Episodes

  • What set the stage for a Republican sweep, a Dem failure this election?

    What set the stage for a Republican sweep, a Dem failure this election?
    Nov 14 2024
    A little over a week after Election Day, Democrats are still hoping to narrow the Republican majority in the House, as they start to do autopsies on how they lost the presidential campaign. For more on this, KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern, along with KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart, spoke with Christine Pelosi of San Francisco. Among the many hats she wears, Pelosi is a longtime party activist and political strategist, leader of the Women’s Caucus, and member of the Democratic National Committee.
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    8 mins
  • CA voters have rejected Prop 6, but proponents are not derailed

    CA voters have rejected Prop 6, but proponents are not derailed
    Nov 13 2024
    This is “The State, Of California”, hosted by KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern, along with KCBS Radio news anchor Patti Reising. California voters rejected Proposition 6, which would have banned slave labor in the state’s prisons. The ballot measure lost by about seven percent, even though a similar one passed in Nevada by 20 points. Prop 6 would have outlawed slavery in California and gotten rid of the practice of forcing inmates to work, in involuntary servitude. Inmates would still have been able to work behind bars, but they would not have been able to be forced to do jobs against their will, and for little or no money. Prop 6 lost, even though there was no organized opposition or campaign against it. For more on this, Doug and Patti spoke with Carmen-Nicole Cox, an attorney with ACLU California Action. Among other things, she has been a Deputy DA in San Joaquin County, Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Jerry Brown, and she is an Adjunct Professor at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific.
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    8 mins
  • As Trump fills Cabinet, Dems tend to their bruises, look to the future

    As Trump fills Cabinet, Dems tend to their bruises, look to the future
    Nov 12 2024
    President-elect Donald Trump is wasting no time beginning the transition, with controversial choices, including Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, former Governor Mike Huckabee as his Ambassador to Israel, and former ICE chief Tom Homan as his “border czar,” which is a position that doesn’t officially exist. Meanwhile, Democrats have flipped one swing House seat in California and they’re still hoping to win a couple more, but it seems extremely likely that the Republicans will hold the House with a net gain of perhaps two or three seats, giving them complete control of all the branches of the federal government. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, though, insists this was not the sweeping rebuke of the Democrats that many across the country think. More on today's State of California, hosted by KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern, along with KCBS news anchor Patti Reising.
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    7 mins
  • Trump announces his pick for "Border Czar," a nebulous position

    Trump announces his pick for "Border Czar," a nebulous position
    Nov 11 2024
    As we've been reporting today, President-elect Donald Trump has announced former ICE chief Tom Homan to be the "border czar" for his incoming administration. This isn't the first time that Homan has worked with Trump--he served as acting ICE director during part of Trump's first term. Now, according to President-elect Trump, Homan will "be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their country of origin." For more, KCBS Radio anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart were joined by Bill Hing, Professor at USF Law and founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. This is The State of California.
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    9 mins
  • The remnants of California's most destructive fire, six years later

    The remnants of California's most destructive fire, six years later
    Nov 8 2024
    Doug Sovern is away today. It's been six years since the most destructive fire in California engulfed the entire town of Paradise in flames. The Camp Fire, which scorched more than 153-thousand acres in Butte County, claimed dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes. Now, six years later, survivors are keeping memories alive and continue to rebuild their lives. For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart spoke with Colette Curtis, the Recovery and Economic Development Director of Paradise.
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    7 mins
  • Adam Schiff outlines his priorities as the California U.S. Senator-elect

    Adam Schiff outlines his priorities as the California U.S. Senator-elect
    Nov 7 2024
    This is the State of California with KCBS Political Reporter Doug Sovern. He sat down with Adam Schiff, who was recently announced as the California US Senate representative, as he defined his goals for the state.
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    7 mins
  • Harris has conceded—where does she go from here?

    Harris has conceded—where does she go from here?
    Nov 6 2024
    Vice President Kamala Harris conceded defeat this afternoon, congratulating President-elect Donald Trump but vowing to continue the fight that fueled her campaign It’s a somber day for many voters in the Bay Area, and for those who have known and worked with Harris for years. Of course, Kamala Harris was a county prosecutor in both Oakland and San Francisco, as well as working in the City Attorney’s office in San Francisco, before she became DA, and then state Attorney General before moving on to Washington. She has many friends and former colleagues here, many of whom worked tirelessly for the last 107 days to try to help elect her president. Today they are licking their wounds, trying to figure out what went wrong, and looking ahead to what comes next. For more on this, KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern, along with KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart, spoke with Debbie Mesloh. She was Kamala Harris’ press secretary back in the day when Harris was San Francisco District Attorney. They are old, dear friends and Mesloh spent the closing days of this campaign working to get out the vote for Harris in Wisconsin.
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    11 mins
  • What can we expect as polls begin to close on the East Coast?

    What can we expect as polls begin to close on the East Coast?
    Nov 5 2024
    It is Election Day in America, with tens of millions of voters going to the polls and probably even more than that anxiously awaiting the results. KCBS will have complete coverage with all the returns, beginning when the first polls close on the East Coast. The polls close in six states at 4:00 our time and we will probably be able to project some winners almost immediately. Those states include Georgia, one of the battlegrounds, and Virginia, which is not a swing state but could offer some insight into what’s going to happen. We don’t expect to be able to estimate the winner in Georgia right away, though. We are also watching the data from exit polls, of voters after they come out of the polling place and also some who voted by mail or early, and that could be illuminating as well. And of course, the polls don’t close here in California until 8:00, so get out and vote if you haven’t already, we may know by then who’s won the presidency….or it could take a couple of days to count enough votes. More on today's State of California, hosted by KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern, along with KCBS news anchors Bret Burkhart and Patti Reising.
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    8 mins