santos start singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Spanish Eyes” in the clear: “Spanish Eyes. Teardrops are falling from your Spanish Eyes.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>Their voices were just so vibrant and sentimental. And I just thought they were so sweet and I’ve never, you know, I’ve never heard of Cora and Santos Beloy before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The couple recorded at a studio called Wally Heider. Some other Iconic Bay Area bands have recorded there. Like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead. Jess had heard of those bands, of course, which made her wonder if there was more to Cora and Santos Beloy’s story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>I was just really interested to know what their life was like, the types of achievements that I can’t find on the internet, and just curious about their legacy overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong> Jess is right, if you search the names “Cora and Santos Beloy,” you probably won’t find much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Reporter Asal Ehsanipour loves a good mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>There’s a beautiful obituary for Cora, who died in 2022, but not much about Santos’ funeral. A few Facebook posts about the couple’s involvement in their Catholic parish. It all feels pretty mundane. But then… you’ll find a handful of links to Cora and Santos’ music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And music was everything to this couple. Today we’re digging into the lives and legacy…big and small…of Cora and Santos Beloy. Take it away, Asal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>The song that comes up most is Cora and Santos Beloy’s biggest hit – a rendition of the classic Filippino love song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7o5weu-YE&list=RDiHI2RypmtmI&index=2\">Dahil Sa Iyo\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Dahil Sa Iyo” in the clear for a moment \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Dahil Sa Iyo is a kind of anthem among Filipinos. Cora and Santos’ version is a duet, where Santos takes the classic Tagalog, while Cora croons in the lesser-known English translation… It’s a kind of role reversal – because Cora was fluent in Tagalog, and Santos wasn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>She could sing in seven languages, // And Dad could barely remember his Tagalog words in a song.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This is Cora and Santos’ daughter, Cissy Beloy Sherr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So, when you say that opposites attract, in some ways, I think that they were meant to be together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s parents were also opposite in the way they’d grown up. Cora was raised on a sugar plantation in the Philippines, Santos was raised in the Fillmore. She sang to entertain the Japanese soldiers occupying her town during World War II. He was a young soprano, who sang on the radio. Cora was an immigrant, Santos was a veteran.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So dad grew up so different from mom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Their paths finally crossed in the early 50s, when Cora attended a mixer for Filipinos in San Francisco. And one night… she heard Santos singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I remember her saying, “once I heard your dad’s voice, that was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos’ song “Hawaiian Wedding Song” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> It didn’t take a long time for them to fall in love with each other. I knew that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos were crazy about each other. Cissy says it was the kind of love where they forgot about everything else when they were together… The kind where they had a whole rolodex of special songs, just their own… and a little whistle so they could get each other’s attention at a party. .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After they married, the couple took a long honeymoon to the Philippines, so Santos could meet Cora’s family. And while they were there, Cora recorded a handful of songs with her brother – a well-known musician in the Philippines. Overnight, Cora became a star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“My Song of Love” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Her single, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bkjT4WQHE\">My Song of Love\u003c/a>,” soared to the very top of the Filipino charts in the early 50s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora Delphino singing: “My Song of Love”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>People to this day remember their grandparents singing it to them to sleep. I mean, I can see where my mom’s voice had that calming lullaby tone to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora’s singing was very much in the classic kundiman style. A type of Filipino music – mostly smooth, romantic ballads – sung in Tagalog. Cora gave it a modern twist, singing in English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>There’s something about her songs. The way she sang, the minor key of it, the melody. There’s this bittersweet sadness of love and just the emotion with it. It’s kind of in your soul, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“My Song of Love” ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>Despite her mega hit in the Phillipines, Cora didn’t try to leverage her success into a flashy music career back in San Francisco. Instead, she immediately shifted into mom mode. This was the 1950s. Corae was already pregnant by the time she and Santos got back from their honeymoon. They settled down in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, and Santos took a day job as a technician for Bank of America. He worked on the predecessor to the ATM machine. Cora stayed home, and Cissy came along 14 months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But between the hustle and bustle of potty training and school drop-offs – Cora never stopped playing music. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>She was like just truly a performer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora once told Cissy a secret about this time. When the kids were in school, she confessed almost wistfully… that she’d sneak out and perform at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo with a group of musicians.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>They’d pick her up, bring her down to the mall and they’d be all set up for her to sing for the shoppers going through the mall.I would get home before you did and we never knew she did this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy had always thought her mom was doing the dishes and baking cookies while she was in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Maybe it wasn’t sneaking out, maybe it was fitting it into everything else, you know. Maybe her love of singing, she got to do that as well as be a mom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But it wasn’t just mall jobs. Cora also got offers for glamorous, higher profile jobs. At one point, Cissy said her mom had been approached by the comedian Phyllis Diller for a nightly stint at a legendary comedy club in the city, called The Purple Onion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I do remember that, because Phylliss Diller, she’s famous, you know. Oh, but mommy’s not gonna do that because that means she won’t be home to cook dinner for us\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Instead, Cora took the so-called “casuals.” Gigs that were short-term and close to home. She started performing at local hotels, singing with the big bands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Big band music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh… my mom sounded great with a big band.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Those huge jazz ensembles – a dozen or more musicians packed onstage together playing a big brassy sound. This was Cora’s niche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> I never got to see her perform because I was just too little, you know. I got to see her get dressed that was the show for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Depending on the night, Cora would dress in Filipino formalwear or a sparkly evening gown. Cissy’s favorite, though, was her mom’s Carmen Miranda outfit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Because that big hat had a whole bowl of fruit on the top. And I don’t know how she even got in the car with that thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>And Santos loved the spotlight as much as Cora. He would work a full day at the bank, come home, throw on a Hawaiian shirt or a matching band suit – and join his wife on stage. And eventually… once the kids got older… they became the house band at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Piano music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This was during the Fairmont’s heyday… back when it was a nightly destination for live music. The main attraction was the Venetian Room, a glamorous concert hall where some of the world’s biggest stars performed – people like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/story-tony-bennett-i-left-heart-san-francisco-18254163.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=content_acquisition&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23286310966&gbraid=0AAAAADfW6kE7McpsTc-vgAQgwHkuK5L3i&gclid=CjwKCAiA-__MBhAKEiwASBmsBNb_pn1CBbHh_3UtFLZeN_yEKTDE-9A3pfyvO0TIBS8KFkEkRbrKXhoCWbUQAvD_BwE\">Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” during his 1961 residency at the Venetian Room.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tony Bennet singing “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>And then there was, uh, I think there was a little lounge on each side. There was one to the right, a cocktail lounge with live music. And that’s the one mom and dad played in. And it was called the New Orleans Room. And I feel like it was kind of a staging or maybe a waiting area for either if you couldn’t get tickets for the main show or you were waiting to go in that main show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This regular gig adjacent to the Venetian Room meant Cora and Santos befriended all kinds of people. Including…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>Tony, just Tony.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s god sister, Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter, is talking about that very same Tony Bennett. She still remembers one night, decades ago, when her Auntie Cora invited the family over for dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>Just come on over, it’s Monday. Except Tony Bennett was sitting there in the living room. And he just hung out and we were all just laughing. We had Auntie’s chili. She made lumpias and // it was like she treated him just like family. It could have been any other night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Except on this night, Cora sang a duet with Tony Bennet at the piano in her living room. Casual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>And this not only happened with Tony Bennett, this happened with The Letterman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos became longtime friends with the pop group’s lead singer, Tony Butala. One night, they invited Sammy Davis Jr. to perform onstage with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite never achieving THAT level of stardom, Cora and Santos became “San Francisco famous” … especially through their performances at The Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Rumbling music begins\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>For the uninitiated, The Tonga Room is a Polynesian-themed tiki bar known for extravagant umbrella drinks and an indoor thunderstorm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>When they were about to come out and perform, they would start this thunder and lightning. And then the rain would start coming down. And there would be Auntie Cora, Uncle Santos and they would be on this barge and the barge would come out on this little waterway then the rain would stop and then they would start performing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos start singing: “When I Hear the Church Bells Ringing”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I mean, it was just gobsmacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>This is Chelle Lindahl, Cora and Santos’ niece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl:\u003c/strong> I know we were just all like, oh, oh my God, look at this. And then Auntie and Uncle are on this thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong> Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>People would go to the Tonga Room FOR Cora and Santos…they had a bit of a cult following.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora knew how to work a crowd. And when Santos sang… you couldn’t help but pay attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos song “Now That Summer Is Gone” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh, he’s so fun. My dad had this way of playing like three instruments at once. Like three quarters of a one-man band. It was great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy says that more than once, her parents would come from a night at the Tonga Room, and tell her about the customers who got a little too swept up in the music, and would jump into the indoor swimming pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>They’d have to fish them out of the water because they drank too much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy remembers it all with nostalgia. But she also admits it was a heavy lift for her dad, who was still working his day job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>It must have been hard to come home power nap and then go nine to one at the Fairmont hotel or something // and I think a lot of it he did it for mom because it was mom’s dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But more than anything, they loved to perform together. Cora and Santos played restaurants, anniversary parties, and cruise ships around the world. Back in 1964, they even decided to record their music – this was before the album our question asker found. This one had just two tracks, including their famous duet of “Dahil Sa Iyo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> To this day people tell me “Oh, Cora and Santos, “Dahil Sa Iyo” – that was my favorite, you know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They worked with Tom Spinosa, a big-deal bandleader who’d opened a small music label in the 1950s. To this day, Spinosa – not Cora and Santos – is typically credited with popularizing “Dahil Sa Iyo” to English speakers in the US…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>I don’t really want to give him credit. Because I don’t know that I have a positive recollection of him to be honest with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy says her parents loved everybody, but had no desire to work with Spinosa again. She’s got this feeling that the record could have put her parents on the map in a bigger way… Spinosa could have helped with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I feel like that record should have probably made them some money. I don’t think it did\u003cem>. \u003c/em>So I think that maybe they were…here’s my impression, that they were naive about whatever the business of it was. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they just said, okay, you know, we did it for the love of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>And as it turns out…. their love of music, their desire to build community out of music, would be the \u003cem>\u003cu>real\u003c/u>\u003c/em> legacy of their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> More after this quick break. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos may have had a glamorous onstage life at the Fairmount hotel, befriending famous singers and sparkling under the lights, but Asal Ehsanipour tells us their most lasting legacy may have been on their local community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong> Cissy says her mom had always dreamt of having a big family. But since Cora and Santos couldn’t have more children, they volunteered all their free time to St. Anne’s Catholic Church – just a few blocks away from their house in the Inner Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora ran the children’s choir and together, she and Santos taught Filipino folk dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>There weren’t any Filipinos, very few Filipino people in the parish, so they were teaching the bamboo dance to people, those kids and their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>By the 1960s, San Francisco had a sizable Filipino population, but not many lived in the Inner Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So they were really involved in trying to bring the Philippine culture to all those white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora would teach the moms how to make lumpia, while Santos played poker with the dads. And together the couple gave music lessons to kids all around the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>How many students would you say they had?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh I could not keep, I have no idea. Countless I would say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Teaching them bass, banjo, piano…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Guitar, ukulele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oftentimes, they’d give away instruments for free, just to ensure kids had access to music all the time. And of course, they made sure their nieces knew music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>We had specific lessons. I mean they made sure of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s cousin, Chelle Lindahl again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>There was a set time and then we practiced every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Chelle was Santos’ brother’s kid. Her parents divorced when she was about eight. Then her mom left, and her dad was overwhelmed. So the girls went to live with their Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>And they took on the parent roles. I mean they had two children of their own and to take on three even younger children who are struggling with their mother leaving and all of that. That was incredibly generous on their part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Chelle said her aunt and uncle made the girls feel special during a time when they really needed love and tending to. Music was a big part of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was the singing, // And they gave us that opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora had started writing jingles for local businesses. So she invited the girls to record what she’d written for a very popular local burger chain, Doggie Diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl and Ange Wesley sing together: \u003c/strong>Doggie Diner, nothing’s finer, doggy diners, dog gone good!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>We went down to a radio station and recorded it, and then we were kind of famous at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Under the care of Cora and Santos, the ragged edges of their broken family began to smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>They, they just brought a joy to all of this that we wouldn’t have had otherwise in our life. Just no way. And it was just them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They modeled what a loving relationship and happy family looks like… It really set the bar for Chelle and her sisters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I mean, it sounds corny these days, but. They really were it, you know, they embodied it. They really did.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>In 1974… a full decade after “Dahil Sa Iyo” came out, Cora and Santos decided to release their music again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This time, they produced it on their own terms… no middlemen… under the label Cora & Santos Enterprise. They called it “In Baghdad By The Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora singing: “I know a great old city down California Way. They call it San Francisco or Baghdad By The Bay.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This is the very same record our question asker Jess Garcia found at the thrift store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>I remember just admiring the cover art and they had the cable car on there and I think the bridge is on there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos asked a friend to design the cover, and invited local musicians to perform with them. The whole record is a homage to the city where they fell in love and raised their children. They celebrated in classic Beloy fashion, with a huge party at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I remember being in the living room and like having it presented and everybody’s like ‘oh my god this is amazing.’ you know I mean this was, in this day and age of you can record anything and this and that like to get your songs pressed onto vinyl. That was a big, big deal. But Auntie and Uncle singing together, that’s some kind of magic there. Like their voices, they were beautiful together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“In Baghdad by the Bay” ends \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>I hope it pans to your parents. I want to see them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>Come on, pan out, pan it out.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Back at Cissy’s house, she’s showing me a home video of her parents in their later years. They’re performing on a lawn together. It’s a stark contrast to the drama of The Tonga Room… This feels light and casual. No pretenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Always the last song they play, this one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>What’s this one?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr singing: \u003c/strong>Have I told you lately that I love you? Dear, have I told you…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Your mom was looking at your dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>Always. Lookit. Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Home movie sound fades out\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos continued singing love songs to each other until Santos died of cancer in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>You know? Mom just sadly carried on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But she never stopped performing. She played at nursing homes, birthday parties — wherever she could get her hands on a microphone, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>We go to a brunch. Boy, my mom was drooling over the piano before the food. She would ask can I play? can I play for everybody? She wanted to play that piano for everybody at the brunch rather than eat, in her 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora performed her last song in 2022… just weeks before she died at 93 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music fades out\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>Throughout Cora and Santos’ musical career in San Francisco, they brushed elbows with the stars that have become household names. But that lifestyle wasn’t what called to them…they wanted their music to make the people around them happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>You will talk to so many people and they might not have this story about, oh, the famous Cora and Santos, but they will have a great story. Oh gosh, they played at my wedding and I couldn’t afford to pay them or they wouldn’t let me pay them, but it made it so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They were legends at the Tonga Room…larger than life figures at home… their legacy may not have made it to the internet, but for the people who knew them, they were stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> That was reporter Asal Ehsanipour.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Cora and Santos Beloy were talented local AAPI musicians, who played regularly at the Fairmount Hotel’s Tonga Room in the 1970s. But their most lasting legacy is on their family and friends.\r\n\r\n",
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"title": "A Vinyl Found in San Francisco Contains Echoes of a Filipino American Love Story | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jess Garcia has a little game she and her husband like to play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ll enjoy a big pitcher of margaritas on Valencia Street in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, and then wander over to the nearby thrift stores to see what kinds of treasures they’ll find. One day, they were rummaging through the vinyls when they found an album that caught their eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cover had hand-painted illustrations of San Francisco landmarks, including cable cars, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, and the Golden Gate Bridge — all circling a portrait of a Filipino couple wearing a blue suit and a white lace dress. The album title was etched across the top in thick black letters: \u003cem>Cora and Santos, In Baghdad by the Bay.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t really understand what type of album this was at first,” Garcia said. Her first impression was that it was a 50th anniversary album given to their guests as gifts. But when she rushed home to play the record, she realized it was something else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[When] the music started playing, it just had this really nostalgic feeling to it,” she said. “Their voices were just so vibrant and sentimental. And I’ve never heard of Cora and Santos Beloy before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_014-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Memorabilia from Cora and Santos Beloy, including a 45 rpm record, photographs and album materials, are arranged together in San Francisco on April 25, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Garcia did a little research and discovered the Beloys recorded their album at \u003ca href=\"https://www.hydestreet.com/history.html\">Wally Heider Studio\u003c/a>, which had once hosted iconic Bay Area bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. Garcia had heard of those bands, of course, which made her wonder if there was more to Cora and Santos Beloy’s story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just really interested to know what their life was like, the types of achievements that I can’t find on the internet, and just curious about their legacy overall,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, a simple internet search of Cora and Santos Beloy doesn’t yield much information. There’s a beautiful obituary for Cora, who died in 2022, but nothing about Santos’ funeral. You might also find a smattering of Facebook posts about the couple’s involvement in their Catholic parish. On the surface, it all feels pretty mundane. But then you’ll find a handful of links to Cora and Santos’ music, especially their rendition of the classic Filipino love song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7o5weu-YE&list=RDiHI2RypmtmI&index=2\">Dahil Sa Iyo\u003c/a>” — an anthem among Filipinos.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/yY7o5weu-YE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/yY7o5weu-YE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Cora and Santos’ version is a duet, where Santos takes the classic Tagalog, while Cora croons in the lesser-known English translation. According to Cora and Santos’ daughter, Cissy Beloy Sherr, this arrangement was a kind of role reversal because Cora was fluent in Tagalog and Santos was not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She could sing in seven languages, and Dad could barely remember his Tagalog words in a song,” Sherr said. “So when you say that opposites attract, I think that they were meant to be together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos also grew up in dramatically different ways. Cora was raised on a sugar plantation in the Philippines, while Santos was raised in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. Cora sang to entertain the Japanese soldiers occupying her town during World War II. Santos was a young soprano who sang on the radio. Cora immigrated to the US alone at 18, while Santos was a veteran.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their paths crossed in the early 1950s when Cora attended a mixer for Filipinos in San Francisco. One night, she heard Santos singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember her saying, ‘Once I heard your dad’s voice, that was it,’” Sherr said. “It didn’t take a long time for them to fall in love with each other. I know that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos shared the kind of love where they forgot about everything else when they were together, Sherr said. They had a whole rolodex of special songs, just their own, and a little whistle to catch each other’s attention at parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After they married, the couple took a long honeymoon to the Philippines so Santos could meet Cora’s family. While there, Cora, under her maiden name “Cora Delfino,” recorded a handful of songs with her brother, who was a well-known musician in the Philippines. Overnight, she became a star. Songs like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPgSFXm9DeI&list=RDHPgSFXm9DeI&start_radio=1\">Silver Moon\u003c/a>” took over Manila airwaves, and her single “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bkjT4WQHE\">My Song of Love\u003c/a>” soared to the very top of the Filipino charts in the early 1950s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People to this day remember their grandparents singing it to them to sleep,” said Sherr. “I mean, I can see where my mom’s voice had that calming lullaby tone to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora’s singing aligned with the \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4FlxtqjkBY0tKRUUdjAcEb\">classic kundiman style\u003c/a>, a type of Filipino music — mostly smooth, romantic ballads — sung in Tagalog. Cora gave it a modern twist by singing in English, a common trend applied to Filipino folk songs at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s something about her songs,” Sherr said. “The way she sang, the minor key of it, the melody. There’s this bittersweet sadness of love and just the emotion with it. It’s kind of in your soul, you know?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Truly a performer’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Cora and Santos returned to San Francisco, Cora didn’t try to leverage her mega-hit in the Philippines into a flashy music career stateside. Instead, she prioritized motherhood. Cora was already pregnant with Sherr’s older brother, Chris Beloy, by the time she and Santos returned from their honeymoon. They settled down in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco and Santos took a day job as a technician for Bank of America, working on the predecessor to the ATM machine. Cora stayed home, and Cissy came along a few years after Chris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But between the hustle and bustle of potty training and school drop-offs, Cora never stopped playing music.