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"content": "\u003cp>Workers at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061054/bay-area-regulators-settle-with-wastewater-plant-for-734000-over-foul-odor\">C&H Sugar\u003c/a> hope to sit down at the negotiating table with the company this week, after dozens walked out last month over disputes about retirement benefits and overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The talks will be the first since the strike began. They come only days after allied workers who typically unload the sugar at the Crockett refinery said some of the operations were outsourced to a terminal in Richmond because they joined the picket line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 90 International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 warehouse workers at the refinery started an open-ended strike on June 15 following an impasse in negotiations. C&H dockworkers from ILWU Local 10 refused to cross the picket line and joined the strike in solidarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cesar Garibay, a business agent with ILWU Local 6, said he was hopeful that the company would come with better offers to the negotiating table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During negotiations, we offered them some compromise to some of the language they wanted,” Garibay said. “The frustrating part is that everybody on the company side of the table was clueless on how the warehouse operates, so we had to explain to them how it works and how they can accomplish what they want without tearing our contract apart.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers say that C&H wants to cut half of their sick days – five of the 10 days – and get rid of benefits for those who’ve retired. That’s as the company offers a 20% cumulative raise over the five-year term, which union members say isn’t worth the trade-off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers say the company has engaged in bad faith bargaining in the process. Kendra Sparks, an ILWU Local 6 worker for almost 30 years, said the union met with the company on the day the strike started, but wasn’t able to come to a last-minute deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They just basically slapped down like, ‘This is what we’re proposing and take it or leave it,’ basically,” Sparks said.[aside postID=news_12061054 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/CHSugarCrockettGetty.jpg']Though the move toward more negotiation talks this week is a good sign, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know it’s not business as usual for them, so hopefully the pressure of increased attention on the situation will help,” Sparks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dockworkers are also claiming foul over the company taking some of its operations over to the Levin Richmond Terminal at the beginning of this month, unloading raw sugar in the same area that things like coal and oil are unloaded. C&H workers from ILWU Local 10 who usually unload the sugar are not crossing the picket line, so the company shifted operations to a different terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move raised health concerns among union members and, for Contra Costa County District 1 Supervisor John Gioia, it diminished “the power of the workers” during negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Instead of focusing on alternate ways to deliver the sugar, [the company should] focus on reaching an agreement with the workers so that the sugar ships from the Philippines go to Crockett and not to a coal facility in Richmond,” Gioia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gioia said that the county health department reached out to state and federal officials about the company unloading at the Richmond terminal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area-air-quality-management-district\">Bay Area Air District\u003c/a> inspected the location on Thursday, and said in a statement that it found no visible emissions from sugar or coal handling operations and documented no violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087608\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087608\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CoalOaklandGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1306\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CoalOaklandGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CoalOaklandGetty-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CoalOaklandGetty-1536x1003.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A train loaded with coal approaches the Levin-Richmond Terminal in Richmond, California, on July 23, 2015. \u003ccite>(Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A C&H spokesperson said that it’s “common practice for raw sugar logistics globally to be handled via bulk ships and bulk terminals similar to how it is being handled at the Levin Terminal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once it has been processed in our refinery, we assure the quality of our finished sugar,” C&H said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even though C&H says that raw sugar is not a food product, well, you could’ve fooled me because it is,” said Michael Villeggiante, president of Local 10. “It’s being mixed with a lot of toxic materials.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Records show the ship carrying the sugar, known as the Tai Herald, was in Richmond for about eight and a half days. The ship moved on to Crockett late Friday night and has been docked ever since, according to vessel traffic records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jlara\">\u003cem>Juan Carlos Lara\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>In this June 2026 edition of the monthly news roundup, we discuss the Giants’ pride month controversy, the debate over a new data center coming to Pittsburg, and how high school students pushed for improvements to their local bus line in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC9556918216&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/pittsburg-controversy-over-data-center-old-delta-view-golf-course\">Pittsburg controversy over data center on old Delta View Golf Course\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pittsburg-california-steel-mill-21307691.php\">This Bay Area suburb lost its main industry. Can it rebuild?\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084077/in-san-francisco-students-become-transit-advocates-to-fix-the-citys-school-bus\">In San Francisco, Students Become Transit Advocates to Fix ‘the City’s School Bus’ \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/sf-giants-fans-pride-response-22318144.php\">Fans chew out SF Giants for team’s ‘weak’ response to Pride Night saga\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"\" title=\"\">\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:51] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted, and welcome to our June news roundup where we talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. In the studio with me is Senior Editor Alan Montecillo. Hey, Alan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:07] Hello, good morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] And our very special guest this week is KQED producer Francesca Fenzi. Hey Francesca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:01:14] Hey, thank you for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:15] Yeah, it’s so nice to have you here with us filling in on the show before our July break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:22] Yes, as long-time listeners of the show know, we do not make new episodes in the month of July. There’s a few reasons why we do this. The main one is that it’s a lot of work to make three episodes a week with only three people. And so this is really the only time of year where we have the ability to do any kind of long-term planning, any strategizing about the future of the show. It’s also frankly the only times, Ericka, when both you and I can take vacation at the same time. So in July we’ll be taking a bit of a break, doing some planning, and we’ll also be introducing a new producer for the show, which we will have later on in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:59] Right, right. So lots to come for you all listeners when we get back in August, but make sure you stay subscribed to The Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:02:08] Maybe catch up on old episodes you didn’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:11] Totally, or take a listen to some Bay Curious while you’re missing us. We’re also wrapping up the end of Pride Month here, and I guess to dive into our stories for this month, Francesca, not a great way to transition into your, I guess, kind of Pride month story, but tell us about the story you brought for us today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:02:38] Yes, yes. Well, as you may already know a little bit, there has been a bit of a pride controversy around the Giants, the San Francisco baseball team. So at a Pride Month event on June 12, this was a game themed around pride that the Giants play every year, or at least they’ve played this every year since about 2021. So it’s been going for a while. And three pitchers for the Giants walked onto the field with inscribed Bible verses on their hats. And that kicked off a controversy that we’re still feeling the ripple effects of for the rest of the month\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] Right. So these were, um, for pride night, they were wearing these caps, right? That had the normal SF logo, but that was rainbow colored, right. And so the pictures had written references to Bible verses kind of over or on the hats. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:03:25] Yeah, exactly. So the typical uniform that players wear for this pride event, it’s the same San Francisco Giants jersey with rainbow insignia on the on the jerseys on the hats. And these three pictures, particularly the starting pitcher Landen Roupp, when he came onto the field, his hat had a reference to a passage from the book of Genesis, which had been scrolled over the rainbow logo. This is a passage that characterizes the rainbow as a sort of covenant between God and the faithful in Christianity. Obviously, rainbow is super prominent symbol for the queer community as well. So this Bible verse has been used by Christian groups in the past that oppose same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general to sort of, you know, kind of counter the narrative that rainbows are symbolic for the, the queer Community. And it’s kind of a controversial move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:16] Yeah, and I’ve seen quite a bit of the backlash online. I mean, a lot of Giants fans feeling really disappointed in the team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:04:28] Yes, the fan response has been pretty negative, particularly from the queer community. Obviously, San Francisco is a city that has long been a mecca for queer people, super gay city. And historically, the baseball team has been really aligned with that. The Giants were the first professional sports team to host a game raising awareness for and money for the AIDS epidemic. That was in 1994. And then, of course, in 2021, they began. This Pride event and we’re actually the first team to incorporate Rainbow Colors and do a Pride-themed game annually. Many other Major League Baseball teams have adopted that practice now. So the Giants have a pretty pro-LGBTQ community history and I think fans were very upset by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:05:14] So three players who wrote these verses over the Pride themed hats, I’m sure they’ve seen a lot of the backlash that’s happened. Have they responded to this publicly at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:05:26] Well, so the players themselves have largely let the Bible verses speak for themselves. There was a post-game interview with that starting pitcher who I mentioned, Landon Roop. He more or less described this as something that represents his relationship to Christianity, the covenant between him and God, and tried to kind of downplay it as something that was a broader cultural statement and more about a personal belief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:53] What about the franchise more broadly and also the MLB, how are they responding to this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:05:58] Yeah, so the major league baseball officials did reprimand these pitchers, but not for the contents of their message. So MLB has a policy against slogans and writing on team uniforms generally, and they made a really big point of citing this as a rules violation of that standing no slogans policy. In fact, they even compared it to writing things like Happy Birthday Mom, which was another real example that a player’s been disciplined for in the past. So I think that landed a little lackluster for fans who were hoping to see the league take more of a stance on the content and the messaging. And then the team’s president, Buster Posey, this is his second year managing the team and he sort of dodged the controversy altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporter \u003c/strong>[00:06:43] Buster, you were a member of this organization for a long time, and every year there’s been a night to honor the gay community. Did you object to those nights when you were player?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Buster Posey \u003c/strong>[00:06:57] I mentioned that I’m not going to revisit it, so if you want to ask baseball questions, I’ll answer baseball questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporter \u003c/strong>[00:07:02] Were you planning to reach out to the gay community about any of this or no?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Buster Posey \u003c/strong>[00:07:06] Again, if you wanna go baseball questions I made my statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:07:09] Really awkward press conference where he actively avoided answering many questions about this. In addition to some of the questions about how the team was playing and some other uncomfortable things he didn’t want to have to talk about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:23] I feel like whenever anything remotely controversial happens in San Francisco, many people across the country take notice and have opinions about it, particularly conservative media and conservative political figures. I know there’s been some stuff around that, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:07:37] Yes, yes, certainly this became a national news story. The New York Times has been reporting about it. Fox News has been recording about it, and part of the reason why this has blown up so much is that it fits into this broader context of the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric, which has been demonizing queer and trans people. That, of course, has frustrated and frightened many people in the community, particularly in this month of pride, which is usually and a time to celebrate. And then it’s also fitting into this larger conversation that’s playing out in sports. This is, of course, not the first time that athletes or even Bay Area athletes have used their platform or visibility to advocate for personal beliefs. The most prominent example of that probably being 49ers football player Colin Kaepernick. He, of of course we all remember, took a knee to protest police brutality and racial injustice in 2016 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. This current controversy with the Giants has become a flash point for some of those conversations about what the role of players’ beliefs should be in sport. And of course, the conservative media outlets have kind of latched onto this as being a one-for-one comparison. Fans have pushed back on this and have been describing the Bible verses as bigotry and something that is excluding a body of the fandom, a group of people, and not necessarily akin to the Black Lives Matter. Protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:06] And if I’m understanding correctly as well, Francesca, the Giants aren’t doing very well in terms of their games either, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:09:16] That has been I think the roughest part is that they are the Giants are not doing well this season. They are fourth in the division. They’ve lost a lot of games and I think even more specifically, they have lost a lotta games even when they’ve scored a lot of runs. So the fans have really pushed the blame on that to the bullpen and onto the pitchers for losing these advantages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:42] Well, Francesca, thank you so much for bringing that story. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:09:45] Yeah, my pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:47] Well, we’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we’re going to talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:45] And welcome back to the Bay’s June News Roundup, where we talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. And now we’re gonna talk about a story that I am bringing from Pittsburg in Contra Costa County, where the city is planning to build a 300,000 square foot data center on a former golf course. And residents are not happy about it. Earlier this month, more than 300 Pittsburg residents packed this city hall meeting to express their concerns over this new data center. For context, Pittsburg is this working class suburb. It’s got real blue collar roots and it lost its main industry, the steel plant a couple years ago. And so it’s really sort of struggled with its economic identity and its economic future. And so meanwhile, the city says that this kind of is the answer to its economic problems, but of course others say this doesn’t really reflect the long-term vision that residents have for their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:11:55] So, uh, this data center you mentioned on a former golf course, 300,000 square feet, um, who is behind it and what is it supposed to be used for?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] The company behind this data center is called AVAIO. They say that they develop this sort of energy smart hyper scale data centers that are used for AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:12:18] So the argument for this data center in Pittsburg is related to jobs and economic opportunity. You mentioned though that there’s some vocal pushback against it. What are those folks saying?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:30] There’s a lot of concern from folks, the kind of things that you hear often when it comes to pushback on these data centers, concern about the resources it’ll take, the power, the water that it’ll take to cool down these data centers. But another really big part of this in Pittsburg in particular is this big question that residents have of like, can this valuable land be used for? Something else. Something that actually benefits the community on a daily basis. Maybe it’s a park or mixed-use retail dining, for example, or more community gathering spaces. Something that folks can really use on the day-to-day in their daily lives to improve life in Pittsburg. Another big part of this, too, is this question of transparency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pittsburg resident \u003c/strong>[00:13:28] How about you listen to the community when you represent. You represent that. If you want some money, I got some change in my pocket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:33] The interesting thing is that this data center was approved unanimously a couple of years ago, actually, in November of 2024. It seems like the public backlash is only sort of happening now, and that is in part because of these transparency concerns. I think a lot of folks spoke at this city council meeting earlier this month, really feeling not included in the process of deciding to build this data center, not feeling like they had enough opportunity to express their concerns about it. There’s a petition going around that’s been signed by more than 20,000 people now, and it states that this is not an opposition to technology or progress, but it’s a call for, quote, thoughtful planning and responsible land use that reflects the priorities of the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] Regarding the timeline, I also wonder if part of this is because there’s more of an AI backlash sentiment in the air in 2026 than there was in 2024, in that not just in the Bay, but nationwide opposition to data centers is perhaps one of the few tangible things that AI skeptics feel they can do to oppose this seemingly kind of so-called, framed as inevitable growth of AI. Not being a Pittsburgh resident. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I wonder if part of that, if you’re the city, you’re like, well, we had this two years ago, like, what’s your problem with it now, I think the conversation day to day around AI data centers is pretty different than it was two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:08] No, totally. I mean, I feel like I know so much more about the water usage of these data centers than I did two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:15:15] Same. Has the company behind this data center in Pittsburgh said where they’re planning to pull energy and resources from?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:25] City officials have said that the power will not come from the PG&E power grid that supplies local residents, but instead something called the Pittsburgh Power Company. And so they’re really trying to say, like, this won’t cause any increase in local rates, for example, in people’s PG&Es bills. And then they’re saying that the water that will be used to cool the center will be primarily recycled water from the Delta Diablo treatment plant, according to the city of Pittsburgh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Allison Spells \u003c/strong>[00:15:57] There are two concerns you hear about data centers all across the country, electricity and water. In Pittsburgh, the approved project handles both in ways that are specific to this community, and this is where it really stands apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:11] John Funberg, the Assistant Director of Community and Economic Development, and Allison Spells, who’s a Senior Planner for the city, really emphasized in this video that, you know, the project is operating under very strict environmental rules that they did, their due diligence to do an environmental impact report on the potential, you now, consequences of having a data center in the community. And they say that they have plans for how to mitigate the environmental impact of this project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:16:46] And if I understand it correctly, this is not the only data center in the Bay Area that is meeting with some local pushback, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:55] Yeah, that’s correct. Not too far away in Oakley, actually, the city recently unanimously voted to ban data centers. And then in December, Amazon began construction on a super controversial data center in Gilroy. So this is, I feel like another example of just these communities that exist on like the fringes of Silicon Valley. That are sort of struggling economically and then having to choose between a future where data centers are the future or it’s something else. And that is it for my very complicated news roundup story. Alan, we’re gonna turn to you for the last one here. What story did you bring for us today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:17:48] So I have a fun, inspiring, lighter story about transit activism in San Francisco. This is a story by KQED’s Elise Manoukian about how students have been successfully pushing for improvements to their local bus line, specifically the 29. Shout out to the sunset, that’s where I live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:18:07] And so Alan, for those of us who don’t live in San Francisco, tell me more about the 29 and who it serves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:18:13] This bus line goes through about 35 different schools across the city. 12% of riders on the 29 are students. That’s more than the city’s average. It goes from Baker Beach on one end, south through the Richmond, Golden Gate Park, the Sunset. It goes through San Francisco State and actually cuts east through Ingleside, Excelsior, Bayview. It’s actually the longest daytime bus route. And what students say, and honestly, many riders, including myself, would observe, is that. There’ve been lots of problems with crowding, delays, reliability. I mean, this is a very used bus line, actually. It’s about at 90% of pre-pandemic ridership because it, it serves lots of neighborhoods and not downtown. But if you can imagine a public bus line that has lots of students, you know, at around eight o’clock and 3.30, there’s just a huge influx of people getting on the bus. So you wind up with busses that get bunched together. Maybe you think you’re going to get on a bus, but it’s too full and you got to wait for the next one. Maybe you’re a student waiting for your bus in the morning and then you’re late for class because the bus you thought was gonna be available is not available. Some of that advocacy that came from students, particularly a group called the Lowell Transit Club at Lowell High School, had been pushing for changes since, honestly, before COVID, since around 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:30] I definitely remember being a student at San Francisco State, standing at the bus stop and then seeing a packed 29, filled like sardine, people just like squished in there and just always being like, God, I’m not going to get on that. The worst, truly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:19:48] The worst feeling. And so what were some of the changes that these students proposed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:19:54] Right, so some of these students at the Lowell Transit Club had been going to public meetings and organizing feedback campaigns, talking directly to SFMTA officials. So a lot of these are sort of quality of life improvements, consolidating bus stops to help increase the speed, infrastructure improvements, making wider sidewalks so it’s easier to board. Sometimes consolidating stops can get a bit contentious because you get into this problem of access, like maybe you live near a bus stop and it’s no longer available. But then the trade-off is that You know, fewer stops equals going faster. Some of these proposed changes had even been, um, going on before COVID. So yeah, a series of changes designed to create faster service, more convenient service, and avoid this sort of overcrowding problem where, or this issue when you think you’re going to get on a bus and it’s packed to the brim and you just got to wait for the next one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:43] I mean, I think it’s interesting that some of these students have been working on this since like before the pandemic. I imagine some of them have probably graduated by this point, but I don’t know. It seems like an inspiring story about like, what you can do to like improve their community’s transit system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:21:05] Yeah, I mean, I think it’s inspiring. This student advocacy has been going on, like you said, in various ways since 2019. So at this point in high school time, that’s like multiple generations of students who have been talking directly to SFMTA. I think its great whenever local officials are willing to talk directly to the people who use the thing that they’re in charge of and see what they can do with limited resources. And yeah, in many cases, some of these students can’t even vote yet. But they are constituents nonetheless, because they use a thing funded by tax dollars. And it’s not over yet either. There are some students who say they want a rapid line on the 29, kind of like the 38 that goes down Geary. Can we get a rapid-line that has fewer stops but faster service? SFMTA said they like the idea, but they want to stabilize funding before they consider it. But some of these students are also part of that organizing effort for the sales tax measures on the ballot this November. Even though they can’t vote in it. So, so yeah, I mean, organizing, talking to your official, it doesn’t always yield what you want, but it can happen. You can improve things where you live little by little.