KQED's Forum

The Oroville Dam spillway reopened Tuesday after two years and $1.1 billion spent on repairs, debris cleanup and emergency response efforts. That's only one of many water emergencies that California faced in recent years. The state just navigated one of the worst droughts in its history. Felicia Marcus, who stepped down as Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board early this year, joins us to discuss California's water challenges, what the state learned from the recent drought and the future of its water wars.

Residents of San Francisco’s waterfront neighborhoods are pushing back on a plan by Mayor London Breed to build a 225-bed navigation center for the homeless on the Embarcadero. In public meetings about the proposal last month, opponents cited public safety concerns with having a center in such a housing-dense, tourist-heavy area. A coalition of residents called “Safe Embarcadero for All” launched an online fundraising campaign for legal costs to block the center. A counter coalition also launched, quickly out-fundraising the navigation center’s opponents. Forum hears from both perspectives on the city’s plan.

Dave Eggers' newest novel 'The Parade' follows the construction of a road through an unidentified developing country that is recovering from a recent civil war. Written in spare prose, and with few identifying details about location and characters, the book becomes a parable of the increasing moral complexities involved in international aid. Eggers joins us to speak about the book and the questions it poses about the ethics of well-intentioned development projects.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post this weekend, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg detailed four areas where he says Facebook and other social media companies should be regulated, including election security, privacy and data protection. Forum talks with industry watchers about Zuckerberg's recommendations and the feasibility of government curtailing fake news, data breaches and extremism on social networks. Tell us: What did you think of Zuckerberg's op-ed? How, if at all, should government regulate social media?

In her new book, "How Safe Are We?," former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano reflects on how secure the U.S. has been since 9/11. According to Napolitano, the most urgent threats America faces are climate change and cybersecurity -- not a crisis at the southern border. We'll talk to Napolitano, who implemented Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 under President Obama, about immigration policy under President Trump, the current state of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as her role as president of the University of California system at a time of admissions scandals and free speech controversies.

The Department of Energy revealed last week that it secretly authorized at least six U.S. companies to sell nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, which wants to build two nuclear power plants. Separately, appearing on Capitol Hill last Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that North Korea has not taken steps to rid itself of its arsenal. We'll discuss what these developments mean for U.S. national security and foreign relations.

Forum reviews, analyzes and answers your questions about the latest news from Washington, D.C.

A bill that would require California retailers to issue digital receipts instead of paper ones by 2022 passed the Assembly Natural Resources committee this week. Known as 'Skip the Slip,' the bill would ban paper receipts unless a customer specifically asks for one and impose penalties of up to $25 for each day a business violates the rule. Bill proponents argue that it will reduce waste and exposure to chemicals that coat paper receipts. But opponents say the shift to e-receipts would be expensive and logistically difficult for retailers and that it could violate privacy by creating a digital trail for every purchase.

Hollywood. Death. Avocados. These are only a few of the things Adam Conover has "ruined" on his hit TV series, "Adam Ruins Everything." Shining a light on popular culture, standard practices and household items alike, Conover's series finds humor in the ugly truths behind, well, everything. We'll talk with Conover about his comedy tour, the upcoming season of "Adam Ruins Everything," and what he's learned as an "investigative comedian."

Friday, March 29 was supposed to be Brexit Day, when the United Kingdom would officially leave the European Union. Instead, members of the British Parliament continue to reject Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiated deal for the split, delaying any final action. As a key vote is set to take place Friday, we'll check in on Parliament's options and what they'd mean for the U.K., Europe and the global economy.

Dudleyas are squat succulent plants with red-tipped silvery leaves that grow abundantly along California's rocky coastline, sprouting stalks of brightly colored flowers during the spring bloom season. They're also an ongoing target of organized plant poachers, who've been illegally uprooting dudleyas for distribution as far away as China and South Korea. We'll talk about what's driving global demand for the plants and what's being done to protect them.

Caltrans is planning a major rebuild of the MacArthur Maze, the convergence of three major highways: 580, 880 and 80, near the toll plaza on the east side of the Bay Bridge. The new construction would increase the amount of clearance for trucks on overpasses, but could cause shutdowns on an already jam-packed thoroughfare. Forum talks about Caltrans' proposals for the rebuild and what it could mean for commuters in the short and long term.

A bill introduced this week in the California legislature would require the state health department to approve and track all vaccine exemptions given by physicians. Since 2015, when California eliminated the "personal belief" dispensation for vaccination requirements, the rate of medical exemptions for kindergartners has more than tripled, to 0.7 percent for the 2017-2018 school year. According to the bill's sponsors, some of those exemptions were granted fraudulently. We'll discuss the proposal.

Three San Francisco Supervisors are pledging to end the jailing of youth in the city. The move comes after a San Francisco Chronicle investigation found that serious crime by youth is down more than 80 percent from its peak in the mid-'90s. That's left San Francisco's 150 bed juvenile hall, like most youth lock up facilities in the state, less than half full. Forum talks about why youth crime has been declining and what it would mean to replace the city's expensive juvenile hall with alternatives to incarceration.

The future of humanity rests in the hands of just nine companies, according to futurist Amy Webb. In her new book, "The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity," Webb explores the evolution of artificial intelligence as it seeps into our everyday lives through smart appliances, transforming our homes into "data generation machines" for large corporations. Webb argues that AI should be regulated instead of allowing a few companies, market forces and geopolitics to shape our future. What regulations would you like to see for artificial intelligence?