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"content": "\u003cp>It’s not your imagination — your allergies may feel worse this spring. And climate change is partially to blame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, taking small steps to reduce your exposure and acting quickly to treat allergies can make a huge difference in your day-to-day life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101909922/what-are-your-allergy-season-questions\">KQED \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em>\u003c/a> spoke with the following experts about why your allergies might feel different this year, the science behind how you’re feeling and what you can do to find some relief:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sayantani Sindher\u003c/strong>, clinical associate professor of Allergy and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret\u003c/strong>, associate professor of pediatrics and fellowship program director in the Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is allergy season really worse this year? And is climate to blame?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sayantani Sindher:\u003c/strong> It definitely feels more severe — stronger, with more people being affected. Every year for the past several years, each year has felt worse than the preceding year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GettyImages-1241866236-scaled-e1747865276270.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041147\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GettyImages-1241866236-scaled-e1747865276270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee collects pollen from prickly poppies (Argemone munita) blooming in a landscape that burned in the 2020 El Dorado Fire, on July 12, 2022, in the San Gorgonio Wilderness near Angelus Oaks, California. \u003ccite>(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s really hard to track that from year to year. However, there have been some publications that look at it from a much larger perspective, looking at pollen levels, looking at the change in temperature, looking at carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/allergy/articles/10.3389/falgy.2022.887672/full\">paper in 2022 published in the journal \u003cem>Frontiers in Allergy\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that tracked oak and ragweed pollen and just how much it’s been going up over time, and they tied it directly to temperature change and an increase in CO\u003csub>2\u003c/sub> levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret:\u003c/strong> There is no doubt that in the last 40 years, there has been a progressive increase in respiratory and food allergies. In some parts of the country, you can grow tomatoes in May, but you can also grow them in December. \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2024/09/09/california-farmers-turn-to-agave-amid-drought-conditions-and-climate-change/\">So the growing season and the pollen season have increased. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Southern California, last year was a particularly tough year because we had relatively unseasonal and strong rains in the month of January that compounded the problem of allergies with a certain degree of mold and pollen exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher: \u003c/strong>In the past several decades, [pollen season] has extended out by about 20 days. So the seasons themselves, the timing of the pollination, is extended, and that is directly tied to the increase in temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12040892 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/best-hikes-bay-area-memorial-day-1020x679.png']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34140579/\">We have a physician who has been doing pollen counts since 2002\u003c/a> … We found that over time, he was seeing the same kind of pattern where [the seasons for] tree pollen — as well as some mold and wheat pollen — were extending much more than other allergens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995420/climate-scientists-warn-of-growing-whiplash-effect-on-weather-patterns\">Not only is [wind] distributing the pollen,\u003c/a> the allergies themselves have become more allergenic, so they’re almost stronger than they used to be in the past. If you think of some areas that are in the valley — notably Sacramento and Fresno that are very impacted by allergies, because of their topographical nature — the allergen almost can’t leave. So the winds kind of keep it in there, and they can’t disperse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is it allergies, or am I sick?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11968709/cold-flu-or-rsv-how-to-tell-which-virus-you-might-have-from-testing-to-symptoms\">Cold season usually starts in September and peters out by March\u003c/a>, and then … the pollen season overlaps somewhat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allergies can cause body aches, but are usually more associated during flu season with the flu. And then sometimes, [your cold-like symptoms are actually] the therapeutic effect of allergy medicine. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11961481/after-panel-finds-no-evidence-for-leading-drug-in-cold-meds-doctors-warn-other-remedies-also-lack-proven-effectiveness\">A cold is not going to respond to the standard antihistamine.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also important for people to know that allergies make you more predisposed [to a cold] or make your cold last longer. It’s one of the questions I usually have to ask my allergic patients: “Do you cling to your cold?” Because the allergic inflammation that many times we have year-round makes us \u003cem>more \u003c/em>vulnerable to respiratory infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, is this a cold or is this an allergy? Many times it’s going to be both.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the science behind my allergies?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> Generally, when we’re allergic to something, it essentially means our body has formed these preformed \u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/allergy,-asthma-immunology-glossary/immunoglobulin-e-(ige)-defined\">allergen-specific IgE antibodies. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll use grass as an example: That means your body has already created grass-specific IgE antibodies. And so when you come into exposure to the grass pollen, it attaches to those antibodies which are connected to these allergy cells called mast cells, and these contain your histamine, tryptase, all the preformed and mediators that get created that lead to an inflammatory response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11919856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tall grass and wildflowers grow in a meadow at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on May 26, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/allergy,-asthma-immunology-glossary/immune-system-defined\">So once your mast cells or basophils get activated\u003c/a>, and it releases all these mediators, they contribute to that inflammatory allergic response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the immediate response: they also recruit more allergy cells to have a much later-stage or longer-lasting course of symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is most at risk from allergies?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret: \u003c/strong>Allergy is a disease of the young. You start showing your propensity to develop allergies at a very young age, although the pattern changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early on, your skin allergies are a bit more manifest. You partially outgrow that, and the food allergy comes along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then, when you think you’re getting rid of your food allergy, the respiratory allergy catches you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> What I tell my patients is: “Even though we’re focusing on the allergy, it is the whole person.” So if you are sleep deprived, if you have a lot of stress, if you’re not eating well, if there’s a lot going on, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995393/9-unexpected-things-we-learned-about-mental-health-and-our-brains-in-2024\">all symptoms can be much worse than if you take care of yourself. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You need to take care of your body and you in all other arenas, so that as we are treating your food allergy, the symptoms are better managed. There is something to be said for treating the person as a whole, and not just focusing on allergy by itself, but all the other elements that might be that might be stressing out the immune system.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What allergy medicines actually work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> One is just mitigation and reducing your exposure: sitting indoors when possible, limiting activities that might trigger your symptoms. So, for instance, if you’re very grass allergic, maybe don’t mow the lawn yourself in the midst of grass allergy season.[aside postID=news_12040516 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/240526-CarnavalParade-08-BL-1020x680.jpg']If you must be outdoors and your symptoms are very bad, \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7467086/\">you can potentially use an N95 or a KN95. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’re indoors, keep your windows closed, if you can, and run air purifiers. If you have air conditioning, just make sure the filter is also changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you are outdoors — which most of my patients are — when you come in, change out your shoes. Change your clothes, take a shower, rinse off as much of that as you can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the earlier you can start your allergy medications, the better your symptoms will be. Don’t wait until your symptoms are unbearable before you start your treatment regimen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Easy over-the-counter ones are \u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/allergies/in-depth/allergy-medications/art-20047403\">antihistamines \u003c/a>such as loratadine, Claritin, or Zyrtec, cetirizine, and then Allegra — which is fexofenadine — are excellent choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also use saline rinses or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/rinsing-your-sinuses-neti-pots-safe\">Neti pot\u003c/a>, and then nasal sprays, which have a very low-dose steroid that can calm down the inflammation and swelling inside your nasal passages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that doesn’t do the trick and you are working with an allergist, they can do allergy shots that can be personalized to the individual’s allergic profile and what they’re allergic to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then for certain allergens, there’s also a sublingual immunotherapy option, and there are \u003ca href=\"https://aafa.org/allergies/allergy-treatments/\">some biologics or medications that are being explored in clinical trials right now.\u003c/a> So, hopefully, more options down the line in a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret: \u003c/strong>Just about the only good thing about getting old is that your allergies don’t get worse. In fact, you get better.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Two specialists discuss the science behind heightened allergies and what you can do to reduce all that itching and sneezing.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s not your imagination — your allergies may feel worse this spring. And climate change is partially to blame.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, taking small steps to reduce your exposure and acting quickly to treat allergies can make a huge difference in your day-to-day life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101909922/what-are-your-allergy-season-questions\">KQED \u003cem>Forum\u003c/em>\u003c/a> spoke with the following experts about why your allergies might feel different this year, the science behind how you’re feeling and what you can do to find some relief:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sayantani Sindher\u003c/strong>, clinical associate professor of Allergy and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret\u003c/strong>, associate professor of pediatrics and fellowship program director in the Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is allergy season really worse this year? And is climate to blame?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sayantani Sindher:\u003c/strong> It definitely feels more severe — stronger, with more people being affected. Every year for the past several years, each year has felt worse than the preceding year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GettyImages-1241866236-scaled-e1747865276270.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041147\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GettyImages-1241866236-scaled-e1747865276270.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bee collects pollen from prickly poppies (Argemone munita) blooming in a landscape that burned in the 2020 El Dorado Fire, on July 12, 2022, in the San Gorgonio Wilderness near Angelus Oaks, California. \u003ccite>(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s really hard to track that from year to year. However, there have been some publications that look at it from a much larger perspective, looking at pollen levels, looking at the change in temperature, looking at carbon dioxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/allergy/articles/10.3389/falgy.2022.887672/full\">paper in 2022 published in the journal \u003cem>Frontiers in Allergy\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that tracked oak and ragweed pollen and just how much it’s been going up over time, and they tied it directly to temperature change and an increase in CO\u003csub>2\u003c/sub> levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret:\u003c/strong> There is no doubt that in the last 40 years, there has been a progressive increase in respiratory and food allergies. In some parts of the country, you can grow tomatoes in May, but you can also grow them in December. \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2024/09/09/california-farmers-turn-to-agave-amid-drought-conditions-and-climate-change/\">So the growing season and the pollen season have increased. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Southern California, last year was a particularly tough year because we had relatively unseasonal and strong rains in the month of January that compounded the problem of allergies with a certain degree of mold and pollen exposure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher: \u003c/strong>In the past several decades, [pollen season] has extended out by about 20 days. So the seasons themselves, the timing of the pollination, is extended, and that is directly tied to the increase in temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34140579/\">We have a physician who has been doing pollen counts since 2002\u003c/a> … We found that over time, he was seeing the same kind of pattern where [the seasons for] tree pollen — as well as some mold and wheat pollen — were extending much more than other allergens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995420/climate-scientists-warn-of-growing-whiplash-effect-on-weather-patterns\">Not only is [wind] distributing the pollen,\u003c/a> the allergies themselves have become more allergenic, so they’re almost stronger than they used to be in the past. If you think of some areas that are in the valley — notably Sacramento and Fresno that are very impacted by allergies, because of their topographical nature — the allergen almost can’t leave. So the winds kind of keep it in there, and they can’t disperse.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is it allergies, or am I sick?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11968709/cold-flu-or-rsv-how-to-tell-which-virus-you-might-have-from-testing-to-symptoms\">Cold season usually starts in September and peters out by March\u003c/a>, and then … the pollen season overlaps somewhat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allergies can cause body aches, but are usually more associated during flu season with the flu. And then sometimes, [your cold-like symptoms are actually] the therapeutic effect of allergy medicine. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11961481/after-panel-finds-no-evidence-for-leading-drug-in-cold-meds-doctors-warn-other-remedies-also-lack-proven-effectiveness\">A cold is not going to respond to the standard antihistamine.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also important for people to know that allergies make you more predisposed [to a cold] or make your cold last longer. It’s one of the questions I usually have to ask my allergic patients: “Do you cling to your cold?” Because the allergic inflammation that many times we have year-round makes us \u003cem>more \u003c/em>vulnerable to respiratory infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, is this a cold or is this an allergy? Many times it’s going to be both.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s the science behind my allergies?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> Generally, when we’re allergic to something, it essentially means our body has formed these preformed \u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/allergy,-asthma-immunology-glossary/immunoglobulin-e-(ige)-defined\">allergen-specific IgE antibodies. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ll use grass as an example: That means your body has already created grass-specific IgE antibodies. And so when you come into exposure to the grass pollen, it attaches to those antibodies which are connected to these allergy cells called mast cells, and these contain your histamine, tryptase, all the preformed and mediators that get created that lead to an inflammatory response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11919856\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11919856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/07/RS56366_053_KQED_BigBasinRedwoods_05262022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tall grass and wildflowers grow in a meadow at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on May 26, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.aaaai.org/tools-for-the-public/allergy,-asthma-immunology-glossary/immune-system-defined\">So once your mast cells or basophils get activated\u003c/a>, and it releases all these mediators, they contribute to that inflammatory allergic response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the immediate response: they also recruit more allergy cells to have a much later-stage or longer-lasting course of symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who is most at risk from allergies?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret: \u003c/strong>Allergy is a disease of the young. You start showing your propensity to develop allergies at a very young age, although the pattern changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early on, your skin allergies are a bit more manifest. You partially outgrow that, and the food allergy comes along.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then, when you think you’re getting rid of your food allergy, the respiratory allergy catches you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> What I tell my patients is: “Even though we’re focusing on the allergy, it is the whole person.” So if you are sleep deprived, if you have a lot of stress, if you’re not eating well, if there’s a lot going on, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995393/9-unexpected-things-we-learned-about-mental-health-and-our-brains-in-2024\">all symptoms can be much worse than if you take care of yourself. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You need to take care of your body and you in all other arenas, so that as we are treating your food allergy, the symptoms are better managed. There is something to be said for treating the person as a whole, and not just focusing on allergy by itself, but all the other elements that might be that might be stressing out the immune system.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What allergy medicines actually work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Sindher:\u003c/strong> One is just mitigation and reducing your exposure: sitting indoors when possible, limiting activities that might trigger your symptoms. So, for instance, if you’re very grass allergic, maybe don’t mow the lawn yourself in the midst of grass allergy season.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>If you must be outdoors and your symptoms are very bad, \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7467086/\">you can potentially use an N95 or a KN95. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’re indoors, keep your windows closed, if you can, and run air purifiers. If you have air conditioning, just make sure the filter is also changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you are outdoors — which most of my patients are — when you come in, change out your shoes. Change your clothes, take a shower, rinse off as much of that as you can.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the earlier you can start your allergy medications, the better your symptoms will be. Don’t wait until your symptoms are unbearable before you start your treatment regimen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Easy over-the-counter ones are \u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/allergies/in-depth/allergy-medications/art-20047403\">antihistamines \u003c/a>such as loratadine, Claritin, or Zyrtec, cetirizine, and then Allegra — which is fexofenadine — are excellent choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can also use saline rinses or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/rinsing-your-sinuses-neti-pots-safe\">Neti pot\u003c/a>, and then nasal sprays, which have a very low-dose steroid that can calm down the inflammation and swelling inside your nasal passages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that doesn’t do the trick and you are working with an allergist, they can do allergy shots that can be personalized to the individual’s allergic profile and what they’re allergic to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then for certain allergens, there’s also a sublingual immunotherapy option, and there are \u003ca href=\"https://aafa.org/allergies/allergy-treatments/\">some biologics or medications that are being explored in clinical trials right now.\u003c/a> So, hopefully, more options down the line in a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Garcia-Lloret: \u003c/strong>Just about the only good thing about getting old is that your allergies don’t get worse. In fact, you get better.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCeDp_MY_h4G6VWj_-VPl-BJlQ3Uya2H0vxRZZd_47BpXwVA/viewform?embedded=true'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s congressional delegation split along party lines early Thursday morning, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping budget plan on a \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025145\">narrow\u003c/a> 215–214 vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The One Big Beautiful Act contains much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, including an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, which are partially offset by cuts to health care, food assistance and clean energy programs. Key pieces of the bill will have an outsized impact on California — such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039102/californians-worried-about-medi-cal-congressional-republicans-consider-cuts\">cuts to Medicaid\u003c/a> and the expansion of the state and local tax deduction — and will likely feature prominently in next year’s midterm congressional campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to a dozen congressional districts deemed “competitive” by the Cook Political Report — more than any other state — putting a microscope on the vote of many swing-district members. In the end, all 43 California Democrats in the House voted against the bill, while the state’s nine Republican representatives voted in support. The legislation now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it can pass with a simple majority vote under budget reconciliation rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in California touted the bill’s extension of income tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, in addition to new tax breaks on tips and overtime, and increased funding for border security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By this time next year, Americans could be experiencing one of the most explosive periods of growth in our history,” Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from the Sierra foothills, said early Thursday on the House floor. “All of that means secure borders, safer communities, lower taxes, abundant energy, more and better jobs, a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats focused much of their criticism on the bill’s cuts to Medicaid, which provides healthcare coverage for Americans with low incomes and disabilities, as well as covering nursing home costs. Los Angeles Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove called the legislation a “backstabbing billionaire bill” during the House debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-CA, speaks as bipartisan lawmakers mark the end of Second Chance Month with Federal Clean Slate Legislation on April 30, 2025, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Shannon Finney/Getty Images for The Clean Slate Initiative)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My constituents call my office asking me to protect their Medicaid,” she said. “They don’t ask that their life-saving benefits be taken away and given to the 1%.