April 7 - 11, 2008
Monday, April 7
UCLA Medical Records Breached
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More than 60 UCLA Medical center patients' confidential records were breached by an employee who was fired in May of 2007. The woman responsible, whose name has not been released, looked at the medical records of California first lady, Maria Shriver as well as those of actress Farrah Fawcett and 31 other politicians, well-known people, and non-celebrities. Larry talks about the breach with LA Times reporter, Charles Ornstein.
NPR's New Ombudsman
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Larry talks with NPR's new Ombudsman, Alicia Shepard about NPR's programming, and takes calls from listeners.
To contact NPR's Ombudsman, call her at (202)513-3245 or click on this link: www.npr.org/ombudsman.
Presidential Election Update
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Larry and his guests discuss the latest developments in the Presidential race including the resignation of Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, the Clinton's tax returns, the current super delegate count, and John McCain's speech today on the Iraq war.
Pete Seeger
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Larry talks with author David King Dunaway about his biography of Pete Seeger, "How Can I Keep from Singing: The Ballad of Pete Seeger" that chronicles the life of folk legend and political activist, Pete Seeger.
Tuesday, April 8
Petraeus/Crocker Testimony Analysis
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General David Petraeus, Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, testified Tuesday morning to the Senate Armed Services Committee on the current military and political situation in Iraq. General Petraeus is expected to propose a temporary freeze in the withdrawal of U.S. troops in order to reduce escalating violence in Iraq. Larry Mantle talks with experts about the current state of affairs in Iraq and will analyze the testimony before Congress. Joining Larry to provide analysis will be Daniel Serwer, Vice-President for Postconflict Peace and Stability Operations at the United States Institute of Peace, Marina Ottoway, Director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Steven Cook, Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations and an expert on Middle East Politics, Michael O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies and the Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair at the Brookings Institute, and James Carafano, Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
Petraeus/ Crocker Testimony Analyisis Continued
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Orange County Grand Jury Report
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A grand jury transcript shows inappropriate activity by deputies at the Theo Lacy jail in Orange County. The deputies are accused of watching television, playing video games, texting, and taking naps while inmates brutally beat and killed another inmate, among many other allegations. KPCC reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez and Peggy Lowe of the Orange County Register join Larry Mantle to talk about the grand jury report.
Wednesday, April 9
Special License Plates Give California Officials A Free Ride
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Orange County Register reporter, Jennifer Muir, found that scores of California officials and their families have special license plates that often shield them from traffic tickets and toll road violations. The confidential license plate program was initially designed in 1978 to keep law enforcement officials safe. But the program has ballooned, and now hundreds of thousands of public officials and their families have enrolled. As a result, scores of traffic abuses, from parking citations to toll road abuses to red light violations, have been dismissed or ignored once law enforcement and DMV employees got wind of the special plates. Needless to say, this translates into millions of uncollected dollars for state, county, and city coffers. This past Monday, state lawmakers on the Assembly Transportation Committee voted to expand the program further to include veterinarians, firefighters, and code enforcement officers. Larry Mantle talks with Muir about her story, to State Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, and to Assemblyman Sandre Swanson.
Inland Empire Journalists Roundtable
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Larry Mantle talks with Steven Cuevas, KPCC's Inland Empire Reporter, Cassie MacDuff, columnist with The Press Enterprise, and David Kelly, staff writer for the L.A. Times, about the latest news, events, and developments in the Inland Empire.
American Airlines Cancels Over A Thousand Flights For Maintenance
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Larry Mantle talks with Andrea Chang, staff writer for the L.A. Times, Ian Gregor, spokesman for the FAA, Peter Goelz, Senior Vice President for O'Neill and Associates, and Scott McCartney, who writes The Middle Seat column for the The Wall Street Journal about the grounding of over 1000 American Airlines flights.
