ASK AN EXPERT: THE POST-HOLIDAY COVID SURGE
While 2020 is now behind us, the coronavirus continues to spread in Southern California. Here in L.A. County, one person is infected with COVID-19 every six seconds, according to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. So with a bleak 2021 underway, we want to help get answers to all your coronavirus questions.
Guest: Anne Rimoin, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health.
POLICE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE REFORM: WHAT'S NEXT
After months of calls to defund the police, the city of LA has moved to cut the LAPD's budget and rethink ways to use that money differently in communities. But there is a long way to go in making meaningful reform happen that improves the livelihoods of people in neighborhoods of color. So what should be some of the first steps in getting us there? Over the next several weeks we will have a series of conversations about this with academics, city officials, community groups and police officers in and around Los Angeles.
Guest: Priscilla Ocen, professor of law at Loyola
NEW YEAR, NEW LAWS
With a new year comes a new round of state laws going into effect for Californians. John Myers, the Sacramento Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times, joins KPCC's A Martínez to break down some of these most significant new laws, including police reform measures, racial justice initiatives and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guest: John Myers, the Sacramento Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
SAVING THE ART OF CORITA KENT
As the song says, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. It's not a new story in LA where it seems like things are ALWAYS changing, but there is the hope of a beloved spot becoming a registered landmark. It's a designation that could save a small boxy building near the Rite Aid at Western and Franklin. It's not known for its architectural significance, but for the significant contribution its one-time occupier made to LA's art scene. Artist Corita Kent was an activist, a teacher and a former nun. Some of her most colorful pop art was done on silkscreens in that small box of a studio that is now a Hollywood dry cleaner. Just before the holidays, the public weighed in on its fate at a meeting of the LA Cultural Heritage Commission. KPCC's Myka Kielbon tuned in to it on Zoom and watched the unexpected unfold.
