nation's large e utility has filed for bankruptcy. la pakers areshing for change. plus, a look ahead at next week's state of the union speech, amid a divided government in washington, and the rising prominence of bay area lawmakers in congress. oakland catching hollywood's attention with the oscars around corner. we'll look at how movies with oakland roots have become big hits. hello and welcome. we begin with a high stakes bankruptcy of pg&e, on tuesday the utility giant filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.io tens of bi of dollars for deadly california wildfires in 2017 and 2018. this is the secon time in less

than 20 years in a pg&e has declared bankruptcy. in a statement pg&e expects no disruption in services and it will keep helping wildfire affected communities recover and rebuild. but the bankruptcy filing now puts on hold lawsui filed by wildfire victims w who couldt years before getting paid. stay lawmakers are nowg seek ways to have more control over what happens next. m joini now to discuss all of this are kqed politics and government reporter maris lagos and jerry hill, he chairs the senate smittee on gas, electric and transportation safety, and mark tony, executive director at term, the utility teform network, welco you all. marissa, this bankruptcy filing leaves a lot of people in legal limbo. shat's going to happen with liability payme to wildfire victims? >> that's the $30 billion question right now. it's the amount of liability

outstanding. thas what we'll watch here at kqed and others, is how much do these folks get a seat at the table. we know that's not inherently the structure in bankruptcy tocourts. cre are first in line and concerned with basically bringing the company out of bankruptcy. hat's the way the law i structured i get the sense that things may be different this time. we saw on friday the governor sent a letter to the u.s. trustee in charge of creing those committees asking that rate payerse considered as parts of those committees, not the case in the first pg&e bankruptcy. >> hoping they won't fall inhe back of the. >> yeah. he's aware of the situation here, already let public comment happen, which is not something that ever happens in courtrooms, bankruptcy or not. i would assume he's apg rate payer a san francisco paced judge and i think that aware of the public discussion here. so i think there's going to be -- it's going to be up to people like mark tony and

senator hill and also the wildfire victims and theirs lawyto make sure that they don't get forgotten. but i do think that's a key t pt discussion already. >> senator hill, you've been a fierce critic of pg&e ever since the san brunoxplosion in your district. what would you like to see happen in the expected restructuring of pg&e? >> i think the main thing in the structuring and at the end of the day as it comes out of bankruptcy court, we want to make sure the rate payers are protected, we want to make sure the victims have the compensation they ed to get their lives back in order and that the contracts with labor are preservedoo. but i think what we have to look at carefully is the conclusion i came to before early on washat they're just too big to succeed. they're very cbersome, bureaucratic organization, they don't -- onesn end do know what the other end is doing. we've seen evidence of that over the years. restructuring can perhaps break them up into a gas and electric division, that's been said a

lot. >> unions have made it clear they don't want to see broke up into little pieces. what do you think of all this, mark tony, do they need to be broken up? i think. >> i think the most important thing right now is that there needs to be new leadership at g&e and it nee to happen really quickly. a federal court judge has the opportunity to appoint a receiver, which is what we're recommending to take charge of the company, make sure that the safety regulations are being carried out so that we can stop moreir wil from happening. >> i should point out that judgealsop is the judge overseeing the probation case t out o san bruno explosion. is thateally the best option? you have said that you thought pg&e should declare that that was the best option. >> it's the best option for them. this is the bankruptcy out of convenience, not of necessity. bankruptcy for them will provide hem the opportunity to

restructure and really they come out the winner and we come out the loser. but it may be the opportunity for us to look at some opportuniti for public power as they're in bankruptcy. there may be some municipalities that are interested in purchasing their infrastructure, san francisco shows an interest, san jose. i heard other cities are interested as well that may be a determinant. >> that does get to the big challenge here which is that, you ow, the procurement of the power is not the right?em. pg&e has been up front or elping the state get to i climate change goals. we know infrastructure the challenge here, that is both the most expensive part of really their sort of operation, their capital operation there, but it's also the part that we've seen fa repeatedly. and so whoever takes that over, whatever the company or a co-op or a public utility looks like they're still going to have these deferre maintenance problems, these challenges with just the size of it. and so, i mean, what i think is really interesting is how the

