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 Language : English Also Listed as: NPR Politics Public Radio Regional City : Santa Monica State/Province : CA Country : USA Region : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: War | Regional | View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts Methings.com listings of KCRW's Which Way, L.A.? Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

LA Mayor Villaraigosa Appears Headed for Re-election Suspected terrorists held for years without charges or trials create a conflict between constitutional rights and national security. On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, we hear what Barack Obama's promise to restore American values could mean. Plus, does Mayor Villaraigosa deserve re-election?  Is it safe to run for the City Council in Cudahy? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Los Angeles Elections: City Attorney and City Controller San Francisco's last major newspaper faces big trouble, and LA's facing a city election, though very few people are paying attention. Also, is it time for California to get a new constitution? On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, after weeks of grim predictions, did President Barack Obama lift the nation's mood in his first address to the joint session of Congress? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Shining Sunlight on Measure B: The Solar Panel Initiative Measure B on next week's ballot has set off a debate on the best way to expand solar energy in Los Angeles. Also, Slumdog Millionaire: Hollywood and Bollywood. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, a discussion about the priorities and diplomatic style of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she winds up her visit to Beijing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Shining Sunlight on Measure B: The Solar Panel Initiative Measure B on next week's ballot has set off a debate on the best way to expand solar energy in Los Angeles. Also, Slumdog Millionaire: Hollywood and Bollywood. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, a discussion about the priorities and diplomatic style of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she winds up her visit to Beijing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obama Crosses the Border; State Legislature Makes a Deal In the wee hours this morning, one final Republican signed off on adeal to stitch up California's $42 billion financial wound. But thestate's a long way from fiscal stability. The state's voters will haveto ratify the deal. We hear what Governor Schwarzenegger will have tocampaign for. On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, President Obama talked free trade today in Canada, where the government pays for healthcare. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Budget Update; Foreclosures in Southern California The President says he'll spend $75 billion to help stop foreclosuresand keep home prices from going down. On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point,we learn who qualifies for assistance and whether the rescue plan willbe good for the economy. Also, the rescue plan's possible impact inCalifornia, a warning about the budget deadlock and a city electionthat won't bring much change. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What California Might Get from the Federal Stimulus Package Bipartisanship didn't work on Capitol Hill, but the massive stimulus bill passed anyway, as we hear on our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point. Also, what California might get from the federal stimulus package and what Sacramento's budget deal will ask of state voters if and when it ever passes. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will Local Talent Flee California's Financial Mess? California's ongoing budget crisis has become an argument for companies with good jobs to pull up and move to Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. We hear the pitch and what's being done to counteract it. On today's rebroadcast ofTo the Point, President Obama wants more troops in Afghanistan, but the US presence is increasingly unpopular. So is a corrupt and ineffective government. We hear about the challenges of shifting the focus on terror from Iraq to South Asia Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Taxes and Spending, from Washington to Sacramento A debate on LA’s solar energy plan. Is Measure B good government or bad politics? Plus, anupdate on the state budget and, on our rebroadcast ofTo the Point, a $789 billion stimulus package is likely to pass the House and Senate. What's in the bill? Did Republicans force enough compromises to tarnish a victory for President Obama? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Tentative Budget Deal Reached Word of a budget deal in Sacramento includes these numbers: $14 billion in new taxes, $16 billion in spending cuts and $10 billion in new debt.We get the details and hear about charges that Republicans are breaking anti-bribery laws. Also, what’s in store for the Motion Picture and Television retirement home?  On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, President Obama wants big money to forestall foreclosures. Is that a sound public investment? Why is homeownership equated with th ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Toxic Conditions in Southern California Wastewater For eight years, lakes, rivers and Santa Monica Bay have been polluted with sewage and industrial waste toxic enough to damage and kill aquatic plants and animals.  Enforcement officials are accused of looking the other way.  