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In this June 2026 edition of the monthly news roundup, we discuss the Giants’ pride month controversy, the debate over a new data center coming to Pittsburg, and how high school students pushed for improvements to their local bus line in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC9556918216&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/pittsburg-controversy-over-data-center-old-delta-view-golf-course\">Pittsburg controversy over data center on old Delta View Golf Course\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/pittsburg-california-steel-mill-21307691.php\">This Bay Area suburb lost its main industry. Can it rebuild?\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084077/in-san-francisco-students-become-transit-advocates-to-fix-the-citys-school-bus\">In San Francisco, Students Become Transit Advocates to Fix ‘the City’s School Bus’ \u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/sf-giants-fans-pride-response-22318144.php\">Fans chew out SF Giants for team’s ‘weak’ response to Pride Night saga\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"\" title=\"\">\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:51] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted, and welcome to our June news roundup where we talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. In the studio with me is Senior Editor Alan Montecillo. Hey, Alan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:07] Hello, good morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] And our very special guest this week is KQED producer Francesca Fenzi. Hey Francesca.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:01:14] Hey, thank you for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:15] Yeah, it’s so nice to have you here with us filling in on the show before our July break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:01:22] Yes, as long-time listeners of the show know, we do not make new episodes in the month of July. There’s a few reasons why we do this. The main one is that it’s a lot of work to make three episodes a week with only three people. And so this is really the only time of year where we have the ability to do any kind of long-term planning, any strategizing about the future of the show. It’s also frankly the only times, Ericka, when both you and I can take vacation at the same time. So in July we’ll be taking a bit of a break, doing some planning, and we’ll also be introducing a new producer for the show, which we will have later on in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:59] Right, right. So lots to come for you all listeners when we get back in August, but make sure you stay subscribed to The Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:02:08] Maybe catch up on old episodes you didn’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:11] Totally, or take a listen to some Bay Curious while you’re missing us. We’re also wrapping up the end of Pride Month here, and I guess to dive into our stories for this month, Francesca, not a great way to transition into your, I guess, kind of Pride month story, but tell us about the story you brought for us today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:02:38] Yes, yes. Well, as you may already know a little bit, there has been a bit of a pride controversy around the Giants, the San Francisco baseball team. So at a Pride Month event on June 12, this was a game themed around pride that the Giants play every year, or at least they’ve played this every year since about 2021. So it’s been going for a while. And three pitchers for the Giants walked onto the field with inscribed Bible verses on their hats. And that kicked off a controversy that we’re still feeling the ripple effects of for the rest of the month\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] Right. So these were, um, for pride night, they were wearing these caps, right? That had the normal SF logo, but that was rainbow colored, right. And so the pictures had written references to Bible verses kind of over or on the hats. Is that right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:03:25] Yeah, exactly. So the typical uniform that players wear for this pride event, it’s the same San Francisco Giants jersey with rainbow insignia on the on the jerseys on the hats. And these three pictures, particularly the starting pitcher Landen Roupp, when he came onto the field, his hat had a reference to a passage from the book of Genesis, which had been scrolled over the rainbow logo. This is a passage that characterizes the rainbow as a sort of covenant between God and the faithful in Christianity. Obviously, rainbow is super prominent symbol for the queer community as well. So this Bible verse has been used by Christian groups in the past that oppose same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general to sort of, you know, kind of counter the narrative that rainbows are symbolic for the, the queer Community. And it’s kind of a controversial move.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:16] Yeah, and I’ve seen quite a bit of the backlash online. I mean, a lot of Giants fans feeling really disappointed in the team.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:04:28] Yes, the fan response has been pretty negative, particularly from the queer community. Obviously, San Francisco is a city that has long been a mecca for queer people, super gay city. And historically, the baseball team has been really aligned with that. The Giants were the first professional sports team to host a game raising awareness for and money for the AIDS epidemic. That was in 1994. And then, of course, in 2021, they began. This Pride event and we’re actually the first team to incorporate Rainbow Colors and do a Pride-themed game annually. Many other Major League Baseball teams have adopted that practice now. So the Giants have a pretty pro-LGBTQ community history and I think fans were very upset by that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:05:14] So three players who wrote these verses over the Pride themed hats, I’m sure they’ve seen a lot of the backlash that’s happened. Have they responded to this publicly at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:05:26] Well, so the players themselves have largely let the Bible verses speak for themselves. There was a post-game interview with that starting pitcher who I mentioned, Landon Roop. He more or less described this as something that represents his relationship to Christianity, the covenant between him and God, and tried to kind of downplay it as something that was a broader cultural statement and more about a personal belief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:53] What about the franchise more broadly and also the MLB, how are they responding to this?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:05:58] Yeah, so the major league baseball officials did reprimand these pitchers, but not for the contents of their message. So MLB has a policy against slogans and writing on team uniforms generally, and they made a really big point of citing this as a rules violation of that standing no slogans policy. In fact, they even compared it to writing things like Happy Birthday Mom, which was another real example that a player’s been disciplined for in the past. So I think that landed a little lackluster for fans who were hoping to see the league take more of a stance on the content and the messaging. And then the team’s president, Buster Posey, this is his second year managing the team and he sort of dodged the controversy altogether.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporter \u003c/strong>[00:06:43] Buster, you were a member of this organization for a long time, and every year there’s been a night to honor the gay community. Did you object to those nights when you were player?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Buster Posey \u003c/strong>[00:06:57] I mentioned that I’m not going to revisit it, so if you want to ask baseball questions, I’ll answer baseball questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reporter \u003c/strong>[00:07:02] Were you planning to reach out to the gay community about any of this or no?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Buster Posey \u003c/strong>[00:07:06] Again, if you wanna go baseball questions I made my statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:07:09] Really awkward press conference where he actively avoided answering many questions about this. In addition to some of the questions about how the team was playing and some other uncomfortable things he didn’t want to have to talk about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:07:23] I feel like whenever anything remotely controversial happens in San Francisco, many people across the country take notice and have opinions about it, particularly conservative media and conservative political figures. I know there’s been some stuff around that, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:07:37] Yes, yes, certainly this became a national news story. The New York Times has been reporting about it. Fox News has been recording about it, and part of the reason why this has blown up so much is that it fits into this broader context of the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric, which has been demonizing queer and trans people. That, of course, has frustrated and frightened many people in the community, particularly in this month of pride, which is usually and a time to celebrate. And then it’s also fitting into this larger conversation that’s playing out in sports. This is, of course, not the first time that athletes or even Bay Area athletes have used their platform or visibility to advocate for personal beliefs. The most prominent example of that probably being 49ers football player Colin Kaepernick. He, of of course we all remember, took a knee to protest police brutality and racial injustice in 2016 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. This current controversy with the Giants has become a flash point for some of those conversations about what the role of players’ beliefs should be in sport. And of course, the conservative media outlets have kind of latched onto this as being a one-for-one comparison. Fans have pushed back on this and have been describing the Bible verses as bigotry and something that is excluding a body of the fandom, a group of people, and not necessarily akin to the Black Lives Matter. Protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:06] And if I’m understanding correctly as well, Francesca, the Giants aren’t doing very well in terms of their games either, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:09:16] That has been I think the roughest part is that they are the Giants are not doing well this season. They are fourth in the division. They’ve lost a lot of games and I think even more specifically, they have lost a lotta games even when they’ve scored a lot of runs. So the fans have really pushed the blame on that to the bullpen and onto the pitchers for losing these advantages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:42] Well, Francesca, thank you so much for bringing that story. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:09:45] Yeah, my pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:47] Well, we’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we’re going to talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:45] And welcome back to the Bay’s June News Roundup, where we talk about some of the other stories on our radars this month. And now we’re gonna talk about a story that I am bringing from Pittsburg in Contra Costa County, where the city is planning to build a 300,000 square foot data center on a former golf course. And residents are not happy about it. Earlier this month, more than 300 Pittsburg residents packed this city hall meeting to express their concerns over this new data center. For context, Pittsburg is this working class suburb. It’s got real blue collar roots and it lost its main industry, the steel plant a couple years ago. And so it’s really sort of struggled with its economic identity and its economic future. And so meanwhile, the city says that this kind of is the answer to its economic problems, but of course others say this doesn’t really reflect the long-term vision that residents have for their city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:11:55] So, uh, this data center you mentioned on a former golf course, 300,000 square feet, um, who is behind it and what is it supposed to be used for?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] The company behind this data center is called AVAIO. They say that they develop this sort of energy smart hyper scale data centers that are used for AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:12:18] So the argument for this data center in Pittsburg is related to jobs and economic opportunity. You mentioned though that there’s some vocal pushback against it. What are those folks saying?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:30] There’s a lot of concern from folks, the kind of things that you hear often when it comes to pushback on these data centers, concern about the resources it’ll take, the power, the water that it’ll take to cool down these data centers. But another really big part of this in Pittsburg in particular is this big question that residents have of like, can this valuable land be used for? Something else. Something that actually benefits the community on a daily basis. Maybe it’s a park or mixed-use retail dining, for example, or more community gathering spaces. Something that folks can really use on the day-to-day in their daily lives to improve life in Pittsburg. Another big part of this, too, is this question of transparency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pittsburg resident \u003c/strong>[00:13:28] How about you listen to the community when you represent. You represent that. If you want some money, I got some change in my pocket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:33] The interesting thing is that this data center was approved unanimously a couple of years ago, actually, in November of 2024. It seems like the public backlash is only sort of happening now, and that is in part because of these transparency concerns. I think a lot of folks spoke at this city council meeting earlier this month, really feeling not included in the process of deciding to build this data center, not feeling like they had enough opportunity to express their concerns about it. There’s a petition going around that’s been signed by more than 20,000 people now, and it states that this is not an opposition to technology or progress, but it’s a call for, quote, thoughtful planning and responsible land use that reflects the priorities of the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] Regarding the timeline, I also wonder if part of this is because there’s more of an AI backlash sentiment in the air in 2026 than there was in 2024, in that not just in the Bay, but nationwide opposition to data centers is perhaps one of the few tangible things that AI skeptics feel they can do to oppose this seemingly kind of so-called, framed as inevitable growth of AI. Not being a Pittsburgh resident. I don’t know if that’s the case, but I wonder if part of that, if you’re the city, you’re like, well, we had this two years ago, like, what’s your problem with it now, I think the conversation day to day around AI data centers is pretty different than it was two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:08] No, totally. I mean, I feel like I know so much more about the water usage of these data centers than I did two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:15:15] Same. Has the company behind this data center in Pittsburgh said where they’re planning to pull energy and resources from?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:25] City officials have said that the power will not come from the PG&E power grid that supplies local residents, but instead something called the Pittsburgh Power Company. And so they’re really trying to say, like, this won’t cause any increase in local rates, for example, in people’s PG&Es bills. And then they’re saying that the water that will be used to cool the center will be primarily recycled water from the Delta Diablo treatment plant, according to the city of Pittsburgh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Allison Spells \u003c/strong>[00:15:57] There are two concerns you hear about data centers all across the country, electricity and water. In Pittsburgh, the approved project handles both in ways that are specific to this community, and this is where it really stands apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:11] John Funberg, the Assistant Director of Community and Economic Development, and Allison Spells, who’s a Senior Planner for the city, really emphasized in this video that, you know, the project is operating under very strict environmental rules that they did, their due diligence to do an environmental impact report on the potential, you now, consequences of having a data center in the community. And they say that they have plans for how to mitigate the environmental impact of this project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:16:46] And if I understand it correctly, this is not the only data center in the Bay Area that is meeting with some local pushback, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:55] Yeah, that’s correct. Not too far away in Oakley, actually, the city recently unanimously voted to ban data centers. And then in December, Amazon began construction on a super controversial data center in Gilroy. So this is, I feel like another example of just these communities that exist on like the fringes of Silicon Valley. That are sort of struggling economically and then having to choose between a future where data centers are the future or it’s something else. And that is it for my very complicated news roundup story. Alan, we’re gonna turn to you for the last one here. What story did you bring for us today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:17:48] So I have a fun, inspiring, lighter story about transit activism in San Francisco. This is a story by KQED’s Elise Manoukian about how students have been successfully pushing for improvements to their local bus line, specifically the 29. Shout out to the sunset, that’s where I live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:18:07] And so Alan, for those of us who don’t live in San Francisco, tell me more about the 29 and who it serves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:18:13] This bus line goes through about 35 different schools across the city. 12% of riders on the 29 are students. That’s more than the city’s average. It goes from Baker Beach on one end, south through the Richmond, Golden Gate Park, the Sunset. It goes through San Francisco State and actually cuts east through Ingleside, Excelsior, Bayview. It’s actually the longest daytime bus route. And what students say, and honestly, many riders, including myself, would observe, is that. There’ve been lots of problems with crowding, delays, reliability. I mean, this is a very used bus line, actually. It’s about at 90% of pre-pandemic ridership because it, it serves lots of neighborhoods and not downtown. But if you can imagine a public bus line that has lots of students, you know, at around eight o’clock and 3.30, there’s just a huge influx of people getting on the bus. So you wind up with busses that get bunched together. Maybe you think you’re going to get on a bus, but it’s too full and you got to wait for the next one. Maybe you’re a student waiting for your bus in the morning and then you’re late for class because the bus you thought was gonna be available is not available. Some of that advocacy that came from students, particularly a group called the Lowell Transit Club at Lowell High School, had been pushing for changes since, honestly, before COVID, since around 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:30] I definitely remember being a student at San Francisco State, standing at the bus stop and then seeing a packed 29, filled like sardine, people just like squished in there and just always being like, God, I’m not going to get on that. The worst, truly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Francesca Fenzi \u003c/strong>[00:19:48] The worst feeling. And so what were some of the changes that these students proposed?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:19:54] Right, so some of these students at the Lowell Transit Club had been going to public meetings and organizing feedback campaigns, talking directly to SFMTA officials. So a lot of these are sort of quality of life improvements, consolidating bus stops to help increase the speed, infrastructure improvements, making wider sidewalks so it’s easier to board. Sometimes consolidating stops can get a bit contentious because you get into this problem of access, like maybe you live near a bus stop and it’s no longer available. But then the trade-off is that You know, fewer stops equals going faster. Some of these proposed changes had even been, um, going on before COVID. So yeah, a series of changes designed to create faster service, more convenient service, and avoid this sort of overcrowding problem where, or this issue when you think you’re going to get on a bus and it’s packed to the brim and you just got to wait for the next one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:20:43] I mean, I think it’s interesting that some of these students have been working on this since like before the pandemic. I imagine some of them have probably graduated by this point, but I don’t know. It seems like an inspiring story about like, what you can do to like improve their community’s transit system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Alan Montecillo \u003c/strong>[00:21:05] Yeah, I mean, I think it’s inspiring. This student advocacy has been going on, like you said, in various ways since 2019. So at this point in high school time, that’s like multiple generations of students who have been talking directly to SFMTA. I think its great whenever local officials are willing to talk directly to the people who use the thing that they’re in charge of and see what they can do with limited resources. And yeah, in many cases, some of these students can’t even vote yet. But they are constituents nonetheless, because they use a thing funded by tax dollars. And it’s not over yet either. There are some students who say they want a rapid line on the 29, kind of like the 38 that goes down Geary. Can we get a rapid-line that has fewer stops but faster service? SFMTA said they like the idea, but they want to stabilize funding before they consider it. But some of these students are also part of that organizing effort for the sales tax measures on the ballot this November. Even though they can’t vote in it. So, so yeah, I mean, organizing, talking to your official, it doesn’t always yield what you want, but it can happen. You can improve things where you live little by little.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article first published in 2022 and has been lightly updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any group that feels obligated to include “Are you a sex cult?” on its \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/faq.html\">frequently asked questions page\u003c/a> probably has something of a public relations problem, even when the answer is, “No.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seriously, we are in many ways fairly traditional, suburban families and individuals but we’re also a group exploring pleasurable living, which qualifies us as an alternative lifestyle,” writes the intentional community Lafayette Morehouse on its website. According to a 2020 webcast from Morehouse, “dozens and dozens” of people are still living communally in a group that has been active since the late 1960s. It’s one of a small fraction of surviving communes from that heyday of experimentation in group living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County locals like Sabrina McQueen used to see group members — who live on a secluded parcel of some 20-plus acres, including a swimming pool, tennis court and, at one time, a boxing ring — driving around town in purple limos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d drop people off at the grocery store,” McQueen said. “So it’s like, ‘Well, what’s that?’ And that’s when my mom told me, ‘Oh, those are the Purple People.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Purple is a big theme with Morehouse, whose members also live in purple-painted houses. In high school, McQueen and her friends were so curious about the group they’d make a night of spying on the property from the one lookout point where you could see it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Purple People” themselves \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/faq.html#purple-people\">do not answer to that name\u003c/a>. “Do I look purple to you?” one Morehouse member \u003ca href=\"https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/purple-haze/Content?oid=2132347\">told an SF Weekly reporter in 1995\u003c/a>. And their penchant for privacy is well-known in the area; McQueen’s father was a mail carrier, but Morehouse wouldn’t let him get past the gate of their property to make his deliveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McQueen herself had never heard the name Lafayette Morehouse. She has, however, heard the sex cult rumor, and media organizations also have referred to the group that way. So she wants to know the truth about Morehouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just wondering, are the Purple People still there and what are they about?” she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marco Beneteau took courses at Lafayette Morehouse in the 2000s and has lived in several communes. He said the idea that the group is a cult is “complete nonsense,” and that the group has displayed none of the characteristics associated with cults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For instance, excommunication for leaving, financial coercion, demanding that people cut off relationships with their relatives. None of this has ever been practiced at Morehouse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academics who study intentional communities like Morehouse eschew the very word “cult,” said \u003ca href=\"https://religiousstudies.ku.edu/timothy-miller\">Tim Miller, a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas\u003c/a> who has written extensively about 1960s-era communes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way people in common parlance use the word is to say [this is] something I don’t like, and that may have a good basis and it may not,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why has Lafayette Morehouse acquired this reputation? I very much wanted to talk to the group, but despite numerous emails and phone calls, they mostly ignored me. However, some of their history is available in newspaper stories, magazine articles and books, on websites and via former members. What has come through is that Lafayette Morehouse is one of the few surviving links to an increasingly forgotten part of Bay Area history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/TgR5YkWAekM\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003cem>This promotional video produced by Lafayette Morehouse is the only one on their YouTube channel.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Communes, gurus and human potential\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To really understand Lafayette Morehouse, you have to grasp a few things about the 1960s and early 1970s other than Bob Dylan, Vietnam and hippies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the era, the younger generation — believe it or not, the baby boomers now so readily derided as out of touch — formed the bulk of a counterculture looking to overthrow norms and conventions in just about everything: religion, politics, music, art — you name it. Hundreds of thousands — even up to a million — young people took to living together in groups organized around political, religious or environmental ideals, said Miller, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/60s-Communes-Syracuse-Conflict-Resolution/dp/081560601X?asin=081560601X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=2\">authored a survey of the era’s communes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1965, he said, “there was just an explosion” of new communities. These groups sought to build a better society based on values other than those enshrined in what Miller calls “this sort of me-first” American culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While communitarian ideas were inspiring people to live together in collectivist ways, a parallel, more individualistic philosophy also was gaining ground. The human potential movement was based on the notion that people could tap into their unused abilities to attain “self-actualization.” The Bay Area became a hub for both these ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12081386 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260423-CONCORD-MOUNDS-MD-08-KQED-3.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This also was the age when high-profile evangelists pushed for expanding human consciousness. \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2013/10/timothy-leary-archives/\">The former Harvard professor Timothy Leary\u003c/a> urged young people to take psychedelic drugs and “turn on, tune in and drop out.” Meanwhile, self-educated former car salesman Werner Erhard promoted \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training\">a program of intense seminars called EST\u003c/a>, designed to bring about personal transformation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1967, at the intersection of communes, the human potential movement and the rise of these charismatic gurus, appeared the founder of Morehouse: Victor Baranco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Victor Baranco was one of the teachers who had come up with a philosophy that helped people to self-actualize or reach their human potential,” said Laurie Rivlin-Heller, who knew Baranco in the 1970s when she lived in Morehouse residences in Oakland and Rohnert Park. \u003ca href=\"https://communalstudies.org/product/communal-societies-vol-25-2005/\">She later wrote her master’s thesis on the group\u003c/a>, which was initially called the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandmorehouse.com/\">Institute of Human Abilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baranco was a former appliance salesman now selling a new philosophy, in which the goal, broadly speaking, was to remove the self-created obstacles between you and what you want. And he was good at reeling people into his orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You would participate in a course in which he was the teacher,” Rivlin-Heller said. “And he would be able to see you in a way that most people are not capable of doing. Not only did he listen, but he looked and he could assess on the basis of your question and maybe a couple of follow-up questions where you were coming from. It was a unique gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baranco’s group made money by selling courses and renovating dilapidated houses he’d purchased. The Morehouse concept was so successful that at one point it had dozens of affiliates around the country, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sgt-bilko-meets-the-new-culture-182617/\">Rolling Stone reported\u003c/a> that people in Berkeley were calling the founder “the Colonel Sanders of the commune scene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That 1971 article was less than complimentary, portraying Baranco driving around in a chauffeur-driven limo surrounded by obsequious devotees who paid money to hear him deliver homespun homilies. Baranco was also quoted as acknowledging he’d been a “hustler” who’d made “big money in shady ways. Not necessarily illegal, but shady,” including selling phony diamond rings and watches. The article later appeared in a book called “Mindfuckers” alongside a chapter on Charles Manson — not a good look for any leader of a commune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivlin-Heller said the article missed the point of Baranco’s philosophy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He put everything up front,” she said. “The introductory course to Morehouse is called the ‘Mark Group,’ where you are the mark. So there was no denying that he had put together a hustle, but you were volunteering, entering into the hustle and participating in it. Those that I know, [they] had a good experience there … and if they didn’t feel they were getting value, they would leave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another former Morehouse adherent, Rebekah Beneteau, said she took a lot of courses at the Lafayette property in the 1990s and also lived with her then-husband, Marco, in a Yonkers, New York, Morehouse. She described her time there as “a really life-changing experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12084476 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/HistoryofWetsuit.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I call them the silver-lining people,” Beneteau said, “because their philosophy and approach to life was to always view everything as if it was a gift and their own creation. And how could they use it? How could they view it as already perfect, including the potential for change?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the primary components of the Morehouse philosophy, both Beneateaus said, is that a community runs better when its women are happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebekah Beneteau said that while the Morehouses clearly had a money-making component, she never felt they took advantage of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve actually been affiliated with way more organizations that are way more pushy and suck your money out,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So what’s with the sex?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lafayette Morehouse bills its philosophy as “responsible hedonism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hedonism is an ethical point of view that has the pursuit of pleasure as the highest goal,” the group writes on its website. “People often think that living pleasurably means that you don’t care about anybody else. Our experience has proven that if you are going to have a pleasurable life, then you have to see to it that others around you live pleasurably too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big part of Morehouse’s hedonistic doctrine appears to involve having better sex. The group currently has nine sensuality-related \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/course.html\">courses advertised on its website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11913695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1296px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/course.html\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11913695\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the nine course titles offered by Lafayette Morehouse related to sensuality.\" width=\"1296\" height=\"412\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM.png 1296w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-800x254.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-1020x324.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-160x51.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1296px) 100vw, 1296px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Current sensuality-related courses offered by Lafayette Morehouse. \u003ccite>(Lafayette Morehouse)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The focus on sex is a reflection of the culture at the time of Morehouse’s founding, said Rivlin-Heller. Baranco, who was in his 30s at the time, saw a way for people his age and older to participate in the sexual revolution happening around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these different gurus had different hooks,” Rivlin-Heller said. “Ram Dass did meditation and chanting and Buddhism. Esalen had humanistic psychology. So the sexual revolution, I guess you would say, was the hook for Victor Baranco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One notorious Morehouse event was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/first-demo.html\">public demonstration\u003c/a> in 1976 of what the group claimed was a woman having a three-hour orgasm. (No, I couldn’t find any video.) And Baranco took advantage of California’s loose postsecondary education standards to turn the Lafayette commune into “More University,” which offered Ph.D.s in the humanities and sensuality, and conducted what the organization said was sexual research. In 1992, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that courses cost as much as $16,800. A 1994 profile of the university in \u003ca href=\"https://docplayer.net/45093155-Volume-2-no-7-march-1994-2-50.html\">the conservative magazine Heterodoxy\u003c/a> described a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/31/us/california-trying-to-close-worthless-diploma-schools.html\">less than rigorous academic program\u003c/a>, to put it mildly, as well as some alleged troubling sexual incidents, though no arrests or charges were ever made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1980s and ’90s, Baranco unsuccessfully sued The Chronicle and The Contra Costa Times for libel. One court decision is not-safe-for-work reading: According to the court, More University’s Advanced Sensuality class included research in “engorgement, lubrication, seminal secretion.” It said one of the goals of the course was to “make friends with another crotch.” The university was forced to shut down in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebekah Beneteau, at least, believes Morehouse did legitimate sexual research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many people now who are teaching [the one-hour orgasm] who either attribute it to them or not,” she said. “They have a technique that allowed me to sink into my body much more instead of always being up in my head.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a whole hour?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not yet, but I’ve gotten up to 27 minutes,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flafayette.morehouse%2Fvideos%2F2506462923003338%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003cem>A Facebook Live video from Lafayette Morehouse discussing their approach to communal living and COVID-19.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fear of what’s different\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the 1970s into the early 1990s, Lafayette Morehouse engaged in an ongoing battle with the county and neighbors over zoning issues and code violations, including allowing unhoused people to live on the property in tents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tim Miller, the historian of intentional communities, said it’s not uncommon for communes to be unpopular among local residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very typical thing that’s happened throughout history,” he said. “There seems to be an instinctive fear among a lot of people of anything that’s new or different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller said the remaining ’60s-era communes are “often quite quiet. They don’t want to call attention to themselves, even though … they get along with their neighbors and all of that. [But] the big problem they have over and over are zoning laws [that] often forbid communal living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Surviving the decades\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Baranco died in Hawaii in 2002, and since then Lafayette Morehouse has been mostly free of controversy. The great swell of ’60s-era communes eventually dissipated, leaving only a small fraction of surviving groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A friend of mine, who still lives on one of the ’60s-era communes, said when their community had a great out-migration in the ’80s, he thought some of them just decided they were Republicans, after all,” said Miller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to say why Morehouse has outlasted its peers, but Rebekah Beneteau said \u003ca href=\"https://www.maxim.com/maxim-man/how-to-free-love-commune-neil-strauss-2018-6/\">Morehouse has figured out how to make group living work\u003c/a>. During the coronavirus pandemic, \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/cNfpmcgSuM/\">the group held a webcast\u003c/a> where they described the difficulty of living in a close community with so many people during a pandemic. But true to their “silver lining” philosophy, they were looking for ways the experience could actually enhance their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not a bad goal, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I’m Olivia Allen-Price. You’re listening to Bay Curious.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today we’re going to venture back to the 1960s and 70s, when the Bay Area was a center for many social movements.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sound pop of protest\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Black Panther Party formed in response to police brutality against Black people …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speech: We are talking about the survival of Black people, nothing else…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women were frustrated by the gender inequality they faced daily … \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chanting: Free our sisters, free ourselves\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And a lot of people started to think differently about how they wanted to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As many as a million Americans decided to join communes, group living situations, often with shared chores and finances.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now the vast majority of those intentional communities that formed in the 60s and 70s have disappeared. But not all of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reporter Jon Brooks went looking for one that survived in the suburbs of Contra Costa County, a group that has been steeped in mystery and sometimes controversy.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One note for listeners: we do talk about sex in this episode. It first aired in 2022. Here’s Jon… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If you were a high school kid growing up in the Walnut Creek area back in the 1990s, there wasn’t a lot to do. That’s one reason why Sabrina McQueen has never forgotten the big purple car she saw driving around town. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They’d drop people off at the grocery store. So it’s like, well, what’s that? And that’s when my mom told me, ‘Oh, those are the purple people.’ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Purple people. That is fun to say. Say it once, you’re probably gonna want to say it again. Purple people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who could they possibly be? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s what Sabrina wants to know. She remembers in the seventh grade she went with a friend to pick someone up who lived on the purple people’s property…a com pound on some 20-plus acres. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was so excited that I thought I was going to go inside and be able to see it. And then we got just to the gate, and that was it. You can’t get past the gate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What exactly was going on in there? It’s one of those lingering mysteries to people who live in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, here we should tell you, the Purple People aren’t really called the Purple People. (I know, rats.) That is just what locals call them. Why? Because they’re known to drive around in purple vehicles and live in purple-painted houses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Do you know the official name of the group?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> No, I don’t. That’s why I asked this question. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their real name is Lafayette Morehouse. And they are one of a very small fraction of 1960s-era communes that survive to this day. Lafayette Morehouse was so mysterious to locals like Sabrina, she and her friends on weekends would drive to this one lookout point to see if they could catch a glimpse of the property. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would be kind of like, Hey, what do you guys want to go do tonight? It’s like, Oh, you guys want to go like, check out the purple people? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sabrina’s driving me to that spot now. But she’s having a hard time finding it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> So, here’s where we’re going to turn. But it has been 30 years\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Excuse me, we’re looking for the Purple People campus … \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Man on street:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Purple people campus? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Man on street:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sorry, no idea.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You never heard that?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you think they don’t know for real?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music post\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lafayette Morehouse has a colorful history, which we’re going to get into in a moment, but in recent decades it’s been quiet. Three years ago, the group was briefly in the news after someone left racist graffiti on their buildings. Morehouse’s reaction to the media at the time: No comment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naturally, I wanted very much to talk to the group, but they declined multiple interview requests. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I did find three former Morehouse members who did want to talk. Like Rebekah Beneteau. She took courses at Lafayette Morehouse in the 1990s. The group was so successful at attracting members, Morehouse branches sprang up around the country. Beneteau says she lived for six years in one of the sister Morehouse communes in New York. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Really the core of Morehouse’s philosophy is that life is better lived together and that we disrupted that in the 50s by shuttling every woman, every couple, off into their own houses. And then we invented Valium because there were all these women alone at home going nuts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1960s and 70s a lot of people were looking for new ways to live more fulfilling lives, at least more fulfilling than their parents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to escape the prescribed path laid out by society – school, job, marriage, kids, death – was to live together in groups organized around political, religious, or environmental ideals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hundreds of thousands, up to a million, people tried their hand at communal living, says professor Tim Miller, an expert on intentional communities.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tim Miller:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting in 1965, I think you can date it that precisely. there was a whole new wave of communities came along… (4:00) I would say by and large these new young people’s communities were not very popular with mainstream society, and I would say that’s a very typical thing. I think it’s just that fear of what’s different.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1970s ..and all the way through the 90s, Morehouse and Contra Costa County also battled over zoning issues and code violations … skirmishes that were frequently reported in the news. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychedelic music starts\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1960s and 70s were also the age of … the guru. Like Timothy Leary – who urged people to take psychedelic drugs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Timothy Leary: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turn on, tune in, and drop out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And Werner Erhard, creator of something called E-S-T, or EST. This was a program of intense seminars supposedly leading to personal transformation. What Erhard was prescribing was… um, I don’t know…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Werner Erhard: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People are…that love is attention. People are…that love is attention. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of these different gurus had different hooks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Laurie Rivlin Heller. In the early ‘70s she dropped out of college and moved to the Bay Area. Here, she got interested in the human potential movement – the idea that people could tap into their unused abilities to reach their full potential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s when she discovered someone named \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victor Baranco.\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We’ve got to pause for a quick break. When we return … we get to know Victor Baranco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laurie Rivlin Heller met Victor Baranco in the early 70s, and found herself drawn to him.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Berkeley-born Baranco was the founder of Morehouse, which had branches in a few Bay Area cities. Baranco had a successful career as an appliance salesman. But with Morehouse, he was offering something more than consumer goods. He was selling a new philosophy. The goal…remove the self-created obstacles between you and what you want. And he was \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He would be able to see you in a way that most people are not capable of doing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact that he could so clearly understand who I was and where I was coming from. And he did that to everybody. It was a unique gift. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baranco called his program for living “responsible hedonism.” That means creating a pleasurable life for not only yourself, but for others. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The responsible part\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was that you take responsibility for your life and your action. Things could change, but it was up to you to do that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hedonism part? That’s where the “more” in Mor ehouse comes in. And a lot of it has to do with … you guessed it … or you didn’t, because this is public media: sex. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The sexual revolution, I guess you would say, was the hook for Victor Baranco. There were young people in this time period who were experiencing sexuality in a way that hadn’t been done previously. And there were older people who wanted a piece of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to former members, one of the tenets of Baranco’s teaching was that a community functioned better when the women were happy, sexually and otherwise.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The group is famous for a 1976 demonstration of a woman reportedly having a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3-hour\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> orgasm. Yes I said what I said. I spent a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lot\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of time looking for that tape. Didn’t find it. But I did find some current Morehouse YouTube videos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lafayette Morehouse Video: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the fundamentals of sensuality course, we discuss the nature of orgasm. And in the afternoon, there’s a live demonstration of a woman in orgasm for an hour that will really blow your mind. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebekah Beneteau…the woman who lived in a Morehouse commune in New York… was at first put off by the emphasis on sex. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They had a class where a woman was demonstrating being in orgasm for an hour. I thought that was extremely freaky. I didn’t want anything to do with them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But she did like the group’s positive outlook and focus on people’s ability to change. Now, she offers sex and intimacy coaching. And, she changed her mind about the one-hour orgasm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They have a technique that also allowed me to sink into my body much more instead of always being up in my head. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 30:05 Can you really have a one-hour orgasm?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Not yet, but I’ve gotten up to 27 minutes\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm, 27 minutes. Pretty, pretty good.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this focus on sex has led to a certain reputation for Morehouse among its neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s a couple of rumors, one that it was a sex cult. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, the group has definitely at times been labeled a sex cult. So much so they even have a question on their F-A-Q page … “Are you a sex cult?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marco Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I mean, that’s complete nonsense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Marco Beneteau. He and Rebekah used to be married. He also took a lot of Morehouse courses. Then the two of them started their own commune in Philadelphia. Now he lives on a commune in Wyoming. So the man knows his communes. He says Morehouse didn’t have any of the characteristics people associate with cults.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marco Beneteau: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, excommunication for leaving, financial coercion. You know, demanding that people cut off relationships with their relatives, that, you know, none of this has ever been practiced at Morehouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Morehouse isn’t a cult, it has been controversial. In 1971, Rolling Stone published a pretty unflattering portrait of the group – complete with Baranco driving around in a chauffeur-driven limo. The article implied Baranco was making a lot of money off group members. But Laurie Rivlin Heller says there was nothing devious going on. Self-interest was an open part of Baranco’s philosophy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I would say that he put everything up front. The introductory course to Morehouse is called the Mark Group, where you are the mark. So there was no denying that he had put together a hustle, but you were voluntarily entering into the hustle and participating in it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, that Rolling Stone article later appeared in a book alongside a chapter on Charles Manson. Not a good look for any leader of a commune. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lafayette Morehouse Video: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using classical educational modes, More university is dedicated to the full realization of human potential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baranco later turned Lafayette Morehouse into More University. More University, more controversy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The university offered PhDs in the humanities and of course, sensuality, including sexual research. In 1992, the San Francisco Chronicle reported at least one course cost almost 17-thousand dollars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 80s and 90s Baranco sued the Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times for libel. (Hashtag please don’t sue \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">us\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.) The court threw those lawsuits out. One of the decisions is not-safe-for-work reading. According to the court, a goal of More University’s Advanced Sensuality class was to “make friends with another crotch.” Which, if you’re listening Morehouse, would be an awesome bumper sticker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The university shut down in the mid-90s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victor Baranco died in 2002 at the age of 68. And, eventually, the great majority of ‘60s communes faded away. Professor Timothy Miller:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Timothy Miller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Friend of mine, who still lives on one of the 60s era communes, said when their community had a great outmigration in the 80s, he thought some of them just decided they were Republicans, after all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Morehouse has survived. The decades come, the decades go, and they’re still doing their thing – whatever it is. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in the car with Sabrina, we wandered around trying to find that one view of the campus she remembers. We kept taking wrong turns, going back over the same streets. And then… …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a purple house.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sabrina’s excited. She’s a Purple People fan. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wonder if that belongs to… Oh, yeah, I mean, that is, does that look like it’s purple?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nice\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> property, with tennis courts and everything. But really, there’s not much to see and the group does have a right to its privacy. Sabrina, I think, is viewing it through the eyes of her high school years, when there was this mysterious aura around this counterculture group … \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">right\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in her own suburban home town.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to know what she thinks of the Purple People now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is kind of interesting that this has survived so long, which I think is so amazing. I mean, hey, if that’s what they want to do and they’re peaceful and they are able to be part of our community, it sounds like they’re having fun. So good for them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m a reporter. It’s my job to be skeptical. But I will say one thing. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Lafayette Morehouse went live over Facebook. They were definitely taking safety seriously. But, their aim wasn’t just to survive COVID, they said that wasn’t a high enough goal. They wanted to use the experience as a way to make their lives even better.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If life hands you really sour lemons, make even sweeter lemonade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I got to admit, I’m still thinking about that one.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was reporter Jon Brooks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you like Bay Curious, I’ve got a request. Please tell your podcast listening friends about the show. We all like a good recommendation…help us grow!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And as always, consider donating to help sustain the work we do on Bay Curious. More info at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price. Brendan Willard and Sebastian Miño-Bucheli also helped on this episode. We get extra support from: Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a wonderful week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Contra Costa County locals have long wondered about an intentional community in their midst whose roots stretch back to the 1960s. The group likes their privacy, but we talked to former members to learn what they're about.",
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"subhead": "Locals call them the \"Purple People\" because they drive around in purple limos and live in purple houses.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article first published in 2022 and has been lightly updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any group that feels obligated to include “Are you a sex cult?” on its \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/faq.html\">frequently asked questions page\u003c/a> probably has something of a public relations problem, even when the answer is, “No.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Seriously, we are in many ways fairly traditional, suburban families and individuals but we’re also a group exploring pleasurable living, which qualifies us as an alternative lifestyle,” writes the intentional community Lafayette Morehouse on its website. According to a 2020 webcast from Morehouse, “dozens and dozens” of people are still living communally in a group that has been active since the late 1960s. It’s one of a small fraction of surviving communes from that heyday of experimentation in group living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County locals like Sabrina McQueen used to see group members — who live on a secluded parcel of some 20-plus acres, including a swimming pool, tennis court and, at one time, a boxing ring — driving around town in purple limos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d drop people off at the grocery store,” McQueen said. “So it’s like, ‘Well, what’s that?’ And that’s when my mom told me, ‘Oh, those are the Purple People.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Purple is a big theme with Morehouse, whose members also live in purple-painted houses. In high school, McQueen and her friends were so curious about the group they’d make a night of spying on the property from the one lookout point where you could see it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “Purple People” themselves \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/faq.html#purple-people\">do not answer to that name\u003c/a>. “Do I look purple to you?” one Morehouse member \u003ca href=\"https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/purple-haze/Content?oid=2132347\">told an SF Weekly reporter in 1995\u003c/a>. And their penchant for privacy is well-known in the area; McQueen’s father was a mail carrier, but Morehouse wouldn’t let him get past the gate of their property to make his deliveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McQueen herself had never heard the name Lafayette Morehouse. She has, however, heard the sex cult rumor, and media organizations also have referred to the group that way. So she wants to know the truth about Morehouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just wondering, are the Purple People still there and what are they about?” she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marco Beneteau took courses at Lafayette Morehouse in the 2000s and has lived in several communes. He said the idea that the group is a cult is “complete nonsense,” and that the group has displayed none of the characteristics associated with cults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For instance, excommunication for leaving, financial coercion, demanding that people cut off relationships with their relatives. None of this has ever been practiced at Morehouse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academics who study intentional communities like Morehouse eschew the very word “cult,” said \u003ca href=\"https://religiousstudies.ku.edu/timothy-miller\">Tim Miller, a professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas\u003c/a> who has written extensively about 1960s-era communes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The way people in common parlance use the word is to say [this is] something I don’t like, and that may have a good basis and it may not,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So why has Lafayette Morehouse acquired this reputation? I very much wanted to talk to the group, but despite numerous emails and phone calls, they mostly ignored me. However, some of their history is available in newspaper stories, magazine articles and books, on websites and via former members. What has come through is that Lafayette Morehouse is one of the few surviving links to an increasingly forgotten part of Bay Area history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/TgR5YkWAekM\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003cem>This promotional video produced by Lafayette Morehouse is the only one on their YouTube channel.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Communes, gurus and human potential\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To really understand Lafayette Morehouse, you have to grasp a few things about the 1960s and early 1970s other than Bob Dylan, Vietnam and hippies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the era, the younger generation — believe it or not, the baby boomers now so readily derided as out of touch — formed the bulk of a counterculture looking to overthrow norms and conventions in just about everything: religion, politics, music, art — you name it. Hundreds of thousands — even up to a million — young people took to living together in groups organized around political, religious or environmental ideals, said Miller, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/60s-Communes-Syracuse-Conflict-Resolution/dp/081560601X?asin=081560601X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=2\">authored a survey of the era’s communes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in 1965, he said, “there was just an explosion” of new communities. These groups sought to build a better society based on values other than those enshrined in what Miller calls “this sort of me-first” American culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While communitarian ideas were inspiring people to live together in collectivist ways, a parallel, more individualistic philosophy also was gaining ground. The human potential movement was based on the notion that people could tap into their unused abilities to attain “self-actualization.” The Bay Area became a hub for both these ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This also was the age when high-profile evangelists pushed for expanding human consciousness. \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2013/10/timothy-leary-archives/\">The former Harvard professor Timothy Leary\u003c/a> urged young people to take psychedelic drugs and “turn on, tune in and drop out.” Meanwhile, self-educated former car salesman Werner Erhard promoted \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training\">a program of intense seminars called EST\u003c/a>, designed to bring about personal transformation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1967, at the intersection of communes, the human potential movement and the rise of these charismatic gurus, appeared the founder of Morehouse: Victor Baranco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Victor Baranco was one of the teachers who had come up with a philosophy that helped people to self-actualize or reach their human potential,” said Laurie Rivlin-Heller, who knew Baranco in the 1970s when she lived in Morehouse residences in Oakland and Rohnert Park. \u003ca href=\"https://communalstudies.org/product/communal-societies-vol-25-2005/\">She later wrote her master’s thesis on the group\u003c/a>, which was initially called the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandmorehouse.com/\">Institute of Human Abilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baranco was a former appliance salesman now selling a new philosophy, in which the goal, broadly speaking, was to remove the self-created obstacles between you and what you want. And he was good at reeling people into his orbit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You would participate in a course in which he was the teacher,” Rivlin-Heller said. “And he would be able to see you in a way that most people are not capable of doing. Not only did he listen, but he looked and he could assess on the basis of your question and maybe a couple of follow-up questions where you were coming from. It was a unique gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baranco’s group made money by selling courses and renovating dilapidated houses he’d purchased. The Morehouse concept was so successful that at one point it had dozens of affiliates around the country, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/sgt-bilko-meets-the-new-culture-182617/\">Rolling Stone reported\u003c/a> that people in Berkeley were calling the founder “the Colonel Sanders of the commune scene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That 1971 article was less than complimentary, portraying Baranco driving around in a chauffeur-driven limo surrounded by obsequious devotees who paid money to hear him deliver homespun homilies. Baranco was also quoted as acknowledging he’d been a “hustler” who’d made “big money in shady ways. Not necessarily illegal, but shady,” including selling phony diamond rings and watches. The article later appeared in a book called “Mindfuckers” alongside a chapter on Charles Manson — not a good look for any leader of a commune.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rivlin-Heller said the article missed the point of Baranco’s philosophy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He put everything up front,” she said. “The introductory course to Morehouse is called the ‘Mark Group,’ where you are the mark. So there was no denying that he had put together a hustle, but you were volunteering, entering into the hustle and participating in it. Those that I know, [they] had a good experience there … and if they didn’t feel they were getting value, they would leave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another former Morehouse adherent, Rebekah Beneteau, said she took a lot of courses at the Lafayette property in the 1990s and also lived with her then-husband, Marco, in a Yonkers, New York, Morehouse. She described her time there as “a really life-changing experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I call them the silver-lining people,” Beneteau said, “because their philosophy and approach to life was to always view everything as if it was a gift and their own creation. And how could they use it? How could they view it as already perfect, including the potential for change?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the primary components of the Morehouse philosophy, both Beneateaus said, is that a community runs better when its women are happy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebekah Beneteau said that while the Morehouses clearly had a money-making component, she never felt they took advantage of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve actually been affiliated with way more organizations that are way more pushy and suck your money out,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So what’s with the sex?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lafayette Morehouse bills its philosophy as “responsible hedonism.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hedonism is an ethical point of view that has the pursuit of pleasure as the highest goal,” the group writes on its website. “People often think that living pleasurably means that you don’t care about anybody else. Our experience has proven that if you are going to have a pleasurable life, then you have to see to it that others around you live pleasurably too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A big part of Morehouse’s hedonistic doctrine appears to involve having better sex. The group currently has nine sensuality-related \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/course.html\">courses advertised on its website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11913695\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1296px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/course.html\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11913695\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM.png\" alt=\"A screenshot of the nine course titles offered by Lafayette Morehouse related to sensuality.\" width=\"1296\" height=\"412\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM.png 1296w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-800x254.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-1020x324.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/Screen-Shot-2022-05-10-at-10.36.31-AM-160x51.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1296px) 100vw, 1296px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Current sensuality-related courses offered by Lafayette Morehouse. \u003ccite>(Lafayette Morehouse)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The focus on sex is a reflection of the culture at the time of Morehouse’s founding, said Rivlin-Heller. Baranco, who was in his 30s at the time, saw a way for people his age and older to participate in the sexual revolution happening around them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these different gurus had different hooks,” Rivlin-Heller said. “Ram Dass did meditation and chanting and Buddhism. Esalen had humanistic psychology. So the sexual revolution, I guess you would say, was the hook for Victor Baranco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One notorious Morehouse event was a \u003ca href=\"http://www.lafayettemorehouse.com/first-demo.html\">public demonstration\u003c/a> in 1976 of what the group claimed was a woman having a three-hour orgasm. (No, I couldn’t find any video.) And Baranco took advantage of California’s loose postsecondary education standards to turn the Lafayette commune into “More University,” which offered Ph.D.s in the humanities and sensuality, and conducted what the organization said was sexual research. In 1992, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that courses cost as much as $16,800. A 1994 profile of the university in \u003ca href=\"https://docplayer.net/45093155-Volume-2-no-7-march-1994-2-50.html\">the conservative magazine Heterodoxy\u003c/a> described a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/31/us/california-trying-to-close-worthless-diploma-schools.html\">less than rigorous academic program\u003c/a>, to put it mildly, as well as some alleged troubling sexual incidents, though no arrests or charges were ever made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the 1980s and ’90s, Baranco unsuccessfully sued The Chronicle and The Contra Costa Times for libel. One court decision is not-safe-for-work reading: According to the court, More University’s Advanced Sensuality class included research in “engorgement, lubrication, seminal secretion.” It said one of the goals of the course was to “make friends with another crotch.” The university was forced to shut down in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebekah Beneteau, at least, believes Morehouse did legitimate sexual research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are many people now who are teaching [the one-hour orgasm] who either attribute it to them or not,” she said. “They have a technique that allowed me to sink into my body much more instead of always being up in my head.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a whole hour?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not yet, but I’ve gotten up to 27 minutes,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flafayette.morehouse%2Fvideos%2F2506462923003338%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n \u003cem>A Facebook Live video from Lafayette Morehouse discussing their approach to communal living and COVID-19.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fear of what’s different\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>From the 1970s into the early 1990s, Lafayette Morehouse engaged in an ongoing battle with the county and neighbors over zoning issues and code violations, including allowing unhoused people to live on the property in tents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tim Miller, the historian of intentional communities, said it’s not uncommon for communes to be unpopular among local residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a very typical thing that’s happened throughout history,” he said. “There seems to be an instinctive fear among a lot of people of anything that’s new or different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller said the remaining ’60s-era communes are “often quite quiet. They don’t want to call attention to themselves, even though … they get along with their neighbors and all of that. [But] the big problem they have over and over are zoning laws [that] often forbid communal living.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Surviving the decades\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Baranco died in Hawaii in 2002, and since then Lafayette Morehouse has been mostly free of controversy. The great swell of ’60s-era communes eventually dissipated, leaving only a small fraction of surviving groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A friend of mine, who still lives on one of the ’60s-era communes, said when their community had a great out-migration in the ’80s, he thought some of them just decided they were Republicans, after all,” said Miller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to say why Morehouse has outlasted its peers, but Rebekah Beneteau said \u003ca href=\"https://www.maxim.com/maxim-man/how-to-free-love-commune-neil-strauss-2018-6/\">Morehouse has figured out how to make group living work\u003c/a>. During the coronavirus pandemic, \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/cNfpmcgSuM/\">the group held a webcast\u003c/a> where they described the difficulty of living in a close community with so many people during a pandemic. But true to their “silver lining” philosophy, they were looking for ways the experience could actually enhance their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not a bad goal, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I’m Olivia Allen-Price. You’re listening to Bay Curious.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today we’re going to venture back to the 1960s and 70s, when the Bay Area was a center for many social movements.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sound pop of protest\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Black Panther Party formed in response to police brutality against Black people …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speech: We are talking about the survival of Black people, nothing else…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Women were frustrated by the gender inequality they faced daily … \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chanting: Free our sisters, free ourselves\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And a lot of people started to think differently about how they wanted to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As many as a million Americans decided to join communes, group living situations, often with shared chores and finances.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now the vast majority of those intentional communities that formed in the 60s and 70s have disappeared. But not all of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reporter Jon Brooks went looking for one that survived in the suburbs of Contra Costa County, a group that has been steeped in mystery and sometimes controversy.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One note for listeners: we do talk about sex in this episode. It first aired in 2022. Here’s Jon… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> If you were a high school kid growing up in the Walnut Creek area back in the 1990s, there wasn’t a lot to do. That’s one reason why Sabrina McQueen has never forgotten the big purple car she saw driving around town. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They’d drop people off at the grocery store. So it’s like, well, what’s that? And that’s when my mom told me, ‘Oh, those are the purple people.’ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Purple people. That is fun to say. Say it once, you’re probably gonna want to say it again. Purple people. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who could they possibly be? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s what Sabrina wants to know. She remembers in the seventh grade she went with a friend to pick someone up who lived on the purple people’s property…a com pound on some 20-plus acres. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was so excited that I thought I was going to go inside and be able to see it. And then we got just to the gate, and that was it. You can’t get past the gate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What exactly was going on in there? It’s one of those lingering mysteries to people who live in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, here we should tell you, the Purple People aren’t really called the Purple People. (I know, rats.) That is just what locals call them. Why? Because they’re known to drive around in purple vehicles and live in purple-painted houses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Do you know the official name of the group?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> No, I don’t. That’s why I asked this question. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their real name is Lafayette Morehouse. And they are one of a very small fraction of 1960s-era communes that survive to this day. Lafayette Morehouse was so mysterious to locals like Sabrina, she and her friends on weekends would drive to this one lookout point to see if they could catch a glimpse of the property. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would be kind of like, Hey, what do you guys want to go do tonight? It’s like, Oh, you guys want to go like, check out the purple people? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sabrina’s driving me to that spot now. But she’s having a hard time finding it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> So, here’s where we’re going to turn. But it has been 30 years\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Excuse me, we’re looking for the Purple People campus … \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Man on street:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Purple people campus? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks in scene:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Man on street:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sorry, no idea.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You never heard that?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you think they don’t know for real?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music post\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lafayette Morehouse has a colorful history, which we’re going to get into in a moment, but in recent decades it’s been quiet. Three years ago, the group was briefly in the news after someone left racist graffiti on their buildings. Morehouse’s reaction to the media at the time: No comment. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naturally, I wanted very much to talk to the group, but they declined multiple interview requests. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I did find three former Morehouse members who did want to talk. Like Rebekah Beneteau. She took courses at Lafayette Morehouse in the 1990s. The group was so successful at attracting members, Morehouse branches sprang up around the country. Beneteau says she lived for six years in one of the sister Morehouse communes in New York. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Really the core of Morehouse’s philosophy is that life is better lived together and that we disrupted that in the 50s by shuttling every woman, every couple, off into their own houses. And then we invented Valium because there were all these women alone at home going nuts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1960s and 70s a lot of people were looking for new ways to live more fulfilling lives, at least more fulfilling than their parents. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to escape the prescribed path laid out by society – school, job, marriage, kids, death – was to live together in groups organized around political, religious, or environmental ideals.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hundreds of thousands, up to a million, people tried their hand at communal living, says professor Tim Miller, an expert on intentional communities.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Tim Miller:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting in 1965, I think you can date it that precisely. there was a whole new wave of communities came along… (4:00) I would say by and large these new young people’s communities were not very popular with mainstream society, and I would say that’s a very typical thing. I think it’s just that fear of what’s different.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1970s ..and all the way through the 90s, Morehouse and Contra Costa County also battled over zoning issues and code violations … skirmishes that were frequently reported in the news. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psychedelic music starts\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1960s and 70s were also the age of … the guru. Like Timothy Leary – who urged people to take psychedelic drugs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Timothy Leary: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turn on, tune in, and drop out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And Werner Erhard, creator of something called E-S-T, or EST. This was a program of intense seminars supposedly leading to personal transformation. What Erhard was prescribing was… um, I don’t know…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Werner Erhard: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People are…that love is attention. People are…that love is attention. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of these different gurus had different hooks. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Laurie Rivlin Heller. In the early ‘70s she dropped out of college and moved to the Bay Area. Here, she got interested in the human potential movement – the idea that people could tap into their unused abilities to reach their full potential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s when she discovered someone named \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victor Baranco.\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We’ve got to pause for a quick break. When we return … we get to know Victor Baranco.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sponsor message\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laurie Rivlin Heller met Victor Baranco in the early 70s, and found herself drawn to him.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Berkeley-born Baranco was the founder of Morehouse, which had branches in a few Bay Area cities. Baranco had a successful career as an appliance salesman. But with Morehouse, he was offering something more than consumer goods. He was selling a new philosophy. The goal…remove the self-created obstacles between you and what you want. And he was \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">good\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He would be able to see you in a way that most people are not capable of doing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fact that he could so clearly understand who I was and where I was coming from. And he did that to everybody. It was a unique gift. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baranco called his program for living “responsible hedonism.” That means creating a pleasurable life for not only yourself, but for others. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The responsible part\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was that you take responsibility for your life and your action. Things could change, but it was up to you to do that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hedonism part? That’s where the “more” in Mor ehouse comes in. And a lot of it has to do with … you guessed it … or you didn’t, because this is public media: sex. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The sexual revolution, I guess you would say, was the hook for Victor Baranco. There were young people in this time period who were experiencing sexuality in a way that hadn’t been done previously. And there were older people who wanted a piece of it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to former members, one of the tenets of Baranco’s teaching was that a community functioned better when the women were happy, sexually and otherwise.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The group is famous for a 1976 demonstration of a woman reportedly having a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3-hour\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> orgasm. Yes I said what I said. I spent a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lot\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of time looking for that tape. Didn’t find it. But I did find some current Morehouse YouTube videos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lafayette Morehouse Video: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the fundamentals of sensuality course, we discuss the nature of orgasm. And in the afternoon, there’s a live demonstration of a woman in orgasm for an hour that will really blow your mind. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rebekah Beneteau…the woman who lived in a Morehouse commune in New York… was at first put off by the emphasis on sex. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They had a class where a woman was demonstrating being in orgasm for an hour. I thought that was extremely freaky. I didn’t want anything to do with them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But she did like the group’s positive outlook and focus on people’s ability to change. Now, she offers sex and intimacy coaching. And, she changed her mind about the one-hour orgasm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> They have a technique that also allowed me to sink into my body much more instead of always being up in my head. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 30:05 Can you really have a one-hour orgasm?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Rebekah Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Not yet, but I’ve gotten up to 27 minutes\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003ci> \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mm, 27 minutes. Pretty, pretty good.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this focus on sex has led to a certain reputation for Morehouse among its neighbors.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s a couple of rumors, one that it was a sex cult. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, the group has definitely at times been labeled a sex cult. So much so they even have a question on their F-A-Q page … “Are you a sex cult?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marco Beneteau:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I mean, that’s complete nonsense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Marco Beneteau. He and Rebekah used to be married. He also took a lot of Morehouse courses. Then the two of them started their own commune in Philadelphia. Now he lives on a commune in Wyoming. So the man knows his communes. He says Morehouse didn’t have any of the characteristics people associate with cults.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Marco Beneteau: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, excommunication for leaving, financial coercion. You know, demanding that people cut off relationships with their relatives, that, you know, none of this has ever been practiced at Morehouse.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Morehouse isn’t a cult, it has been controversial. In 1971, Rolling Stone published a pretty unflattering portrait of the group – complete with Baranco driving around in a chauffeur-driven limo. The article implied Baranco was making a lot of money off group members. But Laurie Rivlin Heller says there was nothing devious going on. Self-interest was an open part of Baranco’s philosophy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Laurie Rivlin Heller:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I would say that he put everything up front. The introductory course to Morehouse is called the Mark Group, where you are the mark. So there was no denying that he had put together a hustle, but you were voluntarily entering into the hustle and participating in it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, that Rolling Stone article later appeared in a book alongside a chapter on Charles Manson. Not a good look for any leader of a commune. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lafayette Morehouse Video: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using classical educational modes, More university is dedicated to the full realization of human potential. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baranco later turned Lafayette Morehouse into More University. More University, more controversy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The university offered PhDs in the humanities and of course, sensuality, including sexual research. In 1992, the San Francisco Chronicle reported at least one course cost almost 17-thousand dollars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 80s and 90s Baranco sued the Chronicle and the Contra Costa Times for libel. (Hashtag please don’t sue \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">us\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.) The court threw those lawsuits out. One of the decisions is not-safe-for-work reading. According to the court, a goal of More University’s Advanced Sensuality class was to “make friends with another crotch.” Which, if you’re listening Morehouse, would be an awesome bumper sticker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The university shut down in the mid-90s.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victor Baranco died in 2002 at the age of 68. And, eventually, the great majority of ‘60s communes faded away. Professor Timothy Miller:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Timothy Miller: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Friend of mine, who still lives on one of the 60s era communes, said when their community had a great outmigration in the 80s, he thought some of them just decided they were Republicans, after all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Morehouse has survived. The decades come, the decades go, and they’re still doing their thing – whatever it is. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in the car with Sabrina, we wandered around trying to find that one view of the campus she remembers. We kept taking wrong turns, going back over the same streets. And then… …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a purple house.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sabrina’s excited. She’s a Purple People fan. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wonder if that belongs to… Oh, yeah, I mean, that is, does that look like it’s purple?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It’s a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nice\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> property, with tennis courts and everything. But really, there’s not much to see and the group does have a right to its privacy. Sabrina, I think, is viewing it through the eyes of her high school years, when there was this mysterious aura around this counterculture group … \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">right\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in her own suburban home town.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to know what she thinks of the Purple People now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sabrina McQueen: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is kind of interesting that this has survived so long, which I think is so amazing. I mean, hey, if that’s what they want to do and they’re peaceful and they are able to be part of our community, it sounds like they’re having fun. So good for them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jon Brooks: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m a reporter. It’s my job to be skeptical. But I will say one thing. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Lafayette Morehouse went live over Facebook. They were definitely taking safety seriously. But, their aim wasn’t just to survive COVID, they said that wasn’t a high enough goal. They wanted to use the experience as a way to make their lives even better.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If life hands you really sour lemons, make even sweeter lemonade.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I got to admit, I’m still thinking about that one.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was reporter Jon Brooks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you like Bay Curious, I’ve got a request. Please tell your podcast listening friends about the show. We all like a good recommendation…help us grow!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And as always, consider donating to help sustain the work we do on Bay Curious. More info at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price. Brendan Willard and Sebastian Miño-Bucheli also helped on this episode. We get extra support from: Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a wonderful week.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"content": "\u003cp>The FBI served three federal search warrants in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> on Tuesday morning, including the county assessor’s office, as part of an “ongoing investigation,” according to FBI spokesperson Cameron Polan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau also searched a residence on Arnold Drive in the city of Martinez and a residence on Temple Drive in the nearby town of Pacheco, Polan said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polan said the bureau could not provide additional information about what alleged crimes motivated the search, as the investigation is ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/09/fbi-raids-homes-of-outgoing-and-incoming-contra-costa-tax-assessors/?campaign=sjmnbreakingnews&utm_email=D5F454987415544E7414152211&active=no&lctg=D5F454987415544E7414152211&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mercurynews.com%2f2026%2f06%2f09%2ffbi-raids-homes-of-outgoing-and-incoming-contra-costa-tax-assessors%2f&utm_campaign=bang-the_mercury_news-breaking_news_alerts-nl&utm_content=alert\">first reported\u003c/a> the raid, adding that the Martinez residence is the home of outgoing County Assessor Gus Kramer, and the Pacheco residence is the home of Assistant County Assessor Vince Robb, who won an election last week to succeed Kramer. According to a search warrant obtained by \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>, the FBI is searching for evidence of wire fraud and “other offenses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristi Jourdan, a spokesperson for Contra Costa County, said the county’s Board of Supervisors is aware of the investigation and that the county is cooperating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While there are certain limitations on the Board’s authority because the Assessor is an elected official, the Board is focused on ensuring the integrity of the assessment process and will explore all available options for its continued operation and delivery of services,” Jourdan told KQED in an email Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessor’s office determines the taxable value for all real estate and property in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em> Editorial Board said Robb was Kramer’s “right-hand man” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/26/endorsement-vince-robb-is-only-qualified-candidate-for-contra-costa-county-assessor/\">story endorsing him\u003c/a> for the job last month, although it noted Kramer’s 32-year tenure as county assessor had been “marred by scandals,” including allegations of “retaliation, sexual harassment and improper land dealings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The FBI served three federal search warrants in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> on Tuesday morning, including the county assessor’s office, as part of an “ongoing investigation,” according to FBI spokesperson Cameron Polan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau also searched a residence on Arnold Drive in the city of Martinez and a residence on Temple Drive in the nearby town of Pacheco, Polan said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polan said the bureau could not provide additional information about what alleged crimes motivated the search, as the investigation is ongoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/06/09/fbi-raids-homes-of-outgoing-and-incoming-contra-costa-tax-assessors/?campaign=sjmnbreakingnews&utm_email=D5F454987415544E7414152211&active=no&lctg=D5F454987415544E7414152211&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mercurynews.com%2f2026%2f06%2f09%2ffbi-raids-homes-of-outgoing-and-incoming-contra-costa-tax-assessors%2f&utm_campaign=bang-the_mercury_news-breaking_news_alerts-nl&utm_content=alert\">first reported\u003c/a> the raid, adding that the Martinez residence is the home of outgoing County Assessor Gus Kramer, and the Pacheco residence is the home of Assistant County Assessor Vince Robb, who won an election last week to succeed Kramer. According to a search warrant obtained by \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>, the FBI is searching for evidence of wire fraud and “other offenses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristi Jourdan, a spokesperson for Contra Costa County, said the county’s Board of Supervisors is aware of the investigation and that the county is cooperating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While there are certain limitations on the Board’s authority because the Assessor is an elected official, the Board is focused on ensuring the integrity of the assessment process and will explore all available options for its continued operation and delivery of services,” Jourdan told KQED in an email Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessor’s office determines the taxable value for all real estate and property in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em> Editorial Board said Robb was Kramer’s “right-hand man” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/26/endorsement-vince-robb-is-only-qualified-candidate-for-contra-costa-county-assessor/\">story endorsing him\u003c/a> for the job last month, although it noted Kramer’s 32-year tenure as county assessor had been “marred by scandals,” including allegations of “retaliation, sexual harassment and improper land dealings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Reservoir levels in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-bay\">East Bay\u003c/a> are above average for this time of year, signaling residents won’t have to conserve water – or incur extra drought-related charges – in the coming summer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water storage levels are nearly full at 96%, according to the most recent East Bay Municipal Utility District \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebmud.com/water/about-your-water/water-supply/water-supply-reports/daily-water-supply-report\">water supply report\u003c/a>. Nelsy Rodriguez, a public information representative for EBMUD, said that an early Sierra Nevada snowpack melt, in addition to a lot of April rain, helped refill reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a strong position heading into summer. We are well above any potential drought trigger,” Rodriguez said. “We have enough storage now to meet our customers’ needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District, which serves 1.5 million residents in parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties with drinking water, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebmud.com/water/about-your-water/water-supply\">sources\u003c/a> its water from the Mokelumne River watershed 90 miles away in the Sierra Nevada. An April snow survey showed Sierra Nevada snowpack levels were at their second-lowest ever recorded, prompting\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000372/snow-eater-heat-wave-behind-big-sierra-melt-is-a-look-at-our-climate-future\"> drought and wildfire concerns\u003c/a> by officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A subsequent heatwave was good news for users like EBMUD, who use the snowpack to gauge how much water might be available throughout the hotter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had an early melt, and that was great. It brought water down faster,” Rodriguez said. “But that does highlight how complicated the water situation in California is getting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11912457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477.jpg\" alt=\"A narrow road leading to a body of water.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">EBMUD’s diminished Camanche Reservoir and nearby dikes, right, are seen from this drone view near Ione, California, on July 22, 2021. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In January, California was officially declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/01/15/californias-water-resilience-strategy-shows-major-progress-after-winter-storms-state-out-of-drought-according-to-u-s-drought-monitor/\">free of drought\u003c/a> conditions by the U.S. Drought Monitor, following nearly five dry years. That changed quickly when experts at the National Integrated Drought Information System \u003ca href=\"https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/drought-status-update-california-nevada-2026-04-27\">said\u003c/a> in late April that 65% of the state was “abnormally dry,” including most of the Bay Area, even with rains being above average that same month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIDIS, which monitors drought conditions across the country, said that designation was in part due to the record-breaking heat that melted the Sierra Nevada snowpack. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000315/record-breaking-heat-wave-bakes-the-bay-area-through-friday\">heat during March\u003c/a> broke multiple Bay Area daily temperature records, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, at least for now, EBMUD’s water supply is more than they have most years on average, according to Rodriguez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We typically don’t have such a strong heat wave in March, but with climate change, our traditional records are becoming less and less consistent, so things are changing on that front,” Rodriguez said. “The historical patterns are less reliable. We’re seeing more variability, including big swings between dry periods and intense storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mokelumne watershed has recorded lower precipitation levels in recent months compared to historical data. Berkeleyside \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2026/05/29/berkeley-reservoir-rain-water-supply-east-bay-mud-ebmud\">reported\u003c/a> that the watershed saw 40.7 inches of precipitation last week, below the average of 47.25 inches, according to EBMUD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa Water District, which provides water to other East Bay customers across eastern and central Contra Costa County, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccwater.com/365/The-Source-of-Your-Water\">reported\u003c/a> that 91% of its reservoir was full in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Reservoir levels in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-bay\">East Bay\u003c/a> are above average for this time of year, signaling residents won’t have to conserve water – or incur extra drought-related charges – in the coming summer months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water storage levels are nearly full at 96%, according to the most recent East Bay Municipal Utility District \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebmud.com/water/about-your-water/water-supply/water-supply-reports/daily-water-supply-report\">water supply report\u003c/a>. Nelsy Rodriguez, a public information representative for EBMUD, said that an early Sierra Nevada snowpack melt, in addition to a lot of April rain, helped refill reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a strong position heading into summer. We are well above any potential drought trigger,” Rodriguez said. “We have enough storage now to meet our customers’ needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The District, which serves 1.5 million residents in parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties with drinking water, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ebmud.com/water/about-your-water/water-supply\">sources\u003c/a> its water from the Mokelumne River watershed 90 miles away in the Sierra Nevada. An April snow survey showed Sierra Nevada snowpack levels were at their second-lowest ever recorded, prompting\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000372/snow-eater-heat-wave-behind-big-sierra-melt-is-a-look-at-our-climate-future\"> drought and wildfire concerns\u003c/a> by officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A subsequent heatwave was good news for users like EBMUD, who use the snowpack to gauge how much water might be available throughout the hotter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had an early melt, and that was great. It brought water down faster,” Rodriguez said. “But that does highlight how complicated the water situation in California is getting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11912457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11912457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477.jpg\" alt=\"A narrow road leading to a body of water.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1331194477-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">EBMUD’s diminished Camanche Reservoir and nearby dikes, right, are seen from this drone view near Ione, California, on July 22, 2021. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In January, California was officially declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/01/15/californias-water-resilience-strategy-shows-major-progress-after-winter-storms-state-out-of-drought-according-to-u-s-drought-monitor/\">free of drought\u003c/a> conditions by the U.S. Drought Monitor, following nearly five dry years. That changed quickly when experts at the National Integrated Drought Information System \u003ca href=\"https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/drought-status-update-california-nevada-2026-04-27\">said\u003c/a> in late April that 65% of the state was “abnormally dry,” including most of the Bay Area, even with rains being above average that same month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NIDIS, which monitors drought conditions across the country, said that designation was in part due to the record-breaking heat that melted the Sierra Nevada snowpack. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000315/record-breaking-heat-wave-bakes-the-bay-area-through-friday\">heat during March\u003c/a> broke multiple Bay Area daily temperature records, according to the National Weather Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, at least for now, EBMUD’s water supply is more than they have most years on average, according to Rodriguez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We typically don’t have such a strong heat wave in March, but with climate change, our traditional records are becoming less and less consistent, so things are changing on that front,” Rodriguez said. “The historical patterns are less reliable. We’re seeing more variability, including big swings between dry periods and intense storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mokelumne watershed has recorded lower precipitation levels in recent months compared to historical data. Berkeleyside \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2026/05/29/berkeley-reservoir-rain-water-supply-east-bay-mud-ebmud\">reported\u003c/a> that the watershed saw 40.7 inches of precipitation last week, below the average of 47.25 inches, according to EBMUD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa Water District, which provides water to other East Bay customers across eastern and central Contra Costa County, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccwater.com/365/The-Source-of-Your-Water\">reported\u003c/a> that 91% of its reservoir was full in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "medi-cal-cuts-are-coming-contra-costa-county-is-bracing-for-impact",
"title": "Medi-Cal Cuts Are Coming. Contra Costa County Is Bracing for Impact",
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"content": "\u003cp>The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump last year, will cut an estimated $900 billion to $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. Between funding cuts and big changes to enrollment and eligibility requirements, residents who rely on Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, are bracing for impact. Doctor and journalist Sejal Parekh explores how this is playing out in Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2026/03/30/trump-medi-cal-cuts-contra-costa/\">Up to 93K Contra Costa County residents could lose health insurance under Trump cuts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC2727484835&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:48] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to the Bay local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:54] \u003c/em>I saw a newborn this morning, fresh, it was great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:56] \u003c/em>Wow. This is Sejal Parekh. She’s a pediatrician in the Bay Area. And in her downtime, if you can imagine it, she’s a freelance health reporter for the Richmond side. And lately, Sejal has been thinking a lot about big changes coming to health insurance for low-income residents in Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:21] \u003c/em>My personal fear is that patients in general, people in general don’t get the care they need as their health worsens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:32] \u003c/em>Californians who have Medicaid are bracing for big changes. And in Contra Costa County alone, up to 93,000 residents could lose their health insurance as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. Today, doctor and journalist Sejal Parekh explains how Contra Costa County is bracing for impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:11] \u003c/em>First, what exactly was Medicaid set up to do, and who is it supposed to serve?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:17] \u003c/em>Medicaid was originally set up as a safety net, as a place where low-income people can get health insurance and so that their services can be appropriately paid for, that there’s not a lot of people without health insurance not getting the care that they need. Medicaid is this federal program, which is kind of a federal-state partnership, in which the federal government gives X amount of dollars and California chips in X amount of dollars. And we get the state plan called Medi-Cal, which was administered by the State Department of health care services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:47] \u003c/em>So when we are talking about Medicaid in California, we’re going to be referring to it as Medi-Cal. And you spoke with folks who rely on this program, including a woman named Lisa. Can you tell me a little bit about her and where she lives and what’s her story?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:05] \u003c/em>Yeah, Lisa lives in Richmond, she’s 58. She relies heavily on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:11] \u003c/em>I am approved for cancer treatment at UCSF, which I know is probably very expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:18] \u003c/em>So we’re only using Lisa’s first name for privacy concerns. She has a lot of health conditions she doesn’t want others to know about. And so she requested for privacy that we only use her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:28] \u003c/em>I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is very well controlled with really good, but very expensive medication. I have autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s, thyroiditis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:46] \u003c/em>She has several different health conditions, including a blood cancer, chronic back pain, several other issues, autoimmune issue affecting her thyroid. And so she needs to see a lot of doctors, get blood tests regularly, and is on many medications. And so for all of this, she relies on Medi-Cal coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:07] \u003c/em>I see a hematologist, oncologist, cancer specialist at UCSF as well. So I am really praying I can continue to get my care there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:21] \u003c/em>If she were to lose Medi-Cal, Lisa would have to figure something out, maybe she would have to move, maybe should have to find some other plan she’s covered under. But when I first talked to Lisa she told me in no uncertain terms that losing Medi Cal would be kind of the difference between life and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:37] \u003c/em>It’s not an option for me to just go get a job, even though I did work for 45 years, I’m just not able to. I definitely need to sleep 12 to 14 hours a day just to function.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:52] \u003c/em>Of course, we’re talking about this now because a lot of changes are coming to Medi-Cal under Trump’s big, beautiful bill. What is changing for MediCal patients exactly? What do we know about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:04] \u003c/em>Big cuts are coming. I think that’s the biggest point. The amount people estimate might be between $900 billion to $1 trillion. This will be over the next 10 years. Another big change is going to be work requirements for those aged 18 to 64. That might mean working a certain number of hours a week, studying some hours a weak, volunteering some number of hour, but the work requirements are going to new and required in starting 2027. There’s this new determination that those with unsatisfactory immigration status will no longer be able to sign up for new Medi-Cal. What does that mean? That unsatisfactorily immigration status loosely refers to undocumented immigrants. I don’t know if you remember, but a couple of years ago, Governor Newsom made a big deal about extending MediCal to all undocumented immigrants, and so this is clearly seen as a rollback of that policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:03] \u003c/em>Other changes coming to Medi-Cal are seen as new barriers to enrollment. Starting next year, enrollees will have to renew their benefits more frequently, every six months instead of every year. That’s expected to create more paperwork for personnel, too. And in Contra Costa County, new federal restrictions and state budget cuts could mean $307 million in losses for Medi-Cal patients there by 2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:40] \u003c/em>This is something that Contra Costa County and really counties around the state and the Bay Area have really been preparing for these changes to Medi-Cal. What has Contra-Costa County said about the anticipated impacts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:54] \u003c/em>County officials are really worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grant Colfax: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:57] \u003c/em>I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Without intervention, our hospitals and clinics across the country will be in dire straits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:06] \u003c/em>In public hearings, such as the Board of Supervisors meeting in December 2025, Grant Colfax, who’s the health director, said the changes coming through were unprecedented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grant Colfax: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:17] \u003c/em>And by the numbers, while difficult to predict, EHSD estimates that as many as 93,000 people in Contra Costa County will be subject to these new rules implemented by HR 1 and the state changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:33] \u003c/em>Changes happen to the county kind of a couple of different ways. One is that the county is required now to process all of these every six month eligibility kind of packets. So that’s doubling the work that they have to do. So there’s an increase in the amount of resources the county needs to just implement these changes. There’s also a fear that the more people that lose the Medi-Cal, those people don’t stop using health services. If you break a leg, you break leg. And so there’s a concern that, with a lot of people potentially losing MediCal, they’re still gonna need the same ER services and the hospital services, but who’s gonna pay for that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:18] \u003c/em>Coming up, what’s happening inside local clinics in Contra Costa County as they brace for changes to Medi-Cal. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:21] \u003c/em>And I know you’ve actually talked with folks at local clinics in Contra Costa County about what they’re already seeing. How is it trickling down to these clinics now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:32] \u003c/em>Yeah, great question. So I talked with Amit Randhawa, who is the clinic manager for RotaCare West Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:39] \u003c/em>We are part of a larger organization called RotaCare Bay Area, serving uninsured folks throughout the Bay Area as far north as San Rafael and as far down south as Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:51] \u003c/em>And it’s a free clinic that he runs with volunteer doctors and other health care professionals and some social workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:58] \u003c/em>And we will serve anyone who is uninsured for any reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:03] \u003c/em>And so he said that in the first couple of months of 2026, he’s seen a big increase in the number of people asking about changes to Medi-Cal if they’re going to be eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:14] \u003c/em>And I’ve got to say some of the calls are just a bit distressing, you know, there’s a lot of people with fear and despair, it’s very scary, you don’t really know how to navigate the systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:25] \u003c/em>He sees a lot of fear in the community of not wanting to even mention anything about immigration status. He also mentioned that as much free care as he and the clinic want to offer, it’s not gonna be able to keep up with the number of people who are gonna lose their Medi-Cal insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:42] \u003c/em>I would hate to think that folks are going to be utilizing the emergency department more, but that is most likely what’s going to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:53] \u003c/em>When I asked him at, you know, how ready, willing, and able are you to deal with this? He said, we’re willing, but we’re not able.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:02] \u003c/em>If folks don’t have any other way to access preventive care or seek treatment for things that could be managed. You know, ahead of time, they may just wait until things cannot be managed anymore and they end up in an emergency department. Who’s going to support all of these uninsured people and who’s going pay for the medical providers to provide that care? I wish I had an answer, but we’re all kind of in this together to figure out what’s gonna be next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:35] \u003c/em>One of the things that’s been tough is that you may not know if you’re going to be affected by these upcoming changes to Medi-Cal. And that’s because a lot of this is handled by the state, by the Department of Health Care Services. And they’re kind of in the process of figuring out who’s going to affected and who’s not. And does that mean that you get a letter in the mail saying, hey, just so you know, you’re going to to be effected? So a lot patients, especially the patients I talk to, were fearful that they were gonna lose their medical, but they didn’t actually know if they were going to be affected or not. And that contributes to, you know, an atmosphere of fear and concern and maybe not seeking the healthcare that you need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:14] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, I can only imagine the anxiety that that creates, which I guess to that point, I wanna come back to Lisa, who is someone who relies very heavily on Medi-Cal. I mean, has she been told anything about what these potential changes could mean for her specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:33] \u003c/em>She has not heard from the state if she’s gonna be affected, and I think that adds to her anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:39] \u003c/em>Even with a good RX, one of my psychiatric medications is about $4,000 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:46] \u003c/em>She told me that other people on Medi-Cal might start hoarding their medications, refilling their medications on the first date it’s available, even if they haven’t run out of the medication yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:56] \u003c/em>Even if I’m not out, I am cutting some of my medications in half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:02] \u003c/em>And I don’t think anyone wants to do that. I think this is a response out of fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:07] \u003c/em>Just fear that she doesn’t know that she’ll be able to get access to those medications on the line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:12] \u003c/em>Exactly, exactly.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:16] \u003c/em>Just trying to do the best I can with what I have, knowing what could be coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I mean, how is Contra Costa County responding to all of this? It seems like there’s a lot of anticipation on their end. How are they responding to these changes at the federal level?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:40] \u003c/em>I think the best way to characterize it right now is that they’re taking these changes seriously. They’re also in a tough spot, because for example, they need a lot more funding for eligibility workers to check everyone’s paperwork every six months, right? And some of that also has to do with the state budget. They have started hiring more eligibility workers. They’re starting to prepare estimates for the hospital of what financial changes are coming up. And I would say the most notable thing they’re doing is there’s a ballot measure coming up in November, measure B, which would be, I think, 5 eighths a cent sales tax on goods sold in Contra Costa County. Theoretically, this money would be specifically for kind of shoring up the health care infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:24] \u003c/em>So, trying to fill in the gaps left by these federal cuts, essentially\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:30] \u003c/em>It could be a stopgap measure, but there’s no way it would replace lost federal dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:36] \u003c/em>I mean, Sejal, I feel like you’re describing so many trickle-down impacts as a result of these federal cuts, this squeeze on the county healthcare system, but also this like very personal everyday impacts to people’s health. Looking ahead as you cover health as a journalist, but also as a doctor yourself, like what is your fear moving forward for? Your patients are just people seeking care who could be impacted by these cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:09] \u003c/em>My personal fear is that patients in general, people in general don’t get the care they need and their health worsens. For example, for me as a pediatrician, I worry that if one of my patients who loses their health insurance doesn’t come to me for their cold that it turns into an asthma attack and then they need to be hospitalized. Another example for preventative care is mammograms. If there’s breast cancer that’s caught early, there may be an option to have quicker treatment versus if breast cancer spreads, there might not be a surgical option. Patient might have to go through chemo and radiation. I think that changes like this erode trust in the health care system, erode trust that I can just go to the hospital, I’m going to get what I need, I am going to be okay. There’s a lot of calculations people make of, well, am I going to afford my medications this month? Am I going afford rent this month. And so it creates a culture in which there’s so much uncertainty that that itself can also negatively impact people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:16:20] \u003c/em>Well, Sejal, thank you so much for sharing your reporting with us and for joining me on the show. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:16:25] \u003c/em>Thank you so for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"\" title=\"\">\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump last year, will cut an estimated $900 billion to $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade. Between funding cuts and big changes to enrollment and eligibility requirements, residents who rely on Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, are bracing for impact. Doctor and journalist Sejal Parekh explores how this is playing out in Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2026/03/30/trump-medi-cal-cuts-contra-costa/\">Up to 93K Contra Costa County residents could lose health insurance under Trump cuts\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC2727484835&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:48] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara and welcome to the Bay local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:54] \u003c/em>I saw a newborn this morning, fresh, it was great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:56] \u003c/em>Wow. This is Sejal Parekh. She’s a pediatrician in the Bay Area. And in her downtime, if you can imagine it, she’s a freelance health reporter for the Richmond side. And lately, Sejal has been thinking a lot about big changes coming to health insurance for low-income residents in Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:21] \u003c/em>My personal fear is that patients in general, people in general don’t get the care they need as their health worsens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:32] \u003c/em>Californians who have Medicaid are bracing for big changes. And in Contra Costa County alone, up to 93,000 residents could lose their health insurance as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law last year. Today, doctor and journalist Sejal Parekh explains how Contra Costa County is bracing for impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:11] \u003c/em>First, what exactly was Medicaid set up to do, and who is it supposed to serve?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:17] \u003c/em>Medicaid was originally set up as a safety net, as a place where low-income people can get health insurance and so that their services can be appropriately paid for, that there’s not a lot of people without health insurance not getting the care that they need. Medicaid is this federal program, which is kind of a federal-state partnership, in which the federal government gives X amount of dollars and California chips in X amount of dollars. And we get the state plan called Medi-Cal, which was administered by the State Department of health care services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:47] \u003c/em>So when we are talking about Medicaid in California, we’re going to be referring to it as Medi-Cal. And you spoke with folks who rely on this program, including a woman named Lisa. Can you tell me a little bit about her and where she lives and what’s her story?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:05] \u003c/em>Yeah, Lisa lives in Richmond, she’s 58. She relies heavily on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:11] \u003c/em>I am approved for cancer treatment at UCSF, which I know is probably very expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:18] \u003c/em>So we’re only using Lisa’s first name for privacy concerns. She has a lot of health conditions she doesn’t want others to know about. And so she requested for privacy that we only use her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:28] \u003c/em>I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is very well controlled with really good, but very expensive medication. I have autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s, thyroiditis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:46] \u003c/em>She has several different health conditions, including a blood cancer, chronic back pain, several other issues, autoimmune issue affecting her thyroid. And so she needs to see a lot of doctors, get blood tests regularly, and is on many medications. And so for all of this, she relies on Medi-Cal coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:07] \u003c/em>I see a hematologist, oncologist, cancer specialist at UCSF as well. So I am really praying I can continue to get my care there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:21] \u003c/em>If she were to lose Medi-Cal, Lisa would have to figure something out, maybe she would have to move, maybe should have to find some other plan she’s covered under. But when I first talked to Lisa she told me in no uncertain terms that losing Medi Cal would be kind of the difference between life and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:37] \u003c/em>It’s not an option for me to just go get a job, even though I did work for 45 years, I’m just not able to. I definitely need to sleep 12 to 14 hours a day just to function.