Shows
Marketplace TechNew CA law requires Uber and Lyft to bargain with driversCalifornia has enacted a law requiring rideshare giants Uber and Lyft to collectively bargain with their drivers. Because the drivers are technically independent contractors, they otherwise would not have federally-protected labor rights like full-time employees. The new state law could be a game changer.Marketplace’s Nova Safo spoke with Levi Sumagaysay, reporter at CalMatters, who helps sift through the details of the law.
2025-10-2009 min
Valley ViewsWhat's the Impact of Tariffs in California?On this episode of Valley Views, Executive Director Blake Zante engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Levi Sumagaysay of CalMatters, Ryan Jacobsen of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, and Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Together, they examine the impact of tariffs in California—especially on agriculture and the broader economy. The discussion delves into how global trade policy affects local producers, consumers, and workers, while shedding light on the state’s response to shifting international markets.This conversation offers expert insights into the intersection of trade, policy, and agriculture in California—and th...
2025-05-2548 min
Capitol Weekly PodcastSpecial Episode: California Insurance Crisis – The State of the Insurance IndustryThis Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at the California Insurance Crisis, which was held in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.This is Panel 1: The State of the Insurance Industry, featuring Amy Bach of United Policyholders; Rex Frazier, Personal Insurance Federation of California; Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley.Moderated by Levi Sumagaysay of CalmattersThanks to our California Conferences sponsors:THE TRIBAL ALLIANCE OF SOVEREIGN INDIAN NATIONS, WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION, KP PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PERRY COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, CAPITOL ADVOCACY, THE WEIDEMAN GROUP, CALKIN PUBLIC AFFAIRS and CALIFORNIA PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS
2025-05-2158 min
KQED's The California ReportCould Kamala Harris' Next Move Be A Run For CA Governor?Former Vice President Kamala Harris has returned home to Los Angeles after losing to Donald Trump in the November election. The question now is what will she do next? Many pundits are speculating about a possible run for California governor. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQEDInsurers have already paid out around $7 billion in claims to people who lost homes or suffered property damage in the LA fires.Reporter: Levi Sumagaysay, CalMattersAnother fire flared up Tuesday night...
2025-02-2011 min
KPBS RoundtableCalifornia's insurance troubles, San Diego homeless deathsThe ongoing devastating fires in Los Angeles have likely caused tens of billions of dollars’ in damages, with some estimates reaching far higher. What does that mean for California’s already struggling insurance market?Then, around 500 people who were homeless died in San Diego County last year. We take a look at the numbers and what they mean.Plus, a look at other stories from the week on the roundup.Guests:Levi Sumagaysay, economy reporter, CalMattersBlake Nelson, homelessness reporter, The San Diego-Union TribuneAndrew Bracken, producer, KPBS
2025-01-1746 min
SoundsideThe California wildfire insurance crisisFor over a week now, Los Angeles has been devastated by aggressive wildfire that are expected to be the most costly in California’s history. While many have already seen their communities burned, we won’t know the full extent of the damage for weeks. Already, thousands of families are wondering how they are going to recover and rebuild. Central to that question is how much of the costs insurance will cover. And it comes as California is going through a home and renter’s insurance crisis. Guest Levi Sumagaysa...
2025-01-1617 min
KQED's The California ReportCalifornia School Districts Struggle To Build Out Classrooms For Transitional KindergartenWhen school starts in 2025, every 4-year-old in the state will be able to attend public school. It’s a new grade known as transitional kindergarten. But in the lead-up, many schools are struggling to find the necessary classroom space for these additional classes.Reporter: Elly Yu, LAist A California law that set guidelines for classifying workers did not unfairly target Uber and other gig companies. That’s according to a federal appeals court ruling that came down on Monday.Reporter: Levi Sumagaysay, CalMatters Learn...
2024-06-1110 min
KQED's The California ReportMixed Reaction From California To Trump VerdictReaction was not surprisingly mixed to Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, marking the end of the former president’s historic hush money trial. Republicans are still standing strong behind Trump, while many Bay Area residents said they were surprised and pleased by the verdict.Analysts say that Trump’s guilty verdicts may not sway his GOP base, but they could change how swing voters view him and the coming November election. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Looking to fix the state’s insurance crisis, Governor Gavin Newsom un...
2024-05-3110 min
KQED's ForumState Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Prop. 22 … and the Gig EconomyThe gig economy, as it has been known, was built around a controversial idea — that an Uber driver, for instance, did not work for Uber. These apps, instead, were merely making a market for workers, which a user could access to hire someone. Many labor leaders rejected this idea, and it has led to fights in the legislature, courts and over Proposition 22 in 2020, when voters handed the gig economy a huge win. The constitutionality of Prop. 22 is now before the California State Supreme Court, and we’ll go over the arguments, which the court heard this week, and discuss how...
