March 13 - 17, 2006
Monday, March 13
BRIDGES AND QUAKE SAFETY
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Larry Mantle discusses the issue of badly needed retrofitting of local bridges in case of a major earthquake. Funding for these projects is a major issue, especially when money is needed for widening streets and fixing potholes. Some of these bridges include Hyperion bridge in SilverLake, the ArtDeco 6th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles, among others in Orange and Riverside Counties. Larry talks with Pat DeChellis, Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, John Koo, bridge group manager for the Department of Engineering for the City of Los Angeles, Fred Turner, staff structural engineer for the California Seismic Safety Commission, and Lloyd Dalton, Design Engineer for the City of Newport Beach.
WATER ON A SATURN MOON?
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Images snapped by the Cassini spacecraft show one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus (ehn-SEH'-lah-duhs), may have liquid water. Some researchers are now saying the moon should be on the short list of places in the solar system where non-earthly life could live. Larry Mantle talks with Candy Hansen, Cassini investigation scientist, about this significance of this discovery.
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER
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After a seven-month, 310 million mile journey, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was set to fire its engines Friday, abruptly slowing down in order to be captured into the Red Planet's orbit. The spacecraft is loaded with the most sophisticated science instruments ever flown to another planet. It will analyze the Martian surface in detail from low orbit, part of a quest to see whether water existed on Mars long enough to provide a habitat for life. Larry talks with Dr. Sue Smrekar, deputy project scientist for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Rob Lock, Mission planner for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about the Orbiter’s journey that will return more data than all previous Mars missions combined.
FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN BENEFITS MAY ERODE BY 3RD GRADE
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Full-day kindergarten in a growing trend in school districts throughout the United States, but according to a new study, the benefits for children may erode completely by third grade. Researchers at USC and American University have released a study showing that kids and their mothers do better by the end of a year of full-day kindergarten, but by third grade the others catch up. Larry Mantle talks with Gary Painter, Associate Professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development, and co-author of the study “Is Full Better than Half? Examining the Effects of Full-Day Kindergarten Attendance,” W. “Steve” Barnett , Professor of Education Economics and Public Policy and Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, Mimi Howard, Early Learning Program Director at the Education Commission of the States, and David Tokofsky, L.A Unified School District board member, representing District 5.
UNLIKELY CONVERGENCES IN THE UNIVERSE
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In his newest book Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lawrence Weschler takes us on an odyssey through a beguiling web of unexpected visual connections, and conceptual alignments that unify time and space in the world as we perceive it. Weshcler joins Larry to talk about his latest work, and these links, which lay hidden in plain view.
Tuesday, March 14
BOND NEGOTIATIONS
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Governor Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers and have given themselves one more day to try to put the largest bond measure in California history on the June ballot. If an agreement isn’t reached today, the measure may be postponed until the November ballot. Larry Mantle talks with KPCC Reporter Tamara Keith, Sacramento Bee Reporter Dan Weintraub, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Rick Keene, Assemblyman, 3rd District about the sticking points.
CARING FOR ANIMALS IN LOS ANGELES
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Larry Mantle talks with Ed Boks, the newly appointed General Manager of the Los Angeles Animal Services, an beleaguered agency that has been in turmoil regarding the best way to care for thousands of abandoned pets in the City of LA.
POMONA COLLEGE PROFESSOR QUESTIONED ABOUT TIES TO VENEZUELA
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Larry talks with Professor of Latin American History and Chicano Studies at Pomona College, Miguel Tinker-Salas, and the President of Pomona College, David Oxtoby about the questioning of Tinker-Salas and students, by L.A. County sheriff's deputies working for a federal task force. The Professor was questioned about the Venezuelan community in Los Angeles and about his teachings in the classroom.
FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS GOOGLE TO GIVE UP DATA
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A federal judge said today he intends to require Google Inc. to turn over some information to the Department of Justice in its quest to revive a law making it harder for children to see online pornography. U.S. District Judge James Ware did not immediately say whether the data will include words that users entered into the Internet's leading search engine. The legal showdown over how much of the Web's vast databases should be shared with the government has pitted the Bush administration against the Mountain View-based company, which resisted a subpoena to turn over any information because of user privacy and trade secret concerns. Larry talks with Eugene Volokh, the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law. He is an expert in internet law, and Pam Dixon, Executive Director of the World Privacy Forum, a non-profit public interest research center focusing on areas of technology and privacy.