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:52] \u003c/em>Of course, we’re talking about this now because a lot of changes are coming to Medi-Cal under Trump’s big, beautiful bill. What is changing for MediCal patients exactly? What do we know about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:04] \u003c/em>Big cuts are coming. I think that’s the biggest point. The amount people estimate might be between $900 billion to $1 trillion. This will be over the next 10 years. Another big change is going to be work requirements for those aged 18 to 64. That might mean working a certain number of hours a week, studying some hours a weak, volunteering some number of hour, but the work requirements are going to new and required in starting 2027. There’s this new determination that those with unsatisfactory immigration status will no longer be able to sign up for new Medi-Cal. What does that mean? That unsatisfactorily immigration status loosely refers to undocumented immigrants. I don’t know if you remember, but a couple of years ago, Governor Newsom made a big deal about extending MediCal to all undocumented immigrants, and so this is clearly seen as a rollback of that policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:03] \u003c/em>Other changes coming to Medi-Cal are seen as new barriers to enrollment. Starting next year, enrollees will have to renew their benefits more frequently, every six months instead of every year. That’s expected to create more paperwork for personnel, too. And in Contra Costa County, new federal restrictions and state budget cuts could mean $307 million in losses for Medi-Cal patients there by 2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:40] \u003c/em>This is something that Contra Costa County and really counties around the state and the Bay Area have really been preparing for these changes to Medi-Cal. What has Contra-Costa County said about the anticipated impacts?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:54] \u003c/em>County officials are really worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grant Colfax: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:57] \u003c/em>I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Without intervention, our hospitals and clinics across the country will be in dire straits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:06] \u003c/em>In public hearings, such as the Board of Supervisors meeting in December 2025, Grant Colfax, who’s the health director, said the changes coming through were unprecedented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Grant Colfax: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:17] \u003c/em>And by the numbers, while difficult to predict, EHSD estimates that as many as 93,000 people in Contra Costa County will be subject to these new rules implemented by HR 1 and the state changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:33] \u003c/em>Changes happen to the county kind of a couple of different ways. One is that the county is required now to process all of these every six month eligibility kind of packets. So that’s doubling the work that they have to do. So there’s an increase in the amount of resources the county needs to just implement these changes. There’s also a fear that the more people that lose the Medi-Cal, those people don’t stop using health services. If you break a leg, you break leg. And so there’s a concern that, with a lot of people potentially losing MediCal, they’re still gonna need the same ER services and the hospital services, but who’s gonna pay for that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:18] \u003c/em>Coming up, what’s happening inside local clinics in Contra Costa County as they brace for changes to Medi-Cal. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:21] \u003c/em>And I know you’ve actually talked with folks at local clinics in Contra Costa County about what they’re already seeing. How is it trickling down to these clinics now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:32] \u003c/em>Yeah, great question. So I talked with Amit Randhawa, who is the clinic manager for RotaCare West Contra Costa County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:39] \u003c/em>We are part of a larger organization called RotaCare Bay Area, serving uninsured folks throughout the Bay Area as far north as San Rafael and as far down south as Monterey.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:51] \u003c/em>And it’s a free clinic that he runs with volunteer doctors and other health care professionals and some social workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:58] \u003c/em>And we will serve anyone who is uninsured for any reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:03] \u003c/em>And so he said that in the first couple of months of 2026, he’s seen a big increase in the number of people asking about changes to Medi-Cal if they’re going to be eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:14] \u003c/em>And I’ve got to say some of the calls are just a bit distressing, you know, there’s a lot of people with fear and despair, it’s very scary, you don’t really know how to navigate the systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:25] \u003c/em>He sees a lot of fear in the community of not wanting to even mention anything about immigration status. He also mentioned that as much free care as he and the clinic want to offer, it’s not gonna be able to keep up with the number of people who are gonna lose their Medi-Cal insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:42] \u003c/em>I would hate to think that folks are going to be utilizing the emergency department more, but that is most likely what’s going to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:53] \u003c/em>When I asked him at, you know, how ready, willing, and able are you to deal with this? He said, we’re willing, but we’re not able.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Amit Randhawa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:02] \u003c/em>If folks don’t have any other way to access preventive care or seek treatment for things that could be managed. You know, ahead of time, they may just wait until things cannot be managed anymore and they end up in an emergency department. Who’s going to support all of these uninsured people and who’s going pay for the medical providers to provide that care? I wish I had an answer, but we’re all kind of in this together to figure out what’s gonna be next.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:35] \u003c/em>One of the things that’s been tough is that you may not know if you’re going to be affected by these upcoming changes to Medi-Cal. And that’s because a lot of this is handled by the state, by the Department of Health Care Services. And they’re kind of in the process of figuring out who’s going to affected and who’s not. And does that mean that you get a letter in the mail saying, hey, just so you know, you’re going to to be effected? So a lot patients, especially the patients I talk to, were fearful that they were gonna lose their medical, but they didn’t actually know if they were going to be affected or not. And that contributes to, you know, an atmosphere of fear and concern and maybe not seeking the healthcare that you need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:14] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, I can only imagine the anxiety that that creates, which I guess to that point, I wanna come back to Lisa, who is someone who relies very heavily on Medi-Cal. I mean, has she been told anything about what these potential changes could mean for her specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:33] \u003c/em>She has not heard from the state if she’s gonna be affected, and I think that adds to her anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:39] \u003c/em>Even with a good RX, one of my psychiatric medications is about $4,000 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:46] \u003c/em>She told me that other people on Medi-Cal might start hoarding their medications, refilling their medications on the first date it’s available, even if they haven’t run out of the medication yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:56] \u003c/em>Even if I’m not out, I am cutting some of my medications in half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:02] \u003c/em>And I don’t think anyone wants to do that. I think this is a response out of fear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:07] \u003c/em>Just fear that she doesn’t know that she’ll be able to get access to those medications on the line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:12] \u003c/em>Exactly, exactly.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Lisa: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:16] \u003c/em>Just trying to do the best I can with what I have, knowing what could be coming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I mean, how is Contra Costa County responding to all of this? It seems like there’s a lot of anticipation on their end. How are they responding to these changes at the federal level?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:40] \u003c/em>I think the best way to characterize it right now is that they’re taking these changes seriously. They’re also in a tough spot, because for example, they need a lot more funding for eligibility workers to check everyone’s paperwork every six months, right? And some of that also has to do with the state budget. They have started hiring more eligibility workers. They’re starting to prepare estimates for the hospital of what financial changes are coming up. And I would say the most notable thing they’re doing is there’s a ballot measure coming up in November, measure B, which would be, I think, 5 eighths a cent sales tax on goods sold in Contra Costa County. Theoretically, this money would be specifically for kind of shoring up the health care infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:24] \u003c/em>So, trying to fill in the gaps left by these federal cuts, essentially\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:30] \u003c/em>It could be a stopgap measure, but there’s no way it would replace lost federal dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:36] \u003c/em>I mean, Sejal, I feel like you’re describing so many trickle-down impacts as a result of these federal cuts, this squeeze on the county healthcare system, but also this like very personal everyday impacts to people’s health. Looking ahead as you cover health as a journalist, but also as a doctor yourself, like what is your fear moving forward for? Your patients are just people seeking care who could be impacted by these cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:09] \u003c/em>My personal fear is that patients in general, people in general don’t get the care they need and their health worsens. For example, for me as a pediatrician, I worry that if one of my patients who loses their health insurance doesn’t come to me for their cold that it turns into an asthma attack and then they need to be hospitalized. Another example for preventative care is mammograms. If there’s breast cancer that’s caught early, there may be an option to have quicker treatment versus if breast cancer spreads, there might not be a surgical option. Patient might have to go through chemo and radiation. I think that changes like this erode trust in the health care system, erode trust that I can just go to the hospital, I’m going to get what I need, I am going to be okay. There’s a lot of calculations people make of, well, am I going to afford my medications this month? Am I going afford rent this month. And so it creates a culture in which there’s so much uncertainty that that itself can also negatively impact people’s health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:16:20] \u003c/em>Well, Sejal, thank you so much for sharing your reporting with us and for joining me on the show. I really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sejal Parekh: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:16:25] \u003c/em>Thank you so for having me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/martinez-refinery\">Martinez Refining Company\u003c/a> will pay a $10 million fine for 163 violations over four years, the Contra Costa County district attorney and the Bay Area Air District announced Thursday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The violations at MRC stretched from early 2020 to 2024, according to a press release, and included the Thanksgiving Day 2022 release of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952517/martinez-refinery-chemical-release-poses-no-long-term-hazard-tests-find\">50,000 pounds of spent catalyst\u003c/a>, a toxic ash-like substance that settled over residents’ cars, gardens and houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other violations included “illegal flaring, fires, leaking tanks, public nuisance-level odors in downtown Martinez,” and releases of a byproduct of petroleum production called “coke dust,” a black powdery substance that spread to properties near the refinery in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa County district attorney’s office and the Bay Area Air District jointly prosecuted the sprawling case against MRC. The refinery is one of the largest remaining producers of gasoline and jet fuel in the Bay Area, sitting on unincorporated lands abutting the city of Martinez, with roughly 37,000 residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The residents of Martinez deserve clean air,” District Attorney Diana Becton said Thursday. “They deserve transparency and accountability. Today’s judgment sends a clear message. No company is above the law, and when conduct harms our communities and our environment, we will act. We will act firmly, lawfully, and in partnership to hold violators accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073878\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton spoke at a press conference on Feb. 19, 2026, announcing the settlement with the Martinez Refining Company. \u003ccite>(Julie Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Many of the violations were not minor technical oversights,” Air District chief attorney Alexander Crockett said. “They involved repeated failures that impacted public health, environmental safety, and community trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ash falling from the sky in 2022 prompted community members to form an advocacy group called Healthy Martinez. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My son wiped his hand across that white ash,” said Heidi Taylor, a resident and attorney who speaks for the group. “To this day, we don’t know the health consequences of that. [I was] walking outside in my backyard going, can I eat the oranges or not?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor said she appreciates the effort that air regulators and the district attorney put into getting the penalty against MRC but cautioned that the community needs to remain vigilant.[aside postID=news_12042553 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/475966196_17941090172958161_4612211217959910985_n-e1738464480621-1020x706.jpg']“Unless we continue to press this refinery to do the right thing, they won’t do the right thing. They prove that to us time and time again,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release Thursday, the company said it was committed to safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “MRC recognizes that we must earn the right to operate in Martinez and that we have a responsibility to be involved in and to give back to the Martinez community,” the company said by email. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $10 million will be allocated to stakeholders:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$6.35 million of the penalty will be allocated to the Air District to fund community mitigation projects in Martinez and other affected communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$3.5 million of the penalty will support enforcement efforts at the district attorney’s office’s Environmental Unit.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contra Costa County Health Services will receive $100,000, and California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife will get $50,000.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>MRC will spend an additional $600,000 on improvements to bring the refinery into compliance with environmental regulations and on projects to mitigate the refinery’s effects on Martinez and surrounding communities, such as installing air filtration in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also agreed to keep emissions control equipment going during startups and shutdowns and to install enhanced air pollution monitoring equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Enforcement is not symbolic. It is one of the most powerful tools we have to drive compliance and prevent future harm,” Crockett continued. “When facilities violate air pollution laws, there are consequences. Communities living near heavy industry already face disproportionate environmental impacts. The Martinez area bore the burden of these violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County Judge Benjamin Reyes II signed the final judgment on Wednesday, just days after the Martinez refinery resumed full production following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026572/10-days-after-martinez-refinery-fire-new-details-toxic-chemicals-released\">a massive fire\u003c/a> on Feb. 1, 2025, that injured six workers and led to a partial shelter-in-place order. That fire was not included in the judgment; air regulators plan to address it in a separate civil action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa County district attorney’s office and the Bay Area Air District jointly prosecuted the sprawling case against MRC. The refinery is one of the largest remaining producers of gasoline and jet fuel in the Bay Area, sitting on unincorporated lands abutting the city of Martinez, with roughly 37,000 residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The residents of Martinez deserve clean air,” District Attorney Diana Becton said Thursday. “They deserve transparency and accountability. Today’s judgment sends a clear message. No company is above the law, and when conduct harms our communities and our environment, we will act. We will act firmly, lawfully, and in partnership to hold violators accountable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073878\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-MARTINEZ-REFINERY-SUIT-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton spoke at a press conference on Feb. 19, 2026, announcing the settlement with the Martinez Refining Company. \u003ccite>(Julie Small/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Many of the violations were not minor technical oversights,” Air District chief attorney Alexander Crockett said. “They involved repeated failures that impacted public health, environmental safety, and community trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ash falling from the sky in 2022 prompted community members to form an advocacy group called Healthy Martinez. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My son wiped his hand across that white ash,” said Heidi Taylor, a resident and attorney who speaks for the group. “To this day, we don’t know the health consequences of that. [I was] walking outside in my backyard going, can I eat the oranges or not?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taylor said she appreciates the effort that air regulators and the district attorney put into getting the penalty against MRC but cautioned that the community needs to remain vigilant.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Unless we continue to press this refinery to do the right thing, they won’t do the right thing. They prove that to us time and time again,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release Thursday, the company said it was committed to safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> “MRC recognizes that we must earn the right to operate in Martinez and that we have a responsibility to be involved in and to give back to the Martinez community,” the company said by email. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $10 million will be allocated to stakeholders:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>$6.35 million of the penalty will be allocated to the Air District to fund community mitigation projects in Martinez and other affected communities.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>$3.5 million of the penalty will support enforcement efforts at the district attorney’s office’s Environmental Unit.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Contra Costa County Health Services will receive $100,000, and California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife will get $50,000.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>MRC will spend an additional $600,000 on improvements to bring the refinery into compliance with environmental regulations and on projects to mitigate the refinery’s effects on Martinez and surrounding communities, such as installing air filtration in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also agreed to keep emissions control equipment going during startups and shutdowns and to install enhanced air pollution monitoring equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Enforcement is not symbolic. It is one of the most powerful tools we have to drive compliance and prevent future harm,” Crockett continued. “When facilities violate air pollution laws, there are consequences. Communities living near heavy industry already face disproportionate environmental impacts. The Martinez area bore the burden of these violations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County Judge Benjamin Reyes II signed the final judgment on Wednesday, just days after the Martinez refinery resumed full production following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12026572/10-days-after-martinez-refinery-fire-new-details-toxic-chemicals-released\">a massive fire\u003c/a> on Feb. 1, 2025, that injured six workers and led to a partial shelter-in-place order. That fire was not included in the judgment; air regulators plan to address it in a separate civil action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Timothy Simmons began his law enforcement career at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> Sheriff’s Office 17 years ago, he knew he wanted to stay rooted in his hometown communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally from Vallejo, Simmons said the hallmarks of his childhood — soccer games and hangouts at the mall — took place just as much in Richmond, a city that has dealt with a history of high crime rates and headlines driven largely by the Chevron refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now not only have I adopted the city of Richmond as a second home, I actually have family members who live in this community, and that’s really informed a lot of my ideology and my philosophy,” said Simmons, who officially assumes the role of the department’s new chief, starting on Jan. 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons, who was formerly assistant chief, shared his vision with KQED’s Brian Watt, explaining the importance of community policing, ongoing staffing challenges and mental health. Here are highlights from their conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A reckoning after George Floyd\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Simmons said when he joined Richmond Police, former chief Chris Magnus was trying to shift the department toward community-oriented policing. According to Simmons, officers were encouraged to build relationships with community-based organizations, such as neighborhood councils and business districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[These groups] would begin to know who their beat officer [was], and there would be a personal connection made. And officers would assume the ownership of the quality of life and the crime issues within those areas that they’re assigned,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069790\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069790\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-2000x3000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothy Simmons, the new chief for the Richmond Police Department, has been a law enforcement officer for 17 years, beginning at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Richmond Police Department)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The department has faced its share of scandals. In 2014, Officer Wallace Jensen \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11733690/even-with-new-disclosure-law-fight-continues-to-unseal-californias-secret-police-files\">shot and killed\u003c/a> 24-year-old Richard “Pedie” Perez, who was unarmed. Richmond Police was also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11767613/ex-richmond-police-lieutenant-swapped-sexually-explicit-texts-with-exploited-teen\">involved\u003c/a> in a massive sexual exploitation case centered on a teenage sex worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the watershed moment likely arrived in earnest in 2020, after racial justice protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd. In response, law enforcement agencies around the country began to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5399738/george-floyd-police-justice-change\">reexamine\u003c/a> their own policies and practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Departments were thrown into disarray,” Simmons said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, several East Bay cities, such as Berkeley, Oakland and Richmond, created task forces to reimagine public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons represented the force in Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/4011/Reimagining-Public-Safety\">effort\u003c/a> but said the reallocation of $3 million from the city’s budget to fund policing alternatives had an unintended effect on staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There wasn’t a strong consideration as to what the impacts to the police department would be directly,” he said. “People on the lower end of the seniority tenure started to believe that there might be layoffs, and they didn’t want to stick around to see if they were going to lose their job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons said within a two-year period, Richmond Police lost around 45 officers who were hired at other jurisdictions — including those who had been working to build community relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started to be a little bit more on the reactive side, rather than on the proactive side when it comes to solving neighborhood problems,” said Simmons, who, as chief, plans to focus on recruitment and retention to improve relationship-building work.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Mental health for officers and residents\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of Simmons’ other priorities is to improve mental health support for officers. Research has long shown police officers face \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/26/nx-s1-5389653/police-protests-mental-health-treatment-growth\">worse\u003c/a> health outcomes than the general public, specifically as it relates to higher rates of depression, burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re short-staffed, officers are working a lot of mandatory overtime. So, it’s a challenge for us to maintain proper mental health and proper work-life balance and make sure that our staff gets to spend time with their families and their friends and spend time doing things that you know fills their spirit, so to speak,” Simmons said.