What is a super El Nino?

Recent forecasts predict that an El Nino is set to hit the Pacific later this summer, and it may be the strongest one in over a century. An El Nino occurs when tropical winds push a well of warm water from the Pacific east, into the United States. This year’s El Nino has the potential to break previous records due to the amount of water available. Today on AirTalk, we learn what conditions have primed us for this ‘super’ El Nino and the chances that it will actually happen. Joining us are Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard, and Daniel Cayan, research meteorologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Video Game Series: How do video games affect the relationships in your life?

Video game consoles have been around since the 1970s, with many generations of kids being introduced to simple games like Pong, with the following decades having seen a massive evolution in what this form of entertainment could be. With at-home gaming having become a big form of entertainment over the following decades, we’d like to hear how it’s impacted your relationships. So today on AirTalk, we’d like to hear from the gamers in our audience. How’s gaming impacted your relationships with your family, romantic partners, friendships, or any other major facet in your life? Has it helped you build a community that exists outside of gaming chat rooms? Have you been negatively perceived, as a direct relation to being a gamer? Give us a call at 866-893-5722, or email us at atcomments@laist.com.

California’s turbulent trucking industry

In the robust infrastructure of California’s central valley trucking industry, aging drivers have contributed heavily to the growing shortages in employment. This has led to a community of Sikh immigrants, picking up most of the jobs over the last 20 years. Although estimates of the number of Sikh truckers vary, California is home to half of the Sikh population in the US, which includes tens of thousands of truckers who can link their heritage back to the region of Punjab, India. Many truck drivers of South Asian descent, particularly those who are seeking asylum, rely on California’s special licenses called 'domicile licenses' or more commonly 'non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses' that are issued to individuals, including foreign nationals, who do not have a legal residency status in the state or country at the time of issuing the license. At the beginning of this year, AirTalk covered this, as the Department of Transportation threatened to pull 160 million dollars in funding for the state, forcing California to cancel non-domiciled commercial driving licenses as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdowns. Since then, California courts have resisted. An Alameda County Superior court judge ordered the state to give drivers a chance to restore their licenses. However, the state has yet to reissue even a single license it has rescinded. Along with the immigration crackdowns, the trucking industry is also being subjected to heavy scrutiny over its lack of regulations, as a loophole in California state law allows trucking schools to operate with little oversight and inadequate training. Joining us to give us the latest on the ongoing saga of the California trucking industry is Adam Echelman, CalMatters higher education and workforce reporter.

Will Desi Arnaz’s reissued memoir prompt a reevaluation of his legacy?

Desi Arnaz was a fixture of mid-century pop culture, bringing the conga line to the U.S. and co-creating and appearing on the beloved sitcom I Love Lucy. He was a Hollywood success story with a far from typical backstory. In this new expanded edition of his memoir, A Book by Desi Arnaz, Arnaz narrates his childhood in Cuba, his family's flight to Miami, and his rise in Hollywood. Kate Luckinbill, granddaughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball and Creative Director and Curator of New Licensing at Desilu, too, joins the program to discuss her grandfather's memoir and legacy.

TV Talk: ‘The Testaments,’ ‘The Miniature Wife,’ ‘The Audacity,’ and more!

Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network TV and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we will try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, listeners will get the latest scoop on what’s worth watching withfreelance TV critics Kristen Baldwin and Steve Greene.

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What is a super El Nino?