Apparently after hearing dozens, if not hundreds, of horror stories from soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on a violent rampage at Ft. Hood in Texas, killing 13 people. Even though he had not served on the front lines himself, associates close to Hasan believed he suffered from a kind of vicarious post-traumatic stress disorder—and was particularly unnerved by the news that he was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Is there anything to be learned by the horrible tragedy at Ft. Hood about the broader state of mental health in the armed services?
Fannie Mae’s new “Deed For Lease” program is designed to help homeowners facing foreclosure stay in their homes. Homeowners who qualify can forfeit their deed in exchange for the opportunity to lease their home for at least twelve months. Fannie Mae says the program will help families and stabilize neighborhoods and communities.
She was a three-term Congresswoman, Broadway star, Nixon nemesis and lover of LBJ. But a brutal Senate campaign waged by Republican Congressman Richard Nixon ended her career as an elected official in 1950. That’s when Nixon and his henchmen dubbed Douglas “The Pink Lady” and, with the help of the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover, took her down with the McCarthyist anti-Red hysteria that was sweeping Hollywood. Author Sally Denton tells Helen Gahagan Douglas’ story in this long-overdue political biography.
It has been 20 years since the wall that separated East and West Germany came down ending the Cold War in Eastern Europe. Reagan was applauded for demanding that Gorbachev tear down the wall and Gorbachev went on to win the Nobel Prize and be named the Man of the Decade by TIME Magazine. Were the efforts enormous or was the implosion of the Iron Curtain inevitable? Twenty years later how much does November 9th, 1989 really matter?
It’s the most listened to hour on KPCC’s weekly schedule, and it’s easily the goofiest show on NPR’s roster—“Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” is ostensibly a quiz show but is really more about making fun of the news, politics and ourselves. The shows two hosts Peter Sagal & Carl Kasell, in Pasadena to tape L.A. editions of “Wait, Wait” join Patt in studio to get a behind the scenes look at the show and perhaps answer a quiz question or two.
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.