conversation is changing. in some ws jerry hill's been out by himself kind of screaming into the wind in san bruno and the capital and there's been a lot of deference to pg&e and i think that has shiftedin and i you've seen the sort of way that lawmakers and this new overnor are approaching this. gavin newsome is one to watch, d's different. >> how much pow lawmakers have in this? you don't really have a say in tro bankruptcyeding. how do you ensure that you have a voice in what emerges out of this, in whatever shape or form pg&e might be? >> we do have a say at the ad. the public utilities commission has to prove any reorganization or structuring or rate structure that's put into place after this, we as legislators can, through statue, kind of direct the puc andake some of that authority ourselves and perhaps approve whatever thr returing plan is at the end. i think that's where the legislature needs to exert itlf. i'm planning to do that. >> you mentioned the judge

earlier, and judge allsop in a court hearing expoussed about pg&e when they said safety was their number one priority. he also suggestth he doesn't k the utilities commission has been too lax in its oversight. do you have coidence that the cpuc will be able to provide adequate oversight of thisst cturing as it happens in bankruptcy? >> if we're talking about wildfire safety and making sure thathe trees don't come into contact with lines, which is what's causing the res, we have to give the cpuc the resources thattoit needs put inspectors on the ground to make sure that pg&e is doing what they need to do. but other ing is, i feel very strongly that we need new hat if hip at pg&e and judge allsop appoints a receiver body that will be accountable to him to make sure that his a orde carried

out. right now simply telling pg& over and over again to comply with the law't seem to be working. they have a cord andstory of not complying, not trimming the trees. and recently, of falsifying tens of thousands of pipeline inspection records. the call before you dig 811. there no excuse for that. >> would you support having pg&e become a public company? >> i tnk that's one of the options that we should look at. would i want to be carul about is that we don't end up in a situation where thely populated areas get get covered and the expenses, rural areas, get left out and get stuck with very high costs. we want to make sure that weve pres system, even if it's public, where we can sead the cost and the risk among a large

number of customers. and not just have a o-tier system, good, cheap service in the cies a poor, expensive service in the rural areas. >> what are some of the challenges, marissa? >> well, i think, first of all it's sort of -- it speaks to cpuc, e're at with the that we need a federal receiver. we saw that in the san bruno case too, the feds came in and did this investigation. athink his poiut a more robust, well funded cpuc is a good one. w i think th did see a lot of ethical issues come out with their connections to pg&e through that san bruno case. some of them do seem to have been addressed. you know, i thk that when you talk to people who have worked at pg&e they feel like a lot the problem has been in the leadership, not in the sort of rank and file. i th wnk most people agreeh that. but it is a really hard question, and i t mean structure of them, i think, is something that is worth looking atbecause there is this

perverse incentive when you are trying to answer to wall street on one handnd serve customers on the other. the water department -- yeah. it absolutely is. but it works and the other utilities have been aane to do thabalance that, but pg&e for some reason after the bankruptcy in 2001 they chnged their focus. their ceos are cfos, they come from the financialindustry. they're looking to please wall street, not main street. >> senator hill, what are the broader issues here too? let's take pg&e out of this, the bankruptcy out of this, the broader concerns about where utility lines are located.e do need to put legislation in place to force them underground? does there nd to bedditional legislation on home construction ce fire prone areas? >> thatainly is an issue right now in sacramento is whether those areas should not ve, in the middle of the forest you should be building, 'sderground and the utilities sounds good, i great idea, but mark would be right there, it's a very expensive proposition to do that. andt may not be necessary.

you can harden the grid, harden it in a lot of ways that does not include undergrounding the ilities. >> what are some of those ways? >> as san diego gas a electric did after major fires in 2007, they have steel poles now, they don't have woode poles that will collapse or burn in a fire and fall over in the wind. they have hardened and insulated conductors through the system. they've protected their infrastructure. and made it strong enough so that it won't be falling. as we know in pg&e, at least from what's been reported, the transmission towers are 100 years old in some cases. you can't succeedthhen you have type of infrastructure. >> i have to agree with senator hill on this. there are ways to cost effectively make s thetem much more safe. we need to do that, and we need to do it quickly. undergrounding in addition to being extremely expensive takes way too long to be able to deal

with the fire risks that are upon us every singleummer. so we need to do as much as we can now before the next fire season that is reasonable and that will make a difference. >> all right. well, thank you. on that note, mark tony with turn, marissa galagos and state senator jerry hill, thank you all. >> you very much. now to politics. president trump says the theme for his state of the union address on tuesday is unity.eh sittingd him at that speech will be house speaker pelosi, whose maneuvering led the president to back down from funding the wall. assigning bay area lawmakers to several key house communities, including homeland security a government oversight. meanwhile in california a fight is brewing between state officials and cities over affordable housing. javier baa ser a is suing huntington beach. joining me now to discuss all of

this areed senior editor of politics and government scott r, shaf and lon he chen. welcome back, gentlemen. the president is giving this spechmid tensions over keeping the government open, over the border wall, over the russia investigation. amid that backdrop how confident are you that he will be able to deliver a unifying message, which is what he's vowing to do? >> well, it wouldn't be consistent with what he's been like so far as president. i would think there's two different path ways to take, one is to lo to issues where there is common ground with democrats, prescripti drug pricing, infrastructure reform, areas where the democrats would pote president or he can go into the tissue that his base cares about, like immigration. so far that's been his play, been where he's been most comfortable and the frankly the politics ct this e, i think, a speech that's less

unifying, as he thinks about s 2020 and reelection campaign he really needs to consolidate that base and the issues that will consolidate the base are not the same issues that democrats wa to talk about in terms of working together with republicans. i don't think he's ever tried to unify. his inaugural address was focusing on crime. >> very dark. >> very dark. and that seems to be his only play in his playbook. i don't think he's tried to reach very far beyond his base. i agree that he could. i'm also going to be looking at how he treats nancy pelosi, does he call her madam speaker, or is it nancy, he cou gracious and extend an olive branch. that's just not in his nature. maybe he'll, you know, have a new play for the state of the union. we just haven't seen that. >> immigration is a very big issue california, it's akey issue for him. and among those in theil audien be an undocumented immigrant who worked at one of his golf courses. she wasinvited by a democratic congresswoman. scott, how will that affect any

message that the president delivers on immigration and border security and protecting jo for americans? >> it reminds me of what steve bannon did during a debate with hillary clinton, he brought women that had accused clinton of sexual assault to a debate. it's a dis traction, meant to throw him off his game a little but i think that the concern that democrats have, and some republicans franky, is that he's going to declare a national emergency in the speech and therefore try to go around ngress to get the money from the pentagon or other places in the budget t t buildis wall. but, you know, i think that there is a w to talk about a wall of security thatlu would in fencing and technology and beefing up the public border access points and the coast guard. but, you know, i think that things like inviting somebody who was anrkndocumented w that got, i think, fired from his gmpany is really not go to help. >> it will be interesting to see the tone and approach the president takes ton immigrat because recall, this is

happening while the congressional cmittee that was onvened after the shutdown to discuss immigration policy is continuing its deliberation. thpresident can set the tone for where that committee goes. he's already tweeted, by the wa d that it almoesn't matter. he thinks it's a waste of time what this committee does, which suggests thate's already got his mind made up. i> he told "the new york times" he's going to that wall anyway. do you think he will declare a national emergency? >> i think that's the most likely outcome at this point. i mean, it's unlikely -- look, hat's been tee formed to discuss immigration is made up of people who are relatively moderate overall on immigratyon. don't have a lot of hardliners. even ifom they to an agreement that 80% of americans would agree on, is that committee going to get agreement from the hardline democrats and conservative republicans and president trump, unlikely. we're not going to havenother shutdown, but we're going to end up with president trump exercising unilateralauthority, i think. >> california's congressional tellgation. when he delivers this speech it

