kristen: hi there. this is "getting answers." we ask experts your questions every day at 3:00. we have an in-depth look at retail theft in san francisco. do public perception and crime statistics matchup? a reporter with our media partner, "the san francisco standard" will look at how media reporting has evolved. also rarely in california are streets and parks given chinese names, but today, there's one more located at the birthplace of the gold rush, and the man

who made it happen will join us live, but first, with the fda approval process paused today for the pfizer vaccine for children under five, parents of young children face many uncertainties. it is complicated and challenging. this week, we have the opportunity to talk to governor newsom's wife. we asked if she would still have her kids wear their masks to school if it became optional. the first partner also answered questions about her efforts to improve children's mental health and equal pay in california. you are a cochair in the governor's new advisory council on physical fitness and mental well-being. what is the counsel? >> obviously, here in here in hn california, we committed to

equity across the board and making sure that children in particular get the best start in life. governor ray davis and pete wilson and schwarzenegger and brown, they all had a physical fitness council. we decided this past year that we wanted to commit to a physical fitness council that included and really centered mental health because we know that physical fitness and mental health are intrinsically linked. that is one of the reasons we chose ronnie lott and this incredible array of 16 different professionals from doctors to mental health experts to athletes to entertainers, to basically help us basically design metrics or goals for the state across the board to promote best practices and habits, starting at the earliest

of ages for young children so that we could be sure to have a lifetime of optimal health and additionally to ensure that youth and sports and fitness cultures are inclusive and as positive as can be. kristen: that is a very inclusive approach. i would ask you -- you are a mother of 4. i only have two. i would not be able to handle that. what have you seen in terms of the pandemic's impact on your own kids? >> like any parent around the world, the pandemic has exacerbated an already living mental health crisis. if you look at studies of 16 to 17-year-olds from 2009 to 2016 saw an increase in depression of about 67%. we know we already had a problem

or crisis before that was not fully acknowledged, and the pandemic just kind of blew those numbers up in terms of depression and anxiety skyrocketing across the board. for sure, you know, we witnessed our own behavioral changes with our own children. yes, they are resilient, but i always recognize again the connection between mental health and is a go fitness and how important it is as a parent -- and i really want this for all california families -- that we take advantage of promoting time away from devices and outdoors, eating healthy. sleep nutrition is also critical. mindfulness is critical, and it is something our family practices and something we have come committed to. we spend a lot of time in state parks. it is one of the reasons i'm so proud to have championed state

park passes for children and their families. we also in my office have been committed to this climate smart farm to school program to ensure california kids are eating the healthiest meals and learning about the connection between food and climate and the local economy, getting to meet some of the local farmers, where they are sourcing school food from. it is this large array of work we have invested in. the most recent project we just launched is in partnershipipipip a group that produces free online bilingual videos which parents can use to talk about mental health and destigmatize mental health modules and classroom exercises that kids can use to learn about

and develop better coping skills and tools to overcome adversity. kristen: yeah, resilience, right? that is so important to develop. the state is lifting the indoor mask mandate as of next week. i know that schools are not part of that. that is being handled separately, and i know talks are going on now to see when is the right time to make that optional at schools. how soon do you think the mask mandate should be lifted for schools? >> i think what is interesting is states across the country have actually stated that they are going to lift the mask mandate, but that is not happening until mid-march, and i know given the conversations going on right now, we are big proponents of mask wearing while we are still in this surge. vaccines as well are critical. right now, it is about just encouraging folks to stay vigilant.

even though i'm numbers are going down. and knowing that the state is looking intensively at this. kristen: i know this gets into the hypothetical, but maybe it is not that are away. if there was no mandate in schools now, would you ask your kids to keep wearing them in the classroom? >> yes, i would encourage my children to keep wearing them because unfortunately, we have seen people not be responsible around them and not care about their health, and so it is just part and parcel two needing to feel safe in your community, knowing that, you know, we still have to remain vigilant. omicron is still alive and well in california. i don't feel comfortable in certain, you know, restaurants or places not having my mask on me. i just think it will take time to transition, but i'm really looking forward to the day that we can be back to normal again.