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest cuts to Medicaid spending, known as Medi-Cal in California, will come through the implementation of new requirements that adults ages 19–64 document 80 hours of monthly work, volunteering or education in order to receive health care coverage. People with disabilities, pregnant women and caregivers will be exempted from the requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Center on Budget on Policy Priorities \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/harsh-work-requirements-in-house-republican-bill-would-take-away-medicaid-coverage\">estimated\u003c/a> that the new documentation requirements could lead to health care coverage loss for between 2.2 million and 3.4 million Californians, depending on how strictly the state implements the law.[aside postID=news_12040842 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/npr.brightspotcdn-1020x680.jpg']Their study found that “much of the coverage loss due to work requirements would occur among people who work or should qualify for an exemption but nevertheless would lose coverage due to red tape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another provision of the bill would punish California more directly by reducing federal payments to states that allow undocumented residents to enroll in Medicaid or have expanded health coverage to children and pregnant women who have green cards. California has expanded Medi-Cal coverage eligibility to all residents, regardless of immigration status, and does so with state funds. The Center on Budget on Policy Priorities found the penalty could \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/house-republican-bill-grows-even-harsher-cutting-medicaid-funding-to-states-that\">cost California\u003c/a> $27 billion between 2028 and 2034.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our constituents lose, our hospitals and our clinics close, our veterans’ communities lose — this is a bad bill,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts to Medi-Cal could be a particularly vulnerable issue for Republicans in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033802/how-cuts-medicaid-republican-gains-california\">KQED analysis\u003c/a> found that the congressional districts that moved the most toward President Trump in last year’s election also rely disproportionately on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the health care cuts will have an outsized impact in working-class political battlegrounds, including many communities in the Central Valley, the GOP will likely tout a provision of the budget bill that expands the state and local tax (SALT) deduction limit — a boon to residents in competitive suburban districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SALT deduction allows taxpayers to subtract what they owe in state and local taxes, such as property taxes, from their federal tax bill. The legislation passed by the House raises the limit on that deduction from $10,000 to $40,000. In 2022, 15% of California taxpayers \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/which-states-benefit-most-from-the-salt-deduction/\">utilized\u003c/a> the SALT deduction, the second-highest share of any state, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Increasing the SALT cap means bringing vital tax relief for hardworking, middle-class families I represent who face double taxation,” Orange County Republican Rep. Young Kim wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Medi-Cal cuts and SALT deduction changes in the One Big Beautiful Act have far-reaching consequences for California. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s congressional delegation split along party lines early Thursday morning, as the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping budget plan on a \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025145\">narrow\u003c/a> 215–214 vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The One Big Beautiful Act contains much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, including an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, which are partially offset by cuts to health care, food assistance and clean energy programs. Key pieces of the bill will have an outsized impact on California — such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039102/californians-worried-about-medi-cal-congressional-republicans-consider-cuts\">cuts to Medicaid\u003c/a> and the expansion of the state and local tax deduction — and will likely feature prominently in next year’s midterm congressional campaigns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is home to a dozen congressional districts deemed “competitive” by the Cook Political Report — more than any other state — putting a microscope on the vote of many swing-district members. In the end, all 43 California Democrats in the House voted against the bill, while the state’s nine Republican representatives voted in support. The legislation now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it can pass with a simple majority vote under budget reconciliation rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in California touted the bill’s extension of income tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, in addition to new tax breaks on tips and overtime, and increased funding for border security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By this time next year, Americans could be experiencing one of the most explosive periods of growth in our history,” Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from the Sierra foothills, said early Thursday on the House floor. “All of that means secure borders, safer communities, lower taxes, abundant energy, more and better jobs, a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats focused much of their criticism on the bill’s cuts to Medicaid, which provides healthcare coverage for Americans with low incomes and disabilities, as well as covering nursing home costs. Los Angeles Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove called the legislation a “backstabbing billionaire bill” during the House debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041312\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041312\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Sydney-Kamlager-Dove-Getty-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-CA, speaks as bipartisan lawmakers mark the end of Second Chance Month with Federal Clean Slate Legislation on April 30, 2025, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Shannon Finney/Getty Images for The Clean Slate Initiative)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My constituents call my office asking me to protect their Medicaid,” she said. “They don’t ask that their life-saving benefits be taken away and given to the 1%.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest cuts to Medicaid spending, known as Medi-Cal in California, will come through the implementation of new requirements that adults ages 19–64 document 80 hours of monthly work, volunteering or education in order to receive health care coverage. People with disabilities, pregnant women and caregivers will be exempted from the requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Center on Budget on Policy Priorities \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/harsh-work-requirements-in-house-republican-bill-would-take-away-medicaid-coverage\">estimated\u003c/a> that the new documentation requirements could lead to health care coverage loss for between 2.2 million and 3.4 million Californians, depending on how strictly the state implements the law.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Their study found that “much of the coverage loss due to work requirements would occur among people who work or should qualify for an exemption but nevertheless would lose coverage due to red tape.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another provision of the bill would punish California more directly by reducing federal payments to states that allow undocumented residents to enroll in Medicaid or have expanded health coverage to children and pregnant women who have green cards. California has expanded Medi-Cal coverage eligibility to all residents, regardless of immigration status, and does so with state funds. The Center on Budget on Policy Priorities found the penalty could \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/house-republican-bill-grows-even-harsher-cutting-medicaid-funding-to-states-that\">cost California\u003c/a> $27 billion between 2028 and 2034.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our constituents lose, our hospitals and our clinics close, our veterans’ communities lose — this is a bad bill,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from Napa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cuts to Medi-Cal could be a particularly vulnerable issue for Republicans in California. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033802/how-cuts-medicaid-republican-gains-california\">KQED analysis\u003c/a> found that the congressional districts that moved the most toward President Trump in last year’s election also rely disproportionately on Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the health care cuts will have an outsized impact in working-class political battlegrounds, including many communities in the Central Valley, the GOP will likely tout a provision of the budget bill that expands the state and local tax (SALT) deduction limit — a boon to residents in competitive suburban districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SALT deduction allows taxpayers to subtract what they owe in state and local taxes, such as property taxes, from their federal tax bill. The legislation passed by the House raises the limit on that deduction from $10,000 to $40,000. In 2022, 15% of California taxpayers \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/which-states-benefit-most-from-the-salt-deduction/\">utilized\u003c/a> the SALT deduction, the second-highest share of any state, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Increasing the SALT cap means bringing vital tax relief for hardworking, middle-class families I represent who face double taxation,” Orange County Republican Rep. Young Kim wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "is-social-media-making-children-more-depressed-ucsf-research-suggests-a-link",
"title": "Is Social Media Making Children More Depressed? UCSF Research Suggests a Link",
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"headTitle": "Is Social Media Making Children More Depressed? UCSF Research Suggests a Link | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Higher \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/social-media\">social media\u003c/a> usage could be linked to increased rates of depression among young adolescents, according to a new \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2834349?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=052125\">study\u003c/a> published Wednesday by researchers at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nationwide study, which tracked the cognitive development of nearly 12,000 children and adolescents over the course of a few years, found that their social media use rose significantly between the ages of 9 and 13. Depressive symptoms likewise increased in these children by more than 30% during the same time period, with the study suggesting that the two may be related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If an individual teen increased their social media use from year to year, that increase was associated with a subsequent rise in depression,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at UCSF and the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Higher levels of depression, however, do not necessarily predict an increase in future social media usage, suggesting that the link between the two exists in only one direction, Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As social media use among young people becomes more widespread, some health experts have already begun sounding alarm bells. In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf\">public advisory\u003c/a> on the potential risks \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990672/us-surgeon-general-urges-congress-to-require-warning-labels-for-social-media\">associated with frequent social media usage\u003c/a>, particularly for adolescents and their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, while Murthy’s warning urged parents to monitor their children’s social media presence and to teach them about safe boundaries and moderate consumption, it did not include exact guidance on good practice nor an overview of what the long-term consequences of excessive social media use are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Nagata, there are a lot of variables involved when it comes to assessing how healthy or unhealthy one’s social media use is.[aside postID=news_12038874 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/AIChatBotsGetty-1020x765.jpg']“Social media is not inherently bad or good. There are some risks and there are some benefits,” Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to connect and communicate, which many teens and younger children find in social media, can be beneficial for their development, Nagata said. It’s when the more negative effects of social media arise that people should pause and consider whether it’s worth it to them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the study conducted by Nagata and his team does not provide a specific explanation for why depression has a positive correlation with increased social media use, they pointed to a variety of potential factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sleep deprivation, the proliferation of content that glamorizes disordered eating, and cyberbullying can all contribute to worsening mental health among young people, Nagata noted. Another \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(25)00012-2/fulltext\">study\u003c/a> published this week by Nagata and his team, for example, found that cyberbullied tweens were nearly three times more likely to report having suicidal thoughts or attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers in the study also found that social media use \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005967/california-acts-to-protect-children-from-addictive-social-media\">can actually be addictive\u003c/a>, and that excessive consumption of it can adversely affect children’s daily functioning and their in-person relationships. Many apps have built-in algorithms and notification systems that are intended to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017249/california-bill-would-put-tobacco-like-warnings-social-media-apps\">keep people hooked\u003c/a>, and young people can be particularly susceptible, Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Social media and some of these devices can be used in ways that are actually harmful for adolescents,” said Nagata, whose clinical practice focuses on adolescents with eating disorders. “Particularly for those with mental health conditions, it can even worsen them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He urged concerned parents to think about limiting their children’s access to social media — especially before bedtime — and to model healthy screen usage in their homes. For younger children, more restrictions could also prove beneficial as the effects of social media on their mental health seemed especially pronounced, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no “one size fits all” solution, Nagata said, adding that parents should have open discussions with their children to find a social media strategy that works for their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\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>Higher \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/tag/social-media\">social media\u003c/a> usage could be linked to increased rates of depression among young adolescents, according to a new \u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2834349?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=052125\">study\u003c/a> published Wednesday by researchers at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nationwide study, which tracked the cognitive development of nearly 12,000 children and adolescents over the course of a few years, found that their social media use rose significantly between the ages of 9 and 13. Depressive symptoms likewise increased in these children by more than 30% during the same time period, with the study suggesting that the two may be related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If an individual teen increased their social media use from year to year, that increase was associated with a subsequent rise in depression,” said Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at UCSF and the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Higher levels of depression, however, do not necessarily predict an increase in future social media usage, suggesting that the link between the two exists in only one direction, Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As social media use among young people becomes more widespread, some health experts have already begun sounding alarm bells. In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf\">public advisory\u003c/a> on the potential risks \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11990672/us-surgeon-general-urges-congress-to-require-warning-labels-for-social-media\">associated with frequent social media usage\u003c/a>, particularly for adolescents and their mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, while Murthy’s warning urged parents to monitor their children’s social media presence and to teach them about safe boundaries and moderate consumption, it did not include exact guidance on good practice nor an overview of what the long-term consequences of excessive social media use are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Nagata, there are a lot of variables involved when it comes to assessing how healthy or unhealthy one’s social media use is.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Social media is not inherently bad or good. There are some risks and there are some benefits,” Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ability to connect and communicate, which many teens and younger children find in social media, can be beneficial for their development, Nagata said. It’s when the more negative effects of social media arise that people should pause and consider whether it’s worth it to them, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the study conducted by Nagata and his team does not provide a specific explanation for why depression has a positive correlation with increased social media use, they pointed to a variety of potential factors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sleep deprivation, the proliferation of content that glamorizes disordered eating, and cyberbullying can all contribute to worsening mental health among young people, Nagata noted. Another \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(25)00012-2/fulltext\">study\u003c/a> published this week by Nagata and his team, for example, found that cyberbullied tweens were nearly three times more likely to report having suicidal thoughts or attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers in the study also found that social media use \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12005967/california-acts-to-protect-children-from-addictive-social-media\">can actually be addictive\u003c/a>, and that excessive consumption of it can adversely affect children’s daily functioning and their in-person relationships. Many apps have built-in algorithms and notification systems that are intended to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017249/california-bill-would-put-tobacco-like-warnings-social-media-apps\">keep people hooked\u003c/a>, and young people can be particularly susceptible, Nagata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Social media and some of these devices can be used in ways that are actually harmful for adolescents,” said Nagata, whose clinical practice focuses on adolescents with eating disorders. “Particularly for those with mental health conditions, it can even worsen them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He urged concerned parents to think about limiting their children’s access to social media — especially before bedtime — and to model healthy screen usage in their homes. For younger children, more restrictions could also prove beneficial as the effects of social media on their mental health seemed especially pronounced, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no “one size fits all” solution, Nagata said, adding that parents should have open discussions with their children to find a social media strategy that works for their family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\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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"slug": "how-poetry-helps-dementia-caregivers-find-shelter-from-the-storm",
"title": "How Poetry Helps Dementia Caregivers Find Shelter from the Storm",
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"headTitle": "How Poetry Helps Dementia Caregivers Find Shelter from the Storm | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Frances Kakugawa is a firm believer that the act of caring for another human being can inspire poetry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows this from experience, having cared for her mother, Matsue, who was diagnosed with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alzheimers\">Alzheimer’s \u003c/a>in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panicked that she would forget how to write her own name, Matsue penned her signature again and again and again in notebooks, Kakugawa recounted to a group of older adults at a Sacramento community center last October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the event, Kakugawa read from her poem, “Five Notebooks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Five notebooks, one hundred sheets,\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Two hundred pages, twenty two lines per page.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Twenty two thousand Matsue Kakugawa.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Twenty two thousand attempts\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>To save herself from the thief\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Who was stealing her name.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012811\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012811\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The poem “Mother Into Child, Child Into Mother,” which was the first poem Frances Kakugawa wrote about being her mother’s caregiver on Oct. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Poetry helped Kakugawa take control of the painful experience of watching her mother’s cognitive abilities decline. With pen and paper, she transformed caregiving into something profound, while preserving her mother’s dignity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the middle of chaos, writing poetry helped me make sense of what was going on,” Kakugawa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the decades since her mother was diagnosed, Kakugawa has continued inspiring other caregivers to write poetry. For about 20 years, she’s run a poetry group in Sacramento for caregivers. She helps caregivers write poetry during monthly sessions and during lectures on elder care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kakugawa believes caregivers need spaces to express themselves. The role is often all-consuming, leaving people isolated, exhausted and with little time to focus on themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12038795 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-05-KQED-1020x599.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re able to process that through poetry, and become the kind of caregiver that is needed,” Kakugawa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/professionals/public-health/state-overview/california\">1.4 million\u003c/a> unpaid caregivers in California are providing care for people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And the share of older adults in the state is growing, with the Public Policy Institute of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-aging-population/\">projecting \u003c/a>almost one-quarter of Californians to be age 65 or older by 2040. That means many more people caring for older adults may be looking for avenues to relieve stress and share their experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies have documented the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447694/\">positive impact\u003c/a> of poetry on emotional well-being, but research examining whether writing poetry helps caregivers specifically is limited. A 2011 clinical trial \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21859411/\">tested \u003c/a>the effectiveness of writing poetry for family caregivers of people with dementia. The caregivers saw a range of benefits to writing poems, like a sense of pride, catharsis and greater acceptance of their loved ones and their illnesses. .