hello and welcome to kqed newsroom, i'm priya david clemens. we cannot get away from concern over wildfires in california, especially as climate change makes the dry dryer and the hot hotter as our governor likes to say. and the housing crunch has pushed more people to move away from urban centers and closer to wilderness areas. closer, that is than to potential fire zones. we are well into fire season and this week firefighters have been focused on a major blaze in northern california, the mccain if our has killed four people, including a woman who worked as a longtime forest service lookout, the agency charged with fighting and preventing wildfires on state land is cal fire, they have a new director, joe tyler who was appointed by governor newsom in march. chief tyler joins us via skype in sacramento. welcome to the show. >> thank you for having me. >> you have been with the agency for a long time, 31 years, but you have been in this job as the director for just a few months how's it going? >> it has been an honor and a great opportunity to s

hello, and welcome to kqed newsroom. in recent years, overdoses due to fentanyl have become one of the most pressing public health concerns in the states. the static opiate, fentanyl, which is used to treat pain is much more potent than other painkillers. it has made its way into street drugs. according to the san francisco chronicle, roughly 1300 people died from drug overdoses in 2020 and 2021 in san francisco. that is almost twice the total of the covid-19 pandemic in the city. joining now to discuss this and some of the other top news are the chronicle city hall reporter, tricia donny. and kqed political reporter, joe fitzgerald rodriguez. thank you, for being here. tricia, you have coverethis crisis for years. give us the lay of the land. how bad is it? >> reporter: this debt is that two people and they are dying from overdoses. that should say enough. it is been like this for almost two years. since the pandemic hit, we have seen this massive spike in overdoses. that has been driven by fentanyl, which is an extreme

hello, welcome to "kqed newsroom." i'm in for priya david clemens, anna clements. tonight, we look at why people in california leave or come to it. we will start with a case study. last week, the meat packing giant, smithfield foods, announcing, it will close a factor in southern california. the reason they gave, the high cost of doing business here in the golden state close to 2000 employees will lose their jobs in february of next year. although some could relocate to other smithville facilities outside of california are joining me now, the onomic correspondent for "new york times," reporting on smithfield foods, and what the story said about california's economy. curtis lee joins me by skype from los angeles. >> thanks so much for having me too great to have you. so, curtis, smithfield foods, it's a meat-packing plant with a lot of history to it. you wrote in your story, it was once a site-seeing destination. set the scene here for us. how can we understand why it's a big deal in its closing? >> absolute. smithfield foods has kind of been an institution here in

i am priya david clemens and this is kqed newsroom. we have talked about drought and wildfire and this week another threat took center stage, the megaflood and a new udy indicates that california could be in for torrential storms that last for weeks overwhelming rivers and causing havoc in urban areas and one of the study's authors daniel swain joins us now from boulder, colorado. thank you for joining us on the show. >> thank you for having me. >>> tell us about the findings in your study. >> we do know that california is actually a region that is subject to episodic severe flood events and throughout its geologic history. there was something that happened about five times per millennia or so so maybe every 200 years and the last really big one was in 1862 and produced what came to be known as the great flood of 1862. we do expect that climate change is significantly upping the odds and in this study we did find that climate change has essentially doubled the likelihood at least of relative to about a century ago and that the warming

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. >>> tonight, on "kqed newsroom," this emphasis go bay area with people and businesses aiming answers elsewhere. we look at changes in the bay area's demographics and workforce. >>> plus, we look at late nba legend bill russell's legacy, on and off the court in this week's something beautiful. coming to you from kqed headquarters in san francisco, this friday, august 5th, 2022. hello, welcome to "kqed

. >>> tonight on kqed newsroom , we talk about how california is handling a crisis of overdoses fromovernor newsom vetoed a proposal to create more safe injection sites. >>> plus, we consider how women of voting and running for office impact the fall elections and the future of the nation. with amy allison, the founder of the political advocacy organization, she the people. >>> we gaze at an architectural structure in east bay. this week, something beautiful. coming to you from kqed headquarters in san francisco, this friday