it is just about adapting to the times. kristen: in addition to children, you have done a lot of work in the space of achieving equality for women. one of those things is pay parity. california has signed on to the california equal pay pledge. tell us about what that means. >> i am so proud of how strong california has been in terms of our equal pay laws. we have the strongest equal pay laws in the nation. however, the fact we do not pay women equitably for me is the strongest way that we basically demonstrate that we devalue women and girls, for that matter. if we are ever going to achieve gender equity, we have to close the wage gap particular, women of color, and we know that in this state,

women lose about 87 billion dollars a year in terms of this gap, so again, we are never going to reach parity and close the wealth gap if we don't really focus and hone in on wage and equity. one of my first initiatives was launching the equal pay campaign in california to inspire corporations to basically commit to looking at conducting an annual pay gap analysis, reviewing the hiring and promotion practices to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers to pay equity and ultimately to just lift up best practices to ensure pay equity and diversity across the board, and we have been very successful. the state itself has always walked the walk but realized we had not signed the equal pay pledge ourselves, and us the largest employer in california with 240 6000 employees, it was

time we actually signed the pledge ourselves in hopes of inspiring others across the state to do so. in addition to that, we announced we will be appointing a chief equity officer at the state level to make sure that across all the departments and agencies that we continue to have the highest standards in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion, in terms of promoting, training, and hiring, as well as procurement of goods and services. again, i'm really excited about california's commitment to signing the equal pay pledge and really hope california companies follow suit. kristen: before i let let let lt just want to bring you back to the pandemic, which we all hope will end soon, but not quite there yet. when we look at vaccination rates among children in particular, they remain quite

low. even in california, i think something like 25% of kids five and older. >> california has always led with science, and i understand and have tremendous compassion for moms in particular who are doing everything they can to feed their kids organic, nurse them, and give them the best start in life, and it is about trusting science. we had administration -- administrators a few years ago who really denied science, and i think it is critical we come together and remember we are in this together, and this is not just about public health. it is about individual health, and the pandemic really wreaked havoc on not just our society but all of our mental health and well-being, and the true and trusted way to get through this is through vaccines and masks, so i'm proud of the work we are

doing and, you know, wanting just to assure families -- all of our kids are vaccinated. you can do it, too and let's get through this and get onto the other side and have the life that we were living before, maybe a little bit slower, but have the life we were living before this pandemic with left fear -- less fear and anxiety in the air. kristen: our thanks to first partner jennifer newsom for taking the time to talk to us on a whole host of issues we all face. coming up next, a -- another issue we all face, retail theft in c

kristen: still trying to figure out where the sea lions went. abc 7 is excited about our partnership with "the san francisco standard." that are an insightful reporting -- their deep and insightful reporting continues our mission. not unique to our city, but it does seem to be acute here right now. reducing crime and improving safety is part of building a better bay area. our media partner does that as well, and it's taking a new look at how the discussion around it has evolved over time. this issue of retail theft, specifically organized retail that, so joining us now is the "standard's" senior video analyst. thanks for coming on.

chief going to get tough on retail theft has also said what we see on video is not what the city of -- with the city represents. does perception match reality? >> that's the question right now. it is fascinating to look at. shoplifting is very much top of mind in public perception right now due to many viral videos like you mentioned and other reports from media and very vocal local businesses and residents. that was the sort of idea to try to chart kristen: even though we cannot answer that simple question right now, which is so not simple, you did want to look at how the conversation around this has evolved. why did that peak your interest

-- why did that pique your interest? >> it piqued my interest because that is the number one thing people talk about when they talk about san francisco, that shoplifting is out of control, but you look at the media crime report last year that said larceny is actually down from 2017. why, if everyone is talking about this perception that shoplifting is a crisis, as they may call it, and other crime stats are down? kristen: for the past 15 years when you looked at the police commissioner's ratings, when you look at city council meetings or supervisors board, i should say, meetings, was the conversation always that things are getting worse and kind of at a crisis point? >> it is really fascinating. i don't think i could make that easy a conclusion or wrap it up that simply, but there were some things we did find. there was a clip from 2007 that are found where lieutenant tom

