Health

The Tale of Two Cities podcast: Hooked

Kava, kratom and caffeine — the stories in this episode of our podcast dive into obsession, addiction and habits. We follow reporters Susie Neilson ad Padmini Parasarathy as they goes to Melo Melo Kava Bar where people consume Kava, a Polynesian root-brewed tea, helping people with their anxiety and overcome addiction. Alexa Hornbeck takes us to Sacramento as she speaks with a mother fighting to keep kratom, a controversial herbal supplement, from being made an illegal substance in the United States….

Oakland schools run test to help students take mainstream English classes

Oakland schools are now in their second year of running a new testing process that will allow students who are identified as English Language Learners (ELL) and who have special needs to have better chances of joining mainstream English-language classrooms for students with and without disabilities. Currently, special education students who are also English learners must take a test to show that they are fluent in English. This standardized test evaluates the student’s English literacy level, and is only available…

Climate change and land subsidence pose threat for coastal Bay Area

The Bay Area is sinking and climate change is speeding things up, according to a new study published in Science Advances this month. The study was conducted over the span of two years by researchers Manoocher Shirzaei and Roland Burgmann, who used satellite images to evaluate regions of the Bay Area, such as Treasure Island, which are experiencing sea level rise because of the accelerated melting of polar ice. Shirzaei is a former UC Berkeley post-doctoral student, and Burgmann is…