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One example described in the trial was a woman who had been irritated by the constant laughter of her spouse. After writing a poem, “she realized that his laugh was the only sound left to her husband; suddenly, it became something to hold onto and to preserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Caregiver Confidential’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At his home in Sacramento, Ross Powers flipped through a manuscript of poems he wrote during Kakugawa’s poetry group. He’s calling the manuscript “Caregiver Confidential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poems are about caregiving for his late wife, Michela, who died in 2022. Michela had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition that causes dementia and problems with movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012813\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ross Powers’ home decorated with artwork made by his late wife, Michela Maiden, in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her artwork fills the walls of his living room and her presence is everywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and Michela started dating in the 1980s. She was clever, funny and naturally curious, knowing the right questions to ask to keep conversations flowing. She liked to entertain those around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Michela’s condition worsened, she lost the ability to read or write. She depended on her husband for everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powers tried joining a support group, but the mood was too dark for him. Then he learned about Kakugawa’s poetry group, and that changed everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These were people who were willing to talk, not just in an ordinary conversation, but they were willing to try and squeeze their emotions into some other form,” Powers said. “It might be an exaggeration to say it saved my life, but it saved some part of my sanity. It gave me a place to stand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing poetry helped him process this massive and confusing responsibility of caring for his wife. She needed him, and he would be there for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being of service to her was probably the great privilege of my life,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"841\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-800x269.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1020x343.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-160x54.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1536x517.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-2048x689.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1920x646.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Ross Powers speaks about his experience as a dementia caregiver for his late wife, Michela Maiden, at his home in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. Right: Ross Powers holds a photo of his late wife, Michela Maiden, who was diagnosed with a form of dementia, at their home in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. Ross Powers was his wife’s caregiver for 3 years. Ross now attends Frances Kakugawa’s poetry support group for dementia caregivers. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his poem “Nursing,” Powers writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>place an arm around shoulders\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>lean close, study her eyes \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>for signs of their meaning\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>slice, dice, crush, blend \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>something she can swallow\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>bathe her, dress her\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>prep the meds, liquids, liquids \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>always the liquids…\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oh, call it nursing, so what?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>call it care-giving or compassion\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>call it love if you want to\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Am I the caregiver or the receiver?\u003cstrong>’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poems written by the caregivers also document a fleeting experience in time, memorializing the stories of the caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, Brenda Sue Pignata lost her husband, Frank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were both math teachers. When they met, Frank was the assistant headmaster at Sacramento Country Day School, and Pignata taught in Stockton. He asked her to dance during a math conference. He loved airplanes, and on one of their first dates, he flew her around in a little airplane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During their 40-plus-year marriage, the dancing continued with disco lessons, even after the craze was popular. They lived together in the unincorporated community of Rescue, Calif., calling it their “little piece of heaven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview last spring, Pignata said she began noticing signs Frank’s health was declining around 2007. Her husband had always been a gentle soul, she said, but he started becoming easily frustrated as his short-term memory declined. The family rallied around him, though “nobody ever used the word dementia, nobody ever used the word caregiver,” Pignata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gardening and journaling became her refuge. Pignata said Frank, who needed the comfort of knowing exactly where she was, would sit on the deck of their home and watch while she gardened. He continued to write her love letters and leave little notes for her to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12035436 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230401-Brittianna-Robinson-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just months after her husband, Pignata, also died suddenly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Pignata’s home in Rescue, her son Mike Smith read poems his mother wrote about caregiving for the first time. He worried his mother was so consumed with Frank that she neglected herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But writing poems about caregiving seemed to lift a weight off his mother’s shoulders. And now he has his mother’s poetry to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is so much of her in this house. Everything I look at reminds me of her — and of him,” Smith said. “She has so much writing for me to read and learn what was going on in her mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pignata was working on a book, “Dancing with Mr. P: Disco to Dementia,” that her son hopes to finish someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Pignata’s poems is about how she grew to appreciate simple moments with Frank. It’s called “Am I the caregiver or the care receiver?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know she learned so much about caring for dementia patients, and dealing with the feelings of guilt, sadness, sorrow and grief,” Smith said. “And I guarantee you that other people are going to find that valuable. I just need to be able to get it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The force holding the poets together\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Diane Woodruff, a caregiver from an earlier cohort, poetry helped express her gratitude to Kakugawa after the poetry teacher danced hula at the Alzheimer’s facility where her mother stayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the piece, Woodruff described how Kakugawa transformed into a hula goddess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I learned a valuable lesson from my poetry teacher and the Hawaiian hula goddess that day \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>It is important to continue to create fun in the darkest times and places\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Laughter is the medicine of the Gods\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>It helps us get through the toughest times \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012810\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012810\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frances Kakugawa interacts with her mall friends at the Arden Fair in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. The group walks around the mall almost daily every morning. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hearing so many poems about pain and redemption, compassion and frustration and love over the years has inspired Kakugawa, but it has also left her feeling burned out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As caregivers gradually leave the poetry group over time, she expects it to fade away on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Hawaii, Kakugawa decided she was going to become a writer when she was six years old. She kept her poetry a secret for years and escaped to the outhouse to enjoy rare moments of privacy and read whatever she could find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she shares her poetry with strangers — everyone from caregivers to older adults she meets at a shopping mall near her Sacramento home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s working on a book called “The Outhouse Poet: Reflections of a Writer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kakugawa expects that book to be her last. She’s ready to relax — and to take care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporter \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/hmcdede\">Holly J. McDede\u003c/a> is a writer with the Investigative Reporting Program at the \u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism\u003c/a>. She covered this story through a grant from \u003ca href=\"https://www.thescanfoundation.org/\">The SCAN Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia is often stressful and isolating. For caregivers in a Sacramento poetry group, led by writer Frances Kakugawa, self-expression helps channel emotion and find meaning in dementia care.",
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"title": "How Poetry Helps Dementia Caregivers Find Shelter from the Storm | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Frances Kakugawa is a firm believer that the act of caring for another human being can inspire poetry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She knows this from experience, having cared for her mother, Matsue, who was diagnosed with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alzheimers\">Alzheimer’s \u003c/a>in the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Panicked that she would forget how to write her own name, Matsue penned her signature again and again and again in notebooks, Kakugawa recounted to a group of older adults at a Sacramento community center last October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the event, Kakugawa read from her poem, “Five Notebooks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Five notebooks, one hundred sheets,\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Two hundred pages, twenty two lines per page.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Twenty two thousand Matsue Kakugawa.\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Twenty two thousand attempts\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>To save herself from the thief\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Who was stealing her name.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012811\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012811\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The poem “Mother Into Child, Child Into Mother,” which was the first poem Frances Kakugawa wrote about being her mother’s caregiver on Oct. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Poetry helped Kakugawa take control of the painful experience of watching her mother’s cognitive abilities decline. With pen and paper, she transformed caregiving into something profound, while preserving her mother’s dignity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the middle of chaos, writing poetry helped me make sense of what was going on,” Kakugawa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the decades since her mother was diagnosed, Kakugawa has continued inspiring other caregivers to write poetry. For about 20 years, she’s run a poetry group in Sacramento for caregivers. She helps caregivers write poetry during monthly sessions and during lectures on elder care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kakugawa believes caregivers need spaces to express themselves. The role is often all-consuming, leaving people isolated, exhausted and with little time to focus on themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re able to process that through poetry, and become the kind of caregiver that is needed,” Kakugawa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.alz.org/professionals/public-health/state-overview/california\">1.4 million\u003c/a> unpaid caregivers in California are providing care for people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. And the share of older adults in the state is growing, with the Public Policy Institute of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-aging-population/\">projecting \u003c/a>almost one-quarter of Californians to be age 65 or older by 2040. That means many more people caring for older adults may be looking for avenues to relieve stress and share their experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Studies have documented the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447694/\">positive impact\u003c/a> of poetry on emotional well-being, but research examining whether writing poetry helps caregivers specifically is limited. A 2011 clinical trial \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21859411/\">tested \u003c/a>the effectiveness of writing poetry for family caregivers of people with dementia. The caregivers saw a range of benefits to writing poems, like a sense of pride, catharsis and greater acceptance of their loved ones and their illnesses. .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One example described in the trial was a woman who had been irritated by the constant laughter of her spouse. After writing a poem, “she realized that his laugh was the only sound left to her husband; suddenly, it became something to hold onto and to preserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Caregiver Confidential’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At his home in Sacramento, Ross Powers flipped through a manuscript of poems he wrote during Kakugawa’s poetry group. He’s calling the manuscript “Caregiver Confidential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poems are about caregiving for his late wife, Michela, who died in 2022. Michela had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition that causes dementia and problems with movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012813\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012813\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-17-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ross Powers’ home decorated with artwork made by his late wife, Michela Maiden, in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her artwork fills the walls of his living room and her presence is everywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and Michela started dating in the 1980s. She was clever, funny and naturally curious, knowing the right questions to ask to keep conversations flowing. She liked to entertain those around her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Michela’s condition worsened, she lost the ability to read or write. She depended on her husband for everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powers tried joining a support group, but the mood was too dark for him. Then he learned about Kakugawa’s poetry group, and that changed everything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These were people who were willing to talk, not just in an ordinary conversation, but they were willing to try and squeeze their emotions into some other form,” Powers said. “It might be an exaggeration to say it saved my life, but it saved some part of my sanity. It gave me a place to stand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing poetry helped him process this massive and confusing responsibility of caring for his wife. She needed him, and he would be there for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being of service to her was probably the great privilege of my life,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"841\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-800x269.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1020x343.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-160x54.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1536x517.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-2048x689.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-DIPTYCH-1-KQED-1920x646.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Ross Powers speaks about his experience as a dementia caregiver for his late wife, Michela Maiden, at his home in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. Right: Ross Powers holds a photo of his late wife, Michela Maiden, who was diagnosed with a form of dementia, at their home in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. Ross Powers was his wife’s caregiver for 3 years. Ross now attends Frances Kakugawa’s poetry support group for dementia caregivers. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In his poem “Nursing,” Powers writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>place an arm around shoulders\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>lean close, study her eyes \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>for signs of their meaning\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>slice, dice, crush, blend \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>something she can swallow\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>bathe her, dress her\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>prep the meds, liquids, liquids \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>always the liquids…\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oh, call it nursing, so what?\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>call it care-giving or compassion\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>call it love if you want to\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Am I the caregiver or the receiver?\u003cstrong>’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Poems written by the caregivers also document a fleeting experience in time, memorializing the stories of the caregivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, Brenda Sue Pignata lost her husband, Frank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were both math teachers. When they met, Frank was the assistant headmaster at Sacramento Country Day School, and Pignata taught in Stockton. He asked her to dance during a math conference. He loved airplanes, and on one of their first dates, he flew her around in a little airplane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During their 40-plus-year marriage, the dancing continued with disco lessons, even after the craze was popular. They lived together in the unincorporated community of Rescue, Calif., calling it their “little piece of heaven.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview last spring, Pignata said she began noticing signs Frank’s health was declining around 2007. Her husband had always been a gentle soul, she said, but he started becoming easily frustrated as his short-term memory declined. The family rallied around him, though “nobody ever used the word dementia, nobody ever used the word caregiver,” Pignata said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gardening and journaling became her refuge. Pignata said Frank, who needed the comfort of knowing exactly where she was, would sit on the deck of their home and watch while she gardened. He continued to write her love letters and leave little notes for her to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just months after her husband, Pignata, also died suddenly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Pignata’s home in Rescue, her son Mike Smith read poems his mother wrote about caregiving for the first time. He worried his mother was so consumed with Frank that she neglected herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But writing poems about caregiving seemed to lift a weight off his mother’s shoulders. And now he has his mother’s poetry to read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is so much of her in this house. Everything I look at reminds me of her — and of him,” Smith said. “She has so much writing for me to read and learn what was going on in her mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pignata was working on a book, “Dancing with Mr. P: Disco to Dementia,” that her son hopes to finish someday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Pignata’s poems is about how she grew to appreciate simple moments with Frank. It’s called “Am I the caregiver or the care receiver?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know she learned so much about caring for dementia patients, and dealing with the feelings of guilt, sadness, sorrow and grief,” Smith said. “And I guarantee you that other people are going to find that valuable. I just need to be able to get it out there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The force holding the poets together\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Diane Woodruff, a caregiver from an earlier cohort, poetry helped express her gratitude to Kakugawa after the poetry teacher danced hula at the Alzheimer’s facility where her mother stayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the piece, Woodruff described how Kakugawa transformed into a hula goddess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I learned a valuable lesson from my poetry teacher and the Hawaiian hula goddess that day \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>It is important to continue to create fun in the darkest times and places\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Laughter is the medicine of the Gods\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>It helps us get through the toughest times \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12012810\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12012810\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/20241029_CAREGIVINGPOETS_GC-2-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Frances Kakugawa interacts with her mall friends at the Arden Fair in Sacramento on Oct. 29, 2024. The group walks around the mall almost daily every morning. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hearing so many poems about pain and redemption, compassion and frustration and love over the years has inspired Kakugawa, but it has also left her feeling burned out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As caregivers gradually leave the poetry group over time, she expects it to fade away on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Hawaii, Kakugawa decided she was going to become a writer when she was six years old. She kept her poetry a secret for years and escaped to the outhouse to enjoy rare moments of privacy and read whatever she could find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she shares her poetry with strangers — everyone from caregivers to older adults she meets at a shopping mall near her Sacramento home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s working on a book called “The Outhouse Poet: Reflections of a Writer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kakugawa expects that book to be her last. She’s ready to relax — and to take care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporter \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/hmcdede\">Holly J. McDede\u003c/a> is a writer with the Investigative Reporting Program at the \u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism\u003c/a>. She covered this story through a grant from \u003ca href=\"https://www.thescanfoundation.org/\">The SCAN Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>About two dozen demonstrators were arrested Wednesday morning after staging a sit-in to support UC laborers during the final day of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/university-of-california\">University of California’\u003c/a>s Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Labor Federation, and Teresa Romero, the national president of United Farm Workers, joined about 20 union-backed UC workers who were zip-tied and removed from the William J. Rutter Center at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus just after 9:30 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demonstrators refused to leave the room as the board prepared to go into a closed-door meeting, chanting “Whose university? 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At the same time, all community members must abide by the University’s reasonable time, place and manner rules.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The action follows four recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034098/nearly-60000-uc-workers-hit-picket-lines-in-3rd-statewide-strike-in-recent-months\">work stoppages by members\u003c/a> of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 and University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) Local 9119 unions, which represent a collective 55,000 UC employees, since they kicked off bargaining campaigns last June and January, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040397\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/IMG_7525-scaled-e1747342689641.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040397\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/IMG_7525-scaled-e1747342689641.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">About two dozen demonstrators were arrested on May 15, 2025, after staging a sit-in to protest what they called “unsafe job vacancy rates and unfair wages amid ongoing contract negotiations” on the final day of the University of California’s Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Juan Carlos Lara/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Both negotiations have been in a stalemate for months as the unions lobby for higher wages, which they say haven’t kept up with the cost of living around UC campuses, leaving some workers without stable housing and others with hour-long commutes to their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The university has offered UPTE a 5% wage increase starting July 1, 2025, followed by a 3% raise both in 2026 and 2027. Its “best and final” offer for AFSCME in April included raises of 5% in 2025, 4% in 2026 and 3% in 2027, 2028 and 2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While university officials said earlier this month that they have attempted to negotiate “mutually beneficial contracts” with both unions repeatedly, the unions have said the proposals are insufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They want these workers to accept a permanent wage cut, higher healthcare costs, continued desperate under-staffing, no assistance with housing, even though they’re giving all the assistance in the world to their wealthiest executives who clearly don’t need it,” said Todd Steinhaus, a spokesperson for AFSCME. The union’s stance is that meager wage increases are outpaced by inflation, netting a loss of income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Workers are also pushing for increased staffing at medical sites, like UCSF, that they say are chronically understaffed, contributing to employee burnout and poor patient care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12039972 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/DSC06624_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UPTE said UCSF’s social workers are paid 32% less than hospital-based workers, compounding staffing shortages within the school’s citywide case management programs through San Francisco’s public-private partnership with Tipping Point Community, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s anti-poverty nonprofit, that offers housing-focused services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, the school enacted a \u003ca href=\"https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/president-drake-on-the-university-of-california-financial-outlook/\">systemwide hiring freeze\u003c/a> in response to the Trump administration’s threats to university funding, prompting complaints with state workforce regulators alleging that the UC failed to notify them of the hiring freeze or to allow bargaining over it ahead of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the arrests on Wednesday, hundreds of union members marched through the campus, holding signs that read “Safe Staffing Now” and “Fair Contract Now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Given the continued threats to federal funding, the University is grateful it has been able to provide its UPTE and AFSCME-represented employees with fair and reasonable wage and health care offers,” the UC statement said. It said that AFSCME has only provided one counteroffer, and UPTE has yet to provide a counteroffer to its deal proposed late last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Strater, the national vice president of United Farm Workers, was among the crowd gathered to oppose UC leaders. She said the wider labor movement in the state is watching to see how the school system handles its contract negotiations with workers moving forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The whole of the California labor movement has got their eyes on UC right now,” she told KQED at the meeting. “We’ve been watching people really try to get some justice for these frontline workers for a long period of time, and I think we’re at a point right now where we’re not asking anymore. 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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:35 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fiscal outlook has taken a turn for the worse, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> said as he unveiled an updated 2025–26 state budget plan on Wednesday with a projected $11.9 billion shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said President Donald Trump’s tariffs and market volatility, combined with rising state health care costs, have derailed what appeared to be a relatively \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020389/newsom-projects-slight-budget-surplus-with-focus-on-saving-accountability\">healthy budget\u003c/a> just a few months ago. In response, he is proposing cuts that include scaling back the state’s offer of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031544/providing-health-care-for-immigrants-is-costing-california-more-than-expected-is-coverage-at-risk\">health insurance\u003c/a> to low-income undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he pledged to continue pushing back against the president’s agenda in court. California has already filed more than a dozen lawsuits against this Trump administration, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036199/trumps-tariffs-could-wreck-californias-economy-the-state-is-suing\">including one last month targeting the tariffs.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is under assault,” Newsom said, arguing that the uncertainty caused by the tariffs, in particular, has made it difficult to plan ahead. “The impacts of these tariffs … are being felt disproportionately in the fourth-largest economy in the world that has so much goods, volume and trade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s proposal kicks off a month of high-stakes negotiations with leaders of the state Legislature, which must pass a budget plan by June 15. In a statement, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas echoed the governor’s blame of Trump for revenue shortfalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Assembly will thoroughly review the Governor’s May budget revision during public hearings, and we will continue to stand up to the chaotic actions of Trump and his Republican allies,” Rivas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11753593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11753593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/06/RS5067_NurseChecksBloodPressure-e1747249186287.jpg\" alt=\"As part of a budget deal, low-income adults between the ages of 19 and 25 living in California illegally could become eligible for California's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Under the governor’s plan, Medi-Cal will stop enrolling new undocumented immigrants starting Jan. 1. Those already covered can keep their benefits, but adults over 18 will face a $100 monthly premium beginning in 2027. \u003ccite>(David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the governor’s plan, Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for Californians with low incomes or disabilities, will stop enrolling new undocumented adults beginning on Jan. 1. Californians without legal status currently on the program will maintain coverage, but beginning in 2027, enrollees older than 18 will be charged a $100 monthly premium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that people should have some skin in the game as it relates to contributions,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes will save the state an estimated $5.4 billion by 2028–29, but advocates for immigrants are already warning that they will result in hundreds of thousands of Californians losing health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are outraged,” said Joshua Stehlik, policy director for the California Immigrant Policy Center. “We feel like the governor is abandoning his legacy with this proposed rollback.”[aside postID=news_12039730 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/080924-ENCAMPMENT-SWEEP-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']“It feels like a particularly difficult moment to target vulnerable immigrants when they’re under such relentless attacks by the Trump administration,” Stehlik added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in the state legislature said Newsom should have acted earlier to rein in healthcare spending on undocumented Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I urged the governor to immediately freeze his reckless Medi-Cal expansion for illegal immigrants a year and a half ago, before it buried our healthcare system and bankrupted the state,” said Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones in a statement. “Had he listened, we wouldn’t be in this crisis — breaking promises, scrambling for loans, and cutting services for legal Californians just to keep this broken program afloat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom blamed Trump’s increased tariffs for what he dubbed a “Trump Slump” in the stock market. California’s progressive tax system leaves the state’s revenue heavily reliant on high-income earners and especially vulnerable to dips in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said Trump’s protectionist policies have led to an estimated $16 billion decline in state revenues through the next fiscal year — $10 billion of it from losses in expected capital gains tax. And he cited declines in tourism and port activity as further evidence of how the president’s trade policy is hurting the Golden State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Trump has eased the tariffs he announced in early April, major stock indexes have recovered their losses, with the S&P 500 returning to positive territory for the year this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the April downturn, an extended surge in the stock market had filled California’s budget coffers. Newsom’s initial January spending plan projected a modest $363 million surplus and no spending cuts — although the governor proposed using $7.1 billion from the state’s rainy day reserve fund.[aside postID=science_1996769 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/05/DeltaGetty-1020x574.jpg']During a two-hour press conference announcing his spending plan, Newsom pinned responsibility for revenue declines on Trump’s trade agenda, but maintained he was “not blaming the president for the deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I certainly am attaching those revenue concerns directly to the activities of the administration, unquestionable,” Newsom said. “But not the totality of the deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the downturn in revenues, Newsom labeled the current deficit “pretty mild,” as it accounts for just 5.8% of the total $226 billion general fund budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the budget picture could get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in Congress are considering a budget bill that cuts funding to programs such as Medicaid, which is paid for jointly by the federal government and states. Those cuts could require Newsom and legislative leaders to amend their spending plan later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re talking about significant revisions to the state budget in August,” said Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Save Medicaid” sign is affixed to the podium for the House Democrats’ press event to oppose the Republicans’ budget on the House steps of the Capitol on Feb. 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One proposal in the current House spending plan would reduce federal Medicaid funding to states, such as California, that provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants. That change could cost California $27 billion between 2028 and 2034, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/house-republican-bill-would-cut-medicaid-funding-to-states-providing-own-health\">an estimate\u003c/a> from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As governor, Newsom has pushed the expansion of Medi-Cal to cover California residents regardless of legal status. He has championed the initiative as a way to save the state money in the long run, but the program’s full rollout has cost $2.7 billion more than his administration expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No state has done more than the state of California, no state will continue to do more than the state of California, by a long shot,” Newsom said about the undocumented health care program. “That’s a point of pride and it’s a point of privilege to be [a] governor that’s been part of that effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the changes to undocumented health care, Newsom is proposing to close the shortfall by shifting more than $5 billion in from special funds, capping overtime for in-home supportive service workers and paying for $1.7 billion in state firefighting costs with revenue raised from polluters through the state’s cap-and-trade program — which he proposed extending through 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tychehendricks\">Tyche Hendricks\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom said tariffs, market volatility and rising state health care costs have led to a projected $12 billion budget gap after projecting a modest surplus a few months ago. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 3:35 p.m. Wednesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s fiscal outlook has taken a turn for the worse, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> said as he unveiled an updated 2025–26 state budget plan on Wednesday with a projected $11.9 billion shortfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said President Donald Trump’s tariffs and market volatility, combined with rising state health care costs, have derailed what appeared to be a relatively \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020389/newsom-projects-slight-budget-surplus-with-focus-on-saving-accountability\">healthy budget\u003c/a> just a few months ago. In response, he is proposing cuts that include scaling back the state’s offer of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031544/providing-health-care-for-immigrants-is-costing-california-more-than-expected-is-coverage-at-risk\">health insurance\u003c/a> to low-income undocumented immigrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he pledged to continue pushing back against the president’s agenda in court. California has already filed more than a dozen lawsuits against this Trump administration, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036199/trumps-tariffs-could-wreck-californias-economy-the-state-is-suing\">including one last month targeting the tariffs.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is under assault,” Newsom said, arguing that the uncertainty caused by the tariffs, in particular, has made it difficult to plan ahead. “The impacts of these tariffs … are being felt disproportionately in the fourth-largest economy in the world that has so much goods, volume and trade.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s proposal kicks off a month of high-stakes negotiations with leaders of the state Legislature, which must pass a budget plan by June 15. In a statement, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas echoed the governor’s blame of Trump for revenue shortfalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Assembly will thoroughly review the Governor’s May budget revision during public hearings, and we will continue to stand up to the chaotic actions of Trump and his Republican allies,” Rivas said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11753593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11753593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/06/RS5067_NurseChecksBloodPressure-e1747249186287.jpg\" alt=\"As part of a budget deal, low-income adults between the ages of 19 and 25 living in California illegally could become eligible for California's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Under the governor’s plan, Medi-Cal will stop enrolling new undocumented immigrants starting Jan. 1. Those already covered can keep their benefits, but adults over 18 will face a $100 monthly premium beginning in 2027. \u003ccite>(David McNew/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under the governor’s plan, Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for Californians with low incomes or disabilities, will stop enrolling new undocumented adults beginning on Jan. 1. Californians without legal status currently on the program will maintain coverage, but beginning in 2027, enrollees older than 18 will be charged a $100 monthly premium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe that people should have some skin in the game as it relates to contributions,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The changes will save the state an estimated $5.4 billion by 2028–29, but advocates for immigrants are already warning that they will result in hundreds of thousands of Californians losing health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are outraged,” said Joshua Stehlik, policy director for the California Immigrant Policy Center. “We feel like the governor is abandoning his legacy with this proposed rollback.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It feels like a particularly difficult moment to target vulnerable immigrants when they’re under such relentless attacks by the Trump administration,” Stehlik added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in the state legislature said Newsom should have acted earlier to rein in healthcare spending on undocumented Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I urged the governor to immediately freeze his reckless Medi-Cal expansion for illegal immigrants a year and a half ago, before it buried our healthcare system and bankrupted the state,” said Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones in a statement. “Had he listened, we wouldn’t be in this crisis — breaking promises, scrambling for loans, and cutting services for legal Californians just to keep this broken program afloat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom blamed Trump’s increased tariffs for what he dubbed a “Trump Slump” in the stock market. California’s progressive tax system leaves the state’s revenue heavily reliant on high-income earners and especially vulnerable to dips in the market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said Trump’s protectionist policies have led to an estimated $16 billion decline in state revenues through the next fiscal year — $10 billion of it from losses in expected capital gains tax. And he cited declines in tourism and port activity as further evidence of how the president’s trade policy is hurting the Golden State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12034427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12034427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/npr.brightspotcdn-copy-4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled “Make America Wealthy Again” at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As Trump has eased the tariffs he announced in early April, major stock indexes have recovered their losses, with the S&P 500 returning to positive territory for the year this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before the April downturn, an extended surge in the stock market had filled California’s budget coffers. Newsom’s initial January spending plan projected a modest $363 million surplus and no spending cuts — although the governor proposed using $7.1 billion from the state’s rainy day reserve fund.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>During a two-hour press conference announcing his spending plan, Newsom pinned responsibility for revenue declines on Trump’s trade agenda, but maintained he was “not blaming the president for the deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I certainly am attaching those revenue concerns directly to the activities of the administration, unquestionable,” Newsom said. “But not the totality of the deficit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the downturn in revenues, Newsom labeled the current deficit “pretty mild,” as it accounts for just 5.8% of the total $226 billion general fund budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the budget picture could get worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in Congress are considering a budget bill that cuts funding to programs such as Medicaid, which is paid for jointly by the federal government and states. Those cuts could require Newsom and legislative leaders to amend their spending plan later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re talking about significant revisions to the state budget in August,” said Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Save Medicaid” sign is affixed to the podium for the House Democrats’ press event to oppose the Republicans’ budget on the House steps of the Capitol on Feb. 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One proposal in the current House spending plan would reduce federal Medicaid funding to states, such as California, that provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants. That change could cost California $27 billion between 2028 and 2034, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/house-republican-bill-would-cut-medicaid-funding-to-states-providing-own-health\">an estimate\u003c/a> from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As governor, Newsom has pushed the expansion of Medi-Cal to cover California residents regardless of legal status. He has championed the initiative as a way to save the state money in the long run, but the program’s full rollout has cost $2.7 billion more than his administration expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No state has done more than the state of California, no state will continue to do more than the state of California, by a long shot,” Newsom said about the undocumented health care program. “That’s a point of pride and it’s a point of privilege to be [a] governor that’s been part of that effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the changes to undocumented health care, Newsom is proposing to close the shortfall by shifting more than $5 billion in from special funds, capping overtime for in-home supportive service workers and paying for $1.7 billion in state firefighting costs with revenue raised from polluters through the state’s cap-and-trade program — which he proposed extending through 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tychehendricks\">Tyche Hendricks\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The three-way syringe hisses — a dry \u003cem>pssst\u003c/em> followed by the rhythmic \u003cem>chik-chik-chik\u003c/em> of the metal dental scaler on enamel, as hardened tartar is scraped from my teeth, a sound I can almost feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been four years since I last saw my dentist, Dr. Jessica Ngo, and a lot had happened since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through the safety glasses I wore to shield my eyes from splashes and debris, I caught sight of her dark eyes and the mole on the skin fold below her left eye. She wore Orascoptic dental loupes — high-powered lenses designed for spotting what eludes the naked eye. I hummed along with Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” as I followed the stray wisps of black hair slipping from beneath the satin headgear she wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are you really wearing a bonnet?” I asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ngo — or Dr. J, as I call her — laughed behind her surgical mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I told her I also wear a bonnet to protect my locs while sleeping. It’s a hair thing. I \u003cem>get\u003c/em> it. We laughed together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe you could use some more laughter these days. National Smile Month, an annual campaign to promote \u003ca href=\"https://www.dentalhealth.org/national-smile-month\">oral health\u003c/a>, began Tuesday, but in 2025, there hasn’t been much to smile about for the people I care for. The ripple effects of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034478/federal-workers-fired-thousands-california-wants-hire-them\">mass layoffs\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037889/trump-administration-considers-immigration-detention-bay-area-military-base-records-show\">detentions\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030273/if-trump-revokes-ukrainian-refugees-legal-status-many-in-california-fear-deportation\">deportations\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034742/california-students-visa-cancellations-sue-trump-administration\">visa cancellations\u003c/a>, trade threats, and the volatility of the stock market and retirement accounts leave many people stressed, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Author-finds-happiness-not-misery-loves-company-9961102.php\">anxious\u003c/a> — and kissing their teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039305\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Ngo, a dentist at Total Health Dental Care, talks with patient Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the Berkeley offices on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I returned to Dr. J’s office at \u003ca href=\"https://totalhealthdentalcare.com/jessica-ngo\">Total Health Dental Care\u003c/a> on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley because I’ve been grinding my teeth. And eating too many Skittles. And I missed the care she offers — the kind of sensitivity I haven’t found elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor oral health is closely linked to chronic diseases such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes. Proper oral hygiene can extend life expectancy. However, for people without dental insurance to reduce out-of-pocket expenses, preventative care is inaccessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually had terrible teeth growing up,” Dr. J, a San Francisco native and one of five children raised by Chinese immigrants, told me. “I probably have over 20 fillings, and I have a root canal, a few crowns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wait, what?