[aside postID=news_12068817 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/11/RS55037_023_KQED_ChevronRefineryStrike_04072022-qut-1020x680.jpg']The way Richmond Police handles mental health made headlines last year, following the police shooting death of 27-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054383/during-mental-health-crises-california-police-are-still-first-responders-its-not-working\">Angel Montaño\u003c/a>. During a 911 call, his family said he was threatening to kill them and cited “mental health issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Bisa French, Richmond Police’s former chief, called for reforms but expressed uncertainty about “what can be done differently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons acknowledged that distress calls associated with mental health continue to be a challenge. He said the department will keep focusing on annual training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until the system changes, this will continue to be an issue that society relies on law enforcement to be a response to,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do in this area, but Richmond [Police] and myself, we’re going to be committed to being as well-trained as we can, as empathetic as we possibly can and understanding the dynamics — while also putting the reverence for life as one of our primary things that is in our oath that we have to protect. It’s a balance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Concerns over surveillance tech\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As many California cities have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">doubled down\u003c/a> on automated license plate readers, Simmons has prioritized data privacy concerns. Last fall, he decided to shut down Richmond’s system after a configuration error made local data potentially searchable by outside agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only are we a sanctuary state, but we are also a sanctuary city,” he said. “As such, I support the values and ideals of this community, making sure that our immigrant community, our undocumented community, and everybody in Richmond who calls Richmond home have the right to feel like their privacy is protected and it’s not being exploited by any city government or police department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1777px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1777\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed.jpg 1777w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1777px) 100vw, 1777px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Richmond Police vehicle on Sept. 1, 2016. \u003ccite>(Alex Emslie/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In December, Flock Safety, the system vendor, told KQED that it had shut off out-of-state access to camera data from California law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police department wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/richmondpolicecali/posts/pfbid02DLgEZwDpaCE6ZEXMyYboDY4EFiQFq8axkX2SG9YE6oQFUdgQDVuHMdPwx8xzXbpel\">Facebook post\u003c/a> announcing the suspension that it has no evidence that any outside agency actually viewed Richmond’s data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Simmons said he wanted to get the system running again, arguing the lack of access to ALPR data has left investigators, officers and victims of crime “at a deficit, where we would have had a lot of investigative leads.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of crimes that have been committed in our city and our community since turning that off,” Simmons said. “It is extremely important for us to be able to leverage technology so that we can provide the best possible law enforcement services to our community, [while] ensuring that privacy is protected. I value both of those things equally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Timothy Simmons began his law enforcement career at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> Sheriff’s Office 17 years ago, he knew he wanted to stay rooted in his hometown communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Originally from Vallejo, Simmons said the hallmarks of his childhood — soccer games and hangouts at the mall — took place just as much in Richmond, a city that has dealt with a history of high crime rates and headlines driven largely by the Chevron refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now not only have I adopted the city of Richmond as a second home, I actually have family members who live in this community, and that’s really informed a lot of my ideology and my philosophy,” said Simmons, who officially assumes the role of the department’s new chief, starting on Jan. 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons, who was formerly assistant chief, shared his vision with KQED’s Brian Watt, explaining the importance of community policing, ongoing staffing challenges and mental health. Here are highlights from their conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A reckoning after George Floyd\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Simmons said when he joined Richmond Police, former chief Chris Magnus was trying to shift the department toward community-oriented policing. According to Simmons, officers were encouraged to build relationships with community-based organizations, such as neighborhood councils and business districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[These groups] would begin to know who their beat officer [was], and there would be a personal connection made. And officers would assume the ownership of the quality of life and the crime issues within those areas that they’re assigned,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069790\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069790\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-2000x3000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Simmons_Timothy-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Timothy Simmons, the new chief for the Richmond Police Department, has been a law enforcement officer for 17 years, beginning at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Richmond Police Department)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The department has faced its share of scandals. In 2014, Officer Wallace Jensen \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11733690/even-with-new-disclosure-law-fight-continues-to-unseal-californias-secret-police-files\">shot and killed\u003c/a> 24-year-old Richard “Pedie” Perez, who was unarmed. Richmond Police was also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11767613/ex-richmond-police-lieutenant-swapped-sexually-explicit-texts-with-exploited-teen\">involved\u003c/a> in a massive sexual exploitation case centered on a teenage sex worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the watershed moment likely arrived in earnest in 2020, after racial justice protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd. In response, law enforcement agencies around the country began to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5399738/george-floyd-police-justice-change\">reexamine\u003c/a> their own policies and practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Departments were thrown into disarray,” Simmons said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, several East Bay cities, such as Berkeley, Oakland and Richmond, created task forces to reimagine public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons represented the force in Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/4011/Reimagining-Public-Safety\">effort\u003c/a> but said the reallocation of $3 million from the city’s budget to fund policing alternatives had an unintended effect on staffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There wasn’t a strong consideration as to what the impacts to the police department would be directly,” he said. “People on the lower end of the seniority tenure started to believe that there might be layoffs, and they didn’t want to stick around to see if they were going to lose their job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons said within a two-year period, Richmond Police lost around 45 officers who were hired at other jurisdictions — including those who had been working to build community relationships.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We started to be a little bit more on the reactive side, rather than on the proactive side when it comes to solving neighborhood problems,” said Simmons, who, as chief, plans to focus on recruitment and retention to improve relationship-building work.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Mental health for officers and residents\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of Simmons’ other priorities is to improve mental health support for officers. Research has long shown police officers face \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/26/nx-s1-5389653/police-protests-mental-health-treatment-growth\">worse\u003c/a> health outcomes than the general public, specifically as it relates to higher rates of depression, burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you’re short-staffed, officers are working a lot of mandatory overtime. So, it’s a challenge for us to maintain proper mental health and proper work-life balance and make sure that our staff gets to spend time with their families and their friends and spend time doing things that you know fills their spirit, so to speak,” Simmons said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The way Richmond Police handles mental health made headlines last year, following the police shooting death of 27-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054383/during-mental-health-crises-california-police-are-still-first-responders-its-not-working\">Angel Montaño\u003c/a>. During a 911 call, his family said he was threatening to kill them and cited “mental health issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Bisa French, Richmond Police’s former chief, called for reforms but expressed uncertainty about “what can be done differently.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Simmons acknowledged that distress calls associated with mental health continue to be a challenge. He said the department will keep focusing on annual training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until the system changes, this will continue to be an issue that society relies on law enforcement to be a response to,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do in this area, but Richmond [Police] and myself, we’re going to be committed to being as well-trained as we can, as empathetic as we possibly can and understanding the dynamics — while also putting the reverence for life as one of our primary things that is in our oath that we have to protect. It’s a balance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Concerns over surveillance tech\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As many California cities have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066989/california-cities-double-down-on-license-plate-readers-as-federal-surveillance-grows\">doubled down\u003c/a> on automated license plate readers, Simmons has prioritized data privacy concerns. Last fall, he decided to shut down Richmond’s system after a configuration error made local data potentially searchable by outside agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not only are we a sanctuary state, but we are also a sanctuary city,” he said. “As such, I support the values and ideals of this community, making sure that our immigrant community, our undocumented community, and everybody in Richmond who calls Richmond home have the right to feel like their privacy is protected and it’s not being exploited by any city government or police department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12051259\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1777px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12051259\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1777\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed.jpg 1777w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20160901_115600_qed-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1777px) 100vw, 1777px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Richmond Police vehicle on Sept. 1, 2016. \u003ccite>(Alex Emslie/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In December, Flock Safety, the system vendor, told KQED that it had shut off out-of-state access to camera data from California law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police department wrote in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/richmondpolicecali/posts/pfbid02DLgEZwDpaCE6ZEXMyYboDY4EFiQFq8axkX2SG9YE6oQFUdgQDVuHMdPwx8xzXbpel\">Facebook post\u003c/a> announcing the suspension that it has no evidence that any outside agency actually viewed Richmond’s data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Simmons said he wanted to get the system running again, arguing the lack of access to ALPR data has left investigators, officers and victims of crime “at a deficit, where we would have had a lot of investigative leads.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of crimes that have been committed in our city and our community since turning that off,” Simmons said. “It is extremely important for us to be able to leverage technology so that we can provide the best possible law enforcement services to our community, [while] ensuring that privacy is protected. I value both of those things equally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Ex-Antioch Cop Sentenced to 7.5 Years for Sprawling 2023 Corruption Scandal",
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"content": "\u003cp>A former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-bay\">East Bay\u003c/a> police officer charged in connection with a 2023 corruption scandal was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on Tuesday, marking one of the longest terms handed down to more than a dozen officials charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two separate trials, former Antioch Police Officer Devon Wenger has been convicted of conspiring with fellow officers to use excessive force against Antioch residents and conspiring to distribute illegal steroids and destroying related evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’ll serve 90 months, followed by three years of supervised release, for the crimes, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m baffled by the person presented in the letters to the court — a person who is otherwise courageous, law abiding, respectful of the law and a positive contributor to the community at large — and on the other hand the person who was running lawless in the Antioch community and decided that he would be the judge and the jury carrying out a sentence,” White said, before handing down the sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger was found guilty in April of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038229/former-antioch-cop-is-guilty-of-planning-to-distribute-steroids-and-destroying-evidence\">conspiring to distribute synthetic steroids\u003c/a> and destroying evidence when the FBI turned up at his door. A government witness, former Antioch officer Daniel Harris, testified that he sold testosterone to Wenger, who also agreed to send it by mail to a former military colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sale was never completed, since the U.S. Postal Service intercepted the package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029521\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Romo testifies on the first day of the federal trial against Morteza Amiri and Devon Christopher Wenger at the U.S. District Courthouse in Oakland on March 3, 2025. Amiri and Wenger face charges that they conspired to severely injure suspects over a period of three years. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors alleged that when FBI agents went to Wenger’s home in 2022 with a warrant for his phone, the former officer deleted texts about steroids as well as Harris’ phone number and his contact from Venmo, the financial app used to pay for the shipments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate trial months later, Wenger was found guilty of conspiring with two other ex-Antioch police officers, Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough, to deprive people of their civil rights by subjecting them to excessive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors alleged that over a three-year period, the officers encouraged each other to use excessive force against people and applauded each other via text message when they did. They also said the officers failed to report uses of force and falsified related police reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that trial, Wenger was cleared of a specific use-of-force charge related to a 2021 incident, when he shot a woman with a foam baton round, after White determined it was “reasonable.”[aside postID=news_12056666 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5881-KQED-1020x574.jpg']Rombough pleaded guilty to the conspiracy allegation earlier this year in exchange for his testimony against Amiri and Wenger. In March, Amiri was acquitted of the same conspiracy charge but found guilty of using excessive force against a man after siccing his police K-9 on him unnecessarily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger’s excessive force trial was initially linked to Amiri’s, but Judge White declared a mistrial two days in after his attorney said she could no longer represent him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their resentencing motion, Wenger’s attorneys said that he had a difficult childhood and trauma from serving in the Army and National Guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His deployment in Afghanistan involved clearing improvised explosive devices at great risk to himself,” they wrote. “He experienced a great deal of violence in that role. Like many soldiers, he compartmentalized the trauma rather than seek counseling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also noted that as a former law enforcement officer, Wenger would face increased safety risks in prison, which could require heightened security and mean missing out on regular institution programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But prosecutors said Wenger’s behavior, which included falsifying police reports and deleting text messages to cover his crimes, showed “contempt for the law” that should be used as evidence in support of a harsher sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062501\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Antioch Police Department in Antioch, California, on Oct. 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He was a sworn law enforcement officer who was looking to harm people, who encouraged and applauded other officers who harmed people, who helped to illegally distribute drugs, and who covered up what he did by deleting and falsifying evidence,” they wrote. “This was not an accident or oversight. An appropriate sentence would spotlight and deter such bad police conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prosecutors also noted that throughout his legal proceedings, Wenger denied actions captured on video related to some alleged uses of excessive force and mischaracterized text messages they cited as evidence of excessive force. His defense said the exchanges were just “venting and bravado” between coworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger also petitioned President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for support during the proceedings, and declared in a news release after his mistrial that “justice ultimately prevailed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said that Wenger’s apparent lack of remorse contributed to the sentencing decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am not sure the defendant has gotten the message,” he said in court. “And I am not sure if put in a position … to mete his own form of justice out on various individuals, that he wouldn’t do so again, unless he gets the message from this court his conduct is not only reprehensible, but he needs to be deterred from doing these acts again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jsmall\">\u003cem>Julie Small \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/east-bay\">East Bay\u003c/a> police officer charged in connection with a 2023 corruption scandal was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on Tuesday, marking one of the longest terms handed down to more than a dozen officials charged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In two separate trials, former Antioch Police Officer Devon Wenger has been convicted of conspiring with fellow officers to use excessive force against Antioch residents and conspiring to distribute illegal steroids and destroying related evidence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’ll serve 90 months, followed by three years of supervised release, for the crimes, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White said Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m baffled by the person presented in the letters to the court — a person who is otherwise courageous, law abiding, respectful of the law and a positive contributor to the community at large — and on the other hand the person who was running lawless in the Antioch community and decided that he would be the judge and the jury carrying out a sentence,” White said, before handing down the sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger was found guilty in April of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038229/former-antioch-cop-is-guilty-of-planning-to-distribute-steroids-and-destroying-evidence\">conspiring to distribute synthetic steroids\u003c/a> and destroying evidence when the FBI turned up at his door. A government witness, former Antioch officer Daniel Harris, testified that he sold testosterone to Wenger, who also agreed to send it by mail to a former military colleague.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sale was never completed, since the U.S. Postal Service intercepted the package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029521\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029521\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/IMG_5882-KQED-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Romo testifies on the first day of the federal trial against Morteza Amiri and Devon Christopher Wenger at the U.S. District Courthouse in Oakland on March 3, 2025. Amiri and Wenger face charges that they conspired to severely injure suspects over a period of three years. \u003ccite>(Vicki Behringer for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors alleged that when FBI agents went to Wenger’s home in 2022 with a warrant for his phone, the former officer deleted texts about steroids as well as Harris’ phone number and his contact from Venmo, the financial app used to pay for the shipments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate trial months later, Wenger was found guilty of conspiring with two other ex-Antioch police officers, Morteza Amiri and Eric Rombough, to deprive people of their civil rights by subjecting them to excessive force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prosecutors alleged that over a three-year period, the officers encouraged each other to use excessive force against people and applauded each other via text message when they did. They also said the officers failed to report uses of force and falsified related police reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that trial, Wenger was cleared of a specific use-of-force charge related to a 2021 incident, when he shot a woman with a foam baton round, after White determined it was “reasonable.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Rombough pleaded guilty to the conspiracy allegation earlier this year in exchange for his testimony against Amiri and Wenger. In March, Amiri was acquitted of the same conspiracy charge but found guilty of using excessive force against a man after siccing his police K-9 on him unnecessarily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger’s excessive force trial was initially linked to Amiri’s, but Judge White declared a mistrial two days in after his attorney said she could no longer represent him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their resentencing motion, Wenger’s attorneys said that he had a difficult childhood and trauma from serving in the Army and National Guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His deployment in Afghanistan involved clearing improvised explosive devices at great risk to himself,” they wrote. “He experienced a great deal of violence in that role. Like many soldiers, he compartmentalized the trauma rather than seek counseling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also noted that as a former law enforcement officer, Wenger would face increased safety risks in prison, which could require heightened security and mean missing out on regular institution programming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But prosecutors said Wenger’s behavior, which included falsifying police reports and deleting text messages to cover his crimes, showed “contempt for the law” that should be used as evidence in support of a harsher sentence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12062501\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12062501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251030-ATIOCHPITTSBURGFILE_00937_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Antioch Police Department in Antioch, California, on Oct. 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He was a sworn law enforcement officer who was looking to harm people, who encouraged and applauded other officers who harmed people, who helped to illegally distribute drugs, and who covered up what he did by deleting and falsifying evidence,” they wrote. “This was not an accident or oversight. An appropriate sentence would spotlight and deter such bad police conduct.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The prosecutors also noted that throughout his legal proceedings, Wenger denied actions captured on video related to some alleged uses of excessive force and mischaracterized text messages they cited as evidence of excessive force. His defense said the exchanges were just “venting and bravado” between coworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wenger also petitioned President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for support during the proceedings, and declared in a news release after his mistrial that “justice ultimately prevailed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White said that Wenger’s apparent lack of remorse contributed to the sentencing decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am not sure the defendant has gotten the message,” he said in court. “And I am not sure if put in a position … to mete his own form of justice out on various individuals, that he wouldn’t do so again, unless he gets the message from this court his conduct is not only reprehensible, but he needs to be deterred from doing these acts again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jsmall\">\u003cem>Julie Small \u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"marketplace": {
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"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"source": "American Public Media"
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"meta": {
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},
"mindshift": {
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"title": "MindShift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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