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/M6bkjT4WQHE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/M6bkjT4WQHE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“She was just truly a performer,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora once confessed a secret to Cissy about this time when the kids were young. While Sherr and her brother were in school, Cora would get dressed up and sneak out to perform for the shoppers at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo with a group of musicians. That surprised Sherr, who had no idea of her mom’s secret performances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe it wasn’t sneaking out,” Cissy said. “Maybe it was fitting it into everything else, you know? Maybe her love of singing … she got to do that as well as be a mom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mall gigs were also surprising to Sherr because at the time, her mom was getting offers for other glamorous, high-profile jobs. At one point, the comedian Phyllis Diller approached Cora for a nightly stint at a legendary comedy club in San Francisco called \u003ca href=\"https://www.comedyhistory101.com/comedy-history-101/2019/3/4/history-of-the-purple-onion-comedy-club-in-san-francisco\">The Purple Onion\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cissy said her mother turned the job down, claiming it would interfere with her ability to be present with her family. Instead, Cora only took the so-called “casuals,” referring to gigs that were short-term and close to home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her niche became performing at local hotels, the lead vocalist for big bands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never got to see her perform because I was just too little,” Sherr said. “I got to see her get dressed. That was the show for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on the night, Cora would don Filipino formalwear or a sparkly evening gown. Sherr’s favorite, though, was her mom’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000544/\">Carmen Miranda\u003c/a> outfit, a reference to the Brazilian pop star famous for wearing a massive hat with fake fruit piled on top. “I don’t know how she even got in the car with that thing,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her father, Santos, loved the spotlight as much as Cora. Back then he would work a full day, come home, throw on a Hawaiian shirt or a matching band suit and join his wife onstage. Over the years, Cora and Santos played restaurants, weddings, and anniversary parties. In 1964, they even decided to record their music. This record had just two tracks, including their famous duet of “Dahil Sa Iyo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To this day people tell me ‘Oh, Cora and Santos, ‘Dahil Sa Iyo,’ that was my favorite,’” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081486\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081486\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-04-KQED-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cora Beloy poses with fellow musicians. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cissy Beloy Sherr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Beloys worked on the record with Tom Spinosa, a bandleader who had opened a small music label in the 1950s. To this day, Spinosa is the one typically credited with popularizing “Dahil Sa Iyo” to English speakers in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t really want to give him credit because I don’t know that I have a positive recollection of him,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though her parents loved everybody, they had no desire to work with Spinosa again, Sherr said. Even now, she has a feeling that Spinosa could have helped put her parents on the map in a bigger way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like that record should have probably made them some money. I don’t think it did,” she said. “Here’s my impression, they were naive about whatever the business of it was. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they just said, ‘Okay, we did it for the love of music.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos doubled down on their love of music, expanding their reach as a family band around the state, and even performing on cruise ships around the world. Eventually, Cora and Santos landed their most iconic gig as the house band at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Performing alongside stars\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Fairmont was a nightly destination for live music. Some of the world’s biggest stars performed at the hotel’s Venetian Room, including Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/story-tony-bennett-i-left-heart-san-francisco-18254163.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=content_acquisition&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23286310966&gbraid=0AAAAADfW6kE7McpsTc-vgAQgwHkuK5L3i&gclid=CjwKCAiA-__MBhAKEiwASBmsBNb_pn1CBbHh_3UtFLZeN_yEKTDE-9A3pfyvO0TIBS8KFkEkRbrKXhoCWbUQAvD_BwE\">famously sang\u003c/a> “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” during his 1961 residency there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos performed five nights a week at the New Orleans Room, a cocktail lounge adjacent to the Venetian Room. Its high profile location allowed them to befriend people such as Tony Bennett himself.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ysw4svDmcxc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ysw4svDmcxc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Sherr’s godsister, Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter, still remembers arriving at the Beloys’ house for dinner one night, decades ago, to find the music legend sitting in the Beloys’ living room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Tony Bennett] just hung out and we were all laughing” she said. “We had Auntie’s chili; she made lumpias and she treated him just like family. It could have been any other night.” And to top it all off, Cora Santos and Tony Bennet played a duet at the living room piano. Ofalsa-Nutter also said that she’d witnessed a similar experience with The Lettermen, whose lead singer \u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124650/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm\">Tony Butala\u003c/a> became a good friend to the Beloys. And one night while performing at the Fairmont, the Beloys invited Sammy Davis Jr. to perform onstage with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite never achieving the level of mega stardom that surrounded them, Cora and Santos became “San Francisco famous,” especially through their performances at The Fairmont Hotel’s Polynesian-themed tiki bar, the Tonga Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos performed their showstopping set on a barge that floated over the Tonga Rooms’s indoor swimming pool, as a synthetic thunderstorm poured around them. Cora knew how to work a crowd, and Santos entranced the audience by playing multiple instruments at once. The performance was so elaborate, it garnered a kind of cult following. One of their fans included the man their niece, Ange Beloy Wesley, was dating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He went in there once and saw them, and so he just kept going back,” Wesley said. She hadn’t known that her now-husband was a fan of her aunt and uncle until she introduced them for the first time. “‘[Are they] the little Filipino couple on the boat,’” she recalled him asking her. “He’s going, ‘They are a bad ass couple!’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CORA-SANTOS-BELOY-02-KQED-1536x1187.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cora and Santos Beloy performing the traditional Filipino bamboo dance. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Cissy Beloy Sherr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wesley’s husband wasn’t the only one taken by Cora and Santos. Sherr said that more than once, her parents would return from a night at the Tonga Room, and tell her about the customers who had jumped into the indoor swimming pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d have to fish them out of the water because they drank too much,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Sherr remembers these performances with nostalgia, she also admits it was a heavy lift for her dad, who was still working his day job at the bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It must have been hard to come home, power nap, and then go 9 to 1 at the Fairmont Hotel,” she said. “I think a lot of it he did for Mom because it was Mom’s dream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Building community out of music\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Aside from music, Sherr said her mom’s other dream was to have a big family. But since Cora and Santos couldn’t have more children, they volunteered all their free time to St. Anne’s Catholic Church, several blocks away from their house in the Inner Sunset. In the early 1960s, Cora and Santos became advisors for the church teen program, chaperoning dozens of kids to bowling nights and ski trips. Cora also ran the children’s choir, and together, she and Santos taught Filipino folk dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There weren’t any Filipinos – very few Filipino people in the parish,” Sherr said. “So they were really involved in trying to bring the Philippine culture to all those white people,” Cissy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Together, Cora and Santos also provided music lessons to countless children around the neighborhood. Oftentimes, the couple would give away instruments for free, just to ensure their students had access to music all the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, they also taught music to their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had specific lessons. They made sure of that,” said Cora and Santos’ niece, Chelle Lindahl. “There was a set time and then we practiced every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindahl’s parents divorced when she was about 8 years old. Soon after, her mom left, and her dad was overwhelmed raising three young girls. So Lindahl and her sisters, including Wesley, went to live with their Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took on the parent roles,” Lindahl said. “They had two children of their own, and to take on three even younger children who are struggling with their mother leaving and all of that … That was incredibly generous on their part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Auntie and uncle had taken over so fiercely,” Wesley agreed. “We were living in a good environment, we were fed and clothed, and all our needs were met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lindahl and Wesley said that their aunt and uncle made them feel special during a time when they especially needed love and tending to. They performed alongside Cora and Santos at weddings and The Tonga Room. And Cora, who had begun writing jingles for local businesses, invited the girls to record what she had written for a popular local burger chain — Doggie Diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just brought a joy to all of this that we wouldn’t have had otherwise in our life,” said Lindahl. “Just no way. And it was just them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Recording an album on their own terms\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 1974, after several years performing at the Fairmont Hotel, Cora and Santos released their only full-length record — In Baghdad By The Bay. The title is a reference to a nickname for San Francisco given by beloved \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> columnist \u003ca href=\"https://www.norcalmediamuseum.org/?page_id=218\">Herb Caen\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Beloys decided to produce this record on their own terms — no middlemen — under the label Cora & Santos Enterprise. The whole record is a homage to the city where they fell in love and raised their children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos asked a friend to design the cover and invited local musicians to perform with them. Lindahl and Wesley recalled celebrating the album’s release at Cora and Santos’ home in the Inner Sunset.“That was a big, big deal,” Lindahl said. “But Auntie and Uncle singing together, that’s some kind of magic there. They were beautiful together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos continued singing love songs to each other until Santos died of cancer in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know, Mom just sadly carried on,” Sherr said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/042506CORASANTOSBELOY_GH_006-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Ange Westly, Cissy Sherr and Tisha Nutter, relatives of Cora and Santos Beloy, are photographed with the album In Baghdad By the Bay in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco on April 25, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Cora never stopped performing, taking the stage at nursing homes, birthday parties, and anywhere else she could get her hands on a microphone. Into her nineties, Cora would ask to play the piano at restaurants with in-house entertainment, rather than eat her food. Cora performed her last song in 2022, just weeks before she passed away at 93-years-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout Cora and Santos’ musical careers in San Francisco, they brushed elbows with the stars that have become household names, but that lifestyle wasn’t what called to them. They wanted their music to make the people around them happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sherr acknowledged that people may not have stories about “the famous Cora and Santos,” but they do have stories about the generous couple who wouldn’t accept payment for playing at a wedding or the skillful teachers who instilled a love of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos Beloy were legends at the Tonga Room and larger than life figures at home. Their legacy may not have made it to the internet, but for the people who knew them, they were stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Jess Garcia, has a little game she and her husband like to play…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>They’ll enjoy a big ole pitcher of margaritas on Valencia St in San Francisco, and then wander over to the nearby thrift stores to see what kinds of treasures they’ll find. They were rummaging through the vinyls one day when they saw something that caught their eye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>So when we saw this album, obviously it attracted our attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The album cover has these hand-painted illustrations of San Francisco landmarks. Cable cars, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge – and they’re all circling this portrait of a Filipino couple. It looks like a wedding photo from the 70s or 80s, maybe. He’s in a blue suit with a purple ruffled shirt underneath. She’s in a white lace dress. And in thick black letters, the album title reads “Cora and Santos, In Baghdad by the Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>We didn’t really understand like what type of album this was at first. My first impression was that, like maybe it was like a 50th anniversary album that, like they gave out to like friends and family with like just like their favorite songs on it which I thought was like such a cute idea. And then we actually did kind of rush home because we were eager to listen to the album. So when we put it on and the music started playing it just had this like really nostalgic feeling to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Spanish Eyes” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>The very first track is Spanish Eyes. And you know, a couple of seconds into the track, Cora and Santos start singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Spanish Eyes” in the clear: “Spanish Eyes. Teardrops are falling from your Spanish Eyes.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>Their voices were just so vibrant and sentimental. And I just thought they were so sweet and I’ve never, you know, I’ve never heard of Cora and Santos Beloy before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>The couple recorded at a studio called Wally Heider. Some other Iconic Bay Area bands have recorded there. Like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead. Jess had heard of those bands, of course, which made her wonder if there was more to Cora and Santos Beloy’s story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Garcia: \u003c/strong>I was just really interested to know what their life was like, the types of achievements that I can’t find on the internet, and just curious about their legacy overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong> Jess is right, if you search the names “Cora and Santos Beloy,” you probably won’t find much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> Reporter Asal Ehsanipour loves a good mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>There’s a beautiful obituary for Cora, who died in 2022, but not much about Santos’ funeral. A few Facebook posts about the couple’s involvement in their Catholic parish. It all feels pretty mundane. But then… you’ll find a handful of links to Cora and Santos’ music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> And music was everything to this couple. Today we’re digging into the lives and legacy…big and small…of Cora and Santos Beloy. Take it away, Asal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>The song that comes up most is Cora and Santos Beloy’s biggest hit – a rendition of the classic Filippino love song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7o5weu-YE&list=RDiHI2RypmtmI&index=2\">Dahil Sa Iyo\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“Dahil Sa Iyo” in the clear for a moment \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Dahil Sa Iyo is a kind of anthem among Filipinos. Cora and Santos’ version is a duet, where Santos takes the classic Tagalog, while Cora croons in the lesser-known English translation… It’s a kind of role reversal – because Cora was fluent in Tagalog, and Santos wasn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>She could sing in seven languages, // And Dad could barely remember his Tagalog words in a song.