Rachael Myrow

The FBI’s Oakland corruption case relies heavily on the word of one man with a ‘checkered past’ For decades, Juarez has been at the center of bitter legal disputes — and the subject of criminal investigations — all while maintaining high-level political connections.

A well-known Fruitvale businessman is widely believed to be “Co-conspirator 1” federal prosecutors referred to in the indictment as the source of a trove of information they used to bring charges against Thao, Jones and the Duongs. oaklandside.org/2025/12/01/m... via @oaklandside.org

POLITICO Pro: AI state preemption plan merges with kids’ safety push Lawmakers looking to block state AI laws in the year-end defense bill plan to pair the issue with new rules to protect children online — and KOSA is back in the mix.

According to four people familiar with congressional negotiations, House Republican leaders believe Democrats will only vote to preempt state #AI laws if that preemption is paired with new online protections for kids. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025... via @politico.com

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Silicon Valley Ghouls Melt Down Over Report on David Sacks Business Conflicts Conflicts are good, actually.

The defense by the guys who also have big bets placed on the same sectors that Sacks does doesn’t actually address the Times’ central premise, which is that Sacks is still invested in areas where he is dictating policy. The implied answer to that is basically, “So what?” gizmodo.com/silicon-vall...

San Francisco Supervisors Pass Rezoning Plan, Making Way for Taller, Denser Housing | KQED The Family Zoning Plan aims to create capacity for 36,000 new units, particularly in the quiet and residential neighborhoods on the west and north sides of the city.

“If we don’t offer our own solution, Sacramento will dictate zoning for us, and we will lose local control, which is unacceptable,” Wong said. www.kqed.org/news/1206570... via @sydneyfjohnson.bsky.social @kqednews.kqed.org

Scientists Trace Heavy Metals Spread by January’s Huge Battery Fire Near Monterey | KQED A new study from San José State University shows that last winter’s massive battery plant fire in Moss Landing spread a layer of toxic metals across the region.

The concern is not only for the local wildlife, which includes the southern sea otter, a threatened species still struggling back from the brink of extinction. Many agricultural fields are also close to the Moss Landing battery plant. www.kqed.org/science/1999... via @kqedscience.bsky.social

In any case, OpenAI wouldn’t be alone in going down this route. Google has been showing sponsored content in its infamously wonky AI Overviews for over a year. Perplexity has been experimenting with ads since last year, too.

OpenAI Preparing to Stuff Ads Into ChatGPT, According to Beta Code in App Lines of code in an experimental build of OpenAI's ChatGPT app references a number of advertising related features.

OpenAI is preparing to cash in on its vast user base with ads, amid growing pressure to demonstrate the company can show a profit while its spending — and AI capital expenditures at large — continue to balloon past what subscriptions can support. futurism.com/artificial-i... via @futurism.com

How big tech is creating its own friendly media bubble to ‘win the narrative battle online’ At a time when distrust of big tech is high, Silicon Valley is embracing an alternative ecosystem where every CEO is a star

At a time when many Americans distrust big tech, Silicon Valley has built its own network of alternative media where CEOs, founders and investors are the unchallenged and beloved stars. (Which is why reporters like me just quote them.) www.theguardian.com/technology/2... via @theguardian.com

Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.

Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — for speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling why law enforcement flagged them down. apnews.com/article/immi...

Bro boost: women say their LinkedIn traffic increases if they pretend to be men Collective experiment found switching profile to ‘male’ and ‘bro-coding’ text led to big increase in reach, though site denies favouring posts by men

“Changing gender on your profile does not affect how your content appears.” - a @linkedin.com spokesperson. But, the anecdotes are piling up. “The kind of stats that I’m seeing at the moment are a 1,600% increase in profile views.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2... via @theguardian.com

‘Nerd Reich’ Author Gil Duran on the Tech Authoritarian Movement | KQED Airdate: Monday, December 1 at 10 AM Journalist Gil Duran’s newsletter “The Nerd Reich” documents the latest developments in anti-democracy extremism within Silicon Valley. These extreme views include...

www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

📧 your comments and questions to FORUM@KQED.ORG. Find us on Twitter, X, Facebook or Instagram... Join our Discord community. Or contact us the old fashioned way. 🤳🏻866-733-6786. That’s 866-733-6786!