2024-05-2355 min
KQED's The California ReportMexican Citizens In California Could Play Key Role In Country's Upcoming ElectionNext month, voters will go to the polls in Mexico to select the country's next president. The election is already historic because the two leading candidates, Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez, are women. The election will also be notable because of the likely record number of Mexican citizens living in California and the rest of the U.S. who will cast ballots.Guest: Tony Payan, director of Center for the U.S. and Mexico, Rice University Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s one-time staffer will replace him in Congress, at least...
2024-05-2210 min
Zócalo Public SquareWhat Is A Good Job Now? In Gig WorkLive from the New Parkway Theater in Oakland, CA: Gig worker and advocate Sergio Avedian, Gigs founder and CEO Allen Narcisse, and the Workers Lab chief research officer Shelly Steward visit Zócalo to help us understand how we might make gig work good work. This is the fifth event in Zócalo's series “What Is a Good Job Now?,” co-presented with the James Irvine Foundation. This discussion is moderated by CalMatters reporter Levi Sumagaysay.
Visit https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/ to read our articles and learn about upcoming events.
2024-03-141h 07
KQED's The California ReportRunning Club Provides Sense Of Community In LA's Skid RowWe continue our series on social isolation and the search for community in California. One place where it can be very difficult to find community is L.A.'s Skid Row neighborhood, where many people live on the streets in squalor, as they also battle mental health and addiction problems. But the Skid Row Running Club has been a place where people can find friendship while also getting healthier. Guest: Jeremy Price, Skid Row Running ClubUniversity of California Regents voted to suspend work on a proposal that would have allowed the univer...
2024-01-2610 min
Best New Ideas in MoneyRevitalized unions ignite ‘hot labor summer’MarketWatch’s Levi Sumagaysay breaks down why actors, teachers, hotel workers and others are striking — and why the recent work stoppages have been in the works for decades.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-08-3122 min
The BayWhy Does Uber Want to Team Up with Taxis?The rise of Uber in San Francisco a decade ago marked the beginning of the end for much of the taxi industry. Taxi companies went bankrupt and drivers struggled to pay off their medallions, pushing many of them into debt. But now, Uber sees an opportunity in the same industry it nearly destroyed. Uber has struck a deal with taxi hailing apps in San Francisco and New York that will allow riders to hail taxis through Uber’s app. Some taxi drivers see an opportunity to boost their pay; others are skeptical that the com...
2022-04-1317 min
The BayIs ‘Uber for Nurses’ Coming to California?A proposal to spread the gig economy to health care could be on the ballot this fall. A group calling itself Californians for Equitable Healthcare Access has filed a measure to classify nurses, dental hygienists, occupational therapists and other health care workers who find work online as independent contractors.The law firm that submitted this proposal also worked on Proposition 22, which allowed companies to make app-based drivers independent contractors, instead of employees with benefits like health insurance. Prop. 22 passed overwhelmingly — thanks in large part to the hundreds of millions of dollars that gig companies like Uber spent on...
2022-02-0718 min
Untying KnotsTruth and Transformation Spotlight - Money Left on the Table: Unpacking the Economic Argument for DiversityMoney Left on the Table: Unpacking The Economic Argument for DiversityIn this special episode of Untying Knots, hosts Erica Licht and Nikhil Raghuveera share a discussion from the 2021 Truth and Transformation Conference, hosted by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project on October 14-15th 2021. The conference brought together a range of scholars, organizers, students, and organizational leaders to address whether organizations have lived up to the statements, commitments, and promises they made to racial equity a year before.This panel, titled “Money Left on the Table,” addressed the economic argument for diversity and discussed two...
2022-02-021h 07
Race and CoronavirusThe COVID-19 obit that went viralThis podcast features an interview with Kristin Urquiza, pictured here with her dad, Mark Anthony Urquiza, in 2016. Her dad died of COVID-19 last month, and her obituary for him — in which she blamed politicians for contributing to his death — went viral. And because this is our last podcast, we also talk about what we learned from this project, and our concerns for the future as this pandemic rages on. For more on our conversation with Urquiza, plus a perspective about gun violence amid this pandemic, please read our last newsletter. Thanks for reading and listening.