[aside postID=news_12039102 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/072820-Doctor-Pediatrician-Kid-GETTY-CM-01-copy-1020x680.jpg']“They were working all the time,” she said of her parents. “I don’t think we had very much supervision. They didn’t double-check if we were brushing properly. They didn’t really restrict us on what we were eating, so we ate a lot of junk food and had a lot of candy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J, who is married with two young daughters, told me she doesn’t recall her family having insurance when she was a child growing up in the Ingleside neighborhood. If she did go to the dentist, it was an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result of that, I had a lot of cavities that probably went untreated for a period of time before I saw dentists in my teenage years, and that’s when I needed all of that dental work,” she said. “I actually enjoyed going to the dentist, because it was something that wasn’t always available to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is why she does what she does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why I go to see her: My mother, who once dug through the garbage for a baby tooth I wanted to put under my pillow for the tooth fairy, has always stressed the importance of a healthy mouth. Going to the dentist wasn’t always available to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I balked at braces, because I didn’t want to get teased, even though my misaligned central incisors — buck teeth — were clowned. Braces gave me a straighter smile — and made me less prone to gum disease, which slowly erodes the bone and tissue that anchor your teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039309\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chusang Nhasang talks with patient Otis Taylor at the front desk of the Total Health Dental Care Berkeley offices on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If left untreated, gum disease can lead to tooth loss and lingering bad breath. The problems can go far beyond your mouth. The bacteria behind gum disease can enter the bloodstream, traveling to organs like the heart, lungs and kidneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gum issues, if you’re not taking care of it, become a lot more complicated to treat as time goes on, so your mom was definitely right in that regard,” Dr. J, 36, said. “It’s rare to have that prevention or preventative care if there is a financial barrier or the patient isn’t covered, and so lower-income individuals have a harder time with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in Congress are debating how to cut billions from Medicaid over the next decade — known as Medi-Cal in California — the safety-net program that covers health care for low-income families, children, seniors and people with disabilities. In California, roughly 15 million people rely on it.[aside postID=news_12039390 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/IMG_1018-1020x765.jpg']According to one IGS poll, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039465/medicaid-cuts-divide-california-house-members-as-budget-deadline-looms\">more than half — 56% — of California voters\u003c/a> believe the state will be negatively impacted by proposed changes to Medi-Cal, which offers preventative and restorative dental benefits to children and adults. More than two-thirds of Medi-Cal recipients express concern about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039102/californians-worried-about-medi-cal-congressional-republicans-consider-cuts\">their own health insurance coverage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And get this: The prevalence of periodontal disease is higher among Black and Mexican American adults age 30 and older, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/research/oralhealthinamerica\">Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges\u003c/a> — a report from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>, the first statewide body to study reparations for Black people, released a report with 115 policy recommendations, including a section on \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ch29-ca-reparations.pdf\">remedying disparities\u003c/a> in oral health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What kept me away from Dr. J’s office was insurance — Total Health didn’t take KQED’s plan. That changed this year when KQED switched providers. With age, I’ve come to value doctors I can truly connect with — where care feels human, not just clinical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J’s office has been renovated with slat wood paneling and wood floors, but the energy remains the same. I crack jokes with Chusang Nhasang, the financial manager. The music is from personal playlists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Ngo, a dentist at Total Health Dental Care, holds her Orascoptic dental loupes in Berkeley on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s the kind of place where dental anxiety melts away like butter on a pancake fresh off the griddle, a dental office where talk of sneaker collecting feels just as natural as a cleaning. Dental hygienists and dental assistants move around the office on lightweight performance shoes, such as On or Hoka. Dr. J said Adidas Ultraboosts are her go-to, but the last time I saw her, she was rocking the orange-accented Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Beluga Reflective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At some point, I was a major collector,” she said as she peeled off her gloves and pulled out her phone to play Jubel’s electronic dance cover of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYwBRlgeK9Q\">Dancing in the Moonlight\u003c/a>,” a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5JqPxmYhlo\">1972 hit by King Harvest\u003c/a>. “I had shoe boxes — a line of them. I actually have a ton of shoes I’ve never opened, and so I became more practical. I don’t buy them just to store them anymore. I buy them to wear them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s going to give the shoes to her daughters, who, like me, love going to the dentist. Dr. J pointed out my Air Max 1 Dirty Denim. I clean my sneakers with a toothbrush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J guided a pen-like intraoral scanner over my molars, its soft, mechanical hum rising as it created 3D images of my teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to show you — that crack is dangerous,” she said, pointing to a monitor. “We’re hoping that we put the crown over and it stops the crack, but sometimes when they’re too deep, it can still propagate. So we shall see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I floss after every snack and meal. Sometimes I walk around the newsroom handing out chocolate after lunch. I have a devastating sweet tooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Otherwise, your teeth are beautiful,” she said, swiveling to take off her gloves. “You’re taking good care of them. The gum looks really healthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she peeled the plastic from her wrist, a soft, suctioned \u003cem>shffft\u003c/em> gave way to a crisp \u003cem>snap\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The three-way syringe hisses — a dry \u003cem>pssst\u003c/em> followed by the rhythmic \u003cem>chik-chik-chik\u003c/em> of the metal dental scaler on enamel, as hardened tartar is scraped from my teeth, a sound I can almost feel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been four years since I last saw my dentist, Dr. Jessica Ngo, and a lot had happened since then.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through the safety glasses I wore to shield my eyes from splashes and debris, I caught sight of her dark eyes and the mole on the skin fold below her left eye. She wore Orascoptic dental loupes — high-powered lenses designed for spotting what eludes the naked eye. I hummed along with Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” as I followed the stray wisps of black hair slipping from beneath the satin headgear she wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are you really wearing a bonnet?” I asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ngo — or Dr. J, as I call her — laughed behind her surgical mask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I told her I also wear a bonnet to protect my locs while sleeping. It’s a hair thing. I \u003cem>get\u003c/em> it. We laughed together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe you could use some more laughter these days. National Smile Month, an annual campaign to promote \u003ca href=\"https://www.dentalhealth.org/national-smile-month\">oral health\u003c/a>, began Tuesday, but in 2025, there hasn’t been much to smile about for the people I care for. The ripple effects of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034478/federal-workers-fired-thousands-california-wants-hire-them\">mass layoffs\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037889/trump-administration-considers-immigration-detention-bay-area-military-base-records-show\">detentions\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030273/if-trump-revokes-ukrainian-refugees-legal-status-many-in-california-fear-deportation\">deportations\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034742/california-students-visa-cancellations-sue-trump-administration\">visa cancellations\u003c/a>, trade threats, and the volatility of the stock market and retirement accounts leave many people stressed, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Author-finds-happiness-not-misery-loves-company-9961102.php\">anxious\u003c/a> — and kissing their teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039305\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-07-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Ngo, a dentist at Total Health Dental Care, talks with patient Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the Berkeley offices on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I returned to Dr. J’s office at \u003ca href=\"https://totalhealthdentalcare.com/jessica-ngo\">Total Health Dental Care\u003c/a> on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley because I’ve been grinding my teeth. And eating too many Skittles. And I missed the care she offers — the kind of sensitivity I haven’t found elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Poor oral health is closely linked to chronic diseases such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes. Proper oral hygiene can extend life expectancy. However, for people without dental insurance to reduce out-of-pocket expenses, preventative care is inaccessible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually had terrible teeth growing up,” Dr. J, a San Francisco native and one of five children raised by Chinese immigrants, told me. “I probably have over 20 fillings, and I have a root canal, a few crowns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wait, what?\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They were working all the time,” she said of her parents. “I don’t think we had very much supervision. They didn’t double-check if we were brushing properly. They didn’t really restrict us on what we were eating, so we ate a lot of junk food and had a lot of candy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J, who is married with two young daughters, told me she doesn’t recall her family having insurance when she was a child growing up in the Ingleside neighborhood. If she did go to the dentist, it was an emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a result of that, I had a lot of cavities that probably went untreated for a period of time before I saw dentists in my teenage years, and that’s when I needed all of that dental work,” she said. “I actually enjoyed going to the dentist, because it was something that wasn’t always available to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is why she does what she does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is why I go to see her: My mother, who once dug through the garbage for a baby tooth I wanted to put under my pillow for the tooth fairy, has always stressed the importance of a healthy mouth. Going to the dentist wasn’t always available to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I balked at braces, because I didn’t want to get teased, even though my misaligned central incisors — buck teeth — were clowned. Braces gave me a straighter smile — and made me less prone to gum disease, which slowly erodes the bone and tissue that anchor your teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039309\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039309\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chusang Nhasang talks with patient Otis Taylor at the front desk of the Total Health Dental Care Berkeley offices on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>If left untreated, gum disease can lead to tooth loss and lingering bad breath. The problems can go far beyond your mouth. The bacteria behind gum disease can enter the bloodstream, traveling to organs like the heart, lungs and kidneys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gum issues, if you’re not taking care of it, become a lot more complicated to treat as time goes on, so your mom was definitely right in that regard,” Dr. J, 36, said. “It’s rare to have that prevention or preventative care if there is a financial barrier or the patient isn’t covered, and so lower-income individuals have a harder time with that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans in Congress are debating how to cut billions from Medicaid over the next decade — known as Medi-Cal in California — the safety-net program that covers health care for low-income families, children, seniors and people with disabilities. In California, roughly 15 million people rely on it.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to one IGS poll, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039465/medicaid-cuts-divide-california-house-members-as-budget-deadline-looms\">more than half — 56% — of California voters\u003c/a> believe the state will be negatively impacted by proposed changes to Medi-Cal, which offers preventative and restorative dental benefits to children and adults. More than two-thirds of Medi-Cal recipients express concern about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039102/californians-worried-about-medi-cal-congressional-republicans-consider-cuts\">their own health insurance coverage\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And get this: The prevalence of periodontal disease is higher among Black and Mexican American adults age 30 and older, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/research/oralhealthinamerica\">Oral Health in America: Advances and Challenges\u003c/a> — a report from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a>, the first statewide body to study reparations for Black people, released a report with 115 policy recommendations, including a section on \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ch29-ca-reparations.pdf\">remedying disparities\u003c/a> in oral health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What kept me away from Dr. J’s office was insurance — Total Health didn’t take KQED’s plan. That changed this year when KQED switched providers. With age, I’ve come to value doctors I can truly connect with — where care feels human, not just clinical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J’s office has been renovated with slat wood paneling and wood floors, but the energy remains the same. I crack jokes with Chusang Nhasang, the financial manager. The music is from personal playlists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-NATIONALSMILESMONTH-25-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica Ngo, a dentist at Total Health Dental Care, holds her Orascoptic dental loupes in Berkeley on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s the kind of place where dental anxiety melts away like butter on a pancake fresh off the griddle, a dental office where talk of sneaker collecting feels just as natural as a cleaning. Dental hygienists and dental assistants move around the office on lightweight performance shoes, such as On or Hoka. Dr. J said Adidas Ultraboosts are her go-to, but the last time I saw her, she was rocking the orange-accented Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Beluga Reflective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At some point, I was a major collector,” she said as she peeled off her gloves and pulled out her phone to play Jubel’s electronic dance cover of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYwBRlgeK9Q\">Dancing in the Moonlight\u003c/a>,” a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5JqPxmYhlo\">1972 hit by King Harvest\u003c/a>. “I had shoe boxes — a line of them. I actually have a ton of shoes I’ve never opened, and so I became more practical. I don’t buy them just to store them anymore. I buy them to wear them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s going to give the shoes to her daughters, who, like me, love going to the dentist. Dr. J pointed out my Air Max 1 Dirty Denim. I clean my sneakers with a toothbrush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dr. J guided a pen-like intraoral scanner over my molars, its soft, mechanical hum rising as it created 3D images of my teeth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to show you — that crack is dangerous,” she said, pointing to a monitor. “We’re hoping that we put the crown over and it stops the crack, but sometimes when they’re too deep, it can still propagate. So we shall see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I floss after every snack and meal. Sometimes I walk around the newsroom handing out chocolate after lunch. I have a devastating sweet tooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Otherwise, your teeth are beautiful,” she said, swiveling to take off her gloves. “You’re taking good care of them. The gum looks really healthy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she peeled the plastic from her wrist, a soft, suctioned \u003cem>shffft\u003c/em> gave way to a crisp \u003cem>snap\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "a-bay-area-refinery-town-contemplates-future-without-big-oil",
"title": "A Bay Area Refinery Town Contemplates a Future Without Big Oil",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/benicia-refinery\">Benicia\u003c/a> Mayor Steve Young poked at his shrimp Louie salad as he glanced wistfully out the window of a local seafood restaurant perched on the banks of an unusually serene stretch of the Carquinez Strait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had better months. Let’s put it that way,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young, 73, looked grateful for the lunch break. He has been deep in damage control mode since last month, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/valero\">Texas-based oil giant Valero\u003c/a>, the city’s largest employer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036242/oil-giant-valero-announces-plans-to-shutter-troubled-benicia-refinery\">announced plans\u003c/a> to “idle, restructure or cease” operations at its Benicia refinery within a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent earnings call, Valero CEO Lane Riggs cited California’s tough “regulatory and enforcement environment” as the main driver behind the company’s intent to close California’s sixth-largest refinery, accounting for about 9% of the state’s total production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refinery makes up nearly 20% of Benicia’s tax base, and shutting down the facility, which dominates much of the eastern side of this small, relatively affluent Solano County city, could have a catastrophic impact on the city’s financial well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a situation where we’re going to have $10 (million) to $12 million less than last year,” said Young, a tall, gray-haired man with a gravelly voice. “The hit on the community is going to be severe. My main job is to ease that transition as much as we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benicia is known as a “full-service city,” he said, “which means we do every conceivable municipal service there is.” That’s part of what makes this community of well-kept yards and century-old homes feel so safe and pleasant, with its abundance of parks, libraries and subsidized artists’ studios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benicia Mayor Steve Young sits in the City Hall offices in Benicia on May 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a decent portion of those amenities are funded, in part, by the property taxes Valero pays the city — leaving Young with the unenviable task of recommending which services to potentially cut, whether it’s the public pool, the summer concert series or even the dog poop bag dispensers in the parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anything we cut has a passionate base,” Young said, grimacing slightly in anticipation of the inevitable budgeting battles to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shutting down the refinery, he added, would also be a major blow to the hundreds of residents who work there, not to mention the restaurants, hotels and businesses in the city’s industrial park that provide services to the facility and its workers, as well as the many local nonprofits that have long depended on Valero’s donations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero didn’t respond to KQED’s multiple requests for comments for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young rose to local political prominence nearly a decade ago by pushing back against the company’s strong influence in a place many here consider a “refinery town.”[aside postID=news_12036242 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/ValeroBenicia-1020x765.jpg']In 2016, Young, a former local government administrator, stepped out of retirement to join the planning commission, where he successfully led the opposition against the company’s proposal to start bringing in crude oil by rail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Valero was accustomed to being “the big dog in town,” and expected the City Council to rubber stamp the proposal, much like it had for many of the company’s other requests, Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had been joined at the hip,” he said. “Valero was used to having things slide through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it came as a shock to the company when the City Council voted down the proposal, citing major public safety and congestion concerns about having a constant flow of trains bringing volatile materials through town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a big deal. It kind of set the tone,” said Young, who went on to win a seat on the Council later that year. He successfully ran for mayor in 2020, despite intense opposition from Valero, which spent some $250,000 in attack ads and campaign mailers opposing him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years later, voters elected two additional candidates to the five-member Council — Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott — who, like Young, pledged to stand up to Valero when its actions compromised public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039647 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Young and his allies now find themselves in the awkward position of beseeching the very company they’ve challenged to stick around — at least for a few more years — to buy the city more time to prepare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get moving on this quickly, because 12 months is not a long time given the severity of the economic impact,” Young said, acknowledging that his bargaining chips are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One option, he said, is appealing directly to the state to ease some of the regulations that Valero finds so burdensome. Young appreciates California’s efforts to address climate change, but he questions the practicality of the current approach, especially when it results in frontline communities like his losing their refineries and being forced to suddenly fend for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I understand these are necessary steps going forward,” he said. “But the state passes many laws without any consequence or understanding of how they’re going to be implemented and who’s going to have to pay for it. That’s, I think, part of my frustration as a local official.”