KQED's Forum

Stephanie Land struggled to make ends meet while working as a maid for $9 per hour. In her new memoir, “Maid,” she writes about the physically taxing labor and the difficulties she faced as a single mother living in poverty, including domestic violence and challenges with public assistance. We'll talk with Land about her experiences as a maid and the grim reality faced by many of America’s working poor.

The Senate passed a compromise spending and border security bill Thursday that provides significantly less than the $5.7 billion in southern border wall funding sought by President Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the President will sign the bill to avoid another government shutdown and will simultaneously declare a national emergency to obtain border wall funds by other means. We'll talk about the politics and practicalities of the emergency declaration.

“Eight Dates,” by relationship experts Julie and John Gottman outlines conversation-based outings designed to rekindle connection in established couples and weed out mismatches in new ones. The recommended dates include an outing centered around conflict — the “agree to disagree” date — and others that focus on sex, work and commitment. This Valentine's Day, we talk with Julie Gottman about her latest book and her decades of research on marriage. And we want to hear from you: What kind of dates keep your relationship exciting?

Governor Newsom has put the grand vision of high-speed rail between San Francisco and Los Angeles on hold. The announcement came in Tuesday's State of the State address, where Newsom committed to 119-miles of high-speed rail between Merced and Bakersfield, but pulled back from former Governor Jerry Brown's larger plan, citing cost overruns and mismanagement. With uncertainty now surrounding the project, we'll discuss the new direction for California's high speed rail under Governor Newsom.

A new UC Berkeley study utilizing high speed video reveals that some hummingbirds have evolved with an eye toward fighting, not feeding. The video shows how hummingbirds stab, spar and push each other in battles over territory and that some birds have developed beaks shaped to tear out the feathers of their competition. We'll hear about the groundbreaking 10-year study and celebrate these creatures whose tiny hearts beat 1,200 times per minute and who consume half their weight in sugar daily. What have you always wanted to know about hummingbirds?

A “Pineapple Express” storm is expected to batter the Bay Area for two days, starting late Tuesday. The storm is an atmospheric river heading toward the West Coast from the tropics south of Hawaii. Caltrans plans to close Highway 1 south of Big Sur as a precaution against mudslides and the National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings across the Bay Area. Forum considers the anticipated storm. What questions do you have?

San Francisco health officials are struggling to deal with a resurgance in methamphetamine use. In the past five years meth-related deaths have doubled, hospitalizations have spiked and nearly half of of the psychiatric emergency visits at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital are from people on meth. Forum talks about the toll the drug is taking on the city's public health and how officials are responding to what they are calling a new speed epidemic.

In his first State of the State address on Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to explain his decision to recall hundreds of National Guard members from the Mexican border, in defiance of President Trump. Newsom will also likely talk about the state budget and his proposals on affordable housing and early childhood education. We'll preview the speech and get your thoughts on what California's priorities should be.

An estimated 10,000 Cambodians live in the Bay Area, many of whom came here as children. In her recent book, "Exiled," journalist Katya Cengel follows four refugee families who fled the Pol Pot regime in the 1970s. We'll discuss their stories and how they are dealing with the threat of deportation as the White House seeks to remove some protections for immigrants who arrived before 1995.

Another partial government shutdown is starting to appear likely, after weekend talks between Democrats and Republicans hit a new sticking point: funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds. Democrats want to cap the number of beds to limit detentions, but the White House wants $4.2 billion to fund 52,000 beds. The logjam comes as President Trump travels to the border town of El Paso, Texas for a campaign rally. Forum gets the latest on immigration news.

Venture capitalist Roger McNamee has not always been an outspoken critic of Facebook. He was an early investor in the company and a mentor to founder Mark Zuckerberg. In his new book, "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe," McNamee tells the story of his growing disillusionment with the company. In particular, he looks at how Facebook's advertising tools, the key to their business model, have been easily manipulated by political interests and private companies. McNamee joins us in the studio to talk about Facebook, his relationship with Zuckerberg and the rise of companies that sell users' data for profit.

President Trump is mocking it on Twitter. Democratic 2020 presidential candidates are rushing to embrace it. But what's really in the "Green New Deal"? Late last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released an outline of the plan, which they say will stimulate the economy while addressing climate change and poverty. Coming up on Forum, we'll talk with one of Ocasio-Cortez's economic advisors about the proposal and get his response to criticism from Republicans that it would be a "massive taxpayer boondoggle and a socialist dream come true."

Casual carpool, a cross between hitchhiking and carpooling, has been moving Bay Area commuters since the 1970s. The phenomenon, which is particularly popular in the East Bay, has no official rules or guidebook, so passengers and drivers negotiate things like radio stations and bridge tolls among themselves. What are your expectations for drivers and passengers when you use the casual carpool? What "only in casual carpool" experiences have you had?

Nite Yun was born in a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand, where her parents fled from the Khmer Rouge. Now, Nyum Bai, Yun's cheerful restaurant in Oakland's Fruitvale district, has been named one of the 10 best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit magazine. We talk to Nite Yun about her sudden fame and how researching her family's story led to a love of Cambodian food and a desire to share its flavors with the world. She joins us as part of our First Person series on the leaders, innovators and other compelling characters that make the Bay Area unique.

On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee held the first of three congressional hearings to assess the practice of separating immigrant families at U.S. borders. The hearing comes on the heels of a report that found administration officials will likely never know the exact number of families separated. We'll discuss Thursday's hearing, possible policy solutions going forward, and what we can look for in the hearings to come.