tonight on kqed newsroom, the state is reopening the economy as vaccinations become available for more and more residents. meanwhile, democrats strengthen their support for governor newsom. will it be enough to keep him in office? our political pros weigh in. did you know that there is at least one planet for every star in the sky? mother and daughter, where we might find life outside of planet earth. a sneak peek inside of the kqed headquarters currently under construction. this week's look at something beautiful. welcome to "tran01 newsroom

" this is a great show. i'm glad you're with us. let's start with a look at today's news in california. on thursday, the state expended vaccine eligibility. now anyone over 50 can receive the job, if they can get an appointment. 6 million more californians are now eligible. but supplies are still limited. providers are asking us all to be patient. first, first lady joe biden visited -- on saturday to lobby for farmworkers. >> the united farmworkers was not only fighting for better wages, it has always been a moral movement. one of justice and humanity for all. but especially for the agricultural workers who are mostly unseen. >> rental prices in san francisco have been trending upward and have now seen the highest increase since the

start of the pandemic. still, the median rental price is down more than 20% since last year. baseball season opened on thursday with the san diego padres, the dodgers, the athletics, and the giants, playing with fans in the stands once again. the a's, they just hired their first female announcer. 34-year-old amelia schimmel. and a new poll from the -- of california indicates that governor newsom could be back recall, 40% saying they are in favor of kicking him out but 56% said that they would vote to keep him in office. this week's big political stories, i am joined by senior political writer, joe guerra follow. and carla mayor nucci. >> good to be with you. >> thanks for you both being here. they join us from skype from oakland. carla, you had a big scoop, you

talk to governor arnold schwarzenegger, what did he say about the recall? >> he captured lightning in a bottle back in 2003 without recall. he was an unusual figure, the world's biggest action here at the time. so he talked about yes, an unusual circumstance. but there are some similarities, he said, with the movement today and the one in 2003. voter dissatisfaction, anger, and something that has created the momentum and in that case it was the blackout, the electricity crisis of 2003. today he said newsom's french laundry incident, which ramped up voter anger about hypocrisy. he said people, voters, they are angry about sacramento being unconcerned with their own worries, unresponsive! and so, had some advice for newsom , saying he may have been slow coming out of the gate but get out there. he prays newsom for being out

there, for doing vaccinations, for sort of getting california's business and schools back on track. he says he has to keep doing that but this is not about parties, schwarzenegger warned. this is about the voters anger and the politicians better be concerned. >> carla, to follow up on that a little bit, we are seeing some positive signs for governor newsom. tell us about how the support is going for him and where it looks like the recall will land right now. >> yeah, the governor has gotten some good news in the past couple weeks. aside from the poles, look, the money is pouring in to the anti- recall movement. he collected $3.1 million in the first two weeks, his campaign did. much of it from small donors, almost 95% from californians. that is a big deal. another big, i think another advantage for newsom now, democrat tom stier has said he

will not get in the race. we reported that he was holding himself to see if he was an alternative. if the democrat gets in it will be much more difficult for new some. right now he is out, getting vaccinated. he did that this week. and the vaccines, over 18 million in california, that is good news for newsom. a lot of people are saying that if i continues the recall attempt will be a very big challenge, heavylift for the republicans. >> joe, it looks like you want to join in. >> a couple other things that are behind me newsom that are helping him, that poll that came out that carla was referring to, i think it is like 74% of californians say the worst of the pandemic is behind us. he keeps talking about the light at the end of the tunnel, and many californians are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. and his approval ratings have remained steady, you know, the point of the recall is that he is a scapegoat, people were -- off about closures, and the

whip song back and forth, what is opened, what is closed. they printed on newsom at his approval rating has maintained steady. of course the main thing he has got going for them is that there is no arnold in this race, there is no one with 100% name recognition, literally schwarzenegger back in the day had the same amount of name recognition as the pope. and arguably better numbers. so he has got those, that's what he has got going for him and this is, as carla said, good nude for newsom this last week. >> although schwarzenegger said it is early and we could see someone get in the race, a clooney, brad pitt, meghan markle, as political reporters were saying, "go for it! you give >> please jump in. >> a little drama to jump in. vp kamala harris has been working on the immigration crisis. what would that look like,

