California’s Monkeypox Response | Lake Tahoe’s Ecological Health | All-Age Venue Café Colonial Fights to Stay Open

California’s response to the monkeypox outbreak. Researchers at UC Davis release their annual report, which raises concerns about the ecological health of Lake Tahoe. All-age venue Café Colonial fights to stay open.

California's monkeypox response

California Public Health officials are holding off on declaring a statewide emergency declaration for monkeypox - for now. During a call with reporters on July 29, Dr. Thomas Aragon, California’s Director of Public Health, said that while they are keeping a close eye on monkeypox and are taking it seriously, the infrastructure from COVID is in place to get necessary vaccines out to those who need them and that the surveillance of the disease is working well. This is despite the fact that the City of San Francisco declared its own state of emergency. That’s because San Francisco leaders say the state and feds need to be more aggressive in fighting monkeypox, and there are growing concerns that it is being labeled a disease that only the LGBTQ+ community needs to worry about - much like AIDS back in the early 1980s. Emily Hoeven from CalMatters, who writes the daily newsletter, What Matters, joined Insight to share more on California’s decision not to declare a state of emergency and why some are not happy with the response to monkeypox. 

Lake Tahoe's ecological health

Lake Tahoe is the sapphire crown jewel of the Sierra Nevada. The Washoe Tribe are the original inhabitants of what they named "Da ow aga," meaning "Edge of the lake." And the word "Tahoe" is actually a mispronunciation of the Washoe word for "lake." Since then, John Muir has called the largest alpine lake in North America a "water heaven." Today, roughly 40,000 people call Tahoe home, with some 15 million tourists each year. But a new report is once again raising the alarm over the lake's long-term health. The report is from the Tahoe Environmental Research Center at UC Davis, which has conducted yearly reports on the lake since 1968, that's more than 50 years. The center's director Geoffrey Schladow joined Insight to provide more details on this year's report.

Café Colonial's fight to stay open

The arts and culture scene are still recovering from the scars of the pandemic over two-plus years, causing massive disruption to the industry. A live venue in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood is among those fighting to stay open. Café Colonial was originally conceived as part of the Colonial Theater built back in 1940. The current chapter of the Cafe Colonial is an independent all-age sanctuary for many. But now, the venue is on the verge of closing its doors permanently. Owners Gabriell and Ben Garcia have put in everything to keep Café Colonial open for the Sacramento music community.