KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts

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Award-winning moderator Warren Olney leads lively, thoughtful and provocative discussion on the issues Southern Californians care about. Primary Format : Public Radio Also Listed as: NPR Politics Public Radio Regional City : Santa Monica State/Province : CA Country : USA Country : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: War | NPR | Regional | View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. Do California---s Prisons Pose a Problem Without a Solution. For the 4th time in just 5 years, Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed a new director of prisons where a federal judge says conditions are unconstitutional. On Reporter---s Notebook, Steve Lopez of the LA Times---the column, the book, and the movie. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mayor Villaraigosa, LA Politics, and Gangs In what one columnist called his first re-election speech, Mayor Villaraigosa addressed the multitude of gang programs, now to be centralized in his office. Can he make them more effective and more accountable for what they do. On Reporter---s Notebook, the gang ---feedback loop--- between LA and El Salvador. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will California Crack Down on Plastic Bags. The choice between paper and plastic won---t be free if the toughest such law in the nation passes in Sacramento. The law would impose a ---plastic carryout bag impact fee--- of 25 cents a bag at groceries and pharmacies. On Reporter---s Notebook, another heath director quits LA County after just two years in one of the hardest jobs in the health care industry. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Special Order 40: Rhetoric and Reality Jamiel Shaw, Jr., a promising student athlete, was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant gang member who---d been arrested before but never deported. That---s led to new calls for repealing the LAPD---s Special Order 40, which prohibits cops from arresting people for violating federal immigration laws. Also tonight, horror stories from the Orange County jail. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Olympic Torch: Now You See It, Now You Don---t Protesters failed to stop the Olympic Torch relay this afternoon, because there was none - at least not the one that drew thousands of people into the streets of San Francisco. Fear of violence drove officials to change the route, bypassing both protesters and spectators who wanted to celebrate the Olympic Games. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Supervisor's Race: LA's Most Powerful Jobs Most People Have Never Heard of One of the rarest events in Los Angeles politics is an actual contest for a seat on the county board of supervisors. But Yvonne Burke's resignation has set the stage for a confrontation between state senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and LA City Councilman Bernard Parks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Final Four: Old News For the Bruins But Not For the Tigers March Madness has been extended to April, and UCLA---s off to the Final Four this weekend in San Antonio, Texas. The Bruins have been there so many times, that a loss would be disappointing, but hardly a tragedy for Bruin fans. On Reporter---s Notebook, is the FAA too cozy with Southwest and other airlines it---s supposed to regulate. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is Increased Density Really Necessary. Americans aren---t moving to California and Californians are moving out. But birthrates and immigrants from other countries mean increased growth anyway. On Reporter---s Notebook, the Olympic torch faces a mixed reception next week in San Francisco. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Race in Los Angeles and the Presidential Campaign In one of the world---s most diverse cities, blacks and Latinos get along for the most part. But the prejudice of a few is compounded by economic and political competition. There---s racism in some schools. In prisons, racial tensions are so high that inmates are segregated. Gang murders most often are committed by one racial group against its own members---but race is the likely motive in a spate of recent killings. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Presidential Politics and Major League Baseball Chelsea Clinton says her mother would be a better president than her father was, and Bill says he agrees. It---s all part of the battle for super-delegates at the national convention. On Reporter---s Notebook, the Dodgers begin their 50th year in Los Angeles---with a super-star manager and some fans angry about That Game at the Coliseum. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is California Killing the Electric Car---Again. California---s Air Resources Board prepared today to reduce its demand for zero emission vehicles and it---s the fifth cut in the mandate since 1990. On Reporter---s Notebook, today---s LA Times carries a front page story admitting the paper used false documents to imply that associates of hip-hop artist Sean ---Diddy--- Combs robbed and shot rapper Tupac Shakur. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website When it Comes to Medicare, Baby Boomers Beware A San Diego physician pays his plumber ten times more than the doctor gets for seeing a patient, a dramatic example of how federal health care programs for the elderly and the poor are headed for ---fiscal train wreck.--- The next president will be required by law to do something about it. Do the candidates have any plans. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Political Comebacks and Shifting Opinions Last week, Obama was on the ropes. This week, it---s Clinton. Who has the best chance of beating McCain in November. Also tonight, in California and twenty-three other states a case of ---unmitigated greed---: nineteen people indicted for cheating people out of their homes after promising protection from foreclosure. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Iraq War and Soldiers from California The death toll of American soldiers reached four-thousand yesterday. Four hundred and twenty-six have been Californians. Also tonight, the royal family of Dubai bails out LA---s most ambitious downtown development, and the Olympic torch is lit---under protest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Patriotism and Political Dialogue in America The furor over Barack Obama's church has pushed his presidential campaign into the most dangerous possible political territory -- questions about his patriotism. Has the founding fathers' notion of American exceptionalism created to an exceptionally patriotic country. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell talks about the defining role patriotism plays in American politics and what role patriotism plays in the politics of other countries. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The African American Church: Intersection of Race, Religion, Politics Race, religion and politics collided in Barack Obama's presidential campaign yesterday as they do every Sunday in many African American churches. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell talks to the reporter who sparked the controversy, and discusses the roots of the black church in the US and its current role in African American society. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gun Battle in the US Supreme Court Today the Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of a Washington, DC security guard that could re-define America's relationship to guns. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell explores whether the Second Amendment grants each of us an absolute individual right to bear arms and how likely it is that the court will find all gun control laws unconstitutional and return the country to an unfettered free market in guns. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website After Five Years in, Where Do We Stand in Iraq. With US troops now on the ground in Iraq for a period longer than World War II, what do we have to show for their efforts. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell explores progress in Iraq and American response to our efforts there. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Energy Security and Global Warming Oil prices and global uncertainty threaten America's energy security. Can we have that and deal with global warming as the same time. We hear some sobering news. Also, on a list of the nation's top 10 cities for home foreclosures, California has seven. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website If You Like Fresh, Wild-Caught Salmon, You May Be Out of Luck Fresh, wild-caught salmon may not be available this year because of a fishing ban in California and Oregon. Also, the head of a Chino slaughterhouse admits that meat from sick cows got into supplies for children's lunches. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Mexican Border and California's Economy The border security crackdown has reduced illegal crossings from Mexico.  But 99% of border crossings are legal, and new requirements have reduced those, too. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Are Liberal Activists Missing in Action. The recent string of high-profile killings has City Hall politicians accusing each other of failing to deal with gangs. A former Westside activist who now lives near the Santa Monica Freeway says too many people are more concerned with children in Africa than children in downtown LA. How come. What could they do if they wanted to. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Murals and Home Schooling: are they Endangered Species. Wall paintings are cultural landmarks in Los Angeles neighborhoods but the Department of Building and Safety is calling them illegal signs that have to be painted over. Home schooling is a growth industry in California. But it, too, may be at risk from an appellate court ruling that says parents need teaching credentials. With the case on its way to the State Supreme Court, how worried should home-schoolers be. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Does California Need an Increase in Taxes. Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to cut the state budget by 10% across the board, including education. To avoid that, Democrats say there---s no choice but to increase taxes. Republicans say, no way. On Reporter---s Notebook, the latest cuts from the LA Times news room. What---s going to be left after Sam Zell gets through. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Red Ink, Budget Cuts and Tax Loopholes The state deficit has gone from 14 to 16 billion dollars. Neither Democrats nor Republicans like Governor Schwarzenegger---s budget, which would cut almost 5 billion from education alone. On Reporter---s Notebook, 48 state parks are slated for closure---at a savings of 13 million. We---ll hear from the campaign to keep them open. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Are LA Streets for Neighborhoods or Through Traffic. Now that the freeways are clogged, local officials want to convert some surface streets into thoroughfares during rush hour. Olympic and Pico on LA---s West Side are the first to be chosen. But as opening day gets closer and closer, residents and businesses are up in arms, and the distance covered is getting shorter and shorter. Also, the first black, female Speaker of California---s State Assembly. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gang Violence, Police and Public Money Even the LAPD agrees that law enforcement alone can---t rid the city of 700 gangs with 40,000 members, but this year---s bare bones budget will fund more cops even if that means cutting everything else. Anti-gang programs are scattered over a dozen departments with no clear mandate for goals or objectives. In the wake of the gunfight that terrified an area north of downtown last week, we---ll ask about the likelihood of improvement. On Reporter---s Notebook, is foster care a refuge or priso ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Polar Bears, the Endangered Species List and Global Warming The ice packs where polar bears live and hunt during winter are shrinking, and the bears can---t find food on the land. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says they should be put on the Endangered Species List, but that action has been delayed well beyond what the law requires. Also, the City of LA---s new law requiring that dogs and cats be neutered before they---re four months old. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California---s Republican Party: Does it Have a Future. At the state convention this weekend in San Francisco, the likely GOP nominee for president was nowhere to be seen. Neither was the Republican Governor, re-elected last year despite his complaint that his party is ---dying at the box office.--- On Reporter---s Notebook, another independent bookstore bites the dust. We---ll hear about Dutton---s in Brentwood. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State Deficit Puts School Funding Back on the Chopping Block School districts around the state say they will increase class sizes, lay off teachers, and even close some of their schools. With a deficit of $16 billion, Governor Schwarzenegger wants to reduce education spending by $4.8 billion over the next two years. LA Unified says it'll be faced with its biggest shortfall in history.  We hear what that could mean and what the alternatives might be. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California---s Running Out of Both Money and News The State---s budget deficit may be larger than Governor Schwarzenegger thought it was when he proposed cutting parks, education and aid to the aged, blind and disabled. Is it time to get serious about tax breaks and loopholes that favor the rich at the expense of the poor. At the same time, it---s going to be harder to find out what---s going on--because newspapers all over the state are being cut, squeezed and trimmed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Bad Meat in the Food Supply and New Leadership at the LA Times One hundred forty-three million pounds of beef have been recalled from a meatpacking plant in Chino where videotape showed that sick animals became part of the food supply.  Most of the meat has already been eaten. Also, the Los Angeles Times has its fourth editor in three years.  He says his first mission will be shrinking the size of the newsroom. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Coming Crisis on the Colorado River The white band of rock and sand above the water on Lake Mead is getting bigger and bigger. A marina---s been moved, and more islands are popping up. The latest study says mead and other reservoirs could effectively dry up in just thirteen years. On Reporter---s Notebook, another threat to the health-care safety net in Los Angeles County. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will Another LA Hospital Bite the Dust. Last year Martin Luther King was shut down. Now Harbor-UCLA is in trouble, with the death of a patient attracting attention from federal inspectors. On Reporter---s Notebook, will the Hollywood Sign get some unwanted neighbors: five luxury homes on the same mountain.    Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California---s Presidential Primary May Not be Over Network pollsters called it for Hillary Clinton at 9:15 on election night, but a week later, the outcome could be in doubt. Also tonight, the writers--- strike appears to be over. On Reporter---s Notebook, the City of Berkeley battles the US Marines. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website In Politics and Labor disputes, more Questions than Answers LA County officials promise to count the votes of Independents who failed to fill in that bubble on Tuesday---s ballots. Why has a legislative leadership fight broken out in Sacramento. With all the talk of a settlement in the writers--- strike, why is it still a secret. On Reporter---s Notebook, Southern California is the car capitol of the world but for once the environment has trumped traffic control. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Yesterday---s State Ballot and California---s Political Future Four Indian gambling compacts were approved by California voters. Everything else lost---including the initiative that would have kept leaders of the Assembly and Senate from being termed out of office. What will that mean for health insurance, the budget and other unresolved issues. On Reporter---s Notebook, the latest on Independents who wanted to vote Democratic in LA County. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today the Candidates, Tomorrow the Voters Tomorrow is the biggest day in the history of presidential nominations. More than 20 states will hold caucuses and primaries for both Republicans and Democrats. We sample political capitals all over the country to get a sense of what's in store. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Race for President Comes Down to the Final Four Last night it was the Republicans, tonight it's the Democrats--in California for their last debates before they go almost nationwide next Tuesday. With just two Democrats left and just two Republicans with a real chance, will the debates make a difference. Will either nomination be decided any time soon. Also, a break in an undersea cable cuts Internet services to of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and record profits for Royal Dutch Shell. What about oil-industry subsidies. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Giuliani and Edwards: Now You See Them, Now You Don't After a distant third-place showing in Florida, Rudy Giuliani is expected to endorse John McCain later today. On the Democratic side, John Edwards made this announcement today in New Orleans. Also, the Fed on interest rates and the Senate on a stimulus package. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LA---s Art World Faces Another Scandal Four Southern California museums, including the LA County Museum of Art, were raided today by multiple federal agencies. It---s part of a 5-year investigation into looting, smuggling and fraud involving Asian antiquities and Native American gravesites. On Reporter---s Notebook, the State Supreme Court says Californians can be fired for using medical marijuana. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Los Angeles Economy, Prop S, and Plastic Bags Mayor Villaraigosa---s diverse, blue-ribbon committee wants to make LA more friendly to business by improving LAX and the Port of LA and redeveloping city-owned land in South-Central. We---ll also look at Proposition S on the city ballot: a tax on telephones. On Reporter---s Notebook, why didn---t LA County Supervisors ban plastic shopping bags. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Economy, the Oscars and Political Games on Next Month---s Ballot Two weeks from today, California voters will be faced with Proposition 93, which reduces the time Senators and Assembly members can stay in Sacramento from 14 years to 12. We---ll also look at California---s economy in light of a wild day on Wall Street and an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve. On Reporter---s Notebook, the writers--- strike, the Screen Actors--- Guild and the Oscars.  Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Another Loss at the LA Times; Prop 92 With just two weeks until Election Day, we hear the pros and cons of Prop 92, which would limit fees at California's community colleges.  Also, after just 14 months on the job, the Editor of LA Times is leaving. He says he was fired; the publisher says the two no longer saw things the same way.  On Reporter's Notebook, a conversation with a veteran pilot about yesterday's collision of two small planes in Corona. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California and the Race for President In just three weeks, the biggest state in the Union will weigh in on the Democratic and Republican candidates. But voting by mail has already begun, and it could exceed the turnout out on election day. Also tonight, the Directors Guild has a three-year contract. What will that mean for the writers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Unintended Consequences of a Crackdown on Sex Crime Jessica---s Law against sexual predators passed last year with 70% of the vote in California. But for law enforcement, it could be an expensive nightmare. Also tonight, Barack Obama and California---s Latino voters. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Presidential Politics, the Writers--- Strike and LA---s Economy Forget about the current TV season. Even next year---s season---s in trouble as TV studios cancel sixty-five contracts and threaten to cancel more. With the California primary three weeks away, Clinton---s ahead and four Republicans are all within the margin of error, but those who are undecided could change things in both parties. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Indian Gambling is Back on the Ballot Governor Schwarzenegger is on TV to promote a no vote on four measures that would overturn contracts he made with four Indian tribes. The deals mean that some tribes could build casinos twice the size of the largest ones in Las Vegas. Also, the Sheriff of Orange County resigns from office. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Terminator is Back in Action When he was Governor, Ronald Reagan called on the legislature to ---cut, squeeze and trim,--- but California has never seen anything like the budget reductions proposed today by Arnold Schwarzenegger. On Reporter---s Notebook, Story Corps is still taking reservations.   Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is Post Partisanship Still Alive in Sacramento. The New Hampshire primaries crowded Arnold Schwarzenegger out of yesterday---s news coverage. But the Governor might have been glad not to have the limelight. His address on the State of the State of California was a grim litany of problems he and the legislature have failed to resolve---resulting in a 14 billion dollar deficit.  Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website In Sacramento - It---s D--j-- vu All Over Again Governor Schwarzenegger may be lucky that the New Hampshire primaries will distract attention from tomorrow---s message on the State of the State. Why is there a 14-billion dollar deficit. Also tonight, United Artists makes a deal with the writers. On Reporter---s Notebook, lots of rain but no end to the drought. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Crime, Including Murder, is Down in LA For the first time since 1970, there were fewer than 400 homicides last year in LA---even though the population is up by a million. It---s hard to call that many killings good news, but the number is one third what it was in 1992. On Reporter---s Notebook, the late night talk shows are going back on the air but only one has a deal with the Writers--- Guild. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pakistani Opposition Leader Bhutto Assassinated At age 54, Benazir Bhutto---s political career and life came to a bloody end today in Pakistan.  Guest host Lawrence O---Donnell gets the latest developments from Pakistan and considers the life of Bhutto through the memories of a friend. (An extended version of this discussion aired earlier today on To the Point.) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Effectiveness of Our Charitable Giving Aristotle said "to give away money is an easy matter---and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter." Many Americans will be making those decisions in the final days of tax year 2007. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell explores how we can target our charitable giving to be most effective. Also, the tiger attack in the San Francisco Zoo. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Can You Go a Day Without Paper or Plastic. That was the challenge today from Los Angeles County, part of a campaign against disposable bags by Heal the Bay and other environmental organizations. On Reporter---s Notebook, Mayor Villaraigosa about his plans for reforming that select group of public schools. Also, California will take the Bush Administration to court over Global Warming.   Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Reality Hits Hollywood in More Ways than One The strike by the Writers--- Guild has already brought an onslaught of reality TV to primetime, and critics are saying it---s not pretty. We---ll hear more tonight. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Hillary Clinton and Political Damage Control The "inevitability" of Hillary Clinton has morphed into a three-way campaign for the Democratic nomination. Barack Obama is coming on strong and John Edwards is still a viable contender. If Clinton loses Iowa is it all over. Is New Hampshire a "firewall." Is Bill Clinton helping or hurting his wife's campaign. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Jay Leno and Conan O---Brian Will Work Without Writers Back on the air at the first of next year, NBC-TV---s late-night talkers may be at a disadvantage.  CBS doesn---t own David Letterman---s program; he does. Letterman and Craig Ferguson are working out their own deal with the Writers Guild and meanwhile the strike continues. Also tonight: will a $15 billion dollar state deficit put the kibosh on a health reform plan. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Villaraigosa Unified School District The state legislature gave Mayor Villaraigosa substantial control of Los Angeles Schools, but the State Supreme Court called that unconstitutional. The Mayor was reduced to campaigning for votes from parents and teachers. Tonight we---ll ask how his promises will be translated into a real plan.-- On Reporter---s Notebook, performance enhancing drugs and Major League Baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will Blackwater Come to California. Blackwater, the company famous for contractors who killed 17 Iraqi civilians, wants to set up a training camp east of San Diego.-- But the tiny town of Potrero nearby is overwhelmingly opposed. Was it all about the environment, maintaining a rural lifestyle, or the war in Iraq.-- Also, American automakers, mileage standards and money.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Writers--- Strike, Five Weeks Old and Still Walking Most of TV has gone into repeats and reality; three movies have shut down; writers accuse the studios of bad faith, and the studios say the writers are being ---ideological.--- The recipe calls for thousands of people to be out of work over Christmas and for some time beyond. Will a long walkout change long-standing practices in the industry of entertainment.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website On February---s Ballot, Real Reform or Politics as Usual. Prop 93 on next February---s ballot raises the most sensitive questions for California legislators. Is Prop 93 a cure for some political ills or a recipe for voter confusion. On Reporter's Notebook, big trouble for L.A.'s toy industry this holiday season. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Organized Labor and Politics in LA The union movement is flexing its political muscles in Los Angeles County. The Federation of Labor is telling its 800,000 members that they can determine the winners and losers of local elections.-- Total turnout in many districts is so low that union members alone can determine the outcomes. We---ll talk with the head of the Federation and others about what that could mean.-- Also tonight, the Bush Administration and sub-prime foreclosures. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A New Assessment of the Threat from Iran The CIA says Iran is not trying to build nuclear weapons any more, but President Bush says it's still a real threat to the rest of the world. We look at how the latest National Intelligence Estimate looks to America's friends and potential enemies. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will California Lead the World Against Global Warming. With the Kyoto Treaty set to expire in 2012, 130 nations will meet next week in Bali, Indonesia to decide the next step in reducing greenhouse gases.-- Last year, in the absence of leadership from the Bush Administration, Governor Schwarzenegger said California would be way ahead of the game. In January, the first of his promises will come due. Tonight, we---ll find out what progress has been made. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website In Orange County, Don't Call It 'Toilet to Tap' The Mayor of San Diego has vetoed the City Council's plan for the recycling of sewage to make it part of the water supply, also called---somewhat misleadingly--"toilet to tap."