will be in front of a congress where california has the largest number of house members, 53 in all. nancy pelosi has named bay area congressmen to key areas. barbara lee lost her race, but he got a plum assignment from nancy pelosi anyway. >> she wanted that position, and she lost to hakeem jeffries, an up and comer from new york state. ba barbara lee is one of the most liberal members of the house, but she's also a conciliator, she brought together the sanders supporters with hillary clinton supporters at the democratic convention in philadelphia in 201 so i think in this role, on this hemmittee where they're trying to bridge differences she's a good choice. >> do you think she'll use the position, though, to, you know, build more progressive power in the house? >> on this committee, you mean? >> yes. >> i don't think so. nancy thpelosi, i nk, chose people who were not in it for

themse try to come to some kind of an agreement that everybody, including the president, can live with. you know, democrats have been for fencing. they've put mots ofney toward border security. there is a way. the question is will the president take yes for an answer, i think. >> yeah, iwi mean, it be interesting to see and also the california delegation you've goi this inter mix of people who are quite progressive, people particularly elected in thew 2018 cycl come from that part of the party. but you've also got potentially more moderateelements,ow those all mix together and that looks like will be an interesting subplot as nancy pelosi continues her speakership. let's move ton to something really interesting happening on the housing issue in california. and that is attorney general cavier bacerra suing hundredsington b compelling it to construct more affordable housing. scott, explain to us the laws the attorney general thinks huntington is violating. >> there was a law passed last year, i believe, that allows th

state te local governments that aren't meeting their housing goals are actively trying to avoid meeting the housing goals. the governor eyd the atto general got together and have been talking about this for quite some time, before gavin newsome got there, huntington is one of those places that's been blo housing, a lot of -- down there. so newsom is making housing in general a priority. he put in $2 billion in his budget. it's a carrot and stick situation. he's firing ang warn shot across the bow of huntington beach. down there they elected some democrats for the first time in a while to the legislature, and they're nervous that it's sort taking away local control is going to hurt eythem. didn't get elected by big margins. >> are there other cities in the cross hayrs, particulan the bay area? >> well, i wonder about marin county where the governor lives, it's been notoriously opposed to building more housing. we've heard about brisbane as

well. >> what do you think about all >> thelict between local cois. control and what the state responsibility is,isoing to ueay out in this area, as it has in many other ireas. fundamentally the question on housing is who's in the best position to do it? the localities will continue to argue we should have control and obviously the governor and the attorney general feel differently. >> all right, lon he chen, with the hoove institution, and your podcast is crossing lining. d scott shaffer with kqed, thanks to you. >> thank you. oakland is having its hollywood moment right nowr wit acclaimed films set in the panther,"luding "black first super hero to be nominated for best picture. it's brought global atteion to oakland. the city's long been a hub for arts and activism. it's now dealingith gentrification and a struggle for its identity. the three mu views touch on these thes in their own way.

the black cast was hailed as an important cultural moment. "sorry to bother you" tells the story of miserable telemarketers trying to survive. and "blind spotting," a dark comedy abou the intersection of class and race. >> bro. >> stop. stop. dodon't shoot. t shoot. >> and joining me now is car vel allace, a contributing writer for the "new york times" magazine. so nice to have you here. >> happy to be here. >> so i saw "blind spotting" and it covers so many complicated things, race, class, police brutality, oakland's gentrification, what is it about the movie's treatnt of these issues that went so well with