[aside postID=news_12038707 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/Air-District-Valero-Benicia-1020x765.jpg']Young said he intends to make the case that closing the refinery could pose a national security threat, as it’s currently the sole provider of jet fuel to nearby Travis Air Force Base, which is delivered via a direct pipeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If that is stopped, what does that mean to the base?” Young said. “Travis uses an amazing amount of fuel to fly all their planes, much more than can be easily replaced and certainly not replaced within a year. So I think that this becomes a matter of real concern to the defense department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also a possibility that the 900 total acres of land Valero owns, which has unobstructed views of the scenic bluffs and straits that funnel into the mouth of the Sacramento Delta, could be redeveloped into housing and commercial property. Oakland-based Signature Development Group \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/04/28/bay-area-oil-refinery-benicia-build-property-home-jobs-energy-economy/\">recently announced\u003c/a> it was in talks with the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing so, however, would require a costly remediation effort — one Valero is legally required to do — that would likely take a decade to complete before any development takes place, Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This would be a good long-term development — to have an outside entity pressing Valero to do the remediation,” Young said. “But in the meantime, we’re not going to have any money at all coming in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city may ultimately need to ask for another tax increase, Young said — a request he believes voters in the city, many of whom have lived here for decades and pay low property taxes, will approve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039779\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural depicts downtown Benicia in the city on May 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It may come down to that,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to cut our way to $10 (million) or $12 million and maintain any level of similar services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown Benicia has a quaint, small-town feel that belies its proximity to San Francisco, less than 40 miles south. Drivers turning off Interstate 780 are greeted by a sign for an American Legion rib cookoff before passing a large white gazebo in a small park on the edge of downtown. The main drag is filled with restaurants, cafes and galleries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A monument in a nearby park reminds visitors that Benicia was once the state capital — though only for a year, in 1853.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From many vantage points in this charming city of some 27,000 residents on the outer edge of the Bay Area, it’s easy to forget the refinery is there at all, its stacks, holding tanks and billowing steam hidden from view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero, which has operated the nearly 60-year-old Benicia refinery since buying it from Exxon in 2000, dropped its bombshell announcement on April 16, roughly six months after regional and state air regulators fined the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011785/bay-area-air-district-hits-valeros-benicia-refinery-with-historic-82-million-fine\">a record $82 million\u003c/a> for secretly exceeding toxic emissions standards for more than 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, city leaders unanimously approved modest rules to increase their oversight of the refinery, despite staunch opposition from the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ If you keep poking that golden goose, one day it’s going to fly away,” Mark Hughes, a former council member, said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029845/benicia-moves-toward-tougher-oversight-of-valero-refinery\">packed Council meeting in March\u003c/a> ahead of the vote. “And that’s not a threat, that’s not any inside information I have about Valero. It’s just the likely outcome of a company that constantly feels that it’s being pushed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing of Valero’s closure announcement, less than two weeks later, sparked speculation that the industrial safety ordinance was the final straw for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039650 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney Terry Mollica stands outside his home in Benicia on May 8, 2025, near the Valero Benicia Refinery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Terry Mollica, who helped lead a group of residents that pushed for the city’s new safety rules, the ordinance is a significantly watered-down version of the original. It merely requires the company to conduct internal reviews following safety incidents and disclose findings to the city, which can then request upgrades if public safety is at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ISO, at least the version that was adopted, couldn’t possibly require them to do that much that they would close down a $1.2 billion facility,” he said. “Now, it’s possible that that was part of the reason, but that scenario only makes sense if there was something very seriously wrong with the refinery that they didn’t want disclosed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are serious risks that come from living with a refinery in your backyard, Mollica said, noting the exposure to toxic emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great little town and a great little community, and we love living here. But that is the one negative about being here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That risk was underscored last week when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038707/valero-refinery-fire-in-benicia-spurs-warnings-to-stay-indoors\">a major fire ignited at the facility\u003c/a> after part of a furnace stack broke off and struck other equipment in a gasoline production area, according to the company’s incident report. The fire sent black plumes of smoke into the air and prompted a brief shelter-in-place order for surrounding neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney Terry Mollica holds a photo on his phone at his home in Benicia on May 8, 2025, of a flare at the Valero Benicia Refinery seen from his neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The incident followed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025377/huge-martinez-refinery-fire-renews-neighbors-fear-frustration\">multi-day blaze\u003c/a> in early February at PBF Energy’s Martinez Refining Co., just across the strait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I spend a lot of time in the garden, and when these incidents occur, you’re not allowed to go outside. You just don’t know what you’re being exposed to. The history of it has been bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Danny Bernardini, business manager of the Napa-Solano Building & Construction Trades Council — a group of 15 unions that represent hundreds of boilermakers, laborers, plumbers and steamfitters, many of whom work intermittently at the refinery — thinks the company grew weary of the regulations “pile-on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is the toughest place to have a refinery. And so at some point they have to say, ‘Does this make business sense for us to stay in California or not?’” Bernardini said. “And I think their announcement was them saying, ‘We can’t do business like this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility’s likely closure comes amid a growing exodus of traditional oil refiners in California, raising serious concerns about potential gas shortages and rising prices at the pump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039642\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apprentices work on a project at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. The training center teaches apprentices to install and maintain insulation systems that conserve energy and protect equipment, skills that are essential for safe and efficient operations in refineries and other industrial facilities. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://biodieselmagazine.com/articles/phillips-66-rodeo-conversion-project-to-begin-operations-in-q1\">Phillips 66’s refinery in Rodeo\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://biodieselmagazine.com/articles/marathon-martinez-biorefinery-to-reach-full-capacity-by-year-end\">Marathon’s facility in Martinez\u003c/a> both recently converted operations to biofuel production. Phillips 66 also \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-10-16/phillips-66-will-shut-historic-wilmington-refinery\">plans to close\u003c/a> its Los Angeles-area refinery — the seventh largest in the state — later this year. And Valero executives recently hinted they may soon consider “strategic alternatives” for the company’s only other California refinery located near Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until there’s an alternative to refineries, we need to keep them,” Bernardini said. “And yes, they need to be safe. They need to not pollute. They need not have incidents. But at the same time, they’re a necessary thing right now because everybody drives in a car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the workers in his unions are highly skilled technicians who have relied on consistent jobs at the Valero refinery, but many of their skills don’t transfer to other industries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Refinery work is very specific to their trade,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That specialization is on full display at the Heat & Frost Insulators Local 16 apprenticeship facility in Benicia, just down the road from the refinery’s towering stacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039644\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039644 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coordinator Jonathan Blaine stands in the workshop at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For any pipe, duct or vessel that has to maintain a specific temperature, we’re going to insulate those to stay that temperature within the pipe,” said Jonathan Blaine, the apprenticeship coordinator, as about a dozen apprentices practiced on piping models in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apprentices, he said, have to train for 8,000 hours before contractors can hire them. It’s difficult, sometimes dangerous work, but it pays upward of $80 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody says, ‘Hey, you need to go to college. That’s the only way that you can afford to live.’ And then you find out about the union building trades,” he said. “It offers a really good career path. You just have to work hard for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much of that is dependent on the refineries staying open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of man-hours that are worked in refineries throughout the year,” he said. “There’s been a lot of questions, and at this point, we don’t really know exactly what’s going to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian Ochoa, an apprentice from Fairfield specializing in installation, said he chose the career path because it would allow him to provide for his two kids and “live a comfortable life” without having to hold down multiple jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039643 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tyler Fleming (left) and Levi Humphries, both 5th-year apprentices, work on a project at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said he’s confident he’ll still be able to find work at power plants and other industrial facilities if the refinery closes. But he said the news is still disheartening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can see this whole town collapsing, man. A lot of people from around this area work there,” he said. “Less work for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young is more optimistic, despite the severe budget shortfall that the city will likely soon be forced to confront. If Valero skips town, there will no doubt be some short-term pain, he acknowledged. But that may be worth the price of no longer having to live in the shadow of a refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing the refinery would force Benicia to diversify its economy, which “would certainly be a healthier thing for the city,” Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the highest rate of asthma and the highest rate of cancer in Solano County, which is not something that you would typically expect in a city that also has the highest income and the highest education levels,” he said. “So I think from a health perspective, we would be better off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Valero’s Benicia refinery accounts for nearly 20% of the city’s tax base, and its expected shutdown could have a catastrophic impact on the city’s financial health. ",
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"title": "A Bay Area Refinery Town Contemplates a Future Without Big Oil | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/benicia-refinery\">Benicia\u003c/a> Mayor Steve Young poked at his shrimp Louie salad as he glanced wistfully out the window of a local seafood restaurant perched on the banks of an unusually serene stretch of the Carquinez Strait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve had better months. Let’s put it that way,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young, 73, looked grateful for the lunch break. He has been deep in damage control mode since last month, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/valero\">Texas-based oil giant Valero\u003c/a>, the city’s largest employer, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12036242/oil-giant-valero-announces-plans-to-shutter-troubled-benicia-refinery\">announced plans\u003c/a> to “idle, restructure or cease” operations at its Benicia refinery within a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent earnings call, Valero CEO Lane Riggs cited California’s tough “regulatory and enforcement environment” as the main driver behind the company’s intent to close California’s sixth-largest refinery, accounting for about 9% of the state’s total production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The refinery makes up nearly 20% of Benicia’s tax base, and shutting down the facility, which dominates much of the eastern side of this small, relatively affluent Solano County city, could have a catastrophic impact on the city’s financial well-being.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in a situation where we’re going to have $10 (million) to $12 million less than last year,” said Young, a tall, gray-haired man with a gravelly voice. “The hit on the community is going to be severe. My main job is to ease that transition as much as we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benicia is known as a “full-service city,” he said, “which means we do every conceivable municipal service there is.” That’s part of what makes this community of well-kept yards and century-old homes feel so safe and pleasant, with its abundance of parks, libraries and subsidized artists’ studios.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-56-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Benicia Mayor Steve Young sits in the City Hall offices in Benicia on May 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But a decent portion of those amenities are funded, in part, by the property taxes Valero pays the city — leaving Young with the unenviable task of recommending which services to potentially cut, whether it’s the public pool, the summer concert series or even the dog poop bag dispensers in the parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anything we cut has a passionate base,” Young said, grimacing slightly in anticipation of the inevitable budgeting battles to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shutting down the refinery, he added, would also be a major blow to the hundreds of residents who work there, not to mention the restaurants, hotels and businesses in the city’s industrial park that provide services to the facility and its workers, as well as the many local nonprofits that have long depended on Valero’s donations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero didn’t respond to KQED’s multiple requests for comments for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young rose to local political prominence nearly a decade ago by pushing back against the company’s strong influence in a place many here consider a “refinery town.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2016, Young, a former local government administrator, stepped out of retirement to join the planning commission, where he successfully led the opposition against the company’s proposal to start bringing in crude oil by rail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, Valero was accustomed to being “the big dog in town,” and expected the City Council to rubber stamp the proposal, much like it had for many of the company’s other requests, Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They had been joined at the hip,” he said. “Valero was used to having things slide through.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it came as a shock to the company when the City Council voted down the proposal, citing major public safety and congestion concerns about having a constant flow of trains bringing volatile materials through town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was a big deal. It kind of set the tone,” said Young, who went on to win a seat on the Council later that year. He successfully ran for mayor in 2020, despite intense opposition from Valero, which spent some $250,000 in attack ads and campaign mailers opposing him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years later, voters elected two additional candidates to the five-member Council — Kari Birdseye and Terry Scott — who, like Young, pledged to stand up to Valero when its actions compromised public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039647 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-42-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Young and his allies now find themselves in the awkward position of beseeching the very company they’ve challenged to stick around — at least for a few more years — to buy the city more time to prepare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to get moving on this quickly, because 12 months is not a long time given the severity of the economic impact,” Young said, acknowledging that his bargaining chips are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One option, he said, is appealing directly to the state to ease some of the regulations that Valero finds so burdensome. Young appreciates California’s efforts to address climate change, but he questions the practicality of the current approach, especially when it results in frontline communities like his losing their refineries and being forced to suddenly fend for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I understand these are necessary steps going forward,” he said. “But the state passes many laws without any consequence or understanding of how they’re going to be implemented and who’s going to have to pay for it. That’s, I think, part of my frustration as a local official.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Young said he intends to make the case that closing the refinery could pose a national security threat, as it’s currently the sole provider of jet fuel to nearby Travis Air Force Base, which is delivered via a direct pipeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If that is stopped, what does that mean to the base?” Young said. “Travis uses an amazing amount of fuel to fly all their planes, much more than can be easily replaced and certainly not replaced within a year. So I think that this becomes a matter of real concern to the defense department.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also a possibility that the 900 total acres of land Valero owns, which has unobstructed views of the scenic bluffs and straits that funnel into the mouth of the Sacramento Delta, could be redeveloped into housing and commercial property. Oakland-based Signature Development Group \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/04/28/bay-area-oil-refinery-benicia-build-property-home-jobs-energy-economy/\">recently announced\u003c/a> it was in talks with the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing so, however, would require a costly remediation effort — one Valero is legally required to do — that would likely take a decade to complete before any development takes place, Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This would be a good long-term development — to have an outside entity pressing Valero to do the remediation,” Young said. “But in the meantime, we’re not going to have any money at all coming in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city may ultimately need to ask for another tax increase, Young said — a request he believes voters in the city, many of whom have lived here for decades and pay low property taxes, will approve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039779\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BeniciaRefinery-60-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural depicts downtown Benicia in the city on May 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It may come down to that,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to cut our way to $10 (million) or $12 million and maintain any level of similar services.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Downtown Benicia has a quaint, small-town feel that belies its proximity to San Francisco, less than 40 miles south. Drivers turning off Interstate 780 are greeted by a sign for an American Legion rib cookoff before passing a large white gazebo in a small park on the edge of downtown. The main drag is filled with restaurants, cafes and galleries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A monument in a nearby park reminds visitors that Benicia was once the state capital — though only for a year, in 1853.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From many vantage points in this charming city of some 27,000 residents on the outer edge of the Bay Area, it’s easy to forget the refinery is there at all, its stacks, holding tanks and billowing steam hidden from view.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Valero, which has operated the nearly 60-year-old Benicia refinery since buying it from Exxon in 2000, dropped its bombshell announcement on April 16, roughly six months after regional and state air regulators fined the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12011785/bay-area-air-district-hits-valeros-benicia-refinery-with-historic-82-million-fine\">a record $82 million\u003c/a> for secretly exceeding toxic emissions standards for more than 15 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, city leaders unanimously approved modest rules to increase their oversight of the refinery, despite staunch opposition from the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ If you keep poking that golden goose, one day it’s going to fly away,” Mark Hughes, a former council member, said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029845/benicia-moves-toward-tougher-oversight-of-valero-refinery\">packed Council meeting in March\u003c/a> ahead of the vote. “And that’s not a threat, that’s not any inside information I have about Valero. It’s just the likely outcome of a company that constantly feels that it’s being pushed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing of Valero’s closure announcement, less than two weeks later, sparked speculation that the industrial safety ordinance was the final straw for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039650\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039650 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-58-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney Terry Mollica stands outside his home in Benicia on May 8, 2025, near the Valero Benicia Refinery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Terry Mollica, who helped lead a group of residents that pushed for the city’s new safety rules, the ordinance is a significantly watered-down version of the original. It merely requires the company to conduct internal reviews following safety incidents and disclose findings to the city, which can then request upgrades if public safety is at risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ISO, at least the version that was adopted, couldn’t possibly require them to do that much that they would close down a $1.2 billion facility,” he said. “Now, it’s possible that that was part of the reason, but that scenario only makes sense if there was something very seriously wrong with the refinery that they didn’t want disclosed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are serious risks that come from living with a refinery in your backyard, Mollica said, noting the exposure to toxic emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a great little town and a great little community, and we love living here. But that is the one negative about being here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That risk was underscored last week when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038707/valero-refinery-fire-in-benicia-spurs-warnings-to-stay-indoors\">a major fire ignited at the facility\u003c/a> after part of a furnace stack broke off and struck other equipment in a gasoline production area, according to the company’s incident report. The fire sent black plumes of smoke into the air and prompted a brief shelter-in-place order for surrounding neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-57-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attorney Terry Mollica holds a photo on his phone at his home in Benicia on May 8, 2025, of a flare at the Valero Benicia Refinery seen from his neighborhood. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The incident followed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12025377/huge-martinez-refinery-fire-renews-neighbors-fear-frustration\">multi-day blaze\u003c/a> in early February at PBF Energy’s Martinez Refining Co., just across the strait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I spend a lot of time in the garden, and when these incidents occur, you’re not allowed to go outside. You just don’t know what you’re being exposed to. The history of it has been bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Danny Bernardini, business manager of the Napa-Solano Building & Construction Trades Council — a group of 15 unions that represent hundreds of boilermakers, laborers, plumbers and steamfitters, many of whom work intermittently at the refinery — thinks the company grew weary of the regulations “pile-on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is the toughest place to have a refinery. And so at some point they have to say, ‘Does this make business sense for us to stay in California or not?’” Bernardini said. “And I think their announcement was them saying, ‘We can’t do business like this.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility’s likely closure comes amid a growing exodus of traditional oil refiners in California, raising serious concerns about potential gas shortages and rising prices at the pump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12039642\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-05-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apprentices work on a project at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. The training center teaches apprentices to install and maintain insulation systems that conserve energy and protect equipment, skills that are essential for safe and efficient operations in refineries and other industrial facilities. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://biodieselmagazine.com/articles/phillips-66-rodeo-conversion-project-to-begin-operations-in-q1\">Phillips 66’s refinery in Rodeo\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://biodieselmagazine.com/articles/marathon-martinez-biorefinery-to-reach-full-capacity-by-year-end\">Marathon’s facility in Martinez\u003c/a> both recently converted operations to biofuel production. Phillips 66 also \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-10-16/phillips-66-will-shut-historic-wilmington-refinery\">plans to close\u003c/a> its Los Angeles-area refinery — the seventh largest in the state — later this year. And Valero executives recently hinted they may soon consider “strategic alternatives” for the company’s only other California refinery located near Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Until there’s an alternative to refineries, we need to keep them,” Bernardini said. “And yes, they need to be safe. They need to not pollute. They need not have incidents. But at the same time, they’re a necessary thing right now because everybody drives in a car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the workers in his unions are highly skilled technicians who have relied on consistent jobs at the Valero refinery, but many of their skills don’t transfer to other industries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Refinery work is very specific to their trade,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That specialization is on full display at the Heat & Frost Insulators Local 16 apprenticeship facility in Benicia, just down the road from the refinery’s towering stacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039644\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039644 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-18-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coordinator Jonathan Blaine stands in the workshop at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“For any pipe, duct or vessel that has to maintain a specific temperature, we’re going to insulate those to stay that temperature within the pipe,” said Jonathan Blaine, the apprenticeship coordinator, as about a dozen apprentices practiced on piping models in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apprentices, he said, have to train for 8,000 hours before contractors can hire them. It’s difficult, sometimes dangerous work, but it pays upward of $80 an hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody says, ‘Hey, you need to go to college. That’s the only way that you can afford to live.’ And then you find out about the union building trades,” he said. “It offers a really good career path. You just have to work hard for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But much of that is dependent on the refineries staying open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of man-hours that are worked in refineries throughout the year,” he said. “There’s been a lot of questions, and at this point, we don’t really know exactly what’s going to happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christian Ochoa, an apprentice from Fairfield specializing in installation, said he chose the career path because it would allow him to provide for his two kids and “live a comfortable life” without having to hold down multiple jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039643\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039643 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250509-BENICIAREFINERY-09-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tyler Fleming (left) and Levi Humphries, both 5th-year apprentices, work on a project at the Heat and Frost Insulators Local 16 Training Center in Benicia on May 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ochoa said he’s confident he’ll still be able to find work at power plants and other industrial facilities if the refinery closes. But he said the news is still disheartening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can see this whole town collapsing, man. A lot of people from around this area work there,” he said. “Less work for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young is more optimistic, despite the severe budget shortfall that the city will likely soon be forced to confront. If Valero skips town, there will no doubt be some short-term pain, he acknowledged. But that may be worth the price of no longer having to live in the shadow of a refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing the refinery would force Benicia to diversify its economy, which “would certainly be a healthier thing for the city,” Young said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the highest rate of asthma and the highest rate of cancer in Solano County, which is not something that you would typically expect in a city that also has the highest income and the highest education levels,” he said. “So I think from a health perspective, we would be better off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Oakland city leaders on Monday detailed the return of a civic program that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038587/oakland-to-resume-free-summer-food-program-weeks-after-announcing-cancellation\">served free meals\u003c/a> to thousands of kids over the summer for the past four decades and is again set to operate at full capacity this year after private funders stepped in to save it from the city’s budget crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034895/oakland-halts-free-summer-meals-amid-budget-shortfall\">had been canceled\u003c/a> just two months before school let out, after officials cited “severe city budget constraints.” Days later, the city said it had found a way to continue offering meals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035615/oakland-reverses-decision-to-end-summer-food-program-will-offer-meals-at-fewer-sites\">only at libraries and city-run sites\u003c/a>, but not the 20-plus nonprofits that previously took part. Now, it is expected to once again deliver as many as 2,100 daily lunches and snacks to at least \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/2025-SFSP-List-of-Sites.pdf\">47 sites\u003c/a> throughout the city, including many libraries, recreation centers, nonprofits and churches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Food service is set to begin May 27, immediately after the end of Oakland’s school year, and continue into the second week of August. Meals are available to all children 18 and under, as well as some adults with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A full list of sites offering lunches this summer can be found on \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/2025-SFSP-List-of-Sites.pdf\">the city’s website\u003c/a>, as well as through the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/mo/cameals.asp\">CA Meals for Kids\u003c/a> app.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program’s revival comes after the East Bay Community Foundation and Eat. Learn. Play., a nonprofit founded by Steph and Ayesha Curry, recently agreed to contribute up to $375,000 to continue food service at the roughly 21 community sites that the city had informed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034895/oakland-halts-free-summer-meals-amid-budget-shortfall\">in late March\u003c/a> that the meals they were expecting to soon start serving would not be available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was quite demoralizing having to be the bearer of bad news, especially having been this close to the program over the past few years and having experienced firsthand the amount of need,” said Michael Akanji, an analyst in the Oakland City Administrator’s Office who oversees the summer program and sent out the email to partner sites. “I was sad at the prospect of kids showing up this year … to be turned away because there was no food. Relief is my primary emotion at this point, just knowing that that does not have to be the case. It’s an extremely important program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11960197 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man and a woman stand on a stage speaking with a huge banner behind the that says, \"Eat. Learn. Play.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden State Warriors’ star Stephen Curry (right) speaks next to his wife and renowned chef, Ayesha Curry, during a charity event at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Aug. 28, 2023. The Currys and partners are expanding the reach of their Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, established in 2019, to support youth in Oakland, the Bay Area and beyond, while striving to improve the lives of families nationwide. They are generating $50 million in additional funding to assist the Oakland Unified School District. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that has partially funded the program, the city will also continue to provide approximately 950 meals per day to 26 city-run sites, including libraries and recreation centers, at a cost of about $427,000 for the summer, the city said. Despite previous messaging, it said those meals — to city-run sites — had always been guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is contracting with School Foodies in Hayward and Flo’s Friendly Food in Emeryville to prepare and deliver meals to all 47 sites, Akanji said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot of meals. But I’m confident in their ability to meet that demand,” he said, noting that the two organizations were selected from a number of providers that submitted proposals at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of outside funders, Akanji said, the city can now provide nearly 350 more meals per day this summer than it did last year.[aside postID=news_12038587 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GettyImages-1321784489-1020x671.jpg']That number “was based on individually canvassing the community-based sites and asking them what they anticipated their demand would be this year,” he said. “And that is just based on the economic trends over the past few years. When food is getting [more] expensive, these programs are more and more vital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s cancellation announcement in March followed a City Council vote in December to reallocate funds from its sugar-sweetened beverage tax, part of a frantic effort to close what was then a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027749/oakland-reverses-several-layoffs-amid-scramble-close-massive-budget-deficit\">nearly $130 million budget shortfall\u003c/a>. The tax, \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Oakland,_California,_Sugar-Sweetened_Beverages_Tax,_Measure_HH_(November_2016)\">which voters approved in 2016\u003c/a>, generates \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/news/2023-08-16/revenue-allocations-soda-taxes-oakland-and-san-francisco-continue-diverge-advisory\">more than $7 million a year\u003c/a>, a portion of which is intended to support youth health-related programs, including the summer food service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland previously used about $200,000 of that revenue each year to supplement funding for the food program and cover administrative costs, but officials said the money was no longer available this year as a result of the reallocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Akanji said he didn’t send the note to partner sites until late March because he had been waiting for funding information from the city, which never came.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had not received any indication that anything was going to be available,” he said. “And at that point it was important to let the sites know, in order [for them] to make other arrangements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg\" alt=\"The bottom half of several children on a concrete playground with yellow chalk outlining numbers and letters is shown.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rising first graders walk to their classroom at the start of the day during summer session at Laurel Elementary in Oakland on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The responses he got were ones of “just almost desperation, like, ‘We don’t have any other options,’” Akanji said, adding that he also had the far more rewarding task of calling all 21 sites a few weeks ago to tell them that the funding had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandi Howard, the president of the East Bay Community Foundation, is a third-generation Oakland resident who participated in the summer food program when she was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was deeply personal for me,” said Howard, who received free summer lunches at Manzanita Recreation Center in the 1980s. “So, when I learned about the funding gap of the program, I knew it was just the moment for EBCF to get involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard said that at this point, her foundation is only committing to supporting the program for this summer, but she hinted at the possibility of ongoing support amid ongoing threats to the public safety net.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m clear about is there was a moment where children may not get fed, and now we’re at a place where children will get fed,” she said. “That was the outcome, and that I’m really proud of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Oakland city leaders on Monday detailed the return of a civic program that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12038587/oakland-to-resume-free-summer-food-program-weeks-after-announcing-cancellation\">served free meals\u003c/a> to thousands of kids over the summer for the past four decades and is again set to operate at full capacity this year after private funders stepped in to save it from the city’s budget crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034895/oakland-halts-free-summer-meals-amid-budget-shortfall\">had been canceled\u003c/a> just two months before school let out, after officials cited “severe city budget constraints.” Days later, the city said it had found a way to continue offering meals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035615/oakland-reverses-decision-to-end-summer-food-program-will-offer-meals-at-fewer-sites\">only at libraries and city-run sites\u003c/a>, but not the 20-plus nonprofits that previously took part. Now, it is expected to once again deliver as many as 2,100 daily lunches and snacks to at least \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/2025-SFSP-List-of-Sites.pdf\">47 sites\u003c/a> throughout the city, including many libraries, recreation centers, nonprofits and churches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Food service is set to begin May 27, immediately after the end of Oakland’s school year, and continue into the second week of August. Meals are available to all children 18 and under, as well as some adults with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A full list of sites offering lunches this summer can be found on \u003ca href=\"https://cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/2025-SFSP-List-of-Sites.pdf\">the city’s website\u003c/a>, as well as through the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/mo/cameals.asp\">CA Meals for Kids\u003c/a> app.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program’s revival comes after the East Bay Community Foundation and Eat. Learn. Play., a nonprofit founded by Steph and Ayesha Curry, recently agreed to contribute up to $375,000 to continue food service at the roughly 21 community sites that the city had informed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034895/oakland-halts-free-summer-meals-amid-budget-shortfall\">in late March\u003c/a> that the meals they were expecting to soon start serving would not be available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was quite demoralizing having to be the bearer of bad news, especially having been this close to the program over the past few years and having experienced firsthand the amount of need,” said Michael Akanji, an analyst in the Oakland City Administrator’s Office who oversees the summer program and sent out the email to partner sites. “I was sad at the prospect of kids showing up this year … to be turned away because there was no food. Relief is my primary emotion at this point, just knowing that that does not have to be the case. It’s an extremely important program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960197\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11960197 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man and a woman stand on a stage speaking with a huge banner behind the that says, \"Eat. Learn. Play.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/AP23247692842290-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden State Warriors’ star Stephen Curry (right) speaks next to his wife and renowned chef, Ayesha Curry, during a charity event at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Aug. 28, 2023. The Currys and partners are expanding the reach of their Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, established in 2019, to support youth in Oakland, the Bay Area and beyond, while striving to improve the lives of families nationwide. They are generating $50 million in additional funding to assist the Oakland Unified School District. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that has partially funded the program, the city will also continue to provide approximately 950 meals per day to 26 city-run sites, including libraries and recreation centers, at a cost of about $427,000 for the summer, the city said. Despite previous messaging, it said those meals — to city-run sites — had always been guaranteed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is contracting with School Foodies in Hayward and Flo’s Friendly Food in Emeryville to prepare and deliver meals to all 47 sites, Akanji said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a lot of meals. But I’m confident in their ability to meet that demand,” he said, noting that the two organizations were selected from a number of providers that submitted proposals at the beginning of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of outside funders, Akanji said, the city can now provide nearly 350 more meals per day this summer than it did last year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That number “was based on individually canvassing the community-based sites and asking them what they anticipated their demand would be this year,” he said. “And that is just based on the economic trends over the past few years. When food is getting [more] expensive, these programs are more and more vital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s cancellation announcement in March followed a City Council vote in December to reallocate funds from its sugar-sweetened beverage tax, part of a frantic effort to close what was then a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12027749/oakland-reverses-several-layoffs-amid-scramble-close-massive-budget-deficit\">nearly $130 million budget shortfall\u003c/a>. The tax, \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Oakland,_California,_Sugar-Sweetened_Beverages_Tax,_Measure_HH_(November_2016)\">which voters approved in 2016\u003c/a>, generates \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/news/2023-08-16/revenue-allocations-soda-taxes-oakland-and-san-francisco-continue-diverge-advisory\">more than $7 million a year\u003c/a>, a portion of which is intended to support youth health-related programs, including the summer food service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland previously used about $200,000 of that revenue each year to supplement funding for the food program and cover administrative costs, but officials said the money was no longer available this year as a result of the reallocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Akanji said he didn’t send the note to partner sites until late March because he had been waiting for funding information from the city, which never came.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had not received any indication that anything was going to be available,” he said. “And at that point it was important to let the sites know, in order [for them] to make other arrangements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg\" alt=\"The bottom half of several children on a concrete playground with yellow chalk outlining numbers and letters is shown.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/061121_SummerSchool_AW_CM_06-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rising first graders walk to their classroom at the start of the day during summer session at Laurel Elementary in Oakland on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The responses he got were ones of “just almost desperation, like, ‘We don’t have any other options,’” Akanji said, adding that he also had the far more rewarding task of calling all 21 sites a few weeks ago to tell them that the funding had been restored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brandi Howard, the president of the East Bay Community Foundation, is a third-generation Oakland resident who participated in the summer food program when she was a kid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was deeply personal for me,” said Howard, who received free summer lunches at Manzanita Recreation Center in the 1980s. “So, when I learned about the funding gap of the program, I knew it was just the moment for EBCF to get involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howard said that at this point, her foundation is only committing to supporting the program for this summer, but she hinted at the possibility of ongoing support amid ongoing threats to the public safety net.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’m clear about is there was a moment where children may not get fed, and now we’re at a place where children will get fed,” she said. “That was the outcome, and that I’m really proud of.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains references to eating disorders and self-harm. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suzy Degazon moved to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11832103/the-forgotten-occupation-of-catalina-island\">Santa Catalina Island\u003c/a> because she wanted to be a fish. Most days, you can indeed find her in the ocean near Dive Park, either going for a morning swim at the surface or giving scuba diving tours of the kelp forest below. Often she does both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Degazon’s Instagram is overflowing with open water joy, but there was a time when she was too sick to walk, much less swim. To make it to Catalina, she first had to overcome a life-threatening eating disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon grew up in the English countryside, helping her parents manage a small hotel. She liked cooking with her mom, and she was good at it. When she was eight years old, she won a contest for a cake she made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just always going to be a pastry chef,” Degazon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she got sick. It started gradually when she was fifteen. She describes herself as a “wild child.” In school, teachers said she didn’t listen or pay attention. As a teenager, she went to AC/DC and Motörhead concerts. Degazon felt like she’d lost control of her life, so she began to avoid eating because it was the one thing she could control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038760\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038760\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzy Degazón at the Catalina Island Swim Club on Catalina Island on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Nick Morrow for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of this stopped her passion for baking. She went to pastry school and then moved to London. She worked in the noisy, fast-paced kitchen of a five-star hotel, making strawberry tartlets, chocolate eclairs, crème brûlées — if it had pastry in it, she made it. But she didn’t eat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she didn’t even feel hungry. “When you get dangerously thin with anorexia, you don’t know it,” Degazon said. “You’re in denial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, the police stopped her on the street and put her in a hospital for her own safety. She weighed 58 pounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t even stand up,” Degazon said. “I was really frail. I was on bed rest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon had to stay in the hospital for a number of weeks. If the nurses gave her food, she’d hide it and flush it down the toilet. She had a sink in her room, and they replaced the drain pipe with a bucket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to leave, Degazon had to put on weight, which Degazon said didn’t work long-term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You just eat, you get [to 80 pounds], you get out, and back you go,” Degazon said. “You have to fix up your noggin to get any help, really.