bellevue. test . tonight, the largest wildfire in state history continues to rage. a look at why it's proving so destructive and why it's to blame. and rent control and what poposition 10 would do expand it across the state. also, we hear from a startup ceo about winning over consumers by ditching brand labels. hello and welcome to "kqed newsroom." we begin with wildfires. earlier this week the mendocino complex fire, comprised of two blazes, became the biggest fire in california history. california firefighters are currently battling 17 wildfires across the state including the carr fire with weathe-- fire wh people have died.

the ferguson fire started four weeks ago and has led to the indefinite closure of yosemite national park during peak tourist season. we're only halfway into this year's fire season, and it may be on track to be the worst on record. joining me now to discusshis are fire scientist brandon collins and publisher of "the mendocino voice," katemaxwell, via skype. thank you for being here. >> sure. >> kate, can you give us an update on how thing are going in mendocino and what progress firefighters have made in recent days? >> sure. so the fires have slowed in recent days which is a big relief for people here in mendocino and lake counties. a lot of the mandatory evacuations have been lifted. a lot of the advisory evacuation vs. been down grade -- evacuations have been downgraded so people have been able to return to their homes. the river fire, the fire primarily ts the south, slowed in growth. and there's been a slowing of

grth ofhe ranch fire which has been active up until this week. things are looking good on t front. >> some good news. redwood valley in mendocino was devastated last year by another deadly fire. kqed's investigation found problems with evacuation orders and communications in that case. how havear things co this year? has it been a better situation? >> the fires in the fall were terrifying because they started in the middle of the night in a fairly rural community that is populatd, but people weren't able to get out quickly or be notified in time. i think one significant difference this year is that most of the evacuations have happened during the day. people are a lot more alert and aware about how to receive emergency evacuations, and t local agencies have been really doing a good job about trying to get that information out to everyone as quickly as possible. there has beenif a but people remain onr edge afhe

rrncident. >> y, second year in a row. brandon, you conduct research on forest management, study these things. and i know in politics, there's talk in sacramento in recent weeks around issues like fir suppression and the history and how that's sort of fueling these bigger blazes. zais that a fair characteon, i guess, to start? >> sure. it is. there's certainly a component to fire suppression itself and the fact that it's sort of removed e of the regulating mechanisms for fuels and vegetation development. there's other aspects, as well. s. yeah. talk about th i mean, how much of what we're seeing now in your mind is the result of climate change and drought, and sort of some of the extraordinary conditions, and how much of it is because of what we have or haven't donein terms of forest management and other, you know, policies? >> you know, it's hard to put a number on that, of course. but i would say, you know, here's probably equal parts there.

just for simplicity. you know,t the fact t throughout the state we're pushing probably 100m years in y areas for fire suppression, that's quite a bit of time for accumulation fuel and again for regeneration of other vegetation, as well. so there's no doub that that's fueling it. the climate aspect of it is real, as well. >> yeah. and your mind, i mean, we hear a lot of talk i think especially among republicans that part of this is duo environmental regulations and challenges when people do want to do this vegetation management. do you think that the state needs to be taking a lead and changing some of the policies? >> i think they are. in some ways it's happening ,no it's probably not happening quickly enough. but it's being recognized that there is -- that's a hindrance to doing some of the treatments at we need on the landscapes. >> kate, i want to turn back to you were there this week when senator -- u.s. senator kamala harris visited one of the fire zones. i know she called for more

federal help both aroundgh ng fires and paying for that but also the forest managementissue. give us a sense of what she said and how hopeful she is that the federal government will come througon that. >> you know, senator harris was in middletown yesterday, and shd stopy one of the evacuation service is and talked to people in lake macounty. of whom have been evacuated multiple times over the last couple of years and also with the firefighter there. and you know, one of the things that she emphasized was that federal funding is really essential in order to combat fires on this scale. this really is the newnormal. and california has put a lot of money into t fightingese fires. she also brought up the need for local control in terms of wild la management. beyond getting mo federal moneys into these regions, i think she emphasized the need to listeno the expertise of the wildfire -- firefighters and the

