On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom delivered his final State of the State address laying out his vision for California – in contrast to what he calls a chaotic federal government under President Trump. He highlighted California’s work on homelessness, education and healthcare. And framed the state as taking a leadership role in these issues across the country. We take a closer look at what Governor Newsom is proposing for California in the new year, and how he aims to close a state budget shortfall of nearly $18 billion. Guests: Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host of KQED's Political Breakdown Lindsey Holden, California politics reporter, Politico Patrick Ahrens, state Assemblymember representing California's 26th district, including Santa Clara county Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From convenience store pork chops to a distinct take on Peking duck, KQED food editor Luke Tsai discovered a lot of great dishes over the year. He joins us to dish on the best things he ate in 2025 and recommend places you might want to try in the new year. Despite continued restaurant closures, the Bay Area continues to offer amazing culinary options from all over the world, so how do you decide? We’ll hear from Tsai and other local food writers, Lauren Saria of The SF Standard and freelancer Octavio Peña, on their picks for what  you should nosh on in 2026. Guests: Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Arts and Culture Lauren Saria, food editor, The SF Standard Octavio Peña, food writer and contributor, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get out your crystal ball, trust your spidey-senses and look back at 2025’s major takeaways, because it’s time to help us predict 2026. Whether you think Democrats will win big in the midterms, that an entirely AI-generated song will top the Billboard charts or that we’ll finally stop Venmo charging our friends for dinner, we want to hear your predictions. We speak with three journalists about what they expect — and what we’ve learned from 2025. And we hear from you: Whether it’s good, bad or neutral, what do you think will happen this year? Guests: Izzie Ramirez, deputy editor of Future Perfect, a section focused on the myriad challenges and efforts in making the world a better place, Vox Media Emma Goldberg, reporter covering political subcultures and the way we live now for the Styles section, The New York Times Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist, The Washington Post; she writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column "The Color of Money" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When writer Anna Holmes began to get forgetful, she wondered if it was middle age, menopause or dementia-inflected memory loss. The brain fog made her reflect on not just her health, but her mortality. Having watched her mother slip away from dementia, she wondered if it was now happening to her. We talk to a neurologist and Holmes about her recent piece in the New Yorker, “My Mother’s Memory Loss, and Mine.” Guests: Anna Holmes, writer and editor; her latest piece in the New Yorker is titled "My Mother's Memory Loss, and Mine" Dr. Niyatee Samudra, clinical assistant professor of adult neurology, Stanford University Medical School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin has been sounding the alarm about creeping authoritarianism, warning of military forces on U.S. streets and extrajudicial killings on the high seas. Now, following a military raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, those warnings feel newly urgent. Slotkin joins us to discuss what the Maduro operation reveals about presidential power, and what Congressional oversight mechanisms are available. Furthermore, President Trump says the U.S. will now control Venezuela’s massive oil reserves — over 300 billion barrels of crude oil. Later in the hour, we talk about why the U.S. might keep Venezuela’s existing government in place, the real challenges of extracting Venezuela’s oil resources and how Trump’s use of the Monroe Doctrine is reshaping global politics. Guests: Elissa Slotkin, U.S. Senator representing Michigan; member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services Antonia Juhasz, investigative journalist covering energy and the environment for Rolling Stone and other outlets. She is the author of several books on the industry, including "The Tyranny of Oil." Kevin Whitaker, former U.S. ambassador to Colombia and deputy chief of mission in Venezuela. He is senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan think tank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A blackout that left one-third of San Francisco customers without power – some up to three days – was one of six outages that plagued PG&E throughout the holidays. Disabled Waymos blocked streets. The Nutcracker was cancelled. Restaurants and businesses were closed. Customers and politicians are demanding answers and calling for the end of PG&E’s monopoly. We’ll talk about the blackout and what it can tell us about the reliability of  our power sources and Waymo’s vulnerabilities, and we’ll  hear how it affected you. Guests: Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local Jeffrey Tumlin, former Director of Transportation, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Brad Templeton, entrepreneur, writer; Templeton is the chairman emeritus of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and previously worked at Waymo Bilal Mahmood, supervisor, District 5, Board of Supervisors San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 7 marks one year since the Palisades and Eaton fires ignited in Los Angeles County. MS NOW senior political reporter Jacob Soboroff reported on the fires, an assignment he pursued because he grew up in Pacific Palisades, despite the emotional challenges of the task. As he writes in his new book, “Firestorm,” “What are you supposed to say when the entire community you were born and raised in is wiped off the map, literally burning to the ground before your eyes?” Soboroff joins us to share how he found the words, where recovery stands in LA and why we’re now in “America’s New Age of Disaster.” Guests: Jacob Soboroff, senior political and national reporter, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC); author, "Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster" and "Separated: Inside An American Tragedy" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s world, it seems there’s a remedy for every modern ailment. Anxiety. Diabetes. Heart disease. There’s a pill for that! But what do the drugs we take to make us better really do? And where do they fit in the big picture of the disease business? In the new podcast, Drug Story, journalist Thomas Goetz digs into modern medicine, examining some of the most prescribed drugs one diagnosis and side effect at a time.   