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This is Cora and Santos’ daughter, Cissy Beloy Sherr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So, when you say that opposites attract, in some ways, I think that they were meant to be together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s parents were also opposite in the way they’d grown up. Cora was raised on a sugar plantation in the Philippines, Santos was raised in the Fillmore. She sang to entertain the Japanese soldiers occupying her town during World War II. He was a young soprano, who sang on the radio. Cora was an immigrant, Santos was a veteran.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So dad grew up so different from mom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Their paths finally crossed in the early 50s, when Cora attended a mixer for Filipinos in San Francisco. And one night… she heard Santos singing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I remember her saying, “once I heard your dad’s voice, that was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos’ song “Hawaiian Wedding Song” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> It didn’t take a long time for them to fall in love with each other. I knew that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos were crazy about each other. Cissy says it was the kind of love where they forgot about everything else when they were together… The kind where they had a whole rolodex of special songs, just their own… and a little whistle so they could get each other’s attention at a party. .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After they married, the couple took a long honeymoon to the Philippines, so Santos could meet Cora’s family. And while they were there, Cora recorded a handful of songs with her brother – a well-known musician in the Philippines. Overnight, Cora became a star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“My Song of Love” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Her single, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6bkjT4WQHE\">My Song of Love\u003c/a>,” soared to the very top of the Filipino charts in the early 50s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora Delphino singing: “My Song of Love”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>People to this day remember their grandparents singing it to them to sleep. I mean, I can see where my mom’s voice had that calming lullaby tone to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora’s singing was very much in the classic kundiman style. A type of Filipino music – mostly smooth, romantic ballads – sung in Tagalog. Cora gave it a modern twist, singing in English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>There’s something about her songs. The way she sang, the minor key of it, the melody. There’s this bittersweet sadness of love and just the emotion with it. It’s kind of in your soul, you know?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“My Song of Love” ends\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>Despite her mega hit in the Phillipines, Cora didn’t try to leverage her success into a flashy music career back in San Francisco. Instead, she immediately shifted into mom mode. This was the 1950s. Corae was already pregnant by the time she and Santos got back from their honeymoon. They settled down in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, and Santos took a day job as a technician for Bank of America. He worked on the predecessor to the ATM machine. Cora stayed home, and Cissy came along 14 months later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But between the hustle and bustle of potty training and school drop-offs – Cora never stopped playing music. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>She was like just truly a performer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora once told Cissy a secret about this time. When the kids were in school, she confessed almost wistfully… that she’d sneak out and perform at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo with a group of musicians.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>They’d pick her up, bring her down to the mall and they’d be all set up for her to sing for the shoppers going through the mall.I would get home before you did and we never knew she did this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy had always thought her mom was doing the dishes and baking cookies while she was in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Maybe it wasn’t sneaking out, maybe it was fitting it into everything else, you know. Maybe her love of singing, she got to do that as well as be a mom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But it wasn’t just mall jobs. Cora also got offers for glamorous, higher profile jobs. At one point, Cissy said her mom had been approached by the comedian Phyllis Diller for a nightly stint at a legendary comedy club in the city, called The Purple Onion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I do remember that, because Phylliss Diller, she’s famous, you know. Oh, but mommy’s not gonna do that because that means she won’t be home to cook dinner for us\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Instead, Cora took the so-called “casuals.” Gigs that were short-term and close to home. She started performing at local hotels, singing with the big bands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Big band music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh… my mom sounded great with a big band.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Those huge jazz ensembles – a dozen or more musicians packed onstage together playing a big brassy sound. This was Cora’s niche.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> I never got to see her perform because I was just too little, you know. I got to see her get dressed that was the show for me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Depending on the night, Cora would dress in Filipino formalwear or a sparkly evening gown. Cissy’s favorite, though, was her mom’s Carmen Miranda outfit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Because that big hat had a whole bowl of fruit on the top. And I don’t know how she even got in the car with that thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>And Santos loved the spotlight as much as Cora. He would work a full day at the bank, come home, throw on a Hawaiian shirt or a matching band suit – and join his wife on stage. And eventually… once the kids got older… they became the house band at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Piano music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This was during the Fairmont’s heyday… back when it was a nightly destination for live music. The main attraction was the Venetian Room, a glamorous concert hall where some of the world’s biggest stars performed – people like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. In fact, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/oursf/article/story-tony-bennett-i-left-heart-san-francisco-18254163.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=content_acquisition&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23286310966&gbraid=0AAAAADfW6kE7McpsTc-vgAQgwHkuK5L3i&gclid=CjwKCAiA-__MBhAKEiwASBmsBNb_pn1CBbHh_3UtFLZeN_yEKTDE-9A3pfyvO0TIBS8KFkEkRbrKXhoCWbUQAvD_BwE\">Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” during his 1961 residency at the Venetian Room.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tony Bennet singing “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>And then there was, uh, I think there was a little lounge on each side. There was one to the right, a cocktail lounge with live music. And that’s the one mom and dad played in. And it was called the New Orleans Room. And I feel like it was kind of a staging or maybe a waiting area for either if you couldn’t get tickets for the main show or you were waiting to go in that main show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This regular gig adjacent to the Venetian Room meant Cora and Santos befriended all kinds of people. Including…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>Tony, just Tony.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s god sister, Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter, is talking about that very same Tony Bennett. She still remembers one night, decades ago, when her Auntie Cora invited the family over for dinner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>Just come on over, it’s Monday. Except Tony Bennett was sitting there in the living room. And he just hung out and we were all just laughing. We had Auntie’s chili. She made lumpias and // it was like she treated him just like family. It could have been any other night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Except on this night, Cora sang a duet with Tony Bennet at the piano in her living room. Casual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>And this not only happened with Tony Bennett, this happened with The Letterman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos became longtime friends with the pop group’s lead singer, Tony Butala. One night, they invited Sammy Davis Jr. to perform onstage with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite never achieving THAT level of stardom, Cora and Santos became “San Francisco famous” … especially through their performances at The Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Rumbling music begins\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>For the uninitiated, The Tonga Room is a Polynesian-themed tiki bar known for extravagant umbrella drinks and an indoor thunderstorm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tisha Ofalsa-Nutter: \u003c/strong>When they were about to come out and perform, they would start this thunder and lightning. And then the rain would start coming down. And there would be Auntie Cora, Uncle Santos and they would be on this barge and the barge would come out on this little waterway then the rain would stop and then they would start performing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos start singing: “When I Hear the Church Bells Ringing”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I mean, it was just gobsmacking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>This is Chelle Lindahl, Cora and Santos’ niece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl:\u003c/strong> I know we were just all like, oh, oh my God, look at this. And then Auntie and Uncle are on this thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong> Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>People would go to the Tonga Room FOR Cora and Santos…they had a bit of a cult following.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora knew how to work a crowd. And when Santos sang… you couldn’t help but pay attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora and Santos song “Now That Summer Is Gone” starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh, he’s so fun. My dad had this way of playing like three instruments at once. Like three quarters of a one-man band. It was great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy says that more than once, her parents would come from a night at the Tonga Room, and tell her about the customers who got a little too swept up in the music, and would jump into the indoor swimming pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>They’d have to fish them out of the water because they drank too much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy remembers it all with nostalgia. But she also admits it was a heavy lift for her dad, who was still working his day job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>It must have been hard to come home power nap and then go nine to one at the Fairmont hotel or something // and I think a lot of it he did it for mom because it was mom’s dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But more than anything, they loved to perform together. Cora and Santos played restaurants, anniversary parties, and cruise ships around the world. Back in 1964, they even decided to record their music – this was before the album our question asker found. This one had just two tracks, including their famous duet of “Dahil Sa Iyo.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr:\u003c/strong> To this day people tell me “Oh, Cora and Santos, “Dahil Sa Iyo” – that was my favorite, you know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They worked with Tom Spinosa, a big-deal bandleader who’d opened a small music label in the 1950s. To this day, Spinosa – not Cora and Santos – is typically credited with popularizing “Dahil Sa Iyo” to English speakers in the US…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>I don’t really want to give him credit. Because I don’t know that I have a positive recollection of him to be honest with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy says her parents loved everybody, but had no desire to work with Spinosa again. She’s got this feeling that the record could have put her parents on the map in a bigger way… Spinosa could have helped with that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>I feel like that record should have probably made them some money. I don’t think it did\u003cem>. \u003c/em>So I think that maybe they were…here’s my impression, that they were naive about whatever the business of it was. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they just said, okay, you know, we did it for the love of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>And as it turns out…. their love of music, their desire to build community out of music, would be the \u003cem>\u003cu>real\u003c/u>\u003c/em> legacy of their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> More after this quick break. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sponsor message\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos may have had a glamorous onstage life at the Fairmount hotel, befriending famous singers and sparkling under the lights, but Asal Ehsanipour tells us their most lasting legacy may have been on their local community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong> Cissy says her mom had always dreamt of having a big family. But since Cora and Santos couldn’t have more children, they volunteered all their free time to St. Anne’s Catholic Church – just a few blocks away from their house in the Inner Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora ran the children’s choir and together, she and Santos taught Filipino folk dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>There weren’t any Filipinos, very few Filipino people in the parish, so they were teaching the bamboo dance to people, those kids and their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>By the 1960s, San Francisco had a sizable Filipino population, but not many lived in the Inner Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>So they were really involved in trying to bring the Philippine culture to all those white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora would teach the moms how to make lumpia, while Santos played poker with the dads. And together the couple gave music lessons to kids all around the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>How many students would you say they had?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Oh I could not keep, I have no idea. Countless I would say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Teaching them bass, banjo, piano…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Guitar, ukulele.