encies here on the ground in california who have been dealing with these things and also have a lot of information and knowdge about how to do better wild land management year round, sort of both controlled burns and also how to take careosof national forests. >> of course a double-edged sword. i know we've also seen locals allow building in areas that are very dangerous fire zones we have a few minutes left. i want to touch on the donald ntump tweets, our presi tweeted this week, basically blaming environmentaar policies nd water for these fires. brandon, is thatfa a characterization? seems not so much. >> well, you know, as with many of those, there's little bit of truth in there. but yoknow, to put the blame solely on that, of course, is not probab w accurate. t we're talking about, kate, i know is whether there's enough fire -- water to fight these fires, you said earlier there's been a lot of conversation about the tweets in mendocino. what are you hearing from folks there about the president's charactu ization? >> know, i think politics in

mendocino don't always break down neatly along party lines. people here feel connected to the landscape, and they ca out drought and water management policy. but i thin there's also a lot of concern for people who can see the wild lands in their back yarin or who are l in the forest and can see how the fire season is getting longer, and ehow water reserves drying up in a way that is not necessarily directly linked to water policy. so -- >> yeah. water is obviously -- always a controversial issue in california. we saw already sort of someme mo by federal officials to use those around policy. do you think ts is something that the federal government could use to undermine environmental regulation oin californer or do you think it's a one off from the president? >> i think there aregunough sads in place now that we're not going to really be able to surk imvent a lot -- circumvent a lot of protections from the environmental standpoint. i guesshat i'd like to see is

us work within the bounds that we have right now to just expand our efforts. i don't think that we're solely limited right nowe by regulation itself. there are -- there's enough we can do right now even with existing regulations. >> sounds like w saying is that it's more a will and the funding thanlicy changes. i know, you know, in sacramento, they're debating a lot of policy changiss. i mean, there one thing you think that lawmakers should be doing this iyear? ill honestly like to see a push just toward basically movement on treating more acres. i an, know that seems like a simplistic sort of answer, but i think we know enough now - from the science and even from the land management perspective to move forward u without, yknow, cause for concern that we're going to do something terrible. i think wecan just push forward and learn along the way as opposed to getting it all right gobefore we get g. >> we're going to leave it there. brandon collins from u.c. berkeley, thank you very much. and kate maxwell from the "mendocino voice," we appreciate

you both joining us. thisnovember, california voters will decide the fate of 11 ballot measures.e f them, proposition 10, could vastly expand rent control by letting cities cap the rent on any residential property, even new ones. proponents argue that the measure's needed to address the state's housing shortage and high cost of living. opponents claim prop 10 would discourage new development, lead to more evictions, and take rental its off the rket. joining me now with analysis are kqed politics and government reporter guy marsarotti. tenant right attorney, overseass tobner whopports proposition 10. and debra carlton, senior vice president of the california apartment associati opposes the measure. thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> let's start, i want you to sof lay out what would proposition 10 do, and as importantly not do? >> let's start that. i think if proposition 10 passes it wouldn't put rent control in every city in california felt what it would do is let cities give the power besck to cit to make that decision. so cities that haven't been able

to put in placeon rentol would be able to if prop 10 passes. then there are the cities that have historically had rent control back in the day. bay area.the they would be able to expandel are e rent-control -- expand rent-control laws. there are things banned by the state for the past decades because of cost of hawkins that could be repealed by this. two things that people are focusing on --ne number around single-family homes. cannot be rent controlled currently. condos cannot be rent controlled currently. andovlso when a tenant out of a unit, land lords currently can then hike uphe rent. all those things would be banned by if proposition 10 passes. >> really opening up a lot more options to cities who choose to exercise them. fore we move to the other panelists, who put this on the ballot and who's putting money into both sides? >> the yes side is being driven by the aid health care fo ndation. this is based in l.a. they've taken on bigballot initiatives around prescription drug anprices, statlocal

