KQED's Forum
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KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alex...
Recent Episodes
3062 episodes
Voting Rights Under Scrutiny as Redistricting Wars Escalate
Next week, California voters will decide whether to approve Proposition 50, which would temporarily redraw Congressional district maps to favor Democr...
No End in Sight for Federal Shutdown. What Does It Mean for the Bay Area?
As the federal government shutdown extends to its fifth week, its impacts have become more widespread. Over one million federal workers are either on...
Joyce Vance on Why We Can’t Give up on Our Democracy
Joyce Vance was a federal prosecutor for 25 years, resigning on the eve of Donald Trump’s first inauguration. Now, she’s a law professor, a legal anal...
In Search of Home Part 4: Strategies For Building Permanent Homes for the Unhoused
One of the main drivers of homelessness in the Bay Area is simply a lack of affordable housing for people with the very lowest incomes. In Part 4 of o...
When Everyone’s a Critic, Who Should You Trust?
Have you watched a movie review on YouTube or an album takedown on TikTok? Cultural criticism is available for free everywhere which might explain why...
Trump Ramps Up Military Strikes and Troops Near Venezuela, Amid Questions About Goals and Legality // California Condors Alight in the East Bay After 100 Year Absence
The Pentagon announced Friday that the military is sending an aircraft carrier to South America. It’s the latest in the escalating show of force again...
What’s Your Favorite Children’s Book?
There’s the picture book you wanted your parent or caregiver to read to you over and over. There’s the one with musical rhymes you love performing for...
You Can Buy a Burrito on Installment. But Should You?
While indulging in online retail therapy, you’ve probably seen an option at checkout to buy now, pay later. Companies like Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarn...
David Brooks on 'Why America Needs a Mass Movement – Now'
The Trump administration’s constant flouting of court orders, its conversion of ICE into a massive paramilitary organization, its extortion of univers...
Fired Federal Immigration Judges Speak Out
The Trump administration has fired dozens of immigration judges in California seemingly without cause and despite growing backlogs of cases. Judges wh...
California Takes On Potent Synthetic Drug 7-OH
Reports are rising of addiction, overdose and death tied to 7-OH, a potent new synthetic drug. The painkiller is a lab-made offshoot of the herbal dru...
How Intelligence – Both Human and Artificial – Happens
How exactly does the mind work? How do we learn and make decisions? And how does that compare to the way AI thinks? In their new book, “The Emergent M...
Rabbi Calls for Boundless Compassion Amid Divides
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl leads the largest synagogue in New York City. But she says she’s never been so afraid to talk about Israel. That’s because she t...
What Steep Health Insurance Price Hikes Could Mean for Nearly 2 Million Californians on Covered CA
The cost of healthcare insurance is at the core of the government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans are at a stalemate over the extension of subsidi...
Federal Workers Face New Round of Layoffs as Labor Rights Under Attack
Unions for federal employees say the White House is planning thousands more layoffs, even though a federal judge in San Francisco has blocked it. This...
Cory Doctorow on Why the Internet Got So Terrible, So Fast, and What to Do About It
Cory Doctorow coined a word to describe how what we once loved about the internet, and relied on, has become exploitative, corrosive, and anti-user. A...
SF Poet Laureate Genny Lim and the Del Sol Quartet’s New Performance Celebrates Asian American Diaspora
Why do we leave our homelands? That is the central question which animates the newest work of San Francisco poet laureate Genny Lim and the Bay Area-b...
Get Ready to be ‘Spooked’ this Halloween
Glynn Washington, host of KQED and Snap Judgment’s “Spooked,” joins us to talk about the podcast’s new season called The Crossroads. It takes stories...
Are You Going to a 'No Kings' Protest?/The Benefits of a 'Best' Friend
Millions of people are expected to take part in "No Kings" protests this Saturday in over 2000 cities across the country. The demonstrations are being...
Tech Titans and Trump Want National Guard in SF/Fairfield’s Mychal the Librarian on Hosting Rebooted Reading Rainbow
In a news conference Wednesday, President Trump said he will be “strongly recommending” his administration look into sending troops to the city, which...
Historian Jill Lepore on Amending the Constitution/Rep. Peter Aguilar on the Shutdown
Why is it so hard to change the U.S. Constitution? Harvard historian Jill Lepore says the Constitution was intended to be amended but that we’ve all b...
In “We Survived the Night,” Julian Brave NoiseCat Weaves Memoir with Indigenous Myth and History
Julian Brave NoiseCat’s paternal family traces their origins to the Coyote, a trickster from native mythology who helped create the world. The story o...
Trump and World Leaders Sign Gaza Ceasefire Deal
At a summit in Egypt on Monday, President Trump and world leaders signed the first phase of a ceasefire agreement aimed at bringing to an end the brut...
In Search of Home Part 3: The Path to Permanent Housing
We continue our series, “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” with an examination of what it takes to help a person experiencing...
MacArthur Genius Grantee Creates Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Solutions
We meet Stanford chemical engineer William Tarpeh, who was recently awarded a 2025 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Tarpeh’s work involves developing sy...
Emily Baker-White on ‘The War Over TikTok’
A group of American investors, including Silicon Valley allies of President Trump, is expected to take control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chines...
Hustle Culture is Back in Silicon Valley. But Can Workers Sustain a 996 Grind?
According to San Francisco workers, the hustle culture of the pre-pandemic days has returned in the form of long working days and weekends at the offi...
Gov. Newsom Signs Slew of New Bills
The deadline is approaching for Governor Newsom to sign — or veto — any remaining bills passed last month by California’s legislature. He’s recently a...
Alice Waters on Why We Need a ‘School Lunch Revolution’
Alice Waters has changed the way the country thinks about the importance of fresh, organic produce in the more than fifty years since she founded her...
Supreme Court Term Will Test the Scope of Presidential Power
The scope of presidential power is front and center as the Supreme Court begins a new term. Cases on the docket will test Trump’s agenda, including hi...
The Ever Shifting Landscape of Mainstream Media
Amidst funding cuts, massive layoffs, editorial differences and Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on media, more and more journalists and creators are le...
Science Journalist Jon Cohen on Preventing the Next Pandemic
Preventing the next deadly pandemic, because it’s only a matter of time. Senior Science magazine correspondent Jon Cohen has travelled Vietnam and th...
Deepfake Videos Just Got More Realistic…and More Dangerous
AI video creation software is advancing rapidly and some of its output is very alarming. OpenAI’s Sora, currently the most downloaded app in the App S...
Why Do We Fall for Charlatans?
What makes us vulnerable to charlatans? A new book by journalist Quico Toro takes a close look at charismatic manipulators from literal snake oil pedd...
Is It Time for California to Consider a "Soft Secession"?
California has a massive economy, the power of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, and we grow much of the nation’s food. As the Trump administration target...
Is California’s Largest ICE Detention Center Operating Legally?
California City in Kern county is now home to the state’s largest ICE detention facility after private prison giant CoreCivic formally contracted to r...
How a Federal Shutdown and New Trump Edicts are Changing Government
The government has shut down and President Trump is withholding dedicated funds to blue states, demanding universities sign a pact to get federal fun...
CA Senator Adam Schiff Explains Democrats’ Shutdown Strategy and Easy Ways to Level Up Your Health
As the federal government shutdown extended through a second day, President Trump on Thursday redoubled his threats to carry out mass layoffs, posting...
KQED’s Guide to Fall Arts in the Bay Area
This fall brings Bay Area residents plenty of options for enjoying the arts from the Castro Theatre reopening with a Sam Smith residency after a two y...
As the U.S. Experiences a Brain Drain, Who Benefits?
The United States has for generations been a magnet for students and scholars from around the world seeking higher education and research positions. I...