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oftentimes, they’d give away instruments for free, just to ensure kids had access to music all the time. And of course, they made sure their nieces knew music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>We had specific lessons. I mean they made sure of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cissy’s cousin, Chelle Lindahl again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>There was a set time and then we practiced every day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Chelle was Santos’ brother’s kid. Her parents divorced when she was about eight. Then her mom left, and her dad was overwhelmed. So the girls went to live with their Auntie Cora and Uncle Santos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>And they took on the parent roles. I mean they had two children of their own and to take on three even younger children who are struggling with their mother leaving and all of that. That was incredibly generous on their part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Chelle said her aunt and uncle made the girls feel special during a time when they really needed love and tending to. Music was a big part of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was the singing, // And they gave us that opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora had started writing jingles for local businesses. So she invited the girls to record what she’d written for a very popular local burger chain, Doggie Diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl and Ange Wesley sing together: \u003c/strong>Doggie Diner, nothing’s finer, doggy diners, dog gone good!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>We went down to a radio station and recorded it, and then we were kind of famous at school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Under the care of Cora and Santos, the ragged edges of their broken family began to smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>They, they just brought a joy to all of this that we wouldn’t have had otherwise in our life. Just no way. And it was just them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They modeled what a loving relationship and happy family looks like… It really set the bar for Chelle and her sisters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I mean, it sounds corny these days, but. They really were it, you know, they embodied it. They really did.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>In 1974… a full decade after “Dahil Sa Iyo” came out, Cora and Santos decided to release their music again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Music starts\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This time, they produced it on their own terms… no middlemen… under the label Cora & Santos Enterprise. They called it “In Baghdad By The Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Cora singing: “I know a great old city down California Way. They call it San Francisco or Baghdad By The Bay.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>This is the very same record our question asker Jess Garcia found at the thrift store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>I remember just admiring the cover art and they had the cable car on there and I think the bridge is on there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora and Santos asked a friend to design the cover, and invited local musicians to perform with them. The whole record is a homage to the city where they fell in love and raised their children. They celebrated in classic Beloy fashion, with a huge party at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chelle Lindahl: \u003c/strong>I remember being in the living room and like having it presented and everybody’s like ‘oh my god this is amazing.’ you know I mean this was, in this day and age of you can record anything and this and that like to get your songs pressed onto vinyl. That was a big, big deal. But Auntie and Uncle singing together, that’s some kind of magic there. Like their voices, they were beautiful together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“In Baghdad by the Bay” ends \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>I hope it pans to your parents. I want to see them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>Come on, pan out, pan it out.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Back at Cissy’s house, she’s showing me a home video of her parents in their later years. They’re performing on a lawn together. It’s a stark contrast to the drama of The Tonga Room… This feels light and casual. No pretenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>Always the last song they play, this one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>What’s this one?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr singing: \u003c/strong>Have I told you lately that I love you? Dear, have I told you…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Your mom was looking at your dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>Always. Lookit. Watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Home movie sound fades out\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cora and Santos continued singing love songs to each other until Santos died of cancer in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>You know? Mom just sadly carried on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>But she never stopped performing. She played at nursing homes, birthday parties — wherever she could get her hands on a microphone, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>We go to a brunch. Boy, my mom was drooling over the piano before the food. She would ask can I play? can I play for everybody? She wanted to play that piano for everybody at the brunch rather than eat, in her 90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>Cora performed her last song in 2022… just weeks before she died at 93 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music fades out\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour:\u003c/strong>Throughout Cora and Santos’ musical career in San Francisco, they brushed elbows with the stars that have become household names. But that lifestyle wasn’t what called to them…they wanted their music to make the people around them happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cissy Beloy Sherr: \u003c/strong>You will talk to so many people and they might not have this story about, oh, the famous Cora and Santos, but they will have a great story. Oh gosh, they played at my wedding and I couldn’t afford to pay them or they wouldn’t let me pay them, but it made it so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Asal Ehsanipour: \u003c/strong>They were legends at the Tonga Room…larger than life figures at home… their legacy may not have made it to the internet, but for the people who knew them, they were stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/strong> That was reporter Asal Ehsanipour.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "former-rohnert-park-officers-who-stole-marijuana-face-federal-sentencing",
"title": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain",
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"headTitle": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070600/former-bay-area-officers-sentenced-in-scheme-to-steal-weed-during-traffic-stops\">federal sentencing\u003c/a> Wednesday of t\u003c/span>wo former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rohnert-park\">Rohnert Park\u003c/a> police officers \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">involved in \u003c/span>a scheme to steal and resell marijuana \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">marked the end of a yearslong legal battle, but it closes only p\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">art of a scandal that exposed broader failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">first reported in 2018\u003c/a> on allegations from drivers who said Rohnert Park officers had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops well outside city limits. In 2020, the city paid out more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11802870/rohnert-park-payouts-set-to-top-1-8-million-over-\">$1.8 million\u003c/a> to settle lawsuits filed by the victims of these officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, a federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">grand jury indicted \u003c/a>the two officers. Tatum pleaded guilty shortly thereafter and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Huffaker fought the charges, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">but was found guilty by a jury last summer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum spent three days on the witness stand describing how he used his role leading the department’s interdiction team to steal hundreds of pounds of cannabis during traffic stops between 2014 and 2018, bringing Huffaker into the scheme in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trial testimony, public records and interviews revealed questions about how supervisors, investigators and outside agencies failed to stop — or fully investigate — officers who allegedly robbed drivers along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11802872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg\" alt=\"Rear-view mirror along Highway 101 near Cloverdale, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum and former officer Joseph Huffaker face sentencing in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of bewilders me why there was only two officers that were prosecuted,” said Texas resident Zeke Flatten, a former undercover officer, private investigator and filmmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten was among the first people to report being robbed by officers, but eight years later, no one has been prosecuted in his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who stole from Zeke Flatten?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 5, 2017, Flatten said he was driving south on Highway 101 in Mendocino County in a rented Kia when he was pulled over by an unmarked SUV. Two white men wearing green tactical pants and black vests marked “police” approached him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immediately, things were not feeling right to me,” said Flatten, who honed his intuition working undercover in the 1990s. He said he began noticing other details: the officers were not wearing badges, name tags or insignia that identified the department they worked for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men asked for his license and the rental agreement, but did not explain why they had stopped him. In interviews with KQED, Flatten said they asked him to get out of the vehicle, patted him down and asked if there were any “money, guns or drugs” in the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten said he told them he had a medical marijuana license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11706933\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11706933 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16, 2018 \u003ccite>(Sukey Lewis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He [the officer] immediately opened the hatchback of the vehicle, went for a box that I had in the back,” Flatten said. The officers found three pounds of marijuana that Flatten said he was taking to Santa Rosa for lab testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men identified themselves as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Flatten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Marijuana is taking over in California, like cigarettes. You may get a letter from Washington,” Flatten recalled one of the officers saying as they handed him back his license and rental agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They kept the cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I knew at that moment that I had been robbed,” Flatten said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten filed complaints with the ATF, the FBI and Mendocino County authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Jeremy Heinrich testified at Huffaker’s trial that he received Flatten’s complaint on Dec. 11, 2017, and contacted local law enforcement agencies in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those calls went nowhere, Heinrich testified, and he closed the case eight days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, the FBI has not identified or arrested the men who stopped Flatten. Flatten said he is certain that Tatum was not involved because both men who stopped him were white and Tatum is Black. Flatten believes Huffaker was involved, though Huffaker has denied it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice declined to answer questions about the case and denied KQED’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the timeline of their investigation, citing privacy exemptions. KQED appealed the denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten’s complaint, however, would become key in exposing the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barron Lutz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About two weeks after Flatten was robbed, Humboldt County resident Barron Lutz was also driving south on Highway 101 when he was pulled over by two officers in an unmarked black SUV who identified themselves as ATF agents. They seized 23 pounds of cannabis from Lutz and refused to provide an inventory receipt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t sure if I was being robbed or I was being arrested,” Lutz said on the stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stop was nearly identical to Flatten’s, with one key difference: California Highway Patrol officers stopped to ask if the officers needed assistance. The CHP’s Scott Baker testified that he recognized Tatum from working with him on a joint narcotics operation in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047329\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-1536x1002.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barron Lutz, a victim, takes the stand during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lutz contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office the next day, asking whether it had a record of the stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said they would get back to me, and nobody ever got back to me,” Lutz testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Tatum’s testimony, a Mendocino County major crimes sergeant called him later that day about a civilian complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He talked to CHP, and CHP remembered seeing Joe and I up there,” Tatum testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rohnert Park is in Sonoma County, about an hour south of where Lutz was pulled over. Tatum told the sergeant the stop was legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Tatum said, he began trying to cover his tracks: obtaining an incident number and booking a cardboard box of loose marijuana buds into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1797px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082507\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1797\" height=\"1383\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg 1797w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-1536x1182.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1797px) 100vw, 1797px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two former Rohnert Park police officers, Joseph Huffaker and Jacy Tatum, are set to be sentenced in federal court after a yearslong legal battle over a scheme to steal and resell marijuana seized during traffic stops along Highway 101. This evidence photo from a court filing shows a cardboard box filled with loose marijuana buds. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 23 pounds of cannabis he and Huffaker took from Lutz, including designer strains such as Agent Orange and Serendipity, had already been handed off to Tatum’s “broker” and friend, Billy Timmins. Tatum said Timmins paid about $27,000 for the stolen marijuana, which the officers split and spent on high-end hunting rifles, scopes and ammunition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 13, 2018, Tatum received a call from Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He called me for a favor,” Tatum testified. “He [Allman] was getting a lot of media press and was pissed off because his department was getting blamed for our traffic stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coverage Allman told Tatum about appeared on the community news site \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/\">\u003cem>Redheaded Blackbelt\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. On Feb. 11, 2018, the site’s owner, Kym Kemp, published \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">articles\u003c/a> detailing Flatten’s \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">allegations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Flatten first called her, she had trouble believing his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, if he hadn’t been someone that knew people I knew, which is the way Southern Humboldt works, I probably would not have taken him seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the deeper she dug into Flatten’s allegations, the more credible his complaints appeared. And the story struck a nerve among residents who had long suspected law enforcement abuses during marijuana prohibition, Kemp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>False reports\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that after receiving that call from the sheriff, he contacted Huffaker, and together, they drafted a \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=b770269f56edcc0b&p=1&docid=fd386e41b0df5f08_b770269f56edcc0b&utm_source=highlight_deep_link&tab=documents&dapvm=1&highlight=bbe0056d3298ee94\">press release\u003c/a> taking responsibility for the stop. The release referenced an unspecified stop “in December,” and included the same case number tied to the marijuana Tatum had booked into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were both scared and thought that we’d got away with this,” Tatum testified. “But here we are, two months later, having to deal with it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047327 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-1536x1066.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon “Jacy” Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received the press release, officials forwarded it to the FBI and Kemp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special Agent Heinrich then asked Tatum for the incident report connected to Flatten’s complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was no report. Tatum testified that he and Huffaker did not know the driver’s name or the exact stop date. Heinrich, however, had shared those details from the complaint he had received: Zeke Flatten on Dec. 5, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just went with that date based upon what the FBI guy — the date that the FBI guy gave us,” Tatum said.[aside postID=news_11673412 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/06/RS31344_IMG_3493-qut-672x372.jpg']But in writing the report, Tatum said he and Huffaker drew on the details they could remember for the illegal stop of Lutz, not realizing they were conflating two different stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving the report, Heinrich took no further action, despite contradictions with Flatten’s complaint. The FBI declined to answer questions about Heinrich’s handling of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp, however, noticed discrepancies in the report after obtaining it through a public records request, including the date, vehicle description, the amount of cannabis seized and the presence of the CHP officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2018, she \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/04/26/rohnert-park-police-officers-being-investigated-following-two-incidents-where-humboldt-county-cannabis-was-seized-under-suspicious-circumstances/\">published another story\u003c/a>, showing that Flatten’s stop and the stop described in the report were different incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Rohnert Park officials had realized they had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were numerous things in the press release that gave me heartburn,” former Police Chief Brian Masterson testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He placed Huffaker and Tatum on administrative leave and hired an outside investigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A pattern emerges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the days after Kemp’s reporting, KQED received a tip from another driver who said they had also been robbed by Tatum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, KQED, in partnership with Kemp and the \u003cem>North Coast Journal,\u003c/em> published a joint \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">investigation\u003c/a> examining allegations from eight drivers and the role asset forfeiture played in funding the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Masterson, former chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, takes the stand as a witness for the prosecution during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, Tatum left the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. The city moved to fire Huffaker, but he fought back, ultimately \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735983/probe-into-rohnert-park-cannabis-and-cash-seizures-will-stay-secret-despite-transparency-law#:~:text=Rohnert%20Park%20struck%20a%20deal%20with%20an,way%20of%20'guaranteeing%20he%20is%20never%20reinstated\">securing a $75,000 payout to resign\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In follow-up stories, KQED uncovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11678122/documentation-missing-for-at-least-800-pounds-of-marijuana-seized-by-rohnert-park-police\">missing destruction orders\u003c/a> for hundreds of pounds of seized cannabis, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11768671/rohnert-park-settles-one-lawsuit-over-illegal-pot-seizures-5-more-plaintiffs-sue\">followed the lawsuits\u003c/a> that began to mount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Tatum testified that officers initially used an official foundry based in San Joaquin to incinerate the excess cannabis. But sometime around 2015, they changed that policy. Instead, they began taking the hundreds of pounds of marijuana to a local farm where they would bury it in the ground.[aside postID=news_12046733 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial6.jpg']“We took pictures of Joe on the backhoe digging the holes for the marijuana,” Tatum said, referring to Huffaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, Tatum testified, he began taking the marijuana home to sell instead of burying it. Investigators never searched the farm, according to testimony from a special agent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more drivers I stopped, or we stopped, the more chances we had to steal marijuana,” he testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he initially sold the weed through his wife’s uncle Joe Porcaro, splitting the proceeds before the two had a falling out. Porcaro strongly denied any involvement, calling Tatum an “unremorseful, pathological liar” in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porcaro said he spoke with the FBI, but was never questioned about Tatum’s allegations. Federal prosecutors declined to answer questions about how they verified Tatum’s testimony or why Porcaro was never pursued as a potential accomplice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Robin Hood’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometime in 2016, Tatum said he began selling marijuana through his childhood friend Billy Timmins, who later testified against Huffaker in exchange for immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timmins said he initially believed Tatum was growing the marijuana himself, but later realized the volume was too large.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew that it wasn’t out of his garage,” Timmins testified. Tatum told him he was “getting it off the highway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tatum said he gave drivers an ultimatum: disclaim ownership of the cannabis or face arrest. If drivers denied ownership, he could classify it as found property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For several years, Tatum testified, the scheme operated without detection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was almost like a Robin Hood story,” Timmins testified. “These guys are scumbags, and I’m going to take their weed and that’s that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, with legalization approaching under Proposition 64, the chief shut down the interdiction team.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Huffaker\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he and Huffaker became close friends. Their wives got along, and they spent time together after work. Tatum said that in late 2017, over drinks, they joked about the potential profits they could make from seizing marijuana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided that we’d tell people we were the ATF,” Tatum testified. “And not draw attention to the DEA or somebody locally they could complain to or that it could get back to.” Tatum did not tell Huffaker that he had already been stealing for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2017, Tatum said the pair carried out several illegal stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Phone records place Tatum and Huffaker in the Hopland area on Dec. 6. Tatum testified they were conducting what he called “illegal interdiction,” stopping drivers and seizing cannabis. He said they met Timmins off Highway 101 near the Commisky exit, where they transferred about eight large trash bags full of marijuana into Timmins’ car so the officers could continue making stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, Tatum told Timmins, his friend of more than three decades, that he planned to implicate him with the FBI. Timmins said he was furious that Tatum had dragged him into his “mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both men said that was the last time they spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before trial, Timmins agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least six of the peace officers who either worked alongside Tatum and Huffaker or supervised interdiction operations remain in law enforcement, including five with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety and one with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, incident reports and court filings show that when Tatum broke departmental policies in front of them — giving drivers ultimatums, refusing to give property receipts and issuing citations for felonies — they did not stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Huffaker’s attorney asked Tatum whether supervisors ever reviewed body camera footage that captured seizures of large amounts of marijuana and cash. Tatum said they did not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tim Mattos, who became chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety after the scandal, said in a recent interview that the officers were cleared by internal investigations and the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has since expanded oversight, implemented a new evidence auditing system, added GPS tracking to vehicles and changed procedures for destroying contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s not even let this creep into people’s mind because they’re just not gonna be able to do it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has spent years “living under this cloud” and hopes the sentencing will allow the city to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp said the case carried significance for cannabis growers who long feared driving their harvest through “the gauntlet” along Highway 101. But there still has not been a full reckoning with police abuses during prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t just those two officers,” Kemp said. “And it wasn’t just Rohnert Park. It was spread throughout the Emerald Triangle. And how bad was it? We may never know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten is still waiting for justice. He believes that at least one of the men who robbed him remains in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Former Rohnert Park police officers Brendon Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker were sentenced to prison in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California.",
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"title": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain | KQED",
"description": "Former Rohnert Park police officers Brendon Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker were sentenced to prison in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California.",
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"headline": "After Sentencing of Ex-Rohnert Park Cops Who Stole Marijuana, Questions Still Remain",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070600/former-bay-area-officers-sentenced-in-scheme-to-steal-weed-during-traffic-stops\">federal sentencing\u003c/a> Wednesday of t\u003c/span>wo former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/rohnert-park\">Rohnert Park\u003c/a> police officers \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">involved in \u003c/span>a scheme to steal and resell marijuana \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">marked the end of a yearslong legal battle, but it closes only p\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">art of a scandal that exposed broader failures in Northern California law enforcement during the final years of marijuana prohibition\u003c/span>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">first reported in 2018\u003c/a> on allegations from drivers who said Rohnert Park officers had stolen marijuana from them during traffic stops well outside city limits. In 2020, the city paid out more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11802870/rohnert-park-payouts-set-to-top-1-8-million-over-\">$1.8 million\u003c/a> to settle lawsuits filed by the victims of these officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, a federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11889861/ex-rohnert-park-cops-indicted-on-federal-extortion-conspiracy-charges-linked-to-marijuana-seizures\">grand jury indicted \u003c/a>the two officers. Tatum pleaded guilty shortly thereafter and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Huffaker fought the charges, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12046733/trial-begins-for-ex-rohnert-park-officer-accused-of-seizing-marijuana-from-drivers\">but was found guilty by a jury last summer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum spent three days on the witness stand describing how he used his role leading the department’s interdiction team to steal hundreds of pounds of cannabis during traffic stops between 2014 and 2018, bringing Huffaker into the scheme in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But trial testimony, public records and interviews revealed questions about how supervisors, investigators and outside agencies failed to stop — or fully investigate — officers who allegedly robbed drivers along Highway 101.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11802872\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11802872 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg\" alt=\"Rear-view mirror along Highway 101 near Cloverdale, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/02/Rohnert-Park-Jacy-Tatum-Questionable-Marijaua-Cash-Seizures-Highway-101-1020x680.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Sgt. Brendon Jacy Tatum and former officer Joseph Huffaker face sentencing in a federal cannabis corruption case involving stolen marijuana, fake reports, illegal Highway 101 traffic stops and questions about FBI and law enforcement oversight in Northern California. \u003ccite>(Adam Grossberg/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It kind of bewilders me why there was only two officers that were prosecuted,” said Texas resident Zeke Flatten, a former undercover officer, private investigator and filmmaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten was among the first people to report being robbed by officers, but eight years later, no one has been prosecuted in his case.