-- But the program is coming to Orange County this Friday in a big way. Also, what happens to LA's already recycled water, and the Santa Monica City Council goes up against the FAA Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is LA Ready to Compromise on One-Way Traffic. A proposal to make Olympic and Pico Boulevards into real one-way thoroughfares has gone nowhere.-- Now Mayor Villaraigosa has a new plan that could make them one way just part of the time. On Reporter---s Notebook, would more camping mean more fires in the mountains of Malibu. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Battle for Iowa: The Hawkeye State at Ground Zero for '08 The acceleration of the presidential primary schedule was supposed to make the traditional early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire less important. But things haven---t quite worked out that way. The battle royal for the Hawkeye State, set for January 3--just over a month from now, could decide right then and there the nominees of both parties. Marc Cooper guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Can President Bush Bring Peace to a Scarred Holy Land. President Bush is finally trying to broker peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Their leaders have agreed to come to Annapolis next week but nothing else is certain. Also tonight, Ramen noodles, popcorn, and candy bars are being given to the homeless on Skid row in exchange for signatures on ballot measures. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is America's Thirst for Imported Oil Fueling Dictators. Oil prices are hovering near $100 a barrel, hurting U.S. consumers but sending hundreds of billions of dollars to unfriendly countries like Venezuela and Iran. How is the U.S. economy coping. Can the U.S. ever cut its oil dependence. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Has the US Lost Influence Over the Crisis in Pakistan. Since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule two weeks ago, the U.S. has struggled to stabilize this key ally in the war on terror. Can the U.S. cut aid without pushing Pakistan to the brink of chaos.-- Also tonight, Los Angeles County tries to give extra help to the fifty most vulnerable homeless people on downtown---s Skid Row. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Battle Escalates over Reforming Los Angeles Schools Superintendent David Brewer has what he calls a ---final plan--- for underachieving schools.-- A.J. Duffy, head of the teachers--- union, says Brewer---s ---declaring war.----- We---ll hear from both leaders about the increasingly brutal politics of education reform. On Reporter---s Notebook, this weekend---s Walk for the Homeless.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What is Muslim Mapping by the LAPD. Deputy Chief Michael Downing told Congress last month that the LAPD was starting a project to identify communities vulnerable to ---ideologically based extremism.--- That---s come to be called ---Muslim mapping,--- and it---s been denounced as ---racial profiling.--- On Reporter---s Notebook, a new book on the ---Big Daddy--- of California politics.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Electoral College Initiative Makes a Comeback Democrats are outraged that Republicans have revived efforts to change California's winner-take-all presidential elections. We hear more about a ballot measure that just won---t go away.-- Also, how wasting water could cost LA residents $150, and the godfather of LA---s black elected officials is dead at 100.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Moment---s Rest from ---Hyperpartisanship--- A Moment---s Rest from ---Hyperpartisanship--- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Another Day on the Picket Lines Desperate Housewives has run out of scripts. The Office and Rules of Engagement have shut down, along with at least five other prime-time television shows.-- Jay Leno was back on the picket line apologizing for not having a joke.-- Meantime, producers are canceling long-term contracts. Does the Writers Guild strike threaten the future of TV as we know it. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sheriff Mike Carona Steps Down, at Least for Awhile Yesterday, Orange County---s top cop insisted he---d stay on the job.-- But today, Carona said he---ll take a 60-day leave of absence to fight against federal charges of selling his office for bribes and kickbacks. What should the Board of Supervisors do. On Reporter---s Notebook, the Writers--- Strike and LA County---s economy.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Was This Strike Necessary. It's Day One of the Writers Guild Strike against film and television producers, the first such action since 1988.-- Picket lines went up at 9 o---clock this morning at fifteen studios from Burbank to Hollywood to Manhattan Beach. The strike is all about DVD residuals and how to divide the spoils of the Internet---if anybody can figure out how to make money in cyberspace.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Writers' Contract Expired this Morning: What's Next. The 1988 Writers Guild against the Motion Picture and TV producers threw thousands of people out of work for more than 5 months.-- It cost some $500 million dollars and ended with neither side a clear victor. This time, it---s all about iPods, DVD---s and the Internet. On Reporter---s Notebook, British novelist Will Self goes on a walking tour of Los Angeles to illustrate PsychoGeography.---- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The DWP is Thinking About Summer Mayor Villaraigosa---s Department of Water and Power wants to divide LA into two climate zones. Is that really fair to the rest of the city. Also tonight, more Santa Ana winds are expected as soon as this Friday. On Reporter---s Notebook, a Youth Radio Commentary on the LAPD and May Day in MacArthur Park.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Expanding Hospital Services - Easier Said than Done Hospitals and emergency rooms have been closing in LA County, and the San Fernando Valley---s Holy Cross Medical Center wants to expand. We---ll hear about battling neighborhood councils, union politics and health care. Also tonight: Orange County Sheriff Mike Corona is indicted on federal corruption charges---along with his wife and mistress. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Big Changes for Juvenile Justice in California Half the inmates in California---s Juvenile Justice System are about to be sent home, but not because they---ve served out their sentences. We---ll also hear why the cost of re-building will be so much more than it was after the last big fires.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Bungled White House Battle against Terrorist Financing. The US government spent 15 years tracking a Middle Eastern charity, the Holy Land Foundation, on suspicions it was financing terrorists. President Bush froze its assets after September 11 and prosecutors filed criminal charges. The case fell apart this week. Also, the President tours a scorched southern California, and Facebook becomes a money machine. Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Day Four and Counting Decreasing winds have helped exhausted firefighters gain some ground today, but many fires are still not close to containment and at least one arson investigation is under way.-- President Bush has declared a disaster which means federal assistance for fire victims. Property damage in San Diego County will top one billion dollars, where local officials are being criticized for a lapse in preparedness.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Another Day of Fires with More to Come At least two people have died, many more have been injured, and at least 1,300 homes and businesses have been lost. But with more than a half million people evacuated, those numbers are bound to rise. President Bush has sent federal resources into the region and he---ll be here himself on Thursday. There is no sign of a let up in the extreme weather conditions that have Southern California burning. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fire and More Fire in Southern California There---s been one death, many buildings destroyed and hundreds of thousands of evacuations today in Southern California. About twelve major fires are burning from the high desert to the Pacific Ocean, and some fire crews have been delayed in their work rescuing residents who refused to leave their homes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What Kind of Governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger crusades world wide against global warming, but in Sacramento this year he scored 100% for business.-- Since he won the recall election, he has vetoed bills passed by Democrats at a higher rate than Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian or even Ronald Reagan.-- But Republicans are furious. One consultant says, ---He switched parties.-- He just didn---t re-register.--- Also, an update on the producers, the Writers Guild and residuals.---- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Big-Rig Crash in the Newhall Pass It---s still unclear what happened to at least nine drivers who apparently escaped from Friday night---s inferno in the Newhall Pass Tunnel. Temperatures reached as high as 1400 degrees after the crash of 31 vehicles, some of which were reduced to molten metal. Truck drivers say the tunnel was an accident waiting to happen. We---ll hear from Caltrans and others tonight.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is the Superintendent Trying to Break Up the LAUSD. Superintendent David Brewer wants to put 44 of LA's lowest-performing schools into a separate district with its own superintendent, its own curriculum and its own rules.-- Is it the beginning of a breakup for the Los Angeles Unified School District.-- Also, what about fixing the LAUSD payroll system. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is California Ready for Lotto-Care. California voters earmarked the State Lottery for education. But Governor Schwarzenegger wants to lease it to a private operator, claiming that increased profits would help subsidize health care reform. The teachers--- unions don---t like the idea and neither do Indian tribes with gambling compacts. Tonight: a report on progress---or the lack of it---in Sacramento. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The LAPD and the May Day Mayhem Twenty-six officers could face discipline for the confusion and misdirection that led to excessive force against peaceful protesters and news reporters on May 1st in LA---s Mac Arthur Park. Also tonight, the price of water is going up and Southern California may face rationing.---- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LA---s One Million Trees Campaign, and Santa Monica---s Chainsaw Massacre Mayor Villaraigosa wants a million new trees in Los Angeles. But in some neighborhoods, residents say lack of maintenance has branches falling off trees that are already there. Meantime, the City of Santa Monica is trying to chop down ficus trees.-- Tonight we---ll hear about planting, pruning and politics in Southern California---s Urban Forest. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ICE Cracks Down in Southern California US Immigration and Customs Enforcement promises to continue its crackdown, despite claims that a climate of fear is bad for LA's economy. Also, are LA Sheriff's deputies playing games with the law. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New Gang Initiatives and a New 'Gang Czar' in Los Angeles In February's election, Los Angeles voters may be asked to approve a $30 parcel tax on every property in the city. The objective would be $40 million for the fight against gangs.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Private Security Contractors and Public Accountability Blackwater USA was on the carpet today on Capitol Hill. Tonight, are they highly-paid mercenaries out of control or skilled professionals taking on the riskiest of necessary assignments. Also, LA---s most successful gang program re-opens in downtown LA.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Grass Roots Democracy and LA---s Neighborhood Councils Before neighborhood councils came along in 1999, LA city government was remote and resistant to input from taxpaying citizens. It still is, as the councils don---t have any power. Tonight we---ll hear about efforts to make them work.------------------------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Blue Whales in an Increasingly Noisy Ocean Blue Whales are believed to be the largest animals ever. Now they---re an endangered species. This month, no less than three blue whales have been found dead in the Santa Barbara Channel, and evidence shows they collided with ships. On Reporter---s Notebook, Governor Schwarzenegger and wrongful convictions in state courts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California and the Next President of the United States Next June, California voters may get a chance to change state rules for presidential elections. Republicans are gathering signatures for a measure that would divide the state---s electoral-college votes instead of letting the winner take all. Also tonight, a mistrial in the Phil Spector murder case.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is there Still a Hospital Near You. Today---s LA Times reports that 15% of hospital beds in LA and Orange Counties are at risk because of financial problems. But hospitals are charging more too, and skeptics raise questions about how well they---re managed. On Reporter---s Notebook, crime has dropped on LA---s Skid Row---at least in the short term.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Green is the Governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a UN conference today that California is on the ---cutting edge--- against global warming. But Schwarzenegger himself gets mixed reviews, from traditional environmentalists and from Republicans who want to take the issue back from the Democrats. On Reporter---s Notebook,-- Pasadena---s All Saints Episcopal Church and the IRS.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website It's OJ, All Over Again News helicopters followed OJ Simpson---s car today, this time through the streets of Las Vegas.-- He was released on bond after three nights in jail. Simpson is charged with kidnapping and armed robbery for trying to recover sports memorabilia he says belongs to him. Tonight: was it a setup. Are the charges fair.-- Will Simpson be tried for these crimes or the ones he was acquitted of 12 years ago.---------------------------- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Transforming Parking Space into Open Space From Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum all the way to the west side, some of LA---s streets and thoroughfares may look a bit different this coming Friday.-- Scattered parking spaces will be turned into tiny parks, complete with grass, trees, benches and other attractions, depending on who feeds the meter. Parking Day LA is supposed to dramatize a familiar question: does LA give up too much of its surface area to the automobile. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Off-Again On-Again Dean at UC Irvine Last week, Erwin Chemerinsky--- the liberal legal scholar- was let go less than a month after being hired as the founding dean of UC Irvine---s new law school.-- Today, he was offered the job again, and he accepted. We---ll hear more about law, politics and money in Orange County.---- Also, all construction work has been stopped on Phase Two of Playa Vista: the biggest single development project in LA history.-- We---ll hear why.------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Politics, the Law, and Academic Freedom A nationally known Constitutional scholar has been hired, then fired as the founding dean of UC Irvine---s new law school. Liberal Professor Irwin Chemerinsky won---t get the job and even some prominent conservatives call it a violation of academic freedom. We---ll hear from him and others tonight. On Reporter---s Notebook, a go-ahead for California---s fight against global warming.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mexican Trucks on US Highways The North American Free Trade Agreement gives U.S. and Mexican trucks free range in each other---s countries, but the U.S. has refused to implement it for fourteen years. President Bush has started a pilot program, and the first Mexican truck delivered a load of steel in North Carolina on Monday. Now Congress is trying to put on the brakes. Tonight we---ll hear about traffic safety, the environment, homeland security, and international treaties.------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fred Thompson Makes It Official While eight Republican candidates were trudging through yet another debate in New Hampshire last night Fred Thompson upstaged them -- from Los Angeles. He went on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and finally announced he was running for the White House. Some experts say his announcement was big news because the field's so weak. But does Thompson have the substance to win over conservatives.--Jim Sterngold guest hosts.Photo: Paul Drinkwater/NBC Universal via Getty Images Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download |