Take Two

California is one of 28 states with laws on the books that allow authorities to take DNA samples from people arrested for a serious crime. The Justices will be deciding if those DNA samples violate the 4th Amendment, which guards against unreasonable search and seizure.

Today in Sacramento, the Assembly's Committee on Public Safety will take up special security units in the state's prison system, which was the focus of widespread hunger strikes in 2011.

Early reports show a jump in the ratings for this year's Academy Awards show, probably helped along by some popular films up for Best Picture. There was a stumble on the stairs, host Seth McFarlane played to mixed reviews, and the First Lady announced the winner for Best Picture.

Writer Patrick Meighan normally works as a writer for Seth MacFarlanes hit show "Family Guy," so when MacFarlane was chosen to host the awards show, Patrick was enlisted to help write material.

Making body parts from scratch sounds like the stuff of science fiction novels, but scientists are already creating artificial organs and tissue with the help of machines.

As the public education system becomes more rigorous and standardized, the effect is creeping down to the youngest students. Educators worry that 4-year-olds aren't quite yet ready for the academic focus that kindergarten today demands. KPCC's Deepa Fernandes reports.

Tracking down smugglers and illegal immigrants, the old-fashioned way.  "We do exactly what any other agent in any other vehicle does except we do it on horseback, that is our vehicle." Coming up, a ridealong with a Border Patrol Horse Unit....

His credentials are impeccable, but questions remain about whether his search for consensus will work in the city's top job.

The Center for Copyright Information has revealed more details about its Copyright Alert System, a cooperation between internet providers and content owners. The new plan, nicknamed the "six strikes" system, warns users when they are downloading or sharing owned content then issue a warning, a requirement to watch an educational video, or a temporary slowdown of service.

KPCC's state capitol reporter Julie Small has been tracking California's efforts to implement these reform and joins us now to talk about it.

If sequestration cuts take effect this Friday, California stands to lose about $16 million marked for public health spending. Joining us to explain where those cuts would come from and what effect they could have on California’s public health, is Dr. Kavita Patel. She’s an adjunct professor at UCLA and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Those joyful Oscar acceptance speeches we've all rehearsed in our heads a hundred times. Oscar speeches have become the stuff of legend, deconstructed and criticized as if they were one of Lincoln's great orations. No one has looked at them closer than Rebecca Rolfe. She's a graduate student at Georgia Tech who has been studying expressions of gratitude in Oscar speeches going back to the 1950s.

Take Two host Alex Cohen met up guerrilla gardener and TED speaker Ron Finley next to his garden in his South LA neighborhood.