Berkeley

You may not have heard of the chemical PFAS, but you probably touched it at some point today. It’s a man-made chemical in tons of products in our homes, like nonstick pans and food packaging. But it’s toxic. And in at least one preschool in Berkeley, it’s in the carpets. 

Hey Area is where we find answers to questions you ask. Cameron Williams wanted to know: "What’s the best place in the Bay Area to have a first kiss?"

From Greta Thunberg to Youth vs. Apocalypse, young people around the world are fighting climate change. But in Berkeley, where students have been pushing environmental goals for decades, logistical realities are making sustainable solutions difficult.

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

The battle over the right to access People’s Park in Berkeley began 50 years ago, but it never really ended. Now, UC Berkeley plans to develop the space into housing for students as well as homeless people.

In this Audiograph, we climb inside the third tallest bell and clock-tower in the world, UC Berkeley's Campanile.

For few generations now Berkeley has been home to alternative living arrangements like communes and co-ops. There’s a new intentional community keeping this tradition alive.

Here, no one’s in charge and decisions are made by consensus. This place is at the forefront of the housing crisis — in fact, it’s the reason the people here came together in the first place. 

The Bay Area’s long history of chocolate spans all the way back to the Gold Rush. Since then, the region has been a source for chocolate innovation again and again, from a Berkeley-based revolution in chocolate desserts to a craft chocolate revolution in the ‘90s that turned the industry on its head.

Hey Area is where we find answers to questions you ask. Listener Rory Plewman wanted to know when the next big earthquake is going to hit the Bay Area.

We all know we’re supposed to prepare for earthquakes, but how many of us really have a plan?

Hari Srinivasan is autistic and cannot speak. He understands everything. Until he turned 12, no one knew that but him. Then, typing gave him a voice.

Professor of Journalism Elena Conis wrote a book on the history of vaccines. She says, since we’ve had vaccinations in this country, we’ve had opposition to them. 

This weekend Downtown Berkeley will transform into a literary paradise for the Bay Area Book Festival. Cherilyn Parsons started the event in 2015 after being inspired by the LA Times book festival. 

Nazira Babori moves around The 1951 Coffee Shop with ease: mixing, steaming, and grinding coffee like a pro — but the truth is, she’s new to this, and not so long ago, she was in a very different place.

Singer Rhonda Benin has toured professionally for over 25 years. She’s a member of the Grammy-nominated “Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir,” and she’s a soloist.

This Friday, filmmaker Jordan Peele’s highly anticipated new horror movie “Us” is being released in theatres. The film’s trailer has gotten a lot of attention, especially here in the Bay Area for featuring the song “I Got 5 on It,” which was a hit in the mid-90s for the Oakland rap group The Luniz.

This weekend, a capella music lovers will be gathering in Berkeley for the WeSing Vocal Festival. The three-day event was started by Oakland singer Lisa Forkish who got involved in the a capella music scene during her college years. Her group at that time was the inspiration for the hit film “Pitch Perfect.”

There are a thousand hidden histories in the Bay Area – stories in the cement, just beneath the surface of our routes to work or school or play. There are also a handful of guided walking tours that aim to pull these stories from the pavement: Architecture tours, neighborhood tours, literary tours. And then, there is the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour. In 2012, Barnali Ghosh began the tour with her husband, Anirvan Chatterjee.

If you’ve ever spent time in the Berkeley Hills, you may have noticed staircases winding between houses or disappearing into the trees. KALW listener and Berkeley Hills resident Ansley Luce wanted to know how and why these staircases came to be.

The Berkeley Flea Market is a weekly gathering in the parking lot of the Ashby BART station. It’s brought together vendors, musicians, and community members for nearly half-century. But now, the group that runs the market has shut it down for the next couple of months.

Actress Nilaja Sun has returned to the Berkeley Repertory Theatre with the West Coast debut of her one-woman show Pike St.

Measure Q is Berkeley's response if Californians approve Proposition 10 this November, which would repeal the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Quick reminder: Costa Hawkins is a 1995 law that largely prevents cities and towns from having rent control.

The cost of rent is on the rise in Berkeley. This is making it hard for low and middle income residents to afford to stay in the city.

Have you heard about the popular new cannabis health product, CBD? THC’s non-psychoactive cousin, CBD gained fame earlier this decade after being used to successfully treat children with intractable epilepsy. Since then it’s been claimed to alleviate a whole host of conditions, including anxiety, inflammation, pain, and even acne.

A crowd of about 60 people sit scattered in the pews of St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. They sing “Caminando” — translated as “Walking,” in English, a nod to the millions of Mexicans and Central Americans who have journeyed to the United States in search of better lives.

When winter comes, Bay Area cities open temporary shelters to keep unhoused residents warm and dry. But, as winter comes to an end, these shelters close down. In Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco about 500 homeless people will be back on the streets.

This week the Bay Area lost a homegrown hero, Berkeley-born writer Ursula K. Le Guin.