The Value Of Sadness
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Are Americans addicted to happiness? That may be true if you tally up the amount of self-help books and anti-depressant prescriptions we consume. Well, according to author Eric Wilson, all this effort isn't making our lives any better; in fact, he says bad moods make us more creative and innovative: think of people like Dickinson, Proust and Goya. Larry talks with Wilson this morning about the theories in his new book: "Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy."
Thursday, April 10
The Olympic torch
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Larry talks with Scott Schafer, KQED reporter, and Tseten Panucharas, past president of LA Friends of Tibet about the Olympic torch's arrival yesterday in San Francisco, and about the protests.
China's PR Problem
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While the Olympic torch makes its way to Beijing people around the world are protesting many of China's practices. Larry and his guests discuss how China is dealing with the negative publicity it's receiving because of their relations with Tibet and Taiwan, their citizens' lack of individual freedoms, and their choice to do business with Sudan. Will the bad PR affect China's business practices, human rights policies, diplomatic relations, and the Olympics themselves? Larry's guests include David Wallechinsky, Vice President of the International Society of Olympic Historians, Jeffrey Bader, Senior Fellow and Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, General John Fugh, Chairman of the Committee of 100, and Susan Shirk, Director of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
Polygamist Sect Raided In Texas
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Texas authorities have removed over 400 children from the YFZ Ranch, a polygamist compound in West Texas. The raid was made after a 16 year-old girl made an anonymous call from the Ranch complaining of physical and sexual abuse. The YFZ ranch is part of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, known as FLDS, a polygamous sect that broke from the Mormon Church in 1935. The 1700 acre compound was built 4 years ago by now-jailed sect leader Warren Jeffs, who moved the group to Texas from Utah and Arizona to escape scrutiny from law enforcement. Larry Mantle talks with local reporter Matt Phinney, Texas State Representative Harvey Hildebran, and Brenda Jensen about why the group chose Texas as their new home, and about what lies in the sect's future.
The Race To Own Las Vegas: What Makes Las Vegas The Place It Is Today?
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In her new book, "Winner Takes All," Wall Street Journal columnist Christina Binkley chronicles how a world-renowned art collector, an aging billionaire and an economist from Harvard Business School came to battle one another for the Vegas Strip.
After eight years reporting on Las Vegas for the WSJ, Binkley focuses her book on Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian and Gary Loveman, three very dissimilar visionaries who have made Sin City more glamorous, more luxurious and more outrageous than it's been in decades. Christina Binkley joins Larry Mantle to talk about the men who have helped to make Las Vegas one of the most popular destinations in the world.
Friday, April 11
Oil Platforms Off Santa Barbara
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Larry talks with Kenneth Weiss, L.A. Times staff writer, David Landecker, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara, Carla Fisk, from the Board of Directors, and Technical Director of "GOO" (Get Oil Out), and Lt. Governor John Garamendi about a major oil deal off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Chernof Resigns
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LA County Department of Health Services Director Dr. Bruce Chernof resigned yesterday. Dr. Chernof said his decision was unrelated
to the failure to find a new operator for King-Drew Medical Center. Larry and his guests Garrett Therolf, LA Times staff writer, Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, and Yvonne Burke, L.A. County Supervisor discuss the ramifications of the resignation for County Deptartment of Health Services, which faces a $750 million deficit over the next two years.
Focus On Foreign Films
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Larry and FilmWeek critics Lael Loewenstein and Wade Major, talk about why foreign language films have such a hard time finding distribution in the U.S., how critics can encourage audiences to see them, and why Americans seem to have such an aversion to sub-titles.
FilmWeek Reviews
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Larry and critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Wade Major of boxoffice.com and CityBeat, review some of the week's new feature films including Smart People, Street Kings, The Take, and The Visitor,as well as the documentaries Bra Boys, Orthodox Stance, and Young & Restless in China. The critics will also discuss the "City of Lights/City of Angels" Festival of French films that run from April 14 to 20th at the Director's Guild theatre. They also talk about the life and career of Charlton Heston, who passed away this week at the age of 84.