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who stole from Zeke Flatten?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 5, 2017, Flatten said he was driving south on Highway 101 in Mendocino County in a rented Kia when he was pulled over by an unmarked SUV. Two white men wearing green tactical pants and black vests marked “police” approached him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immediately, things were not feeling right to me,” said Flatten, who honed his intuition working undercover in the 1990s. He said he began noticing other details: the officers were not wearing badges, name tags or insignia that identified the department they worked for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men asked for his license and the rental agreement, but did not explain why they had stopped him. In interviews with KQED, Flatten said they asked him to get out of the vehicle, patted him down and asked if there were any “money, guns or drugs” in the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten said he told them he had a medical marijuana license.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11706933\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11706933 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/11/RS33972_10643-qut.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zeke Flatten in San Francisco on Aug. 16, 2018 \u003ccite>(Sukey Lewis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He [the officer] immediately opened the hatchback of the vehicle, went for a box that I had in the back,” Flatten said. The officers found three pounds of marijuana that Flatten said he was taking to Santa Rosa for lab testing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The men identified themselves as agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Flatten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Marijuana is taking over in California, like cigarettes. You may get a letter from Washington,” Flatten recalled one of the officers saying as they handed him back his license and rental agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They kept the cannabis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I knew at that moment that I had been robbed,” Flatten said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten filed complaints with the ATF, the FBI and Mendocino County authorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>FBI Special Agent Jeremy Heinrich testified at Huffaker’s trial that he received Flatten’s complaint on Dec. 11, 2017, and contacted local law enforcement agencies in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those calls went nowhere, Heinrich testified, and he closed the case eight days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even now, the FBI has not identified or arrested the men who stopped Flatten. Flatten said he is certain that Tatum was not involved because both men who stopped him were white and Tatum is Black. Flatten believes Huffaker was involved, though Huffaker has denied it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice declined to answer questions about the case and denied KQED’s Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the timeline of their investigation, citing privacy exemptions. KQED appealed the denial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten’s complaint, however, would become key in exposing the scheme.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barron Lutz\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>About two weeks after Flatten was robbed, Humboldt County resident Barron Lutz was also driving south on Highway 101 when he was pulled over by two officers in an unmarked black SUV who identified themselves as ATF agents. They seized 23 pounds of cannabis from Lutz and refused to provide an inventory receipt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wasn’t sure if I was being robbed or I was being arrested,” Lutz said on the stand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stop was nearly identical to Flatten’s, with one key difference: California Highway Patrol officers stopped to ask if the officers needed assistance. The CHP’s Scott Baker testified that he recognized Tatum from working with him on a joint narcotics operation in Mendocino County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047329\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial9-1536x1002.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barron Lutz, a victim, takes the stand during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lutz contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office the next day, asking whether it had a record of the stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said they would get back to me, and nobody ever got back to me,” Lutz testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Tatum’s testimony, a Mendocino County major crimes sergeant called him later that day about a civilian complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He talked to CHP, and CHP remembered seeing Joe and I up there,” Tatum testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rohnert Park is in Sonoma County, about an hour south of where Lutz was pulled over. Tatum told the sergeant the stop was legitimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Afterward, Tatum said, he began trying to cover his tracks: obtaining an incident number and booking a cardboard box of loose marijuana buds into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1797px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082507\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1797\" height=\"1383\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11.jpg 1797w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-160x123.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TatumHuffakerPg11-1536x1182.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1797px) 100vw, 1797px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two former Rohnert Park police officers, Joseph Huffaker and Jacy Tatum, are set to be sentenced in federal court after a yearslong legal battle over a scheme to steal and resell marijuana seized during traffic stops along Highway 101. This evidence photo from a court filing shows a cardboard box filled with loose marijuana buds. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The 23 pounds of cannabis he and Huffaker took from Lutz, including designer strains such as Agent Orange and Serendipity, had already been handed off to Tatum’s “broker” and friend, Billy Timmins. Tatum said Timmins paid about $27,000 for the stolen marijuana, which the officers split and spent on high-end hunting rifles, scopes and ammunition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 13, 2018, Tatum received a call from Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He called me for a favor,” Tatum testified. “He [Allman] was getting a lot of media press and was pissed off because his department was getting blamed for our traffic stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coverage Allman told Tatum about appeared on the community news site \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/\">\u003cem>Redheaded Blackbelt\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. On Feb. 11, 2018, the site’s owner, Kym Kemp, published \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">articles\u003c/a> detailing Flatten’s \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/02/11/former-undercover-officer-involved-in-developing-cannabis-products-accuses-hopland-police-chief-of-theft-corruption-and-civil-rights-violations/\">allegations\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Flatten first called her, she had trouble believing his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be honest, if he hadn’t been someone that knew people I knew, which is the way Southern Humboldt works, I probably would not have taken him seriously,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the deeper she dug into Flatten’s allegations, the more credible his complaints appeared. And the story struck a nerve among residents who had long suspected law enforcement abuses during marijuana prohibition, Kemp said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>False reports\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that after receiving that call from the sheriff, he contacted Huffaker, and together, they drafted a \u003ca href=\"https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/document-view?collection=b770269f56edcc0b&p=1&docid=fd386e41b0df5f08_b770269f56edcc0b&utm_source=highlight_deep_link&tab=documents&dapvm=1&highlight=bbe0056d3298ee94\">press release\u003c/a> taking responsibility for the stop. The release referenced an unspecified stop “in December,” and included the same case number tied to the marijuana Tatum had booked into evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were both scared and thought that we’d got away with this,” Tatum testified. “But here we are, two months later, having to deal with it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047327\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12047327 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1388\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial7-1536x1066.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park Police Sgt. Brendon “Jacy” Tatum, who worked with Joseph Huffaker, takes the stand in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Once the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received the press release, officials forwarded it to the FBI and Kemp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Special Agent Heinrich then asked Tatum for the incident report connected to Flatten’s complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there was no report. Tatum testified that he and Huffaker did not know the driver’s name or the exact stop date. Heinrich, however, had shared those details from the complaint he had received: Zeke Flatten on Dec. 5, 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just went with that date based upon what the FBI guy — the date that the FBI guy gave us,” Tatum said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But in writing the report, Tatum said he and Huffaker drew on the details they could remember for the illegal stop of Lutz, not realizing they were conflating two different stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After receiving the report, Heinrich took no further action, despite contradictions with Flatten’s complaint. The FBI declined to answer questions about Heinrich’s handling of the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp, however, noticed discrepancies in the report after obtaining it through a public records request, including the date, vehicle description, the amount of cannabis seized and the presence of the CHP officer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In April 2018, she \u003ca href=\"https://kymkemp.com/2018/04/26/rohnert-park-police-officers-being-investigated-following-two-incidents-where-humboldt-county-cannabis-was-seized-under-suspicious-circumstances/\">published another story\u003c/a>, showing that Flatten’s stop and the stop described in the report were different incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then, Rohnert Park officials had realized they had a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were numerous things in the press release that gave me heartburn,” former Police Chief Brian Masterson testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He placed Huffaker and Tatum on administrative leave and hired an outside investigator.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A pattern emerges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the days after Kemp’s reporting, KQED received a tip from another driver who said they had also been robbed by Tatum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, KQED, in partnership with Kemp and the \u003cem>North Coast Journal,\u003c/em> published a joint \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11673412/highway-robbery-drivers-allege-rohnert-park-police-illegally-seized-cannabis-cash\">investigation\u003c/a> examining allegations from eight drivers and the role asset forfeiture played in funding the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047325\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047325\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1499\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial5-1536x1151.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Masterson, former chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, takes the stand as a witness for the prosecution during the criminal trial of former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within weeks, Tatum left the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety. The city moved to fire Huffaker, but he fought back, ultimately \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735983/probe-into-rohnert-park-cannabis-and-cash-seizures-will-stay-secret-despite-transparency-law#:~:text=Rohnert%20Park%20struck%20a%20deal%20with%20an,way%20of%20'guaranteeing%20he%20is%20never%20reinstated\">securing a $75,000 payout to resign\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In follow-up stories, KQED uncovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11678122/documentation-missing-for-at-least-800-pounds-of-marijuana-seized-by-rohnert-park-police\">missing destruction orders\u003c/a> for hundreds of pounds of seized cannabis, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11768671/rohnert-park-settles-one-lawsuit-over-illegal-pot-seizures-5-more-plaintiffs-sue\">followed the lawsuits\u003c/a> that began to mount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Tatum testified that officers initially used an official foundry based in San Joaquin to incinerate the excess cannabis. But sometime around 2015, they changed that policy. Instead, they began taking the hundreds of pounds of marijuana to a local farm where they would bury it in the ground.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We took pictures of Joe on the backhoe digging the holes for the marijuana,” Tatum said, referring to Huffaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point, Tatum testified, he began taking the marijuana home to sell instead of burying it. Investigators never searched the farm, according to testimony from a special agent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more drivers I stopped, or we stopped, the more chances we had to steal marijuana,” he testified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he initially sold the weed through his wife’s uncle Joe Porcaro, splitting the proceeds before the two had a falling out. Porcaro strongly denied any involvement, calling Tatum an “unremorseful, pathological liar” in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Porcaro said he spoke with the FBI, but was never questioned about Tatum’s allegations. Federal prosecutors declined to answer questions about how they verified Tatum’s testimony or why Porcaro was never pursued as a potential accomplice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Robin Hood’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sometime in 2016, Tatum said he began selling marijuana through his childhood friend Billy Timmins, who later testified against Huffaker in exchange for immunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Timmins said he initially believed Tatum was growing the marijuana himself, but later realized the volume was too large.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew that it wasn’t out of his garage,” Timmins testified. Tatum told him he was “getting it off the highway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tatum said he gave drivers an ultimatum: disclaim ownership of the cannabis or face arrest. If drivers denied ownership, he could classify it as found property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For several years, Tatum testified, the scheme operated without detection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was almost like a Robin Hood story,” Timmins testified. “These guys are scumbags, and I’m going to take their weed and that’s that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2017, with legalization approaching under Proposition 64, the chief shut down the interdiction team.