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon cycled in and out of the hospital so many times that eventually a doctor told her family she would probably die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One time, when she was in a hospital in York, she turned on the TV and saw people running a marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember telling the nurse, I want to be like that one day. I’m going to do a marathon,” Degazon recalled. “And the nurse turned around to me and said, ‘You can’t even run to the toilet.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ten years, Degazon and her family needed a new solution to help her get better. Her grandfather suggested she go backpacking in Southeast Asia, like her brother had. Maybe that would help her break the cycle. So Degazon got her weight up to 80 pounds — enough to leave the hospital — and bought a ticket to Bangkok.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12035436 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/230401-Brittianna-Robinson-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I looked like a walking stick insect,” Degazon said. “But I was going to see the world. And I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The freedom suited Degazon. No one called her names or nagged her about whether she was eating enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she traveled, little things started to change. For example, in Singapore, she was with a group of people who were all buying doughnuts. Previously, Degazon would have avoided buying a doughnut or thrown the doughnut away as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, Degazon did something different. “We’re in [the doughnut shop] and I’m like, ‘I want to be normal. I’m going to eat a doughnut!’” She starts to nibble the doughnut, but it’s too much for her to eat it all at once, so she puts it in her pocket. She said it took her a whole week to eat it. “I didn’t throw it away. It was pretty stale at the end, but I ate that whole donut,” Degazon said. “I felt proud that I did that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon kept traveling. In the Maldives, she learned to scuba dive. On her first time down, the instructor told her to squeeze her hand when she wanted to go back up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suzy never squeezed the instructor’s hand. “I just wanted to stay down there forever,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the clear water of the Maldives, she saw turtles and tropical fish. She was captivated and also empowered. Visiting unfamiliar countries and underwater habitats gave her that control, that responsibility for herself, that she craved. She also fell in love with the ocean and decided to visit the Caribbean Islands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038761\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1171\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-800x468.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1020x597.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-160x94.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1536x899.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1920x1124.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzy Degazón snorkels at the Catalina Island Swim Club on Catalina Island on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Nick Morrow for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was in Boquerón, Puerto Rico, when her transformation became clear. At first, she’d started running to rebuild her bone density. Soon, she was swimming in the ocean each day with more experienced friends. Then someone lent her a bicycle. “The next thing I know, I’m a triathlete,” Degazon said. “So I did a triple Ironman in France.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The run alone is three marathons in a row. Degazon trained hard, but she also had a secret weapon: she knew how to break something big into little bites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon lived in Puerto Rico for thirteen years, representing the island as an international triathlete and ultraman competitor before many women were even doing Ironmans. In 1994, Suzy competed in the Sonoma Vineman, one of the first Ironmans in California. In 1997, she won 3rd place at Le Défi Mondial de l’Endurance in France. She earned sponsors and was on billboards across Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12030626 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/20250312_Alicia-Portnoy_JB_00003-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of all, Degazon figured out how to channel her obsessive-compulsive eating habits into a love for sports — sports that taught her to take care of her body, and keep it fueled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But starving herself for ten years also caused irreversible damage to her body, including to her inner ear and auditory nerve. When Degazon applied for a work visa that required a medical exam, she received her first diagnosis of hearing loss.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a complete surprise. Looking back now, she suspects she’d had hearing loss her whole life. “But,” she added quickly, “I’ve never let that stop me!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon got hearing aids and moved forward. Eventually, she set her sights on California. She moved to LA to marry her soulmate, and then moved to Santa Catalina Island to teach scuba diving. Now she relishes the chance to show visitors the strange and wonderful creatures living in Catalina’s kelp forests, like the bright orange Garibaldi, the official marine state fish of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having anorexia was really bad, and so I always want to be alive,” Degazon said. “I want to live every day like it’s my last day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a clear morning, Degazon barely got out of the water before she started passionately describing what she saw: big sheep crabs and abalone everywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, spotting a pod of sea lions swimming close to shore, she jumped back in the water to get a closer look. It was barely 8 a.m., and it was already a good day to be alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains references to eating disorders and self-harm. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suzy Degazon moved to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11832103/the-forgotten-occupation-of-catalina-island\">Santa Catalina Island\u003c/a> because she wanted to be a fish. Most days, you can indeed find her in the ocean near Dive Park, either going for a morning swim at the surface or giving scuba diving tours of the kelp forest below. Often she does both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, Degazon’s Instagram is overflowing with open water joy, but there was a time when she was too sick to walk, much less swim. To make it to Catalina, she first had to overcome a life-threatening eating disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon grew up in the English countryside, helping her parents manage a small hotel. She liked cooking with her mom, and she was good at it. When she was eight years old, she won a contest for a cake she made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just always going to be a pastry chef,” Degazon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she got sick. It started gradually when she was fifteen. She describes herself as a “wild child.” In school, teachers said she didn’t listen or pay attention. As a teenager, she went to AC/DC and Motörhead concerts. Degazon felt like she’d lost control of her life, so she began to avoid eating because it was the one thing she could control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038760\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038760\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-01-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzy Degazón at the Catalina Island Swim Club on Catalina Island on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Nick Morrow for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of this stopped her passion for baking. She went to pastry school and then moved to London. She worked in the noisy, fast-paced kitchen of a five-star hotel, making strawberry tartlets, chocolate eclairs, crème brûlées — if it had pastry in it, she made it. But she didn’t eat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she didn’t even feel hungry. “When you get dangerously thin with anorexia, you don’t know it,” Degazon said. “You’re in denial.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day, the police stopped her on the street and put her in a hospital for her own safety. She weighed 58 pounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t even stand up,” Degazon said. “I was really frail. I was on bed rest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon had to stay in the hospital for a number of weeks. If the nurses gave her food, she’d hide it and flush it down the toilet. She had a sink in her room, and they replaced the drain pipe with a bucket.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to leave, Degazon had to put on weight, which Degazon said didn’t work long-term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You just eat, you get [to 80 pounds], you get out, and back you go,” Degazon said. “You have to fix up your noggin to get any help, really.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon cycled in and out of the hospital so many times that eventually a doctor told her family she would probably die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One time, when she was in a hospital in York, she turned on the TV and saw people running a marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember telling the nurse, I want to be like that one day. I’m going to do a marathon,” Degazon recalled. “And the nurse turned around to me and said, ‘You can’t even run to the toilet.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After ten years, Degazon and her family needed a new solution to help her get better. Her grandfather suggested she go backpacking in Southeast Asia, like her brother had. Maybe that would help her break the cycle. So Degazon got her weight up to 80 pounds — enough to leave the hospital — and bought a ticket to Bangkok.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I looked like a walking stick insect,” Degazon said. “But I was going to see the world. And I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The freedom suited Degazon. No one called her names or nagged her about whether she was eating enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As she traveled, little things started to change. For example, in Singapore, she was with a group of people who were all buying doughnuts. Previously, Degazon would have avoided buying a doughnut or thrown the doughnut away as soon as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, Degazon did something different. “We’re in [the doughnut shop] and I’m like, ‘I want to be normal. I’m going to eat a doughnut!’” She starts to nibble the doughnut, but it’s too much for her to eat it all at once, so she puts it in her pocket. She said it took her a whole week to eat it. “I didn’t throw it away. It was pretty stale at the end, but I ate that whole donut,” Degazon said. “I felt proud that I did that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon kept traveling. In the Maldives, she learned to scuba dive. On her first time down, the instructor told her to squeeze her hand when she wanted to go back up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suzy never squeezed the instructor’s hand. “I just wanted to stay down there forever,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the clear water of the Maldives, she saw turtles and tropical fish. She was captivated and also empowered. Visiting unfamiliar countries and underwater habitats gave her that control, that responsibility for herself, that she craved. She also fell in love with the ocean and decided to visit the Caribbean Islands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038761\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1171\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-800x468.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1020x597.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-160x94.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1536x899.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/250505-SUZY-DEGAZON-NM-02-KQED-1920x1124.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzy Degazón snorkels at the Catalina Island Swim Club on Catalina Island on May 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Nick Morrow for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She was in Boquerón, Puerto Rico, when her transformation became clear. At first, she’d started running to rebuild her bone density. Soon, she was swimming in the ocean each day with more experienced friends. Then someone lent her a bicycle. “The next thing I know, I’m a triathlete,” Degazon said. “So I did a triple Ironman in France.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The run alone is three marathons in a row. Degazon trained hard, but she also had a secret weapon: she knew how to break something big into little bites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Degazon lived in Puerto Rico for thirteen years, representing the island as an international triathlete and ultraman competitor before many women were even doing Ironmans. In 1994, Suzy competed in the Sonoma Vineman, one of the first Ironmans in California. In 1997, she won 3rd place at Le Défi Mondial de l’Endurance in France. She earned sponsors and was on billboards across Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Californians are expressing widespread worry about the future of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/medicaid\">Medicaid\u003c/a>, as Republicans in Congress weigh cuts to the program that covers health care for Americans with low incomes and disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GOP leaders are looking for budget savings to pay for the extension of tax cuts favored by President Donald Trump, but the idea of cutting Medicaid has raised alarm among some in the party — including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032994/democrats-focus-their-message-on-gop-cuts-to-medicaid\">California Republicans\u003c/a> who represent districts with high numbers of Medicaid recipients. A \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1nd0h87z\">pair of surveys\u003c/a> released \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/40r36594\">this week\u003c/a> by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found broad concern about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/medi-cal\">Medi-Cal\u003c/a>, the state’s Medicaid program, among California voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A full two-thirds, 67%, of registered voters who receive coverage through Medi-Cal are worried that they, or a family member, will lose insurance due to changes being pursued by the Trump administration. In a separate survey, 56% of voters polled said that the Trump administration’s proposed changes to Medi-Cal will have a “negative impact” on California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only tariffs ranked higher on voters’ lists of issues facing negative headwinds from Washington, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Medi-Cal was right up there, so it’s one of the areas where most voters have concerns,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program has emerged as a key inflection point in House Republicans’ budget talks this week. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been meeting privately in his office with groups of Republicans, as he works to enact the president’s legislative agenda with a slim seven-seat majority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Save Medicaid” sign is affixed to the podium for the House Democrats’ press event to oppose the Republicans’ budget on the House steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, February 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The IGS surveys did not ask specifically about the budget plan, which sets a target of $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade from the committee that oversees Medicaid spending. Trump has supported the budget framework, but told NBC last week that House Republicans are “not cutting [Medicaid]. They’re looking at fraud, waste and abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-03/61235-Boyle-Pallone.pdf\">analysis\u003c/a> by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows that there is no way to reach the spending target without cutting Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most enrollees, Medi-Cal costs are shared evenly between California and the federal government. However, the federal government picks up 90% of the tab for the Medicaid expansion authorized through the Affordable Care Act, which covers Californians making up to $21,597.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fiscal conservatives in the GOP caucus have floated ideas such as reducing the federal cost-share for expansion enrollees or enacting a per-enrollee cap on federal spending. Those proposals would generate significant savings in the range of $700 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but also result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance.[aside postID=news_12038904 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/20240524_MobileHeadStart-34_qut-1020x680.jpg']Supporters of Medi-Cal warn that the impact of cuts will ripple beyond the patients who lose insurance. A \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/california-could-lose-up-to-217000-jobs-if-congress-cuts-medicaid/\">report\u003c/a> from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that reductions to the healthcare program could result in the loss of up to 217,000 jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the rural Central Valley community of Visalia, Kaweah Health Center receives more than 30% of its revenue from Medi-Cal. The hospital is also the largest employer in Tulare County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a healthcare job is lost, that healthcare worker has less money to spend in their community, at the stores they normally shop at,” said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the Labor Center. “That in turn could lead to job losses in those other non-healthcare industries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential cuts could also slow Republican momentum in California heading into the 2026 midterm elections. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033802/how-cuts-medicaid-republican-gains-california\">KQED analysis\u003c/a> found the congressional districts that shifted most toward Trump between 2020 and 2024 rely disproportionately on Medi-Cal. Enrollment is especially high in a pair of Central Valley swing districts held by Republican Rep. David Valadao and Democratic Rep. Adam Gray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans may be backing away from changes to the federal matching fund rates provided to the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said those Medicaid changes “are dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, moderate Republicans have emphasized support for a different suite of ideas, such as restricting Medicaid access for undocumented immigrants and adults without jobs — ideas that would likely result in fewer savings, but generate less political blowback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has expanded Medi-Cal enrollment to residents without citizenship, a move that appears broadly popular in the new IGS polling. Support for providing Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented Californians stands at 61% for undocumented children, 49% for adults up to age 49, and 53% for those over age 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\">\u003cem>The Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">\u003cem>Madi Bolaños\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only tariffs ranked higher on voters’ lists of issues facing negative headwinds from Washington, said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Medi-Cal was right up there, so it’s one of the areas where most voters have concerns,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program has emerged as a key inflection point in House Republicans’ budget talks this week. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been meeting privately in his office with groups of Republicans, as he works to enact the president’s legislative agenda with a slim seven-seat majority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2201320740-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A “Save Medicaid” sign is affixed to the podium for the House Democrats’ press event to oppose the Republicans’ budget on the House steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, February 25, 2024. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The IGS surveys did not ask specifically about the budget plan, which sets a target of $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade from the committee that oversees Medicaid spending. Trump has supported the budget framework, but told NBC last week that House Republicans are “not cutting [Medicaid]. They’re looking at fraud, waste and abuse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-03/61235-Boyle-Pallone.pdf\">analysis\u003c/a> by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows that there is no way to reach the spending target without cutting Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most enrollees, Medi-Cal costs are shared evenly between California and the federal government. However, the federal government picks up 90% of the tab for the Medicaid expansion authorized through the Affordable Care Act, which covers Californians making up to $21,597.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fiscal conservatives in the GOP caucus have floated ideas such as reducing the federal cost-share for expansion enrollees or enacting a per-enrollee cap on federal spending. Those proposals would generate significant savings in the range of $700 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but also result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Supporters of Medi-Cal warn that the impact of cuts will ripple beyond the patients who lose insurance. A \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/california-could-lose-up-to-217000-jobs-if-congress-cuts-medicaid/\">report\u003c/a> from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that reductions to the healthcare program could result in the loss of up to 217,000 jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the rural Central Valley community of Visalia, Kaweah Health Center receives more than 30% of its revenue from Medi-Cal. The hospital is also the largest employer in Tulare County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a healthcare job is lost, that healthcare worker has less money to spend in their community, at the stores they normally shop at,” said Laurel Lucia, director of the Health Care Program at the Labor Center. “That in turn could lead to job losses in those other non-healthcare industries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential cuts could also slow Republican momentum in California heading into the 2026 midterm elections. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12033802/how-cuts-medicaid-republican-gains-california\">KQED analysis\u003c/a> found the congressional districts that shifted most toward Trump between 2020 and 2024 rely disproportionately on Medi-Cal. Enrollment is especially high in a pair of Central Valley swing districts held by Republican Rep. David Valadao and Democratic Rep. Adam Gray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans may be backing away from changes to the federal matching fund rates provided to the states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said those Medicaid changes “are dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, moderate Republicans have emphasized support for a different suite of ideas, such as restricting Medicaid access for undocumented immigrants and adults without jobs — ideas that would likely result in fewer savings, but generate less political blowback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has expanded Medi-Cal enrollment to residents without citizenship, a move that appears broadly popular in the new IGS polling. Support for providing Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented Californians stands at 61% for undocumented children, 49% for adults up to age 49, and 53% for those over age 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/\">\u003cem>The Associated Press\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> and KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/mbolanos\">\u003cem>Madi Bolaños\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"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",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"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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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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