slow-growth measures. they're the big financial backers. they put in $10 million to the campaign lastweek. they're still going to be expected to be outspent by the no side. we have developers up and down the state opposing this >> so joseph, you represent tenants who are being evicted and having troubles with landlords. tell me why you're in favor of the measure. >> this is about giving control back to localities. the -- it's created problems for localities and fraud in rent control. and it's taken af lot units out of the rental housing stock thn otherwise would be the rental ohousing stock becausef tic and kopd oh conversion. >> -- and condo conversion. >> you think thi would helhe tenant. you have another position. why is this a bad idea in your nd? >> well, you know, the legislature understood back in the '90s that this was needed because there were -- we call them extreme forms of rent control. that is cities were imposing it on single-family homes. they were imposing it on new

construction. and property owners were getting out. each in berkeley, we -- even ino berkeley, we about 3,000 single-famil ownerhomes because owners said i'm not going to work under this system.if prop 10 passes and turns it back to the city, i think we'll unfortunately see it again. we're already seeing getting out of the market. this will be worse. >> is vacancy controlled which was mentioned, the ability to essentially hold the price when somebody moves out, is that the biggest fear, would you say? >> that's certain a big concern for us. that's a line for us.ro vacancy deconmeans that an owner maybe had a tenant in place for his orically long time. so they may be below the market. in san francisco, you can aise your rents, but 60% of the consumer -- can't raise t rents abo 60% of the index. they could move it to the market or whatever thei market bear. >> it seems like you're saying the same thing but on opposite sides. at you feel like this would help tenants and deborah'sis

saying tould hurt them. how do you -- what do you see as the benefit of rent control? >> regarding this nion that we'll see extreme represent control, that's just not true and not the treality. nk it's mostly a scare tactic. that's a scary word, extreme rent control. that's an industry word. is that eality is, cities and counties can't even pass vacancy control. they can't even administer vacancy control statutes. berkeley had vacancy control, and they spent half a million dollars in the 1990s to defend their vacancy-control ordinance. there's lots of litigationun surng vacancy control. all landlords are allowed to come back and askor a fair return. and they're entitled to a hearing. the hearings are heexpensive, last three days. i've beenin litigatinacatincy control for the last 20 years in hobl home contracts. it's -- mobile home contracts. it's not going to come to a ty. the fact of the matter is that for 20 years, cities and counties had the opportunity t pass the vacatincyvacancy-contr

statutes and redidn't. thre places that will probably have vacancy controlke like by or santa monica, but the larger cities and notion that extreme rent control will proliferate, it's not going to happen. >> joe's talkin politics of this which leads into why this is on the ballot to begin with. i guet, to st can you explain what's happened or not happened in the legislature over the last 20-some years? ait also do you think realistic that a lot of cities will be rushing -- i mean ithe seems like would be a fight at the local level on any attempts to change whatever happens. th>> right. ik it's been at the legislature a lot of not happening. we saw earlier this week an tempt to repeal the cost of hawken fail. and this is the initiative you know, i think a lot of lawmakers in sacramento might be willing to reform rent-control laws, maybe move buildings in on a lling basis. weept don't ha

we don't have this. you repeal it or keep the status quo, all or nothing at all, em.t's our initiative sy as to what cities would do in reaction, i think there's a lot of uncertainty. you have -- by has been the only city in the bay area to move forward and kind of lay out a plan and say if prop 10 passes, there is wha would do. we would move buildings 20 years and older into rent control. we'd bring back vacancy controls. other cities, there's a lot of uncertainty. >> deborah, do you feel like in some ways the real estate and development this on because of how hard any attempts to change this have be fought in the legislature? >> there was never a conversation or a thelity to have a conversation about a middle ground or a compromise. the proponents of the bill was ab-1506 said to repeal or nothing.ne weer were able to have the conversation which i think would have been more begficial than ng to the ballots. >> the realtors are one of the biggest spenders in sacramento. they fought any attempts to change this.