especially for us here in california? >> it is the toughest of assignments and what makes it tougher for her is a couple things. number one, let's remember, she has limited foreign-policy experience. she was a senator for about four years, three years, really. and one of those years mac running for president. she does not have as much overseas, diplomatic experience. this will be a little learning on the job for her. the other thing, she disagrees with biden on some immigration policy. let's look at title 42, for example, and i wrote about this about a week or so ago. it said title 42, it is the public policy, public health provision that donald trump used to close the border. and so part of that has been rescinded, but not all of it. it is still being used to get adult migrants out. kamala harris said that this was an overreach of executive power, when she was a senator. and when donald trump was the president.

now that president biden is the president, she has not said anything about it. remember that president biden said that kamala harris will be the last person in the room with him and we are wondering if she brings it up to the president? >> in this immigration portfolio, it is a no-win situation in a lot of ways. and republicans are going to try to tie this around her neck and to damage her prospects coming up in 2024, or 2028. i think it is interesting that she is coming back to oakland next week to talk about something totally different, something she probably has more positive ratings on, that is infrastructure. everybody wants to talk infrastructure. that is a good thing for her. >> so as kamala harris is supposed to be the last person in the room, apart from immigration, doesn't seem she can influence the white house to those californian ideas? >> well let's look at weed, she

goes in and talk to the president about weed, which is odd to say, but they will be, kamala harris is for legalization of marijuana and she sees it as a criminal justice issue. and the president has never been there and not close to it at that point. and they also disagree on the filibuster. when she was on, when she was candidate harris, she would say i would like to get rid of the filibuster when it comes to the green new deal. will that is a two for. biden does not support the green new deal and is warming up sort of to softening the filibuster but not there yet. >> all right, carla there continues to be much violence against asian americans, pacific islanders, how are politicians responding this week? >> this has become, i mean, top of mind when you see instances from new york, oakland, several instances of elders there, in

chinatown. look, the attorney general, attorney general to be, who is filipino-american himself, i mean he has made it clear that this will be a priority for him here in california. and governor newsom has also been very, very aggressive on this one. this is i think an issue that is going to be a measure for a lot of voters out there. the api voters are very important, for democrats and for newsom and me recall and for everywhere else. the fact is, more awareness, and now a lot more concerned, a lot more action from the part of public officials on a api violence. >> let's come back to a topic that we hit at the beginning, with the light at the end of the tunnel with covid-19 . there is a story that you have been working on with covid and healthcare, can you tell us about that? >> a recent ppi c poll, was how

californians, almost seven, eight, and 10 now, support giving healthcare to undocumented immigrants regardless of their status, of course. but also in there was that they were more willing to pay for more government services, provided they got more as opposed to paying less for fewer. one of the things that the pandemic has done is, is sort of open people up to how healthcare is a system. look, we are counting the number of icu beds, the number of ventilators, seeing it as less of a commodity, something that you can buy, that you can afford or not afford, but something that we benefit from. >> we are understanding the value in any way. >> right, people are saying maybe we should have more advocates of medicare for all. were saying that this is an opening for us to talk about how we should have one system that is accessible to everyone. >> all right, we have got to leave it there. joe, with "the seventh disco

chronicle. to q and carla, with --, thank you to both. >> thank you. >> thank you. is there life beyond earth? our next guests tackle the biggest questions of the universe, by peering through immense telescopes into the farthest possible reaches of space. astrophysicist and astro biologist, natalie botanica, studies exoplanets, outside of our own solar system. when she began in the mid-90s there were only a few known exoplanets. but on a recent mission she and her team discovered more than 4000 such planets. some of them potentially harboring life. her daughter, natosha, is following in her mother's footsteps. a research scientist working for nasa, in the largest telescope project created set to be launched into space this fall. joining me now is professor at

