January 3 - 7, 2005
Monday, Jan. 3
CALFORNIA’S NEW LAWS
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Larry Mantle reviews California’s new laws with Chapman University Law Professor and constitutional law expert John Eastman and Laurie Levenson, professor of law at Loyola Law School.
THE ANAHEIM ANGELS HAVE A NEW NAME
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Now it’s the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Dumb idea or clever compromise? We asked our listeners.
HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED
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Pulitzer Prize winning author Jared Diamond joins Larry Mantle to talk about his new book Collapse, in which he shows how societies historically have squandered or savored their natural and human resources and how these choices regarding resources have some societies to collapse or success.
Tuesday, Jan. 4
Governor Schwarzenegger’s Strategy
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Governor Schwarzenegger has called for a special legislative session this week, he will be giving his State of the State address Wednesday night, and he’ll release his new budget next week. Democratic lawmakers are wary of what he may be strategizing. There are signs that the governor may be planning a more aggressive stance about pushing through his reforms. Larry Mantle talks with Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub and Ralph Sonenshein, Professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton.
King-Drew Report Issues Nearly 1,000 Recommendations
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The consultants hired to help fix the troubled King/Drew Medical Center have released a large and critical report on the hospital and its trauma center. The report calls for a new, independent board to replace the Board of Supervisors in overseeing changes. It also suggests the problems will take much more money and time to fix than previously thought. Joining Larry is KPCC Reporter, John Rabe, Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, Director of the LA County Department of Health Services, and Kae Robertson, managing director in Navigant Consulting’s Health Care Practice.
End of the Filibuster?
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A fight is brewing to change the rules of the Senate and eliminate the filibuster, paving the way for uncontested judicial nominations by the Republican majority. Joining Larry to discuss the political wrangling is Ilona Nickels, Congressional scholar at the Center on Congress at Indiana University, and Donna Schuele, a professor of political science and public law at USC.
The BCS
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It’s USC vs. Oklahoma tonight at the Orange Bowl in Miami. This year the BCS standings were the result of the AP poll, the coaches’ poll, and computer calculations. But the Associated Press announced last week it would no longer allow its poll to be used in the BCS process. There are many competing and conflicting ideas on what to do to repair the BCS system. Dr. Peter R. Wolfe, a medical doctor in Los Angeles with a passion for College Football, and Todd Harmonson, OC Register reporter, who covers College Football, join Larry to talk about college football.
Wednesday, Jan. 5
Social Security Reform
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The President is proposing social security reform that would include a change from wage indexing to indexing for inflation, as well as letting workers save money in individual retirement accounts. Is this the best way to reform social security? Will this mean less money for Americans when they retire? Larry's guests are Max Sowickey, economist with the Economic Policy Institute and Rea Hederman, Manager of Operations in The Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation.
Recommendations By The Port of Los Angeles and Mayor Hahn's Port Taksforce
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Mayor Hahn appointed a task force to help keep port emissions at 2001 levels. Despite efforts at cutting pollution, emissions levels have already surpassed 2001 levels—and they’re expected to dramatically increase if more is not done to control them. The mayor’s Task Force and other groups are working hard on how to clean up the ports without slowing down the regional economy. Larry's guests are Mark Pisano, Executive Director of the Southern California Association of Governments and Gail Ruderman-Feuer, Senior Attorney at NRDC.
Palestinian Elections
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Palestinians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect the new president of the Palestinian Authority. There are currently 8 candidates, with Mahmoud Abbas, also called Abu Mazen, in the lead. Host Larry Mantle discusses the upcoming election and its significance for both Israel and the Palestinian people with guests: Dr. Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine; Zvi Vapni, Deputy Consul General for the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles; and Laura King, Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
LACMA's Groudbreaking Arts and Crafts Exhibition
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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is showcasing over 300 masterworks—including furniture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, and works on paper—in the groundbreaking exhibition, “The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America, 1880-1920.” The show is the first of its kind to present the Arts & Crafts Movement in an in-depth and international context. Wendy Kaplan, LACMA’s Curator of Decorative Arts—and the curator for this exhibit—joins Larry to talk about this show, which runs through April 3rd.