in hindsight, do you think that's what led us to the situation tical? >> perhs, but 1 5r506 was the first real attempt. we hadn't see it before because this had been in place for 20-somedd years. 's important that we have new construction. and unfortunately, we fear we're going to see less of it if this proposition passes. >> joe, what do you think would actually -- youthink vacancy control you don't see as likely in a lot of places. what do you think would happen sort of in a local level if thi? pas >> i think the reality is -- in big cities, we're going to see s gle-family homes and condos return to rent control which is important for local communities. i've been in tenant rights for 20 years. during theco first do boom we saw displacement. people just moved down the street in san francisco and oakland. now we're seeing people moving out of the bay ,area, stockt

people of color. our see it has been gentrified and this will return a huge amount of units to rent control to people in the city. >> you see that differently. if this does fail, think needs to happen -- a housn california. >> we do.en what we've orking on in the legislature, obviously we will argue it's about supply. we have proposion 1 that's on he ballot. that's to bring $4 billion toe affordahousing. rent control, remember, there's no means testing. s landlord willl have the ability to decide who's in the unit. and we saw in the '70s under extreme forms of rent gentrification because owners get to make the decision. because there's no means testing and no way to determine who's in those units, you know, the owner s a choice of the guy who drives the bmw or the person they're not really s who can pay the rent going forward. you'll take the sure bet. i think that'srt most unate because we've never been able to talk about means testing. >> do you wanto respond at

all? >> i don't know how means testing could even be carried out. a landlord will pick a wealthy tenant. in reality, i don't think it can ply out -- can play out in any way.bt there's no d that rent control keeps people housed and keeps people low when it's not perverted by state statute. costa hawkins is one of those ways and municipalities that administer rent-control eatutes. theect allows landlords to manipulate the system to take units out from under rent control. for years we've been seeing the fraud. you might remember the ndlord that raised rent to $8,000 on the lady with cancer -- >> my neighborhoodll act >> in burnall heights, exactly. we see landlords committing fraud to do fake transfers to relatives and convert to condominiums when they're not allowed to because condominiums are exempt from rent control. rent control works in the perfect form. the state statutes have

perverted this. this proposition 10 is an opportunity to give control back to the municipalities, to let them decide how their cities will look. >> ihink you have a different point of view on what things like the acts have done to the a et. can you briefly tell us your response to joe? >> sure. joe mentioned t ellis act. that state law says you can't stop a property owner from going out of business. unfortunately, under strict foreign policies. rent control, owners leave.wi and, again, if prop 10 passes, strict forms of rent s control, ownhave the ability to go out of business. and the small mom and pops who have in most cases less than ten units which that is a large majority of our population in california, we unfortunately believe they will wleave. an saw that in berkeley in the '70s. we lost about 3,000 s gle-family homes. and we think that's what's going to happen again. they'll sell their homes, and tenants are going to gets an eviction notice instead of a e to get ction notice instead of a rent increase.

that's unfortunate. >> thank you ry much to all of you. >> thank you. turning now to business. branli a is e-commerce startup base in san francisco. it got its start in with the missi over quality product at a low cost. inventory includes a broad range of necessities from food to beauty suppli to office supplies, even with a price tag of $3. to hear more about her company, co-founder and ceo tina sharky joins me. thanks for coming in. >> thank you very much for having me. >> soverything at brandless is $3. very low. tell mef what kind products we're talking about. >> oh, my gosh. first of all some are two for three, some are three for three, to be clear. yes. the whole idea was to create apl s organized, edited assortment of the things that you f lovem the snacks, whether they are all non-gmo, mostly organic, lots of vegan,

lots goften free, from chips to crackers to cookies, you namt and then in the essentials, so organic spices orego ganic all-purpose flours and baking xes. extra virgin organic olive oil from italy. organic coconut oil. >> and beauty products -- >> we have clean beauty. everything doesn't have the things you don't want, no phthales, not animal tested. personal care, toothpaste, essential oil, mouthwash -- >> how do you keep the price so w? >> it's funny you said we're the antia -brand. we're not really, but we're redefining what it means to be a brand based on truth, based on authenticity, and being in dir t relationship withe people we serve. that direct relationship isho actually we manufacture. so we create all these di extrary products for brandless, and we ship them directly to our distribution centers. we ship them to you. so all those intermediate steps