2020-07-2245 min
Race and CoronavirusCOVID-19 and Latino communitiesIn this podcast, we interviewed Maria Lemus, executive director of Vision y Compromiso, an organization dedicated to the health and well-being of underrepresented people, especially by training promotores — who are liaisons trusted by the Latino community — and community health workers.For more on our conversation with Lemus, plus a new campaign on behalf of essential workers, please read this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit raceandcoronavirus.substack.com
2020-07-1527 min
Race and CoronavirusOn politics and pandemicsIn this podcast, we interviewed Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, about the political impact of the coronavirus crisis. She the People is a national organization dedicated to boosting women of color in politics.For more on our conversation with her, plus other political players, please read this week’s newsletter, which is all about politics. Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit raceandcoronavirus.substack.com
2020-07-0841 min
Race and CoronavirusThe coronavirus crisis and its effects on educationIn this podcast, we interviewed Dr. Elisha Smith Arrillaga and Cole Margen about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on education. Smith Arrillaga is executive director of The Education Trust-West, and Margen is a history teacher at Oakland High School.For more on our conversation with them, plus other teachers, students and parents, please read this week’s newsletter, which is all about education. Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit raceandcoronavirus.substack.com
2020-07-0128 min
Race and CoronavirusTech, COVID-19 and raceIn this podcast, we interviewed Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, a national group that uses online activism to advocate for African Americans. We talked about technology and its role in the response to the COVID-19 crisis and to the widespread protests over racism.For more on our conversation with Robinson, please read our story on technology, the coronavirus and race in this week’s newsletter. It also includes quotes from an Edward Snowden talk this week, plus updates on immigration news and anti-Asian sentiment. Thanks for reading and listening. This is...
2020-06-2422 min
Race and CoronavirusCOVID-19's effects on small businessesIn this podcast, we interviewed Luz Urrutia, Alicia Villanueva and Mikkoh Chen about how small businesses are dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Urrutia, left, is CEO of Opportunity Fund, a nonprofit microfinance organization. Villanueva, center, is owner of Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas. Chen, right, is venture director for Gold Rush, an accelerator for Asian-led businesses.For more on our conversation with Luz, Alicia and Mikkoh, please read our in-depth story on small businesses in this week’s newsletter, which includes a separate story about a Bay Area business accelerator’s COVID-19 initiative, #FilipinosFeedtheFrontlines. Thanks for reading and lis...
2020-06-1727 min
Race and CoronavirusCovering coronavirus and raceIn this podcast, we interviewed Dion Lim, news anchor and reporter at KGO-TV/ABC7 News in San Francisco, about covering racism and the COVID-19 crisis as an Asian American woman.For more on our conversation with Lim, please read our story on media coverage of this pandemic in this week’s newsletter, which also includes a perspective on the importance of diversity in journalism and an update about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get...
2020-06-1025 min
Race and CoronavirusBlack health and the coronavirus crisisIn this podcast, we interviewed Drs. Fatima Cody Stanford and David Carlisle about African American health and coronavirus, plus bias and racism. Stanford is a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Carlisle is president and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. For more on our conversation with Drs. Stanford and Carlisle, please read our in-depth story on African American health in this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this wit...
2020-06-0330 min
Race and CoronavirusImmigration and the weaponization of COVID-19In this podcast, we interviewed Alida Garcia, vice president of advocacy at advocacy group FWD.us, about how the coronavirus crisis is affecting U.S. immigration policy and practices.For more on our conversation with Garcia, please read our in-depth story on immigration in this week’s newsletter. Also, check out our Q&A with immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas, plus our recommendation of a new podcast series called “Homeland Insecurity.” Thanks for reading and listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonu...
2020-05-2725 min
Race and CoronavirusEssential workers in the time of COVID-19This podcast includes two interviews, one with Congressman Ro Khanna and the other with gig workers Vanessa Bain and Jon Wong. In the first interview, U.S. Rep. Khanna, who represents parts of Santa Clara County and Alameda County, spoke with us about his Essential Workers Bill of Rights, which he introduced with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts. In the second, Bain and Wong talked about their experiences working for delivery services Instacart and Caviar. Please read our in-depth story about essential workers — which includes more from our conversations with Khanna, Bain and Wong, plus statistics and other vo...
2020-05-2043 min
Race and CoronavirusAnti-Asian sentiment. Plus the importance of racial data about COVID-19In our first podcast interview, California Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-19th District, talked with us about anti-Asian sentiment because of this pandemic.Welcome to Race and CoronavirusWe are reporters and editors with decades of journalism experience between us. Levi, pictured on the left, spent most of her career at the San Jose Mercury News and has specialized in technology and business news. Pati, at right, is editor in chief at San Francisco magazine and has been a demographics editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, among other places. As l...
2020-05-1318 min
Race and CoronavirusIntroducing Race and CoronavirusWelcome. We are reporters and editors with decades of journalism experience between us. Levi Sumagaysay spent most of her career at the San Jose Mercury News and has specialized in technology news. Pati Navalta is editor in chief at San Francisco Magazine and has been a demographics editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, among other places. As longtime storytellers, we know we are in the middle of one of the biggest stories of our lives. Race and Coronavirus is a newsletter and podcast that will address something close to our hearts: tracking the effects of this pandemic o...
2020-05-0811 min