uc santos rose, natalie. hello. >> hello. >> and her daughter, nasa research scientist, natosha. >> hello. nice to be here. >> they are both joining us from skype from oregon, where they are visiting family with a new grandbaby in the family. congratulations. >> thank you. >> natalie, you have had an incredible career. can you explain the mission to us and what you found? >> kepler was nasa's first mission capable of finding potentially habitable or earth -sized planets, orbiting other stars in the galaxy. and for the first time we were able to detect not just one planet but hundreds or even thousands. and over its eight-year lifetime, it actually discovered something like 4500 planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. and so from that data we learned three very important things, first, we learned that

on average every single star in our galaxy harbors at least one planet. and the nearest potentially habitable planet is likely to be within 10 light-years, you know us living in the u.s., that would be like a planet at the corner grocery store. you know, very close. and we also learned that the diversity of planets in the solar earth, in the galaxy, is much greater than the diversity than the planets we see in our solar system. >> and you are measuring my new changes in light, can you describe the process of discovery? >> yeah, kepler finds planets indirectly. we do not take pictures of planets. we observe stars and measure their brightness is very precisely. so that we can detect minute light that happens if a planet were to eclipse its parent star. as it orbits. those diminution's are so small, the dimming of light due to an earthlike planet orbiting a sun -like star, is like

looking at the largest skyscraper in new york city, imagine it is nighttime and all the windows are open and the lights are on. and one person goes to a window and lowers the blinds by about half an inch. that is the dimming of the light that kepler had to detect to find the planets. >> fascinating. natosha, you are now embarking on a new research project. tell us about the james webb space telescope that you will work with and the focus of your research. >> yeah, absolutely. as my mom explained, kepler opened up this huge new fields of exoplanet science. now we can embark on a whole new journey of stunning the planets in more depth. so what kepler taught us is basically just the size and the mass and maybe the approximate temperature of these planets. and with james webb we can now go deeper and understand what their chemical compositions are, understand what their climates might be like.

one of the really incredible things that kepler discovered was that one of the most common types of planets in the galaxy have no representation in our own solar system. these are planets that are a little bit bigger than our terrestrial planets. but a little bit smaller than our gas giants. so our programs that we will be setting with the james webb space telescope, will look at what we call superearths or sudden neptune's, and for the first time try to figure out what they actually are. >> and natosha, can you describe the telescope for us? >> yes. said the james webb space telescope, when all laid out, it fits on about the size of a tennis court, it is very big. the mirrors, which you can see behind me, are pleated in gold beryllium. it is not a lot, it is about the weight of a golf ball, that is coated on the here.

the mirror is about 6 1/2 meters big, and so it gives us a huge light collecting power to actually be able to detect these planets. the other awesome thing about the james webb space telescope, is that it looks into the infrared. so with the hubble space telescope, we were only looking at visible light. with the james webb space telescopes, we will be able to see infrared light. a good analogy is thinking about trying to look at a big forest through a crack in a gait. you know, we were kind of seeing blurry images and trying to make out what was going on. with james webb we will be able to really open the gate for the first time. >> natalie you also be working with the web telescope project. and that capability will give us the chance to look back in time almost to the beginning of the universe. what are we hoping to learn? >> my goodness, i have a lot of interest on what we will learn

about the planets themselves, their climates, and how their atmospheres transfer and implications to life. but webb, but since it has a large collecting area, his he deep in the universe. we can reach back to the first 200 million years after the big bang. we will be able to see phenomenon like the supernova of the very first stars that were formed in the entire universe at a moment, at pocket time. literally the lights were turned on for the first time in the universe. it is tremendously exciting. that is just one example of the myriad science questions that webb will be able to answer. >> and natosha, the webb telescope is not only the largest bill but the most expensive. the price tag is about $9 billion. we obviously have other needs for money here on earth so why is your argument on why we should spend money on space expiration? >> yeah, when you put a real number or price tag on it, it

sounds like a lot of money. however when you spread it over the decades of time going into creating this immense and technological feet, it is not much. as humans, it really, it really is exploring the universe and pushing boundaries to new frontiers, that is really what makes us human. it is imperative that we continue doing projects like this, pushing boundaries, exploring new areas of space and other realms of science. >> yeah, you know you cannot put a price tag on wonder. and the meaning that science gives, or just knowledge. understanding our place in the universe. you know kepler found these potentially habitable planets and i think catalyzed the search for life in a very tangible way. webb is going to be the next step to the eventual goal. and as we search for life we have to study the limits of planetary habitability. when you do that you learn about the sustainability of life right here on planet