thatou currently have to go through, that you're not even aware of, by the time you pull something off of a shelf, it's taken aong road from where it was created, and the markups and all of that makes the cost so much more expensive. >> was there a particular moment ovthat sort of you to create this brand? you've been in business for a while and done a lot of other things. they're different from this. >> yeah. i would say it's interesting -- it start with meco-founder. we decided that we actually wanted to change the world month our own small, humble way. we were doing other things at the time but said let's carve out the time and th space to actually figure out what's broken and what we want to fix.e i c from building communities. i came from building commerce an media and direct consumer experiences, all digital. and he came from creating consumer package goods products, i said, what if we were to lik fuse it and build a community that's based on something bigger than anything that we sell. thehole idea t we can

democratize access to better things at fair prices for everyone. and so we set off to do that. and it's only been a year. we celebrated our first birthday a year ago. >>happy birthday. >> thank you. >> you kind of touched on this, but call yourself a social capit capitalive. how important is -- capitalist. how imporront is it a business perspective, too, to have a company aimed at the broader good? that's-not just i know you guys give money to feeding program programs for feeding folks when you buy something. >> yeah. we build brands for profit and for purpose. oftentimes, people will put purpose as a campaign, ordo they'll t when they're profitable or do it as a one-day event. profit and purpose is built into everything that we do. and it's critically iortant to who we are and what our community stands for. we partner with feeding america, there's 41 million people in this country that if hungry every day. and feeding america is the largest hunger relief organization in this country with the broadest network of food bas. when you check out at brandless,

we will purchase a meal through veeding america in your honor because we belihat the doing in life is what matters. and we don't washington capitals for givingtuesday. every time you can do a tangible act of kindness is how brandless rolls. our community is always doing things. as celebrated our first anniversary, we'd already given away over m1.6lion meals. >> wow. you have a lot of experience as an entrepreneur and executive. you co-founded ivillage, at the time, the largest online community for women. you are president of baby center. how's thds business lpe changed as a woman in tech and broadlss >> it's funny, but i never really identified as a woman m in terms o who i was as a leader. i'm tina. i have my experience, my i'm also a mom. i'm also a friend. i'm also a sister. i'm lots of things. when i show up at work, i'm a eader who's there to build an

kxtraordinary business. and i don't thf it as -- it's a female-run business, it's a business that fully expresses the commitment and passion of the people that come to work for us. d the movement that we're building. and so i think the landscape has anged in that having that real seat at the table something that's very important. i represent not only my business experience but also my personal experience. and my, you know, 89% ofe purchasing in this country is done by women. >> right. >> so the idea that women wouldn't have a seat at the table for any consumer business, let alone an business to begin with is kind of crazy. don't think about it as, oh, i'm a woman, therefore. i think i'm tina, and this is my experience. and i don't want to be laned or given an advantage -- to be labed or given andvantage other than skills and passion and what i'm building and executing. >> to experiences you bring it -- >> absolutely. that's because of what i've not just because of, you know, what profile or cohort i fall into.

>> right. what would be your biggest piece of advice for aspiringrs entrepren >> i would say always be your authentic self. authenticity scales. bring smarter people around you that complement your skill set. and complement wha can bring to the table. always make room in diversity and inclusion --'s not just about color or race or ethnicity. it might be about style. it might be about approach. and so not everybody has the same approach to things. >> right. >> as an entrepreneur, part of your job is tosort of convene a diverse set of voices, a diverse set of experience, and a diverse set of opinion and surround yourself with people who actually want to stay with you and your movement for the long game. >> fabulous. nk you very much for coming? >> thank you for having me. you can find more at kqed.newsroom. thanks for joining us. ♪

>> a nail biter in ohio has republicans dge. i'm robert costa. the midterm elections just three months away. challenges and the russia investigation loom over thet. presid tonight, on "whington week." president trump: thank you. thank you, ohio. i love ohio. obert: a special election in a ruby-red part of ohio ends in a dead heat. president trump: we must elect more republicans. bomani: robert: democrats say the midterm elections is a bell weather. >> it's about guard rails because we have a republican house and republican senate that are not putting any guard rails on this president. there's no accountability. robert: but democrats are facing opportunity an