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Huffaker\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tatum testified that he and Huffaker became close friends. Their wives got along, and they spent time together after work. Tatum said that in late 2017, over drinks, they joked about the potential profits they could make from seizing marijuana.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided that we’d tell people we were the ATF,” Tatum testified. “And not draw attention to the DEA or somebody locally they could complain to or that it could get back to.” Tatum did not tell Huffaker that he had already been stealing for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2017, Tatum said the pair carried out several illegal stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12047324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12047324\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/JHuffakerTrial4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Rohnert Park police officer Joseph Huffaker (right) during his trial in San Francisco federal court on Monday, July 7, 2025. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Phone records place Tatum and Huffaker in the Hopland area on Dec. 6. Tatum testified they were conducting what he called “illegal interdiction,” stopping drivers and seizing cannabis. He said they met Timmins off Highway 101 near the Commisky exit, where they transferred about eight large trash bags full of marijuana into Timmins’ car so the officers could continue making stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2023, Tatum told Timmins, his friend of more than three decades, that he planned to implicate him with the FBI. Timmins said he was furious that Tatum had dragged him into his “mess.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both men said that was the last time they spoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before trial, Timmins agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety today\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least six of the peace officers who either worked alongside Tatum and Huffaker or supervised interdiction operations remain in law enforcement, including five with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety and one with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, incident reports and court filings show that when Tatum broke departmental policies in front of them — giving drivers ultimatums, refusing to give property receipts and issuing citations for felonies — they did not stop him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At trial, Huffaker’s attorney asked Tatum whether supervisors ever reviewed body camera footage that captured seizures of large amounts of marijuana and cash. Tatum said they did not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250702-JOSEPHHUFFAKERTRIAL-11-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police vehicles are parked in a lot at the Rohnert Park Police Station in Rohnert Park on July 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tim Mattos, who became chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety after the scandal, said in a recent interview that the officers were cleared by internal investigations and the FBI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has since expanded oversight, implemented a new evidence auditing system, added GPS tracking to vehicles and changed procedures for destroying contraband.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Let’s not even let this creep into people’s mind because they’re just not gonna be able to do it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mattos said the department has spent years “living under this cloud” and hopes the sentencing will allow the city to move forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kemp said the case carried significance for cannabis growers who long feared driving their harvest through “the gauntlet” along Highway 101. But there still has not been a full reckoning with police abuses during prohibition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t just those two officers,” Kemp said. “And it wasn’t just Rohnert Park. It was spread throughout the Emerald Triangle. And how bad was it? We may never know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flatten is still waiting for justice. He believes that at least one of the men who robbed him remains in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Education officials across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> are calling on the governor and state Legislature to scrap a plan to withhold billions in education funding that they say means more cuts for students and continues a harmful trend of underfunding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal, expected next week, school district leaders across the state are pushing for him to allocate the full amount of Proposition 98 funding required by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The proposed withholding would trigger real reductions to student services, academic interventions, mental health services, staffing, and programs that our students rely on every single day,” said Edgar Zazueta, the executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, at a press conference this week. “California has a responsibility right now. It’s to honor the commitment that they’ve made to public education, to protect students and to fully fund Prop. 98.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 98 requires an annual minimum guarantee of funding for K-12 schools and community colleges, which equates to about 40% of the state’s general fund. In his draft budget released in January, Newsom proposed holding back $5.6 billion earmarked for schools, based on general fund revenue for the 2025-2026 year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Newsom said the deferral would mitigate the risk of appropriating more resources than end up being available, due to “persistent uncertainty in revenue projections,” school boards, district officials and unions across the state said delaying the funding violates the state constitution, and will mean real losses for districts already strapped for cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070630\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though the governor has touted “historic” education allocations over recent years — including an unexpected $22 billion in additional funding for next year — school districts across the Bay Area and beyond are facing massive, multi-year budget shortfalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many have lost per-pupil funding due to enrollment declines, and California School Board Association spokesperson Troy Flint said rising costs — for teacher compensation, pension and health care contributions and special education — are outpacing funding gains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you add all that up, the idea that schools have more money is, while it’s intuitive, not reflective of reality,” Flint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Barrett Snider, an education lobbyist with Capitol Advisors, the state sees withholding this pool of money, which is an excess of the projected funding for last year, as “No harm, no foul” for school districts, and a possible solution to pay for higher-than-anticipated costs elsewhere in the state budget. The education community disagrees.[aside postID=news_12077803 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-SJSchoolClosures-02-BL.jpg']“This is a chronically underfunded system,” Snider said. “We’ve got declining enrollment all over the state. We’ve got pressure from labor because the cost of living has gone up everywhere. We need to solve that problem, so you want to borrow money from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CSBA estimates that the delay means losing about $900 per student across the state. Every $1 billion withheld equates to about 9,500 educators who could lose their jobs, according to Doug Knepp, president of the West Sacramento Teachers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take the position that a dollar deferred is a dollar denied, and IOU is not a guarantee,” Flint said. “The Prop. 98 monies are intended for the current budget year, which is being developed, not for an indeterminate date in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, San Francisco Unified School District board leadership sent a letter to Newsom, urging him to restore the Proposition 98 funding. That letter was signed by other district leaders across the Bay Area and state, who said the withholding “represents tens of millions of dollars from each of our districts and will directly harm our schools and the students they serve as soon as next school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, district officials from Oakland are also expected to join a statewide lobbying day hosted by the California Teachers Association in favor of restoring Proposition 98 funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As education officials push for Newsom to release the funding in his final budget proposal ahead of the July 1 deadline, Snider and Flint both said, to some extent, the “damage” has already been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12072507 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wooden blocks and tiny jackets rest on the rug during playtime at a transitional kindergarten class at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in East San José on Feb. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re already seeing school districts have had to develop their budget on the assumption that the withholding will go through,” Flint said. “No matter how this resolves, it’s already had a negative impact as school districts have to reduce staffing support and services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the advocates said it’s not too late to stop the withholding from becoming a precedent. Last year, the state withheld $1.9 billion from schools, which will be repaid in this year’s budget, under similar circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Precedent is an issue,” Snider said. “Because the effect is that it effectively neuters Prop. 98 from its intent, which is to protect the school portions of the budget from the non-education side pressures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s being proposed by the governor is sort of a clever workaround to that. And if the education community doesn’t speak up and push back, they’ll just keep doing it,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, CSBA is suing the state over funds withheld last year, and Flint said if this year’s delay is approved in the final state budget, the organization is very likely to litigate again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Proposition 98 requires an annual minimum guarantee of funding for K-12 schools and community colleges, which equates to about 40% of the state’s general fund. In his draft budget released in January, Newsom proposed holding back $5.6 billion earmarked for schools, based on general fund revenue for the 2025-2026 year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Newsom said the deferral would mitigate the risk of appropriating more resources than end up being available, due to “persistent uncertainty in revenue projections,” school boards, district officials and unions across the state said delaying the funding violates the state constitution, and will mean real losses for districts already strapped for cash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070630\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though the governor has touted “historic” education allocations over recent years — including an unexpected $22 billion in additional funding for next year — school districts across the Bay Area and beyond are facing massive, multi-year budget shortfalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many have lost per-pupil funding due to enrollment declines, and California School Board Association spokesperson Troy Flint said rising costs — for teacher compensation, pension and health care contributions and special education — are outpacing funding gains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you add all that up, the idea that schools have more money is, while it’s intuitive, not reflective of reality,” Flint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Barrett Snider, an education lobbyist with Capitol Advisors, the state sees withholding this pool of money, which is an excess of the projected funding for last year, as “No harm, no foul” for school districts, and a possible solution to pay for higher-than-anticipated costs elsewhere in the state budget. The education community disagrees.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This is a chronically underfunded system,” Snider said. “We’ve got declining enrollment all over the state. We’ve got pressure from labor because the cost of living has gone up everywhere. We need to solve that problem, so you want to borrow money from us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CSBA estimates that the delay means losing about $900 per student across the state. Every $1 billion withheld equates to about 9,500 educators who could lose their jobs, according to Doug Knepp, president of the West Sacramento Teachers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take the position that a dollar deferred is a dollar denied, and IOU is not a guarantee,” Flint said. “The Prop. 98 monies are intended for the current budget year, which is being developed, not for an indeterminate date in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, San Francisco Unified School District board leadership sent a letter to Newsom, urging him to restore the Proposition 98 funding. That letter was signed by other district leaders across the Bay Area and state, who said the withholding “represents tens of millions of dollars from each of our districts and will directly harm our schools and the students they serve as soon as next school year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, district officials from Oakland are also expected to join a statewide lobbying day hosted by the California Teachers Association in favor of restoring Proposition 98 funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As education officials push for Newsom to release the funding in his final budget proposal ahead of the July 1 deadline, Snider and Flint both said, to some extent, the “damage” has already been done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12072507 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/02172023_ksuzuki_tkprogress-157_qed-1-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wooden blocks and tiny jackets rest on the rug during playtime at a transitional kindergarten class at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in East San José on Feb. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re already seeing school districts have had to develop their budget on the assumption that the withholding will go through,” Flint said. “No matter how this resolves, it’s already had a negative impact as school districts have to reduce staffing support and services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the advocates said it’s not too late to stop the withholding from becoming a precedent. Last year, the state withheld $1.9 billion from schools, which will be repaid in this year’s budget, under similar circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Precedent is an issue,” Snider said. “Because the effect is that it effectively neuters Prop. 98 from its intent, which is to protect the school portions of the budget from the non-education side pressures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s being proposed by the governor is sort of a clever workaround to that. And if the education community doesn’t speak up and push back, they’ll just keep doing it,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, CSBA is suing the state over funds withheld last year, and Flint said if this year’s delay is approved in the final state budget, the organization is very likely to litigate again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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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": "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.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
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