buckley addresses the retail theft unit and says the retail theft unit at that time -- bear in mind, this was 2007 and the unit was formed in 2004 -- they said they are seeing mass organized retail theft from many businesses, and they were taking those stolen goods and selling them on market. that sounds familiar, doesn't it? things like that really piqued my interest when i was researching this story. kristen: i think you also came across them well-intentioned solutions may have inadvertently added to the problem, right? for example, the flea markets? >> yes, supervisor hillary ronen decided to legalize what had been a decades long unofficial flea market operating in the mission district. when she sanctioned it -- it did a lot of good, don't get me wrong. a lot of vendors there were able to make a living in ways they could not before, but they actually became a hub for stolen

goods that were taken in these mass retail thefts. kristen: i want to talk about solutions. it has come up in the past, hiring retired police officers to patrol these districts. if these ideas -- i don't want to say recycle, but they are kind of being recycled, brought back to the forefront. what can we take away in terms of how well they worked in the past and if that is a reason for optimism or pessimism this time around? >> again, that is hard to answer in a tightly wrapped package, but there needs to be input from many different people, from community leaders, from legislation, from community leaders themselves. specifically with "the san francisco standard" we like to look at all things with optimism. if we look at the way that this crime has been handled in the past, some of my reporting charts the evolution and the responses from the city, hopefully we can learn from what is being done, but again, i cannot draw any easy

conclusions. kristen: that is the big take away, and i think the way you put it together is fascinating. thank you so much for coming on. >> thank you so much. glad to be here. kristen: we do hope folks will be looking at "the san francisco standard's" stories. their other original reporting can be found on our in new yorci, ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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kristen: despite the fact that chinese-americans have been in the are very few towns, streets, and parks named after chinese-americans. even though it seems like a small thing, that's why it was a huge deal for a park to designate a new trail with a chinese name. that is where james marshall discovered gold at sutter's mill in 1848, sparking california

gold rush. yup, 49ers. joining us is a man who worked for two years with the state park system to make this happen. congratulations. >> hi, yes, we are so excited about what happened today. this is such a landmark for us. kristen: i know how much it means to you, especially coming at a time for lunar new year celebrations. tell us the meaning >> it means gold mountain. this is how the chinese refer to california, as gold mountain. kristen: okristen: okristen: oko francisco in chinese is old gold mountain, right? that is a great name. when you heard the park system

was adding a new trail in this park, you immediately advocated that it be given a chinese name. why was that so important and so needed in your view? i know there are not that many, right? >> chinese names are way way way underrepresented. we have italian, portuguese, french, but no chinese names i think it is so relevant. kristen: and actually so appropriate because right there around that trail, they round old chinese burial sites, which leads me to the question -- who are the folks who were buried there? where did they come from? why did they uproot themselves in the middle california? what were they doing there? >> at the same time in those

days, i think everybody in the world work ready to come here for the gold. the chinese were no exception. they seized the opportunity fund their dreams of gold, and here they came. gradually became a victim of their own success, and the said these guys were getting too much gold, so eventually, the chinese gold miners were driven to the fringe, but at the beginning, we had some great success. kristen: wow, that history is so important. many people did not know this, but the sacramento san joaquin area is full of chinese history. last year, i did a story from a tiny town. people do not realize it was the

only town in the u.s. built by chinese for chinese, and i think it is well worth a visit. now people can go see it and just drive another 50es thenin the palys hches n year fe did not. ring hopefully 2023 have the chinese new year again. kristen: fantastic. and the town is just terrific. you learn so much about what the chinese did in the delta, building the dams, the agriculture made it all possible. just did so much. when people go, will they see signs and, like, interpretive exhibits that allow them to learn the history?

>> yeah, i mean, there is an interpretation sign right here behind me. it is written in english, but the name is written in chinese -- i mean, also in chinese. kristen: fantastic. i'm glad you were able to enjoy that. thank you so much. appreciate it and congratulations once again.

kristen: thank you so much for joining us on this interactive show today, "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at

3:00 and on air and on livestream answering your questions. world news tonight is coming up next. this weekend, perfect time to tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the new and stark signal from the white house. saying russia could invade ukraine within days. warning americans to get out now. thousands more u.s. troops headed to the region. the white house saying there is a credible prospect russian forces could invade ukraine before the olympics end. so what has happened in the last 24 hours? tonight, news of a phone call set between president biden and vladimir putin. terry moran in ukraine. mary bruce live at the white house. and pfizer and the fda revealing they're delaying the