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Dec 3, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
This story aired in the December 4, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents. Stargazing in San Francisco isn’t an easy feat—if light pollution doesn’t block out your view, the fog probably will. But that doesn’t deter the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers from trying, at City Star Parties they hold once a month. They’re part of a long history of Bay Area astronomers helping city dwellers take a peek into outer space.
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Aug 8, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
Many of us are watching our favorite athletes compete in Paris. And though it’s a spectacle we often think of as steeped in tradition, new sports are constantly being added to the games. Like surfing and skateboarding -at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. This summer’s new event is "breaking," often known as “breakdancing,” though breakers themselves don’t use that term. It’s an addition that has its critics.
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
This story aired in the July 8th episode of Crosscurrents. Twelve years ago, a UCSF researcher teamed up with city and nonprofit officials to launch a novel experiment meant to answer one question: can singing in a choir provide real health benefits for older adults?
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May 7, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
1 of 7 — Attendee with BART-themed holiday sweater Attendee with BART-themed holiday sweater Benjamin Shaykin 2 of 7 — Wesley Hinkley (age 15), volunteer from the Western Railway Museum Wesley Hinkley (age 15), volunteer from the Western Railway Museum Benjamin Shaykin 3 of 7 — Crowd listening to speech Crowd listening to speech Benjamin Shaykin 4 of 7 — People waiting in line to ride a legacy BART train People waiting in line to ride a legacy BART train Benjamin Shaykin 5 of 7 — People on...
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Apr 17, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
When a rare earthquake rattled the East Coast earlier this month, Bay Area residents may have felt some comfort in knowing that our communities are well-prepared for seismic activity. But San Francisco is thinking more — concretely — about safety. The Concrete Building Safety Program kicks off this week, with a focus on monitoring and cataloging concrete buildings that lack steel reinforcement and are seen to be at particular risk.
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Apr 17, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
In its heyday, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was the hub of a thriving Black neighborhood. Today, there’s a move to revive it through one of its most iconic nightclubs. Click the play button above to listen to the story It’s about 9am on a Friday morning, and there aren’t very many other people around on Seventh Street. Things are pretty quiet — if you don’t count the regular sound of BART trains directly above us going in and out of the West Oakland station.
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Apr 4, 2024 | 
kalw.org | Sheryl Kaskowitz
Aaron Peskin will join a crowded field in the San Francisco mayoral race, according to CBS News Bay Area. He will make a formal announcement at a community rally in Chinatown’s Portsmouth Square on Saturday morning. Peskin currently serves as the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is in his fourth term representing North Beach, Chinatown and the Financial District. Peskin has been considering a run for mayor as a progressive candidate for several months.
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Feb 26, 2024 | 
publishersweekly.com | Becca Rothfeld |Sheryl Kaskowitz |Norman Ohler |Nell Irvin Painter
Mikel Maria Delgado, illus. by Lili Chin. TarcherPerigee, $20 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-54133-3Animal behaviorist Delgado debuts with a cheerful manual on “how to improve your cat’s life through play.” Cats have an instinctive need to hunt, she explains, and play provides a crucial outlet for indulging that urge. Delgado encourages owners to mimic birds, mice, or other prey with toys, which might mean running a stick under a rug or waving feathers in the air.
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Feb 26, 2024 | 
publishersweekly.com | Becca Rothfeld |Sheryl Kaskowitz |Norman Ohler |Nell Irvin Painter
Chinoy, a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, debuts with an incisive and entertaining look at the origins of computerized election forecasting. Rather than a product of the digital age, machine-generated election night projections date back to the early 1950s, Chinoy explains. He focuses in on the 1952 election cycle, when efforts to use machine technology to predict winners became a prominent feature of newly televised election returns.
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Feb 20, 2024 | 
publishersweekly.com | Margaret Wappler |Becca Rothfeld |Sheryl Kaskowitz |Norman Ohler
A Good Bad Boy: Luke Perry and How a Generation Grew UpCultural critic Wappler (Neon Green) serves up a loving if unwieldy overview of the acting career of Perry (1966–2019), best known for playing Dylan McKay on the 1990s teen drama Beverly Hills 90210. Growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, Perry endured his father’s drunken rages until his mother got a divorce when Perry was six.