The Legislative Analyst says California is headed toward a "colossal" financial disaster. On this rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, Barack Obama began a tough selling job today with an urgent warningabout years of recession if Congress fails to enact his ma ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website City Hall Has Angelenos Feeding More to the Meter Governor Schwarzenegger strikes back, the City of LA has second thoughts about quadrupling parking fees, and billboard blight and public safety. Plus, on our rebroadcast of Today'sTo the Point, an update on the situation in Gaza and reactions from American Jews on both sides of the issue. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Budget Breakdown in Sacramento The President elect wants $775 billion, but is it enough to move a $15trillion economy?  On thisrebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, we look for answers. California is likely to run out of money next month, but Democrats say Governor Schwarzenegger got "cold feet" just as a deal was about to be cut.  In Orange County, jurors heard closing arguments in former Sheriff Mike Carona's corruption trial. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California Flexes Its Muscle in DC Israel says the attacks won't end until Hamas stops firing rockets across the border.  Hamas says that won't happen. European leaders work for immediate ceasefire, while the US is thinking long term. On this rebroadcast ofTo the Point, we update the fighting and the diplomacy. Also, onWhich Way, L.A.?, former Congressman Leon Panetta has been named by Barack Obama to head the CIA. We hear about him, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Californians in national jobs. Are they giving the state ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Politics, the Economy and Lifestyles: Predictions for 2009 A black man won the White House, while a white woman from Alaska wonthe hearts of conservatives. The economy imploded as financial scandalsrocked the headlines, and Americans began to rethink their consumerways. 2008 was definitely one for the history books. On this rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, guest hostSara Terrylooks at what's ahead in 2009. Also, the political pitfalls of fillingfour senate seats, and kicking off the new year on the gridiron. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Israel Continues to Pound the Gaza Strip As Israeli jets continue to fire on the densely-populated Gaza Strip, guest hostSara Terrylooks at the impact in Gaza, the region and around the world. What isIsrael trying to accomplish?  What pressures do the attacks place onArab leaders and the US? Will Israel's actions fuel Islamic militancyaround the world? Also, Barack Obama's rise to the presidency. Areporter looks back at her own coverage of the race. (This program was originally rebroadcast earlier today onTo the Point.) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website MOCA Accepts Eli Broad's Rescue Offer Barack Obama says economic recovery won't happen until there's healthcare reform, and a growing consensus says now is the time. On this rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, we hear what's still on the table. OnWhich Way, LA?, new leadership and big money for LA's troubled Museum of Contemporary Art, and a new threat to Southern California's water supply.  Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cyber-warfare and Weapons of Mass Annoyance Attacks on the Internet may or not produce blood and gore, but cyber-war is a real threat to the economy and national security. On our rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, we talk about how it works, who should take charge of cyber-defense and how civil liberties can be protected. Also, a local member of Congress reportedly will be named to Barack Obama's cabinet, and his choice of a conservative pastor for his inauguration has outraged gay rights groups. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California Pulls the Plug on Construction Banks, charities and other sophisticated investors fell victim to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme; $50 billion may be just the tip of the iceberg. On this rebroadcast of today'sTo the Point, why were so many taken for so much when so many others knew it was fraud? Also, a state agency has shut down almost 2000 construction projects, including highways, schools and levees.  At stake are billions for business and tens of thousands of jobs. It's all about the budget. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Republicans Bring a Hatchet to the Budget Debate Vice President Cheney says he and other top Bush Administrationofficials approved "abusive" interrogation techniques.  Will Barack Obama investigate orleave the recent past to future historians?  We hear a debate.  Also, anew superintendent for LA schools, and more slings and arrows over thestate budget in Sacramento. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 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 | View full cache | Visit Website Has Time Run Out on President Bush's Surge in Iraq. President Bush is receiving reports and advice as Congress holds hearings and military leaders, government agencies and outside experts analyze the troubled war in Iraq. Many politicians are demanding a phased withdrawal. Has time run out on the President's surge. Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Can Washington Contain the Mortgage Meltdown. One of the bright spots in the national economy had been the tremendous gains in home prices and construction. President Bush has declared that his ownership society policies have worked. Now foreclosure rates are soaring and even wealthy investors are losing billions of dollars. As the country gears up for an election, Washington is scrambling to calm the crisis, but will politics help or make things worse.---- Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools Mayor Villaraigosa will get to run some of LA---s most troubled public schools. The new school board is going along, but the roles of parents and teachers--- are not yet clear. How will the ---partnership schools--- be different from charter schools.-- Will state law allow them to get extra resources.-- Who will decide if the Mayor---s office is doing a better job than LA Unified---s existing bureaucracy.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What do Some LA School Children and Troops in Iraq Have in Common. As Mayor Villaraigosa prepares to try his hand at improving student performance in public schools, he---ll have to deal with a problem researchers say is ---hidden in plain sight.--- Also tonight, late-summer heat stresses the power system.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Where There---s a Will, There---s a Way ---Where There---s a Will, There---s a Way---; that---s what Governor Schwarzenegger says about healthcare reform, even though Republicans are more opposed to his plan than the Democrats. Also, a non-profit foundation has launched a $6 Million dollar television campaign for action before the legislature goes home three weeks from now. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Too Many Planes Last week it was LAX, this week it's the Santa Monica Airport, with neighbors complaining that excess traffic is not just changing their lifestyles but endangering their lives. On Reporter's Notebook, the City of LA's excess property: surplus or treasure.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LAX and Passenger Safety Last week two jetliners came within 37 feet of each other, rekindling the battle over expanding Los Angeles International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says the northern runways are not safe enough but they lack the authority to tell local officials what to do.-- Surrounding communities are against expansion, even though 5 studies said it was needed. Also tonight, the state budget imperils new mass transit projects and decongesting the freeways.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Global Warming and Health Care Reform During the battle over the budget, Republican state senators demonized Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown for taking San Bernardino County to court over reduction of greenhouse gases. Yesterday, the County settled---admitting that Brown had a point. Also tonight, with the budget passed, Governor Schwarzenegger is focused on Health Care Reform.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Smile, You're on a Surveillance Camera Federal money is being spent to install video cameras in thirty-seven California cities including Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Palm Springs. How often does it catch criminals in the act. Does it reduce the crime rate. Is it worth the loss of privacy. Also, California finally has a spending plan. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is Sacramento Moving Again. The Assembly and Senate convened today after a long recess. Immediately there was talk of passing the state budget, and we---ll work our way through that maze tonight. On Reporter---s Notebook, the shareholders of the Tribune company meet tomorrow. Will they okay the sale of the LA Times.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Easing Congestion on LA---s West Side: Too Little Too Late. There have been twenty years of development on LA---s Westside, but no master plan for transportation.-- The result is massive traffic congestion and a lot of unhappy people. Now the City Council has voted for temporary measures to ease the pain. Tonight we---ll hear about traffic signal improvements and left-turn lights.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pedophiles, Parents, and the Constitution Jack McClellan has never been convicted of child molestation, but he---s talked extensively about his fetish for little girls. Angry parents got a court order to keep him away from children in California. Now he---s in jail for his second violation with bail set at $150,000. We---ll talk about public anxiety and private morality in a free society.------------------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What---s Next for Health Care in Los Angeles County. Los Angeles supervisors are closing the county---s King-Harbor Hospital after its failure to pass a crucial inspection caused the loss of $200 million federal dollars. Re-opening with a private operator could take more than a year. Tonight, what does that mean for nearby hospitals that will take up the slack.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Top Strategist Karl Rove Exits the Bush White House Karl Rove---the President's top political strategist---will leave the White House at the end of this month.-- Also, the Red Cross report describing CIA treatment of detainees in the war on terror, with techniques learned from countries known to use torture. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Islamabad, Kabul, Washington and International Politics Support KCRW's Summer SignUp: (http://www.kcrw.com) President Musharraf of Pakistan surprised the world today with his announcement that he would not show up tomorrow to meet with Afganistan---s President Karzai---something President Bush was very much hoping would happen. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Administration's Broad New Wiretapping Powers Support KCRW's Summer SignUp: (http://www.kcrw.com) George Bush may be a lame-duck who---s low in the polls, but he appears to have out maneuvered the new Democratic majority---just as the House and Senate were getting ready to go on vacation. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How United Is Iraq's Unity Government. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been publicly disappointed at Iraq's failure to achieve political reconciliation. Today, five more ministers quit, leaving no Sunnis in Prime Minister al-Maliki's cabinet. Is the government on the verge of collapse. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Bridge Collapse in Minnesota: Could it Happen Here. How safe are the state---s roads, highways.-- How dangerous is it to postpone repairs and replacements.-- On Reporter---s Notebook, with ancient masterpieces on their way back to Italy, what---s next for the Getty. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Price of Oil is Going Up---Why Not the Price of Gasoline. It---s the peak of the summer driving season, and crude oil prices have hit an all-time high - but gasoline prices in California are going down. Also tonight, the budget impasse in Sacramento could be a threat to the aged, blind and disabled.-- On Reporter---s Notebook, the Getty sends 40 prized antiquities back to Italy. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Housing Market and Immigration Immigrants, including illegal ones, are good for the housing market. We---ll hear why reducing immigration could be bad for real estate in Encino and Beverly Hills. Also tonight, there---s a lack of healthy food in LA---s inner city because there---s a lack of supermarkets. Can farmers--- markets provide a boost for public health as well as a way to get the obesity epidemic under control.------------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Wide, Wide World of Graffiti Cave men drew on the walls. Romans marked up the buildings in conquered countries. Christians defaced ancient Egyptian Temples. Flash forward to modern Los Angeles, where graffiti has been both a plague and an art form, depending on your point of view. On Reporter---s Notebook, the legacy of the late Ingmar Bergman. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Peace at the Grocery Store Today, it appears the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have avoided a strike that had the potential for widespread economic repercussions. More directly important to consumers was last weekend---s deal between Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons and the grocery workers. On Reporter---s Notebook, will Felix the Cat be bad for business in downtown Los Angeles.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State Spending and Real Estate in California Governor Schwarzenegger can---t get enough Republican Senators to approve a budget agreed to by the Democratic majority. We---ll hear a debate between Senators of both parties. Also, with foreclosure rates up 800% since last year, what---s happening to California---s real estate market. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Will Inmates Get Early Release. Two federal judges say overcrowding in California prisons violates the Constitution. The Governor and the Legislature have approved eight billion dollars to build more space, but judges say that won---t happen quickly enough. Also, federal inspectors at King-Harbor Hospital. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website One Major Road Opens, Another Shuts Down The 210 extension is complete between Rialto and San Bernardino.-- Will it bring new development that offsets improvements in commuter traffic. On Reporter---s Notebook, Blue Whales in Southern California.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Homeland Security and the Politics of Fear Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is due in LA tomorrow, but he may not be welcome.-- After a 10% cut in urban security money, city and county officials accuse Washington of playing politics with the war on terror. On Reporter---s Notebook, will David Beckham make the field Saturday for his first game with the Galaxy.------ Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The War between States and the Federal Government over Medical Marijuana Yesterday Orange County---s all-Republican board of supervisors became California---s 33rd county to begin licensing the use of medical marijuana.-- On that same day, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration arrested dispensary operators elsewhere in Southern California. Tonight, we---ll hear from the feds, from an Orange County supervisor, and from a former operator of a marijuana clinic.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is California Ready for more Water Wars. Last year California voters approved billions of dollars in flood control bonds.-- This week Governor Schwarzenegger is campaigning for billions in water storage projects to protect against drought. On Reporter---s Notebook, LA---s Roman Catholic Archdiocese has settled sexual abuse cases by 221 priests. Why no criminal charges.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cardinal Roger Mahoney Stays Out of Court The sex-abuse settlement between five-hundred and eight plaintiffs and LA---s Roman Catholic Archdiocese was approved today in Superior Court. We---ll hear what that means to some victims. Also tonight, a possible strike may shut down the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.-- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is Ideology Trumping Science in the White House. Dr. James Holsinger wrote a paper for the Methodist Church more than a decade ago claiming that gay male sex was inherently unsafe. Now he has been nominated to become the country---s leading doctor. What is the proper role of science in making national policy. Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Will Southern California Survive 12 Million New Residents. California is projected to expand another seventy percent over the next forty years, placing enormous strain on traffic, air quality and other resources. On Reporter's Notebook, the new Nixon library reopens as a true Presidential archive. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Does LA have a Work Force with No Place to Live. The housing stock in Los Angeles has failed to keep up with increased population, and the shortage means high rents for people with low incomes. On Reporter---s Notebook, is there too much Christianity in the military. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Big Boost for Charter Schools - What About Mayor Villaraigosa. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation put up almost eight million dollars today to create ten charter schools to replace Locke High. Mayor Villaraigosa won---t be directly involved and when he showed up at the announcement, was swamped with questions about his personal life. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Mayor, the TV Reporter, and California Politics Do the news media care more about Mayor Villaraigosa---s affair than the voters do. On Reporter---s Notebook, is it time to get rid of your lawn. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is it Too Dry for Fireworks on the Fourth of July. The City of LA is prepared to cancel any display of fireworks right up to the last minute and one scientist says there should not be any at all. Also, Mayor Villaraigosa makes a public announcement. On Reporter---s Notebook, is Governor Schwarzenegger---s global warming effort in trouble. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Pool---s Full of Water but the Kids Can---t Swim In downtown Los Angeles, LA Unified opened a 160 million dollar complex just nine months ago. However, as the summer heats up, the Olympic-sized swimming pool is closed to the public. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Schwarzenegger's'Guiltless Green' With no less than twelve TV news cameras and C-Span in the room today, Governor Schwarzenegger delivered the keynote address at a Washington conference on the environment.-- We hear about going green without guilt. Also, a tent city at Los Angeles City Hall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Los Angeles vs. Chicago for the Olympic Games Los Angeles vs. Chicago for the Olympic Games Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Los Angeles vs. Chicago for the Olympic Games Los Angeles vs. Chicago for the Olympic Games Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Schwarzenegger's 'Guiltless Green' With no less than twelve TV news cameras and C-Span in the room today, Governor Schwarzenegger delivered the keynote address at a Washington conference on the environment.-- We hear about going green without guilt. Also, a tent city at Los Angeles City Hall. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LAUSD School Board Election Pits Mayor against UTLA After March primaries that drew less than 10 percent of the vote, two LA School Board run-off elections are scheduled for the 15th of next month. The current Board has opposed Mayor Villaraigosa's efforts at partial control of public education. Both the candidates he supports must win for him to get a more sympathetic majority. We look at the race in the San Fernando Valley. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who Is Sam Zell and Why Should Los Angeles Care. Forget the Chandler Family; forget the Tribune Company of Chicago.-- The Los Angeles Times is now owned by Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell.-- KTLA-Channel 5 is part of the deal. With a history of picking up what are called "distressed properties," Zell calls himself "a grave dancer" and "a vulture investor." Is that good news or bad for Times readers and employees. We look for some early answers.-- On Reporter's Notebook, it's opening day for Major League Baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LA's Condo Conversion Wars Continue The Los Angeles City Council wants to raise relocation rates for renters kicked out to make room for condos.-- Will that create a bureaucratic nightmare or slow the destruction of affordable neighborhoods where there---s not enough housing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Human Cost of Immigration Enforcement Immigration enforcement means that some families are broken when adults are deported and children are left behind, kids who are citizens of the United States. We debate a controversial policy.-- Also, the Bush Administration urges federal limits to free contraceptives for undocumented women. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gustavo Dudamel to Lead LA Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced today that a 26-year old Venezuelan will be its next music director.-- We hear about him, about his education in Venezuela and about a movement to restore music teaching in California.---- On Reporter's Notebook, making energy out of the sludge from treated wastewater.-- Will Los Angeles lead the way. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LA's Condo Conversion Wars Continue The Los Angeles City Council wants to raise relocation rates for renters kicked out to make room for condos.-- Will that create a bureaucratic nightmare or slow the destruction of affordable neighborhoods where there---s not enough housing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gustavo Dudamel to Lead LA Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced today that a 26-year old Venezuelan will be its next music director.-- We hear about him, about his education in Venezuela and about a movement to restore music teaching in California.---- On Reporter's Notebook, making energy out of the sludge from treated wastewater.