Political Breakdown KQED

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget tackles a total deficit of $45 billion, including cuts made earlier this year. The governor is proposing to spread the pain widely, with cuts to programs ranging from healthcare and scholarships for the middle class to climate change initiatives he supports. Scott, Marisa and Guy hash out the winners and losers in the May Revise budget.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott and Marisa remember a Republican maverick: former Bay Area Congressman Pete McCloskey. He fought for the environment, helped write the Endangered Species Act, opposed the Vietnam War and was the first House Republican to call for Nixon’s impeachment. McCloskey died this week at age 96.
Then, KQED politics reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez joins to talk with Scott and Marisa about the race for mayor of San Francisco. Mayor London Breed is facing several strong challengers as she struggles to convince voters she’s turning around the city she’s led for six years.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cathy Darling Allen was Shasta County’s elected county clerk and registrar of voters for two decades, and for the first part of that, like most registrars, she toiled in relative obscurity. Then came 2016, Donald Trump and a growing narrative on the right that the voting system couldn't be trusted. 
Darling Allen retired on Sunday, after announcing several months ago that she's facing some serious health problems. Marisa and Scott chat with her about her tenure and the growing pressure on election workers.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, and universities' response to them, have attracted international attention. Months after it began, the movement shows no signs of slowing down, even as the school year comes to an end.
Scott is joined by two student journalists who have been on the front lines covering the protests at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement began in the 1960s, and UCLA, where the actions of police officers and counterprotesters are under scrutiny after a violent confrontation last week.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tomorrow the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether to remove a controversial constitutional amendment from the November ballot. The measure – sponsored by the California Business Roundtable – has triggered a huge battle between business on the one hand and Democrats with their allies in organized labor on the other.
Scott and Marisa are joined by Bloomberg News correspondent Laura Mahoney to talk about what the constitutional amendment would do and why the governor is asking the state's Supreme Court to remove it from the ballot.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Biden narrowly won both Arizona and Nevada in 2020. Now, both states have emerged as key battleground states in 2024, as abortion, border security, election conspiracy theories and the economy are all playing out there. Scott is joined by New York Times reporter Kellen Browning to discuss what impact the two states will have on who controls the White House and Senate. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices