Coronavirus in California

When we started making this podcast two months ago, we didn’t know how the pandemic would play out. Forty episodes later, we still don’t know how it will. There’s been good news and bad news, and news no one could have expected. The only constant has been uncertainty. Nevertheless, there is hope that we’ll eventually get to a better place. Our guest is Soumya Karlamangla, who covers healthcare in California for the Los Angeles Time...

Coronavirus Boom Busts California, For Now. After years of budget surpluses, California is now looking into a financial abyss due to the coronavirus. The legislature must pass a budget by June 15, as required by the state’s constitution. And it’s looking to be one that will see billions of dollars in cutbacks to programs and institutions that help millions of Californians. Our guest is State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.

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This weekend, thousands of churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of faith across California will reopen after being closed for two months because of the coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to close houses of worship was controversial. The state faces lawsuits alleging a violation of the 1st Amendment. The U.S. Department of Justice even sent the governor a warning letter. Our guest is Brenda Wood, lead pastor of the ...

As California slowly reopens, people are hitting the beaches, going to church, maybe meeting up with family members. But one thing Californians look forward to all year is still off the table: the big community festivals, fairs, concerts and art bazaars. Many of them won't take place until next year. Our guests are Sara Diederich and Melissa Kohout, the founders of the Jackalope Arts festival, which has been holding events in Pasad...

The pandemic has frozen professional and collegiate sports across the world, with Major League Baseball planning to return this summer. But with new thoughts on high-fives, tags at home plate and spitting out all those sunflower seeds, the baseball diamond isn’t going to look the same. Our guest is Eric Valenzuela, the head coach for Long Beach State’s baseball team, the Dirtbags.

More reading: How MLB proposes to protect players f...

Throughout history, pandemics have wrought hell not just on families and economies but on specific social groups. And at times like these, politicians and members of the general public sometimes cast minorities as scapegoats. For the coronavirus in the United States, unfortunately, this racist hammer is falling hard on Asian Americans. Our guests are Jen Yamato and Frank Shyong, the hosts of our Asian Enough podcast at the Los Ange...

At this point, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. have lost their lives to COVID-19. To try to memorialize the victims in Southern California as the individual lives that they were, the Los Angeles Times has created a project called “The Pandemic's Toll: Lives Lost in Southern California.” These are remembrances not of celebrities or politicians, but of your neighbors, your family members, your friends. Our guest is Times metr...

The island of Catalina is the keeper of many myths and histories in Southern California. This time of year, it should be bustling with visitors. But due to the coronavirus, it's not. And the museum, like its peers across the Southland, has been closed down altogether. Our guest is Julie Lee Perlin, the executive director of the Catalina Island Museum.

More reading: On Catalina Island, concern yet calm as coronavirus threatens touri...

What will history say about this crazy period of the coronavirus? That depends on how our lives, our thoughts and our experiences are being documented right now. Archives, like the ones at the Huntington Library and the Center for Oral and Public History at Cal State Fullerton, tell us a lot about what transpired in the past. Not just what our leaders did, or what made the papers, but also about the day-to-day lives of regular folk...

In a city like Los Angeles, where renters make up about 62 percent of the population, you don’t hear much sympathy for landlords. But not all landlords are alike. Some own dozens or even hundreds of properties. Others are mom-and-pop landlords, who may own one or two properties, and keep afloat with the rent provided by their tenants. Our guest is Darryl Marshak, who owns a small complex in Mid City.

More reading: Homeowners who ca...

Orange County has received a lot of national attention regarding the coronavirus, and none of it positive. Cities have sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom for shutting down beaches. Protesters by the thousands have gathered, against local rules, with no attempt to socially distance. Businesses have opened, daring authorities to swoop in and stop them. Meanwhile, COVID 19 cases continue to climb. Our guest is Orange County Supervisor ...

Hollywood, the center of the universe when it comes to producing entertainment, is unrecognizable right now. Live shoots have been placed on hold indefinitely. Studios are running out of shows in the can to air. Moviegoing is essentially impossible across California, unless your city has a drive-in. With the typical gatekeepers in hibernation, creatives are learning how to make things on their own. Our guest is writer, actor, produ...

California's rural areas often feel isolated from what happens in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Up in the northern reaches of the state, in places like Crescent City and Alturas, the population is majority white, overwhelmingly Republican, and it’s hardly been touched by the coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to the coronavirus has furthered their feelings of alienation. Our guest is Hailey Branson-Potts, who co...

There are wild allegations about how the coronavirus started, shadowy claims about its spread, and apocalyptic pronouncements about an end goal with COVID-19. The Internet Age in particular has allowed many conspiracy theories to spread, and fast. Kind of like an epidemic. Our guest is Kathryn Olmsted, a history professor at UC Davis who studies conspiracy theories.

More reading: Facebook and YouTube scramble to remove 'Plandemic' ...

City Lights marks the spot where Allen Ginsberg read his masterpiece, “Howl.” It’s an iconic independent bookstore that still today manages to keep the bohemian vibe of San Francisco alive. But in the two months it’s been closed due to the coronavirus, City Lights has been hit hard. Our guest is CWO Elaine Katzenberger.

More reading: Newsom unveils rules governing how quickly California communities can reopen businesses.

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California's emergency rooms have been largely spared the war zone scenes we've seen in places such as Italy and New York. But ERs across Southern California are still adapting to treat the influx of COVID-19 patients, and they are preparing for a possible second wave of the coronavirus. Our guests are Zahir Basri, an emergency medicine doctor in Los Angeles who sits on the board of directors for the California chapter of the Ameri...

In the middle of March, South Korea and the United States each had 90 deaths linked to COVID-19. Now, more than 70,000 Americans have died from the disease, while the total in South Korea hasn’t topped 300. How did the country do it? Our guest is Victoria Kim, a foreign correspondent for the L.A. Times who is based in Seoul.

More reading: Missing Major League Baseball? Here’s Korean baseball to the rescue.

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The American newspaper industry has suffered for decades, partially due to the loss of advertising brought on by the internet age. With the coronavirus crisis, many newsrooms have had to call a code blue. Papers have had to furlough staff and some have even shut down in the last month. For alternative weeklies, the situation is particularly dire. Our guest is Jimmy Boegle, owner and editor of the Coachella Valley Independent.

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The coronavirus has laid bare fundamental problems with our society, and activists are seizing on this moment of collective social consciousness. They're rethinking what organizing, protest and social change look like in a locked-down world. Our guest is Patrisse Cullors, a leader of the movement to reform L.A. jails and co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

More reading: Coronavirus energizes the labor movement. Can it last?

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