-- Will Los Angeles lead the way. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Human Cost of Immigration Enforcement Immigration enforcement means that some families are broken when adults are deported and children are left behind, kids who are citizens of the United States. We debate a controversial policy.-- Also, the Bush Administration urges federal limits to free contraceptives for undocumented women. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who Is Sam Zell and Why Should Los Angeles Care. Forget the Chandler Family; forget the Tribune Company of Chicago.-- The Los Angeles Times is now owned by Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell.-- KTLA-Channel 5 is part of the deal. With a history of picking up what are called "distressed properties," Zell calls himself "a grave dancer" and "a vulture investor." Is that good news or bad for Times readers and employees. We look for some early answers.-- On Reporter's Notebook, it's opening day for Major League Baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who Is Sam Zell and Why Should Los Angeles Care. Forget the Chandler Family; forget the Tribune Company of Chicago.-- The Los Angeles Times is now owned by Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell.-- KTLA-Channel 5 is part of the deal. With a history of picking up what are called "distressed properties," Zell calls himself "a grave dancer" and "a vulture investor." Is that good news or bad for Times readers and employees. We look for some early answers.-- On Reporter's Notebook, it's opening day for Major League Baseball. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Human Cost of Immigration Enforcement Immigration enforcement means that some families are broken when adults are deported and children are left behind, kids who are citizens of the United States. We debate a controversial policy.-- Also, the Bush Administration urges federal limits to free contraceptives for undocumented women. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Californians Cool to New Primary Date, Term Limit Changes A new poll says there's good news and bad news for California's political leaders. On Reporter's Notebook,a Getty Museum masterpiece goes back to Greece.---- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Californians Cool to New Primary Date, Term Limit Changes A new poll says there's good news and bad news for California's political leaders. On Reporter's Notebook,a Getty Museum masterpiece goes back to Greece.---- Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Inland Empire, California's New Frontier The California Dream is in for severe testing as the population moves inland, along with smog and congestion.-- On Reporter's Notebook, test scores at a new low for the LAUSD, as Governor Schwarzenegger plans a year of education reform. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Inland Empire, California's New Frontier The California Dream is in for severe testing as the population moves inland, along with smog and congestion.-- On Reporter's Notebook, test scores at a new low for the LAUSD, as Governor Schwarzenegger plans a year of education reform. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website More Deaths from Contaminated Pet Food The FDA has reported just 14 deaths from contaminated pet food, but there are 11 in LA County alone and a network of veterinarians says there've been more than 100. What goes into pet food. What's the state of regulation. We look for some answers. Also, Orange County gets a new Supervisor--by a 3-vote margin. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website More Deaths from Contaminated Pet Food The FDA has reported just 14 deaths from contaminated pet food, but there are 11 in LA County alone and a network of veterinarians says there've been more than 100. What goes into pet food. What's the state of regulation. We look for some answers. Also, Orange County gets a new Supervisor--by a 3-vote margin. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website An Elected Official Discouraging Tourists. LA City Council President Eric Garcetti has written a letter to former customers telling them to boycott the LAX Hilton.-- The union that's trying to organize workers at the hotel has distributed the letter to 1500 past guests and convention planners. Garcetti warns that labor unrest could disrupt future events, which the Daily News calls an "outrageous" effort to harm a taxpaying employer. We hear from business, labor and Garcetti.-- On Reporter's Notebook, as Washington cuts funds for hou ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Quality of Life in Los Angeles; More Trouble at the Times There's more trouble at the LA Times. Don't look for the special edition of Current on Sunday.-- Did the editorial page editor have a conflict of interest.-- Also, the vanishing middle class as a symptom of the LA County's declining quality of life. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Are Schwarzenegger and Limbaugh Together Again. Governor Schwarzenegger went on the Rush Limbaugh program today. Limbaugh still accused him of compromising Republican principals. Is Schwarzenegger a Republican, a Democrat--or something in between. Is ideology a hindrance to governing.-- Also, the first Persian mayor of an American city, Jimmy Delshad of Beverly Hills. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Orange County Cities and Immigration Law The City of Mission Viejo is officially part of the national debate over immigration.-- City contracts for landscaping, street sweeping and trash removal will have to screen workers on an Internet program run by the Department of Homeland Security. Does it work.-- Is it legal.-- Will it make a difference. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Iraq War and California After four years, the Iraq war had a big impact on California.-- Camp Pendleton leads all US bases in deaths and injuries and the National Guard has been transformed.-- Yet it's still true that a small percent make all the sacrifices. We speak with a gold-star mother and a peace protester in Boyle Heights. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Big Changes Likely for LA Times Book Review The LA Times will hold its book fair at UCLA once again this year.-- But reports abound that the stand-alone Sunday Book Review will be cut back, merged with another section and published on Saturday.-- Circulation's lower that day, so that would save money.-- Will it lower LA's cultural profile. Also, a wrap-up of yesterday's school board elections---and California's new presidential primary next February, in which Independents can vote for a Democrat but not for a Republican.-- We'll hear ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wireless Los Angeles Is there Wi-Fi in the City of LA's future.-- Students of the Internet say it's inevitable.-- Mayor Villaraigosa is pushing it hard. Also, it's official: California's presidential primaries will be in February, next year. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LA to Sell 'Air Rights' to Increase Urban Density The City of LA plans to sell the empty space above the the Convention Center to increase development--9,000,000 square feet of unused "air rights." Also tonight, David Janssen won---t be the Mayor of LA County, but he---s about to become the most powerful local official in California history. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Are California Prisons in for a Fix. California prisons are so overcrowded that two federal judges are threatening to cap the population in June.-- We hear new details on how the governor and legislature are planning to deal with the financial and social crisis.-- Also, the Stardust in Vegas is now just a memory. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Can Jim Wood Help the Getty Trust Live Up to Its Potential. Late last year, Jim Woods took over the Getty Trust, in the aftermath of bad management by Barry Munitz and in the midst Italian legal action over allegedly stolen antiquities.-- We talk with Woods about restoring a tarnished institution.-- Also, the big fire in Orange County is under control, but what are we in for during what's predicted to be the driest fire-season on record. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mending Fences South of the Border When President Bush came into office six years ago, he vowed the Southern Hemisphere would be his top foreign policy priority. But that was before September 11 and the war in Iraq. Now he wants to woo back Latin America. Can the President overcome his widespread unpopularity in the region. Can he offset the growing influence of regional leftists like Venezuela---s Hugo Ch--vez.-- Marc Cooper guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back in LA's War on Gangs There's good news and bad news with two gang-related arrests in the past two days.-- What do they tell us about the latest efforts to crack down on gangs and prevent kids from joining them. Also, there are 38 elections today in Los Angeles County, but the turnouts are expected to be dismal as usual. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Term Limits, Career Politicians and Money Campaigning for LA School Board seats in tomorrow---s elections will cost millions of dollars, as Mayor Villaraigosa attempts to take control. Measure L could change the way the Board does business.-- Plus, a look at a City Council race in the San Fernando Valley.-- We---ll hear from Richard Alarc--n, who---s running less than four months after he waselected to the State Assembly, and his major opponent. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Arts Education and the Economy Cutting back on music and arts education has often been justified in favor of reading, writing and math, which are all said to be more relevant to future employment. In Southern California, that argument is now less convincing than ever. A new study shows that the local economy is now dominated by the creative industries. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Do Immigrants Boost Wages of American-Born Workers. Immigrants are being unfairly scapegoated for problems they don't cause.-- In fact, according to a new study, immigrants---both legal and illegal, boost the wages of native-born workers in California.-- We talk to a co-author and one of the study's critics, and hear why State Chief Justice Ron George says that California courts are in trouble. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Seven Votes Determine Nguyen's Win OC Supervisor Race Forget the political stereotypes of Orange County.-- Two Vietnamese Americans are fighting it out to be County Supervisor in a disputed special election.-- After a recount, the winner became the loser; with margin in both cases of only seven votes.-- Also, a landmark landslide in San Francisco. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Hospitals, the Homeless and'Patient Dumping'on Skid Row There's no specific law against hospitals"dumping"homeless patients on the streets of skid row, so a measure introduced today in Sacramento would make it a crime. Hospitals ask what they're supposed to do with 90,000 homeless in LA County, and just 40 beds for the chronically ill with no place to go.-- Plus, the latest on a possible new owner of the Los Angeles Times. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is the Silver Screen Losing Its Luster to the Small Screen. Oscar season is about Hollywood celebrating its best, but has the small screen replaced the silver screen as the home for great storytelling.-- Plus, has Barack Obama replaced Hillary as Hollywood---s darling.-- Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Politics of Education Public education is back on the ballot next month with four school board seats up for grabs and Measure L. We hear about term limits, campaign contributions and Mayor Villaraigosa's involvement in school reform. And why is there no argument against Measue L in the official voter's guide.-- On Reporter's Notebook, the five most common surnames of homebuyers in California are all Latino. What does that mean. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Barack Obama Storms Los Angeles Barack Obama is coming to California at the beginning of his campaign, not just to collect contributions but to ask for votes.-- He'll be collecting Hollywood money tonight in Beverly Hills, on a day he also addressed real voters, signaling the importance of the state's plan for a February primary and it's significance to the liberal Senator from Illinois.-- We hear about both events. Also, Governor Schwarzenegger calls a court ruling a ---threat to public safety--- and, on Reporter's Noteb ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Jet Blue, the Oscars and Presidents Day Jet Blue was one of America's success stories until the blizzard on Valentine's Day.-- Since then, it's been a disaster.-- Full operation should be resumed by Wednesday, but the founder and chief executive says he's humiliated and mortified.-- Also, the latest buzz on the Oscars and we learn how Presidents Day evolved from patriotism to salesmanship. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website California's Voice in the 2008 Presidential Campaigns. Next week California will see presidential candidates by the handful, including John McCain and Barack Obama, trolling for votes in addition to just raising money.-- Is that already giving the state more clout than it---s had in decades. Also, should insurance companies or the state pay for healthcare. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Should the Public Subsidize Grand Avenue. Mayor Antonio Villariagosa is all in favor of spending $100 million in taxpayers'money to subsidize the Grand Avenue Projectin downtown LA, but County Supervisor Mike Antonovich says it couldturn into an"endless subsidy."That issue, as well as the contributionof several acres ofpublic land, will be on tomorrow's agenda for the Los Angeles CityCouncil andthe Board of Supervisors. The project, partly designed by Frank Gehry,will be across the street from Gehry's iconic Disney Hall.--The proje ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website China, the Next Colonial Power in Africa. Why did the Pentagon choose to announce a new focus on Africa while Chinese President Hu Jintao is on a 12-day tour of the continent. Does China's increasing economic attention there a threat to US interests in the region. Guest host Lawrence O'Donnell looks at the Chinese approach to investment in Africa, human rights and economic development.-- On Reporter's Notebook, Nancy Pelosi's plane. How big is too big. (An expanded version of this program was originally broadcast earlier today on T ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Street Gangs Go International The Los Angeles Police Department is hosting an international summit on gang violence.-- We talk with the Chief and others about the spread of gangs, their impact around the world and the limits of law enforcement. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Race, Violence and the Juvenile Courts The last of nine teens got probation today in the Long Beach Halloween assault of three white women.-- It's a case that's unsettled a city known for diversity and raised questions about the juvenile justice system.-- We get several perspectives.-- On Reporter---s Notebook, a listener talks back to acharge of racism. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Front-Loading the Primaries Big and little states are trying to increase their influence in next year's presidential elections by holding their primaries earlier. Will voters be singing Christmas carols in New Hampshire. (An extended version of this discussion was originally broadcast earlier today on To the Point.) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Anonymous Sources, Political Payback and the Public's Right to Know Influential reporters are revealing protected sources at the Lewis"Scooter"Libby trial. Is the free press at risk in the courtroom.-- We hear about anonymous sources, political payback and the public's right to know.-- On Reporter's Notebook, Italy's former Prime Minister issues a public apology to his wife. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Growing Standoff between the US and Iran over Iraq President Bush told NPR yesterday he has no intention of attacking Iran. Yet while the United States is not engaged in armed conflict with Iran, sources confirm that we are at"war by other means,"and that America---s allies in the Middle East are very supportive.---- We hear from Middle East experts about rumored US plans for military action. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Has LA Gang Violence Turned into Ethnic Cleansing. Jim Sterngold guest hosts. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Spank a Child, Go to Prison Democratic Asemblywoman Sally Lieber plans to introduce aban on the spanking of children by parents. When the San Jose Mercury Newsbroke the story, it got 86 pages of comments from readers. On Reporter'sNotebook, in next year's presidential campaigns, will California matter for more than money. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website