Wednesday, March 15
45% OF CAL STATE UNIVERSITY FRESHMEN NOT PREPARED FOR COLLEGE
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Forty-five percent of incoming freshmen in the California State University system last fall were ready for college-level math and English. This is a 2% increase from the previous year, but far below the 90% proficiency goal the University hopes to reach by next year. Cal State University, or CSU, is the nation's largest four-year public system with 23 campuses throughout the state.
EMINENT DOMAIN
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The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has approved using eminent domain to take a church building to build a housing project. Los Angeles officials have cleared the way for a developer to use a Hollywood property currently housing 30 small businesses, to build a hotel, apartments, and retail units. Ted Chen and his guests discuss eminent domain and the rights of property owners vs. the rights of a city to take property to make way for business development.
IRAN: THE MAIN BENEFICIARY OF THE INVASION OF IRAQ?
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From 1980 to 1988, Iraq and Iran fought a brutal war that claimed a million lives. When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, Iranians breathed a sigh of relief as their worst enemy was eliminated. However, there was a secondary benefit: the insurgency has bogged down US forces, greatly reducing the credibility of any American threat against Iran. With its main enemy eliminated and its other great rival significantly weighted down, Iran has suddenly found itself in a pivotal position in the Middle East. Larry talks with experts about this side effect of the Iraqi war.
Thursday, March 16
BONDS DELAYED
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A last-minute attempt to place a massive public works bond on the June ballot failed in Sacramento yesterday evening, handing Gov. Schwarzenegger another defeat. The collapse of negotiations came just hours before an administrative deadline to place the measure on the primary election ballot.
ORANGE COUNTY JOURNALISTS ROUNDTABLE
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Larry Mantle talks with Los Angeles Times staff writer Jean Pasco, Orange County Register op-ed column editor Steven Greenhut, and OC Weekly senior editorial writer and columnist, Gustavo Arellano about the latest news events and developments in Orange County.
IRAQ EXIT STRATEGY: DO WE HAVE ONE?
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Everyone agrees we should withdraw from Iraq, but how do we know when the time has come? How do we know that we’ve accomplished all we can accomplish, that we’ve done all we can do, and that things won’t get any worse after we leave? A debate among experts.
Friday, March 17
FEDERAL STUDY BACKS CALIFORNIA’S ROLE IN SETTING EMISSIONS STANDARDS
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In a setback for automakers, a government panel said Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority to stop states from adopting tough vehicle-emission standards similar to those in California. The National Academies' National Research Council said that California's role in setting emission standards has been scientifically valid and necessary because of persistent pollution in parts of the nation's most populous state. The study, eagerly anticipated by the auto industry and environmentalists, examined emissions standards for mobile sources such as cars, light trucks and construction vehicles. California, which began regulating pollution before the federal government, has the authority under the Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle pollution standards. States can adopt either the federal standards or California's rules, and some Northeastern and Western states have followed California's lead. Ted Chen talks with David Greene, Member of the Committee on State Practices in Setting Mobile Source Emissions Standards (panel that conducted the study) for the National Academies, and Senior Research Staff for Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Jerry Martin, Director of Communications for the California Air Resources Board or CARB, and Matt Haber, Deputy Air Division Director, U.S. EPA Pacific Southwest Region.
AMERICANS FAMILIES ON THE HOMEFRONT
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Guest host Ted Chen talks with military wives Janelle Field, and Lauren Sklenka about how they cope with daily life while their husbands serve in Iraq. Also joining Ted is Kristin Henderson whose new book While They’re at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront tells the story of what life is like for military spouses whose loved ones are deployed in the war in Iraq. She exposes the often-difficult aspects of military culture on and off America's bases. She is a journalist, an author, and a military spouse. Henderson participates in the Marine Corps' family readiness program, the Key Volunteer Network.
FILMWEEK
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Guest Host Ted Chen and critics
Jean Oppenheimer of New Times and
Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic for both
CityBeat and ValleyBeat
discuss this week's new releases, including V for Vendetta, She's the Man, Find Me Guilty, Don't Come Knocking,
Thank You for Smoking, The Zodiac, Don't Tell, Gilles' Wife
and Trudell.