audiences? >> the film represented a morea modern on the intersection of race and class. think that ever since, if you look at music, ever since the invention of the ipod you've started to get a lot more mixing of ideas and opculture, growing up listening to metal and rap and that kind of thing. i think that the generation that's grown up with that aesthetic has found its voice. i think the blind spotting is part of that. oakland and berkeley has sort of been ahead of the curve for a long time on that. the rest of the country is now catching up on where those ideas become political. >> 2018 was such an extraordinary year for oakland, right, besides blind spotting, there was "sorry to bother you," and black panther" pa lysett-- does this say about the kinds of movies andma filmrs coming out of the city? >> i think it means the rest of the country is on some level

atching up with some of the things that have made oakland unique. a lot of what what's made it unique is the mix of culture and racha >> that's informs the film er ma >> one teacher that was a black panther, one teacher that's ph.d. at cal, one cousin that was both, an aunt thawas hippie. kids are growing up working class wth all these influences, the tellectual, urbane, politics. >> you might have a family member affected by police brutality. >> yes, and the rest of america has caught up to the idea t tt the that newer definition of an american citizen. and i think the bayea has been ahead of the curve on that. lasting his signal a shift in hollywood regarding what kinds of stories and story tellers are suptrted or is more of a blitz? >> i think it remains to be e i think that the good thing about the internet is that it's

allowed artists to validate their high pop sis publicly before gate keepers agree. you can make content, as a result of the content, go to a studio, and say there's a million likes and tweets and followers. we can guarantee this works. that has c permanentanged the face of hollywood. whether or not that continues to mean oakland gets representation, or rather thatio represent spreads out, kind of remains to be seen. >> we have the commercial success ofie mlike "black panther," and "crazy rich asians" which used the internet for auditions but movies tefeaturing non-w casts are rare. what else needs to happen at the decision making level to make hat more common place? >> there needs more diversity. big difference between a platform online and getting,

you know,un $20 millionng for a movie. it's hard to do that on line. i think that what we're seeing is the rise of some decision makers, some people who own networks, who own big enough bank accounts that they can really make decisions about feature films, we're seeing more diversity in those ranks. that's the main thing that will make it happen. >> the movies we talked about, the three movies that came out of oakland were in the works well before the 2016 presidential election. sorry to bother you, blind spotting, a ten year pronlt. how did the political environment affect thectfinal prond how the public perceived them? >> i think the current political climate has made -- has affected the way those projects are nkceived. i twhenever, you know, the part of what art does is it validates the people about whom the art is made. that's why representation has always beense important bec more representation means more validation of humanity. and so i think that after trump

and after the election there we a lot of people in this country who felt like itevas now more important, more vital to validate the humanity of women or people of color, of queer, lgbtq, et cetera. that has been reflwated in the people have shown up for these projects because they know the power that those projects hold in the face of what we're seeing politically. >> you've lived in oakland 20 years. how do these changes you're talking about right now, the current political climate, as ll as the gentrification affecting the work ofrs film mand other artists who live in oakland? ? >> in order for there to be artistic movement, in a plat has to be affordable. artists have to work at the beginning of their careers not making a lot of money. those three mill am makers had to essentially leaveo oakland get their projects funded. the producers, where the money comes from, "black panther" is a marvel project which based in oakland.

gentrification makes it harder f people to live here and stay here. we're seeing the upping of oakland as a brand, but simultaneously we're kind of seeing the diminishing of oakland as a place wherertists can live and work and still afford to pay rent. >> and that's certainly the ongoing struggle. car vel wallace, contributing writer for the "new york times," thanks so much for bing with us. >> thank you for having me. and that will do it for us. as always, you can find more coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. thank you for joing us. ♪ ♪

♪ robert: president trump downplays disagreements over intelligence and declares no wall, no dea i'm robert costa. welcome to "washington week." president trumpis tells intelligence chiefs to go back to school.he following stark assessment of threats from north korea. >> north korea will seek to retain its wmd depainlts and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear a weapo production capabilities. isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. robert: which -- and russian interference. >> not only have the russians continued to do it in 2018 but receive wenal -- seen indication that they're continuing to a