Bay Area

Five Bay Area counties should be forced to repay millions to a state education fund, according to the California Department of Finance. What was once a windfall for several Bay Area counties may now be a curse as California seeks to reclaim the millions in the midst of a COVID-19 induced fiscal nightmare.

Artists, drag queens, and members of the queer and trans community gathered together to mourn the closing of San Francisco’s oldest LGBT bar, The Stud. 

Bay Area counties reported a total of 263 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations over the weekend. That’s a more than forty percent decrease in the number of cases since last month, when the region was at its peak.

This award-winning documentary explores the lives of Sikh youth in America, and how they confront and respond to violence, sometimes with humor.

In this Audiograph, we go to a popular gathering spot on a historic campus.

In this week's Audiograph, we go dancing in Oakland. Contra is a social dance with roots in the kind of English country balls that you might have seen in "Pride and Prejudice," mixed with lots of moves familiar to square dancers, all set to live string band music.

In this Audiograph, we go to Soundbox, the San Francisco Symphony’s experimental music space. First launched in 2014, each concert at Soundbox has a theme, and is put together by curators. These concerts feel totally different than going to the symphony — and they’re supposed to.

From Audiograph, signature sounds of the Bay Area:

The Bay Area has a rich pro sports scene with distinctive voices who bring us all the action.

After a year and a half of negotiations, a diverse group of Bay Area officials, housing advocates, and other stakeholders have signed off on what they’re calling a “grand bargain” on housing.

The new Transbay Transit Center opens next month in San Francisco. It’s meant to connect buses from the East Bay with MUNI, Caltrain, and High-Speed Rail. The only problem? The tunnel connecting Caltrain to the transit center hasn’t been built yet. The tunnel will be less than miles long, but building it will cost $4 billion dollars, on top of the $2.2 billion already spent on the transit center.

This story is from our Audiograph archives. Audiograph is a crowd-sourced collaborative radio project mapping the Bay Area’s sonic signature. These sounds tell the story of where you live, and the people who live there with you.

The votes are in — or, most of them anyway, with some mailed-in ballots yet to be counted. And California voters have weighed in on state and local propositions as well as many elected offices.

Regional Measure 3 would increase the tolls on all Bay Area bridges — except the Golden Gate.

Under this plan, the tolls at every bridge would go up by $3 over the next seven years. So if you’re used to paying $6 to cross the Bay Bridge during rush hour — surprise! Next year it would cost $7. And by 2025 — $9.

The Farm Bill. It sounds like a bill that deals with … well, farming. But the Farm Bill that’s up for renewal and being debated in Congress right now actually deals with a lot more.

When I'm King

By Angelo Castro, E.R. Taylor Elementary School

When I'm king, I would want a queen, by my side when I'm having a hard time...

On this edition of Your Call, UC Berkeley geography professor emeritus Richard Walker discusses his new book, Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Loving Sky is always in our memories

It always has a special place in my life

like the love we have for our family and friends

It will last for eternity

because the loving sky's abundance is ever lasting

(music: Younger Than Yesterday by Real Estate)

Yo Le Voy A Los Chivas

By Lizbeth Leon, Glassbrook Elementary School

Yo le voy a los Chivas 

Y tambien mis amigos y amigas

Juntos jugamos futbol

Y nos gusta meter un goal

I am

By Juan Jimenez, Glassbrook Elementary School

I am from the United States

My parents are from a state in Mexico

I am happiness and joyfulness

On this edition of Your Call, we’ll speak with a sports journalist and athletes about how the #metoo movement has rocked the sports world.

Gymnasts, swimmers, basketball players – athletes across the sports world – have come forward with revelations about sexual assault and abuse they have suffered over the course of their careers. What institutions and practices in the sports world protect perpetrators? And how can those power structures be dismantled?

Guests:

Artist Beatrice Thomas performs in drag as soulful death-metal diva Black Benatar at Drag Queen Story Time at the San Francisco Public Library — and all over the Bay.

She’ll be hosting Black Benatar’s Black Magic Cabaret as part of So Soul San Francisco at Brava Theater this week.

By Santos Dzib, Sanchez Elementary School

Brown feels like a sugary chocolate cake melting in your mouth. 

Brown smells like wet mud after it rains. 

The Stars

By Wendy Sanchez Colaj, E.R. Taylor Elementary School

The stars twinkle twinkle twinkle

All throughout the night they are so bright...

My Heart is made of cotton candy

You can hear the sound of waves

I’ll bring my heart everywhere

To the Sun

Moon

and family

The sun is light

the moon is dark

and my family is life

On this edition of Your Call, we're celebrating National Poetry Month by speaking with two young poets and the senior program manager from Youth Speaks, a San Francisco based organization that teaches young poets how to use their words to express themselves, shape their place in the world, and build community.

My Color: Violet

By Kevin Dzib, Sanchez Elementary 

Violet looks like a gecko crawling through the rainforest. ...

Imagine 

By Rae'vyn Twine, E.R. Taylor Elementary School

Imagine you are sitting on a cloud 

with no loud sounds 

My Passion

By Oliver Williams, Sunnyside Elementary School...

When I'm King

By Ilyas Abdolcader, E.R. Taylor Elementary School

I'll be staring down at my town

While wearing my beautiful crown

Humble will be our game

Our town will have no shame

We'll have nothing sloppy

I make negative things things not exist

No homeless on our list