Fifth & Mission

All of a sudden in recent weeks, everyone in San Francisco was talking about killer robots. What happened? Chronicle reporter J.D. Morris joins host Demian Bulwa to talk about why San Francisco police sought approval to use robots to kill suspects in extreme circumstances — and why the Board of Supervisors flip-flopped amid backlash. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic has upended the traditional work week and some Bay Area employers are experimenting with a switch to a 32-hour work week. Critics say that the model would be costly and stunt job growth but Chronicle reporter Carolyn Said joins host Cecilia Lei to share results that say otherwise. Also: CommonFuture's VP of People Operations, Joann Lee Wagner, talks about why the four-day work week is about equity. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency a year ago to quickly open the Tenderloin Center as a response to San Francisco's drug overdose crisis. It provided treatment options, meals and a space for safe drug consumption. After less than a year of operations, the controversial center shut down. Chronicle reporter Mallory Moench joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss why, and to talk about how the city plans to address its drug epidemic now. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed nearly 1,000 bills into law in 2022, the most productive law-making year since the start of the pandemic. Chronicle reporters Sophia Bollag and Dustin Gardiner join host Cecilia Lei to discuss a handful that you should know about, from big issues like gun safety and abortion to smaller ones like jaywalking and selling fur. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denver Riggleman, who worked for the Jan. 6 committee after losing his reelection bid in 2020, has written a book on that work called "The Breach." He talks to host Joe Garofoli about what's next for the investigation, how Republicans aren't likely to abandon Trump, and what motivates the likely next speaker of the House. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A partnership between Stanford and John Muir Health has promised convenient and quality pediatric care for families in the East Bay, but the deaths of four children are raising questions about the hospital's capabilities. Chronicle reporters Matthias Gafni and Cynthia Dizikes join host Cecilia Lei to discuss their follow-up investigation into John Muir Health and the care provided in the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod See also: The April 7, 2022, episode of Fifth & Mission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 37-year-old progressive will be the first Hmong American to lead a major U.S. city. How does she plan to tackle its biggest issues? Chronicle reporter Sarah Ravani joins host Cecilia Lei to talk about what Thao plans to do in her first months as mayor to address Oakland's pressing problems around public safety, homelessness and economic uncertainty. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Silicon Valley tech heavyweights like Twitter and Meta cutting jobs, thousands of people are looking for work. But for immigrants on H-1B visas, the consequence of not finding something quickly can be life-changing. Chronicle reporter Carolyn Said tells host Demian Bulwa about her recent conversations with these laid-off workers — and whether anything can or should be done to change things. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Klay Thompson are some of the pro athletes who have opened up about their issues, and the COVID-19 pandemic has both created mental health challenges and spotlighted the opportunity to discuss them in a new way. Chronicle sportswriters Marisa Ingemi and Connor Letourneau join host Cecilia Lei to talk about the changing attitudes — from the NBA to youth sports, crowd behavior to injury treatment — and why that matters for everyone. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're sharing this episode of the Fixing Our City podcast from The Chronicle's SFNext Project in which host Laura Wenus talks to Dr. João Goulão, Portugal's drug policy coordinator, about that country's decision to decriminalize drug possession in response to an opioid epidemic similar to the one San Francisco is struggling with. That was in 2001. Today, Portugal has dramatically reduced the number of overdose deaths, HIV infections associated with drug use, and problematic heroin use. Fifth & Mission returns with new episodes Monday. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID pandemic caused a roller skating boom. Now, skaters in West Oakland are fighting for a rink of their own. Producer Caron Creighton reports on the efforts of the skating group Panther Skate, the history of Black roller skating and why the sport is deeply personal for the community. Fifth & Mission returns with new episodes Monday. | UnlimitedChronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This might be the most normal holiday season in recent years, except for the "tripledemic." That collision of COVID-19, the flu and RSV — a troubling respiratory virus affecting young children — is worrying health experts. UCSF's Dr. Peter Chin-Hong joins Cecilia Lei to discuss what makes this season challenging and how to stay safe, as well as his reflections on nearly three years of the coronavirus pandemic. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now that the two-time speaker has announced that she's stepping down from leadership, who will succeed her, and can they lead as successfully as she did? It's All Political on Fifth & Mission host Joe Garofoli joins Cecilia Lei to talk about the next two years, and then Joe chats with John Lawrence, Pelosi’s former chief of staff and the author of the book “Arc of Power, Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership, 2005-2010,” about her leadership style. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The former president on the ballot for a second presidential term is bad news for California Republicans — not to mention all the people he’s maligned with his racist, sexist, homophobic rhetoric. Reporters Shira Stein and Dustin Gardiner join host Joe Garofoli to talk about the Former Guy's new White House run. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amid a groundswell of labor actions in recent years, University of California academic workers have organized the largest strike in the history of U.S. higher education. Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov joins host Cecilia Lei to discuss what they're demanding, and Ken Jacobs, the director of UC Berkeley's Labor Center, explains why organized labor is making a comeback. | Unlimited Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices