Bay Area Weather: First Atmospheric River Storm Arrives Next Week
Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The National Weather Service is forecasting the Bay Area’s first major atmospheric river of the season next week.
Between Tuesday and Thursday, the storm could drop as much as two inches of rain from Marin to Santa Cruz.
This weather is forecast to hit during the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in San Francisco — an event that was already predicted to bring disruption to traffic and public transit as world leaders gather in the city for the high-security event.
Why this matters: NWS meteorologist Dalton Behringer advises Californians to pay close attention to weather reports as the storm progresses and to prepare their homes for what could be the first of many Bay Area-wide storms this fall and winter. Here’s how to prepare your home for a storm.
Watch Our Documentary “The Fight for Marriage Equality”
Image: KQED News
This past Saturday marked 15 years since a majority of California voters approved Proposition 8 — a ban on same-sex marriage. Months after Prop. 8 passed, two LGBTQ couples, including Berkeley residents Sandy Stier and Kris Perry, sued the state over the right to marry.
This lawsuit led to Proposition 8 being overturned, bringing marriage equality to the Golden State. However, the tapes from the trial were not made available to the public. A media coalition led by KQED fought to make these recordings public — and won in 2022.
In 2023, KQED invited the two couples to our studios so they could watch the trial tapes for the first time and see their younger selves go on the stand for marriage equality.
7 Hidden Perks Your Public Library Might Offer You
Illustration: Kaz Fantone/NPR
Everyone knows you can save money on books by checking them out at the library instead of buying them. But did you know libraries can help you save on other things, too?
In some locations, you can borrow tools (saving a purchase at the hardware store), take free language classes and even get free tickets to local museums and attractions.
Here are seven surprising ways the library can help you save money.
SF Taxi Drivers Are Still Waiting for Loan Relief for Their City-Purchased Medallions
Photo: Beth LaBerge/KQED
When Uber and Lyft elbowed their way into the cab business back in the mid-2000s, taxi drivers fought back and demanded debt relief from the cities that sold them cab permits, known as medallions, for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The new “ride-sharing” apps, which weren’t required to buy medallions, drove down business for taxi drivers — and those drivers wanted and needed restitution from the city.
Today, taxi drivers — many of whom are immigrants and people of color — are still awaiting relief to pay off loans for their taxi medallions that the city sold to hundreds of drivers starting in 2010.
Why this matters: Many Bay Area taxi drivers have defaulted on their medallion mortgages, and those who have not, struggle to stay afloat. Taxi driver Ali Asghar estimates paying off the medallion will now take about 12 years if the rates of ridership don’t drop even further, and that’s only if he sticks with his 14 hours a day, six days a week work schedule.