📡 🎙️MON at 10 am on @kqedforum.bsky.social: I 🗣️ w/ @gilduran.com, the political strategist + commentator behind the Substack + fthc 📕 @thenerdreich.com.web.brid.gy. He's tracking how a small pack of megalomaniacal #SiliconValley "disruptors" have moved from private group chats into public life. 🧟‍♀️

A.I. Can Do More of Your Shopping This Holiday Season

"The A.I. tools can also help people deal with 'decision fatigue from endless options.'" ⁇ This is unthinking PR from @nytimes.com. Chatbots are NOT helpful at deciding who should get what under the 🌲, or where the best price is (they can't guess shipping costs). 🤷🏻‍♀️ www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/t...

From Rust to Robots, the East Bay Bids for a High-Tech Revival - KQED As factory jobs continue a decades-long, nationwide slide, the East Bay is doubling down. The most recent example? Those Zoox robotaxis quietly humming around San Francisco and Foster City.

🔉Now with audio! 🔉 omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...

YouTube video by Slate He Quit the Bench to Raise the Alarm | Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

"As long as people are in silos, this idea of the marketplace of ideas, the first amendment concept - the best response to bad speech is better speech - doesn't work." - Retired federal judge Mark Wolf talking with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqQa...

“Oh, well, another person got hit, but, you know, it’s common. It’s like it’s part of life right there.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/int... via @washingtonpost.com

Inside One Bay Area Business Rocked by Trump’s Tariffs | KQED Have Trump's tariffs lived up to their promise for local food businesses?

"I am an American who runs an American company who has American children. I would love to for American manufacturing to flourish, but we also all want cinnamon. Cinnamon comes from India and Sri Lanka." www.kqed.org/news/1206461... via @kqednews.kqed.org @alanmontecillo.bsky.social

Amnesia, nostalgia, healing: Spain grapples with Franco legacy 50 years on Half a century has passed since Franco's dictatorship ended with his death, but some in Spain still valorise his rule.

“There is a type of mythification of the Franco years that works well on social media, and it has a big impact on young men in particular. They are told there were no problems in that era because there was no radical feminism and no migrants.” www.aljazeera.com/news/longfor... via @aljazeera.com

Where do you work now?

You may have seen #Zoox robo taxis rolling around SF, Foster City and Vegas lately. There’s no steering wheel or pedals. Some on reddit describe them as mini toasters on wheels. They’re notable in another way, too. They’re manufactured in Hayward. www.kqed.org/news/1206472... via @kqednews.kqed.org

If they want to talk, my email is rmyrow@kqed.org 🙏🏻

California Doctors Urge Ban on Engineered Stone as Silicosis Cases Surge | KQED California stoneworkers are becoming severely ill from silica dust exposure from cutting engineered stone, prompting urgent warnings from doctors and workplace safety experts as Australia’s 2024 ban u...

🧵The scientists and the doctors are telling the policy makers this is a matter of utmost urgency, but who is listening? Huge respect to @faridajhabvala.bsky.social. #accountability #journalism at its finest. @kqednews.kqed.org is doing the work. www.kqed.org/news/1206469...

🧵Some of the companies that make the artificial stone make alternative products that don't involve so much toxic silica dust, but unlike Australia, which has BANNED the bad stuff, California ... dawdles, slow walks the decision making process.

🧵 If you knew that young men were DYING to make that attractively priced kitchen countertop, would you buy it anyway? My guess is not.

What Pixar’s ‘WALL-E’ Got Right About the Future of Work The director and screenwriter had a vision of a dystopian future that now seems disturbingly prescient.

"We’re always hungry for something. We still want another love story told through somebody else’s perspective, and it’s the somebody else’s perspective that we’re actually hungry for, whether we know it or not. And I think most of us don’t know it."
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/wall... via @wsj.com

A delightful conversation on @kqedforum.bsky.social about #dogs with the poet Billy Collins, but he's 100% wrong about cats not looking you in the eye, not staring at you at length, sometimes with love, sometimes indulgence, sometimes obsession. 👀 www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

Most of us are familiar with two kinds of persimmon: the apple-sized, crunchy Fuyu and the bulbous Hachiya, best enjoyed when it’s so ripe, it’s gooey. I'm going to go out on a limb here and argue there's an even BETTER persimmon, available only at farms and farmers' markets.

Civil Liberties Groups Sue San José Over License Plate Reader Use | KQED A group of civil liberties organizations is suing San José over its use of license plate reader data.

“It would be one thing...to check a license plate against a hotlist...But...[cops] can go back and see where a driver went to obtain medical care, where they worked, whether they attended a protest, or where they take their kids to school.” www.kqed.org/news/1206458... via @josephgeha.bsky.social