earth. so i think the search also makes us ultimately better planetary stewards, which you know is so important today. how do you put a price tag on that? how do you put a price tag on the unknown and the feeling of wonder and inspiration he gives to all of humanity? >> natosha, you and your mom are both featured in a new filmed film called "the search for planet b." >> one of the most exciting things that james webb is going to do, really early on, is look at this incredibly interesting planetary system called the trappist one system. it has seven planets in the system, much like our own solar system, and three of the planets lien what we call the habitable zone. which is a zone that could potentially harbor liquid water. so we already have some examples of incredibly interesting systems, where we can search for potential signs

of life. >> natosha, you would like to add? >> i would like to say that i think nathaniel, the film marker, chose the title facetiously. every single person that he interviewed talked about the sustainability of life. and we are not finding other planets to have a backup plan. we are looking for life so we will understand sustainability of life on planet earth. and again, when you do that, that is the knowledge that you claim. i think the search for planet b was the title that was chosen really facetiously in order to highlight that fact. >> natalie, when you were coming up, they were not many women in your world. you broke glass ceilings. have you seen a change for your daughter's generation? >> yes. definitely. there has been change. >> you sound hesitant. >> the change has been very slow. you know, when natosha started grad school, for example, she sent me a picture on my cell phone, like here is the freshman class, here i am with

my colleagues. and the picture rang a bell with me. because there is my daughter wearing this bright pink shirt, surrounded by her male colleagues. and when i was a young intern, my very first science internship, we took a similar picture of interns for the summer and there i was in my bright fuchsia pink sweater, surrounded by my male colleagues. so it is just, i felt that man, 26 years have gone by and not much has changed. that felt discouraging. but there is a lot to be hopeful for, and the fact that natosha is here and persevered and doing what she is doing, i think that is partial evidence of that. >> natosha, what you feel are some of the obstacles that still hold young women back? >> well, in the movie i talk about one of those obstacles, which is there was a moment where my mom had me as a kid, draw a picture of an astronaut. and me, the daughter of a female scientist, and also a

latinx scientist, both, you know parts of marginalized communities, i drew this incredibly scary -- stereotypical image of an astronaut, you know, this white male. and that really struck a chord with me, even as a seven, 10- year-old, even with examples in my own life, i still had these really in-depth, you know, cultural stereotypes ingrained. if i could fall victim to that, then certainly the broader population still has those deeply ingrained in their own as well. so there is an identity crisis, for sure, that you know, happens at such a young age for female and for people of color. >> well, your representation, both of you in your field, absolutely will make a difference for generations going forward. before we end, i would like to ask you both, what is it like

to work with your mother, to work with your daughter on this project and in this field? >> i will not lie, for me it is so incredible. i love it. it is so fantastic to have this in common with my own daughter and to sit there and talk about work and to be here with her is just, for me, like a dream, like a mom's dream. >> wonderful. and natosha? >> it is, coming up in the field, it is so amazing to have a support system. especially as someone part of a marginalized group, to have a role model, you know, in your, that you can text at any time, it is incredible. >> you will make me cry. >> doing these interviews like this, they are the hardest part, i think. because we just want to sit and laugh. >> well we wish you both well and we are looking forward to hearing about the results of the research that you have to do in the future as well. so, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you for having us. >> natosha anna tidally, space

explorers. as i mentioned at the top of the show, this is our last production for a few months. " kqed tran02" headquarters are being renovated which means we will be back in august. for this week's look at something beautiful, we look at images of our building as it undergoes renovation. we have some architectural renderings of the new design as well as footage from the construction in progress from this week. ♪ ♪

i hope you enjoyed the exciting glimpse of what is to come. in the updated radio and television studios, the building will have a community event space and when it is safe we hope that you join us in person. thank you to all of you that wrote into protest our short hiatus. we will miss you too and cannot wait to be together again in august. i am priya clemens, you can find more of our news coverage on kqed.org. from all of us here on newsroom, thank you for joining us. good night.

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