Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Election Season Shifts Into High Gear

This weekend marks the official start of autumn -- and in California that also means polls, TV ads and candidate debates. There's a lot riding on the November 6 ballot. Host Scott Shafer talks with Anthony York, who joins us from Sacramento where he covers politics for the Los Angeles Times.

• More: Complete Election 2012 coverage

Video still courtesy "Nature" and Francis Lee

Nail Biting: More Than Just a Bad Habit?

In the updated "Bible of psychiatry," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, there's a new category called the Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum. It includes not just OCD, but other behaviors that are far more common.Reporter: Amy Standen

• More: Is Nail Biting a Pathology? Or Just a Bad Habit? (QUEST)

Lisa Morehouse/KQED

Striking a Chord in Gold Country

Fiddletown, California is nestled in the foothills of Gold Country about an hour east of Sacramento. It has just over 100 residents -- but for one day every September, Fiddletown's population swells. That's when people from around the region come for a music festival called the Fiddler's Jam.

Andy Sheng/JessicaSongs.com

Jazz Review: Jessica Fichot's 'Le Secret'

There are no fiddles but plenty of French lyrics on a new album from Los Angeles singer-songwriter Jessica Fichot. Jazz critic Andrew Gilbert says Fichot's use of her lingua franca is helping her translate songs of love and loss.

• More: About Jessica Fichot : at JessicaSongs.com

Scott Shafer/KQED

Giants vs. Dodgers: Portrait of a Rivalry

When it comes to sports rivalries, you'd be hard pressed to find a better one than the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the San Francisco Giants. The 2012 baseball season is in its final stretch -- and all year long the teams have battled for first place in the National League West division. Host Scott Shafer explores the history of the old rivalry.