Crosscurrents

This story originally aired in October of 2016. 

An effort to keep homeless people safe in Santa Clara County has gone to the dogs. And the occasional cat.

A San Jose shelter now opens its doors to pets, and hosts a free veterinary clinic the last Saturday of each month. The clinic is a partnership with the city’s Animal Care Center.

Oversized-vehicle parking bans are leaving people who sleep in RVs and vans searching for places to park and live, and leaving public officials trying to balance their empathy for those people with public nuisance complaints.

Today on Crosscurrents: 

• Marin County residents push for stricter regulations on RV parking, leaving the people who live in them scrambling.
• Renters and their advocates made a big statement last week with a series of coordinated actions all across the country and here in the Bay Area.
• A shelter in San Jose protecting the pets of people without homes.

The snow leopard, listed as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 1972, was reclassified as "vulnerable" earlier this month. So what does that mean for the survival of the species?

This weekend, the Bay waters will be filled with dragons. Well … dragon boats, anyway. The Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival takes place at Lake Merritt Saturday and Sunday. So, what’s Dragon Boat racing about?

Dr. Emily Silverman noticed that she and her colleagues were missing a creative outlet for processing their professional experiences. So, she created the live storytelling event, The Nocturnist.

The narrowly averted closure of a special care facility at St. Luke’s hospital in San Francisco highlights a bigger problem in the region — and even statewide.

Today on Crosscurrents: As one group of patients wins a reprieve, cities grapple with the problem of providing extended nursing care. Doctors and health-care workers, meanwhile, get it off their chests at a live-storytelling series created just for them — The Nocturnists.

Tune in to 91.7 FM at 5:00 p.m.

A number of immigration-related bills passed the California Assembly last Friday on the last day of the legislative session. These bills and hundreds of others are now headed to Governor Brown’s desk. They're part of a set that Democrats introduced as an act of "resistance" to Donald Trump.

Here's a list of the bills discussed:

San Francisco is suing five of the world's largest oil and gas companies for the costs of sea walls and other infrastructure needed to protect against climate change.

When SF Music Day first started, it was called Chamber Music Day. While the name has changed over the years, the heart of the one-day festival has not.

There's an increased use of live music at Bay Area’s major hospitals and hospices to bring healing and comfort to people who are near death.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• The bills that the California Assembly passed to protect immigrants — and the one that didn’t.
• What SF Music Day means to local performer Destiny Muhammad.
• How music brings comfort and healing to people nearing the end of life.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• An updated broadcast of the KALW original radio documentary "Kaepernick" 

More than two-thirds of the inmates in California's state prisons are Latino or African American, according to the most recent census. More than 1,000 military veterans are admitted annually.

It’s not only football players protesting during the national anthem. Members of the Oakland Unified School District Honors Band also discussed ways to take part.

This story originally aired in November of 2016.

On September 10, 2016 football players from Mission High School in San Francisco were headed to a game in Redwood City. They were led by San Francisco Chronicle 2015 football player of the year Niamey Harris, a 17-year-old senior quarterback from Bayview.

Colin Kaepernick ignited a heated conversation over race and patriotism with a simple gesture involving the national anthem.

We’re all familiar with the song; it’s played at the beginning of major sporting events in the United States.

This story has been updated since it originally aired in November of 2016.

For many people, this is a time to reflect on what it means to live in the United States. The election season revealed a divided nation, and many folks are saying they feel like strangers in their own country. Clearly, many already did.

Incidents of police misconduct here in the Bay Area and nationwide have fueled widespread public concern. That’s what inspired filmmaker Pete Nicks to make his documentary movie “The Force,” which is out right now.

State legislators put in a 48-hour marathon session before going on recess, passing hundreds of bills on to Governor Brown who must pass or veto them by October 15.

THE INTERSECTION looks at change in the Bay Area through physical intersections and street corners — where different cultures, desires and histories meet every day.

Today on Crosscurrents:

•  A new season of David Boyer’s celebrated series The Intersection, exploring a corner smack in the middle of Google's headquarters in Mountain View.

A federal judge declared Colorado’s sex-offender registry unconstitutional earlier this month, ruling that making sex-offenders' addresses, ages and photos accessible to the public is cruel and unusual punishment. Now, an effort to reform California’s own sex-offender registry is raising questions and concerns.

A lockdown happens when correctional officers decide there is a threat to the safety and security of a prison. That might be a fight, an assault, or a race riot. So what's it like in a lockdown? 

Aeeshah Clottey grew up black in segregated Louisiana. Her journey has taken her from the black church to the Nation of Islam, living in between the painful racial divides in the country — and always trying to find ways to mend our deep social wounds.

Today on Crosscurrents:

• The debate about sex offender registries, redemption and public safety.
• A story from our colleagues inside San Quentin State Prison to hear what it’s like to be on lockdown.
• A conversation with Aeeshah Clottey about racial healing.