Sidestepping suggestions from the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will issue an executive order that instructs the California Air Resources Control Board to design regulations for how utilities can meet a goal that one-third of the state’s power be generated by renewable energy by 2020. While the 33% green energy goal is already ambitious, there’s also a debate about the job-creating possibilities of generating renewable energy, which is part of the motivation for the Governor going at it alone. Can California meet that goal in 10 years, and will it be good for our economy?
It was a caller to Brian Copeland’s talk show in San Francisco that cystalized many of the issues of race and society that he had been dealing with since his childhood—an African American claimed that Brian, himself a black man, was not being true to his race when discussing a racial story. Brian, the caller claimed, was “not a genuine black man.” Now he brings his one-man show, based on his best-selling book, to Los Angeles and we’ll let you decide on whether Brian Copeland is, indeed, a genuine black man.
For years cell phone companies have been telling us there’s nothing to worry about, but recent studies have found cell phones pose significant risk for brain tumors. There’s great cause for concern if those studies are true, but so far they have yet to be replicated. This week, the Senate held a committee hearing and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences held a conference on whether cell phones cause cancer.
We all know traffic’s infuriating and it’s always the other guy who can’t chew gum and make a lane change at the same time but is there some rhyme and reason to it? Tom Vanderbilt is the author of “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)?” He’ll explore mysteries like why more pedestrians are killed in cross walks than while jaywalking and why “dangerous” roads are often the safest. He might tell us how we can cure traffic too!
Patt Morrison is known for its innovative discussions of local politics and culture, as well as its presentation of the effects of national and world news on Southern California.
