A Big Storm Hits SoCal With More To Come. What’s The Impact?

The big winter storm that hit Southern California left behind magnificent snow covered mountains and a lot of cleanup work. As of very late Sunday, 38,500 Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power customers still had no power. Wednesday is expected to see the most amount of rain for the week but Dave Bruno with the National Weather Service assures this week's rain is unlike the weekend storm. Still, ski resorts like Mountain High can expect up to a foot or more of additional snow. Major mountain passes like the Grapevine will still get some dusting of snow so Bruno said travelers should be on the lookout for road conditions.

Joining us today in AirTalk are Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service Los Angeles/ Oxnard, Justin Kanton, Big Bear Mountain Resort Spokesperson and Anne Miskey, president and CEO of Union Station Homelessness services. 

With files from LAist. Read the full story here.

SoCal Scholars Team Up To Reform City Government. First On The List? Redistricting

The political scandal that forced the resignations of the Los Angeles City Council president and a powerful labor leader has spurred several prominent local scholars to band together to figure out ways to reform city government, starting with the redistricting process. Calling itself the L.A. Governance Reform Project (LAGRP), the group of six scholars has issued a statement saying it hopes in the coming months to present policymakers with recommendations for an independent redistricting process. The group says it will seek input from the academic, governmental, civic, and activist communities. It also plans to set up a process for the general public to provide input. The group intends to address other issues after redistricting, “including but not limited to council expansion, ethics, and land use reform,” according to its statement.

Joining us to discuss the newly-formed panel is co-chair Gary Segura, professor at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, panel member Fernando Guerra, Professor of Political Science and Chicana/o Latina/o Studies, Director, Center for the Study of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University, and LAist Civics & Democracy Reporter Frank Stoltze.

With contributions from Frank Stotlze, read his full piece on LAist here.

An Investigation Reveals the LAUSD Data Breach Exposed Student Mental Health Records

A massive ransomware attack targeting the Los Angeles Unified School District last fall sounded alarms across the country and prompted an unprecedented shutdown of its computer systems. However, we are now learning the incredible scope of that data breach. The detailed and highly sensitive mental health records of approximately 2,000 former and current students had been uploaded to the dark web, according to an investigation by the news outlet, The 74. Joining us to discuss his investigation is Mark Keierleber, investigative reporter at The 74. We are also joined by Doug Levin, the National Director of the K12 Security Information eXchange, a non-profit dedicated to protecting K-12 schools from emerging cybersecurity threats.

Learning Is Hard, But Does It Have To Be? Psychology Professor Shares Hacks For Maximizing Your Brain’s Learning Potential

When a student struggles in school, it’s often easy to point the finger at the subject with which the student is struggling. But what if the issue isn’t that the student can’t grasp the subject, but rather is struggling to grasp how to learn more generally? Schools in the U.S. teach all kinds of subjects, but they’re not always as effective at teaching students how to actually learn them effectively. And for those who might struggle with mental organization, or maybe even learning things the same way as their peers, not knowing the way that’s best for them to actually process and internalize the information can lead to gaps in achievement. In his new book “Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy” University of Virginia Psychology Professor Dan Willingham explores how you can make the most of your brain’s learning potential, and why some of the traditional learning and studying practices might not be as effective as we think. Today on AirTalk, Dan is with us to talk about “Outsmart Your Brain” and share some brain learning hacks from the book.