Thursday, Jan. 6
Analysis of the State-of-the-State Address
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Larry speaks with experts about Governor Schwarzenegger’s second state-of-the-state address. He discusses many issues facing California, including his desire to redraw the state’s political boundaries and the state budget. Joining Larry is Jack O’Connell, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jim Hard, President, SCIE Local 1000, Jean Ross, Executive Director of California Budget Project, Barbara Kerr, President, California Teacher’s Association, Elizabeth Garrett, Director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, and a law professor at USC, and Sherry Bebitch Jeffee, Political Analyst and Senior Scholar at the School of Policy Planning and Development at USC.
Orange County Journalists' Round Table
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Larry Mantle talks with Orange County journalists Chris Reed, Orange County Register op-ed column editor, Jean Pasco, Los Angeles Times staff writer and Gustavo Arellano, Staff Writer for the OC Weekly, about the latest news events and developments in Orange County.
The Confirmation Hearings of U.S. Attorney General Nominee Judge Alberto Gonzales
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Confirmation hearings are underway right now in Washington for President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, Judge Alberto Gonzales. If confirmed, Gonzales will take the place of John Aschcroft, becoming the 80th attorney general and the first Hispanic attorney general of the United States. Some democratic Senators and critics have expressed alarm over the infamous “torture memo,” which Gonzales wrote to the President in 2002, telling him that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Concerns have also been raised that Gonzales may be too close to the President to act independently as attorney general. Larry Mantle talks with Stanford Law School’s Allen Weiner and Douglas Kmeic of Pepperdine University School of Law.
Bias In Psychiatric Diagnoses
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Larry Mantle talks with psychologist Paula Caplan about her new book Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis (Aronson). Caplan is alarmed by the way patients are so easily classified by mental health professionals into categories of psychiatric diagnoses. Caplan believes serious consequences can result.
Friday, Jan. 7
The Growth and Development of the Coachella Valley
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First Remote in the AirTalk 20th Anniversary Tour from Palm Springs, CA.
Larry talks with city managers and other experts about the recent surge in development throughout the Coachella Valley and how it affects the communities, residents, and environment.
Larry's guests are: David Ready, City Manager for the City of Palm Springs; Jim Ferguson, Mayor Pro Tem and City Councilman for the City of Palm Desert; Melanie Fesmire, Mayor of the City of Indio; and John Wohlmuth, Executive Director of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments.
Indian Gaming
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If Native American tribes in the Coachella Valley have their way, they will create a Las Vegas in the Palm Springs area. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians just opened a $200 million casino, the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and Special Events Center, last month. Other tribes have successful casinos in the area and are planning to build more. What are the ramifications, both positive and negative, from the growth of Indian Casinos in the Coachella Valley? Larry talks with representatives of both the Agua Caliente and the Cabazon tribes, as well as community activists, about the affect local casinos have on infrastructure, education, the environment, and the health of Coachella Valley residents.
Larry's guests are: Mark Nichols, CEO for the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians; Richard Milanovich, Chairman of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla; Mike Rosenfeld, president of Coachella Valley Teacher’s Association; and Bill Caine-Gonzales, concerned citizen and activist.
The 16th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival
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Larry talks with Darryl Macdonald, the Festival’s Executive Director, and Carl Spence, the Festival's Director of Programming, about the nearly 200 films from more than 65 countries that will be screened. They’ll look at new themes and rising stars, how the Palm Springs Festival differs from others, and the festival’s influence in the film community as well as the Coachella Valley.
Film Week
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Larry Mantle with critics
Jean Oppenheimer of New Times, and
Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic of both
CityBeat and ValleyBeat,
discuss the new film releases for this week including
White Noise, Days of Being Wild, and A Letter to True.
Our critics also share their picks of the top films of 2004.
Jean's List:
1. House of Flying Daggers
2. Osama
3. Mean Creek
4. Bad Education
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6.-10. In no paticular order:
Shrek 2
Closer
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The Corporation
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Andy's List (Alphabetically):
Bad Education
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
Gozu
House of Flying Daggers
Hero
The Incredibles
I Heart Huckabees
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Million Dollar Baby
The Saddest Music in the World
Cowards Bend the Knee
A Very Long Engagement