Guests: Thomas Goetz, journalist, author and entrepreneur. Host of the podcast 'Drug Story' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Plastic is everywhere” writes former EPA official Judith Enck, “wrapped around our food, stitched into our clothes, even coursing through our veins.” Enck says we need to drastically reduce our dependency on plastic to save our oceans, our air and ourselves. We talk to her about why it’s so hard to regulate plastic – and the individual ways we can free ourselves from its “synthetic embrace.” Each American uses about five hundred pounds of plastic a year. Enck’s new book is “The Problem with Plastic: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late.” Have you tried to cut plastic out of your life? Guests: Judith Enck, president, Beyond Plastics; served as a regional administrator with the EPA during the Obama Administration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a press conference on Saturday after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured, President Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a proper transition was in place. Trump said “he’s not afraid of boots on the ground,” and that the U.S. will sell seized Venezuelan oil, but the U.S. plan and next steps are far from clear. We’ll talk about Maduro’s capture and what it means for the U.S. and Venezuela. Guests: David Sanger, White House and National Security Correspondent, New York Times - His most recent book is "New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Save the West" Elizabeth Dickinson, Deputy Director of Latin America, International Crisis Group John Garamendi, U.S. Representative for California's 8th congressional district, former California Lt Governor Lateefah Simon, U.S. representative for California's 12th congressional district Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wikipedia, the crowdsourced encyclopedia, is one of the world’s most visited websites, with 11 billion page views each month. Its founder, Jimmy Wales, credits its success to one thing — trust — which he sees at odds with our increasing loss of faith in institutions and in each other. In his new book, he lays out what he calls a “blueprint for building things that last” in volatile times. We’ll talk to Wales about the site’s history and why right wing figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson are attacking it. The book is “The Seven Rules of Trust.” Has Wikipedia earned your trust? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sonoma native and former U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón’s collection of new and selected poetry contemplates her relationship to nature, the role of art in an unruly world, and our connection to one another. Her hope is to create “some strange idiosyncratic song, an imperfect echo, to nature and humanity so they will know how much they are loved.” We listen back to our conversation with Limón about her new collection, “Startlement.” Guests: Ada Limón, poet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 thinks that compassion for people suffering on either side of the war in Gaza has come to be seen as disloyal and even threatening – a zero sum empathy calculus that also applies to ideological battles fought in our country every day. Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained a rabbi, a journey she describes in her new memoir “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.” We talk to her about why knowing what it feels like to be an outsider has helped her enable connection among people with disparate views and what happens when we become incapable of empathy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Singing along with the crowd at a concert. Cheering together at a sports game. Laughing with the audience at a funny moment in a movie. Even getting work done in a busy cafe or library. These are moments when you might experience what has been called collective effervescence, a feeling of social unity that comes from a shared moment. As the year draws to a close, we want to celebrate the uniquely human moments that people share together. Tell us about a recent moment of collective effervescence that you’ve experienced. Guests: Shira Gabriel, psychology professor, University at Buffalo DJ D Sharp, official DJ for the Golden State Warriors Zoe Ellis, director of music ministries, GLIDE memorial church Bryan Steele, communications director, Golden Gate Triathalon Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When New York Times critic Amanda Hess was told her baby had a rare genetic condition, her first instinct was to “Google [her] way out of it.” But instead of comfort, she found anxiety – a feeling that would come to define her journey into parenthood. We talk to Hess about how technology, including fertility apps and high-end gadgets, are reshaping parenthood. Her new book is “Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take a look back at our favorite books of 2025. This year's best seller lists and critic choices were scattered with no clear big hits but there were still many excellent titles, says Traci Thomas, host of The Stacks podcast. We'll hear from critics, local authors and our bookworm listeners about what's worth reading in the new year. What was your best read of 2025?   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bay Area native and acclaimed director of “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights,” Jon M. Chu now brings one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals to the big screen with the conclusion of his box office-smashing two-part adaptation of “Wicked.” He joined Mina Kim onstage in San Francisco for a KQED Live event where he reflected on his Bay Area roots, his rise through Hollywood and the beauty of reimagining stories that feel larger than life. We listen to that conversation from December 3rd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICE raids. Tariffs. National Guard deployment. Ukraine. Venezuela. The longest federal shutdown in history. There was no shortage of major news headlines in 2025. We’ll try to make sense of  the biggest stories of the past year with a panel of journalists, and look at what 2026 might hold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fred Armisen, the comedian, actor and musician known for “Portlandia,” “Documentary Now!” and “SNL,” has a new album out called “100 Sound Effects.” There’s a jacket zipping, glass shattering, the “ooh” of receiving room service and even the sound we make when “Walking into a Video Room at an Art Museum and then Walking Out Quickly,” as the effect is titled. We’ll talk with Armisen about recording the sounds of the everyday, and we want to hear from you: What’s a sound you’d record in your life or would want preserved in a sound effect library decades from now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beyond just a wardrobe staple, jeans are often key parts of signature looks and core memories. Levi Strauss, the San Francisco company that brought jeans to the masses, has reopened its history museum, The Vault, with an exhibit called “Amped” that celebrates iconic denim looks worn by musicians including Kurt Cobain, Beyoncé, Britney Spears and Freddie Mercury. We listen back to our conversation about the exhibit and hear stories of your favorite pair of jeans. Tell us about the jeans that made you feel brave, the ones covered in patches that you refused to retire or maybe the pair that you were wearing when you met your first love. Guests: Gregory Climer, chair, fashion design program at California College of the Arts Audrey Kalman, created a denim archive for her master's degree from the University of Oregon Tracey Panek, Levi Strauss and Co. historian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices