Author Archives: Public Press staff

By Laird Harrison, KQED News Fix San Francisco is giving up its struggle against the ocean — at least at Ocean Beach. The Ocean Beach Master Plan would close one end of the Great Highway, reroute traffic about a half-mile inland and let the ocean come back, KQED’s Molly Samuel reports. Engineers who built the […]

By Esther Honig, Crosscurrents, KALW When you are undocumented in this country, it usually means you carry around a very big secret. So naturally, even when the president says he’s getting serious about immigration reform – as he did recently in Nevada – it’s still hard for undocumented people to believe they might find a […]

By Courtney Quirin, Bay Nature Eye-level with the eucalyptus canopy of Golden Gate Park, Charlie Blevins stands on his San Francisco rooftop and begins to “suit up.” He slips on a white jacket, then pulls a spacesuit-like hood over his head that masks his face with a netted veil. A pair of thick, white gloves […]

By Laird Harrison, KQED News Fix When the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, the celebration turned ugly with cars overturned, a bus set on fire and 36 arrests. Now S.F. Mayor Ed Lee is running into challenges as he tries to prevent similar violence if the San Francisco 49ers win the Super Bowl. […]

By Mina Kim, KQED News Fix The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., has opened a new national dialogue about guns and gun violence. In Oakland, where a recent violent crime surge has residents anxious, a group of committed demonstrators are pleading to be heard by the police, policymakers, and their own […]

By Mateo Hoke, Mission Local The idea for this story started with a single line in an article on SFGate: “The Department of Public Works has a policy to respond promptly to calls about hazardous waste such as feces and hypodermic needles.” Immediately I wanted to embed with a hazardous waste crew from the Department […]

Video by Min Lee, Text by Viji Sundaram, New America Media After having had private health insurance since he was 24 years old, Doug Ogden noticed in 2009 that his premiums “were spiking at a crazy rate,” pricing him out of the market. That aside, he said, Blue Shield was chipping away at his benefits, […]

By Alison Hawkes, Bay Nature There’s not a whole lot blooming in mid-January, when native Californian plants shut down for the winter. But if you head over to the San Francisco Botanical Garden, you’re in for a treat. The magnolia trees begin to blossom, unveiling voluptuous pink and white flowers that blanket the paths in […]

By Steven Short, KALW Crosscurrents 2013 marks 100 years since California outlawed marijuana – and with the state Supreme Court poised to decide the fate of medical marijuana next month, the relationship between California and the drug could change yet again. KALW’s Holly Kernan checked with our marijuana correspondent Steven Short for an update on […]

By Erik Neumann and Carly Nairn, Mission Local “It looks like peace, but it’s more dangerous at night,” says Ahmed Mohammed. Ahmed works the night shift at the front desk of El Capitan Hotel and Hostel, a $45-a-night Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) hotel in the Mission District. “The only stories that happen here are about […]