A proposed Labor Day weekend music festival to be held in downtown LA at Grand Park is drawing criticism. Is the area around Grand Park ready for a large music festival? How could this impact LA? Should the traditional college track still be considered the ideal for all American students? Later, are anonymous and 'antisocial' apps changing the way we interact online?
Is downtown LA ready for Jay-Z?
A downtown Los Angeles music festival proposed for Labor Day weekend is under fire from critics who say there hasn’t been enough information or outreach about the event. The “Budweiser Made in America Festival” boasts music “curated by Jay-Z.” It would be held at Grand Park -- sidewalks and streets in the surrounding areas might be closed to up to 10 days to prepare for the event.
L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar is arguing that the city should hold off on issuing permits for the festival, citing concerns from business owners, residents, and traffic congestion. Huizar is pushing for more information from the show’s producers, Live Nation, as well as the Police Department and other city offices so that he can examine the cost and other logistical issues.
Last week, Huizar introduced a motion calling for a committee of Downtown stakeholders and residents to help manage Downtown special events permits. He introduced a second motion--aimed specifically at halting the “Budweiser Made in America Festival” proposed for Grand Park.
A spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti called the festival a lot of fun, a “boon for our economy,” and said it would highlight downtown’s rejuvenation.
Is the area around Grand Park prepared to support a festival of this size and length? How will business owners, residents, and commuters adapt during the preparations for the festival? In what ways would the city be impacted in terms of cost?
Councilmember Huizar's office addressed his motions in a press release:
Guests:
José Huizar, Los Angeles City Councilmember since 2005 for the 14th District - encompassing Downtown LA
Carol Schatz, President and CEO of the Central City Association - which represents numerous downtown LA businesses
Too stressed out? It may be impacting your fertility
Chronic stress isn't good for many aspects of human health, but science now shows that it may also impact a woman's ability to get pregnant. A new study published in the journal Human Reproduction found a link between the amount of stress women are under and their ability to get pregnant.
The study followed 400 women and tested their saliva for the stress indicator 'alpha-amylase'. Researchers found that women with the highest levels of the indicator were 29% less likely to get pregnant than women with the lowest levels of stress. Women with the highest levels were also more than twice as likely to not get pregnant after a full year of trying.
Reducing stress is not going to solve traditional problems of infertility such as blocked tubes, poor sperm quality or ovulation problems, but the research indicates that women could benefit from stress reduction techniques such as meditation or getting more exercise. Are some women more prone to stress? Does the study separate actual stress from how women handle stressful situations? How does stress level actually impact fertility?
Guest:
Courtney Denning-Johnson Lynch, Ph.D., director of reproductive epidemiology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and the lead author of the paper published in “Human Reproduction” journal
Dr. Ingrid Rodi, M.D. Clinical Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at UCLA School of Medicine
Are we harming students by pushing them into traditional colleges?
It's a commonly held belief in the education reform community that educators should be encouraging all students to attend college and preparing them to succeed at traditional universities.
Research shows that those with a college degree earn significantly more over the course of their careers than non-degree holders and getting a well paying job without a degree is getting harder.
But what happens when a student is not "college material"? Are we doing students harm by pushing them down the traditional college route when many of them are destined to fail?
According to research from Georgetown University, less than 10 percent of poor children now graduate with a four-year college degree. With improvements in K-12 education, it's possible that the number could double down the road but large numbers of students will still be left without a degree in hand.
A lack of well paying vocational jobs makes the path to the middle class even bumpier for many young Americans. Some students may not fare well in college but without strong reading and math skills above the high school level their prospects may be even worse.
Should the traditional college track still be considered the ideal for all American students? Are we providing enough 'non college' alternatives that also provide a path to the middle class? Are we shortchanging our students by not emphasizing the need for strong reading and math skills, even in vocational tracks?
Guests:
Michael Petrilli, Executive Vice President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a prominent education reform think tank
RiShawn Biddle, editor of Dropout Nation and co-author of ‘A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era’.
Is the ‘Religious Right’ losing its political influence?
It was not so long ago that Evangelical voters were considered a formidable voting bloc that could be relied on to vote against same-sex marriage and increase conservative turnout. But the days of relying on Christian conservatives to vote the 'party line' seem to be over.
A recent poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found that only 27% of evangelicals approve of same-sex marriage but 43% of evangelicals younger than 34 do. Some in the older conservative Christian establishment are now turning away from the traditional hot button issues of banning same-sex marriage and overturning Roe v. Wade.
Instead, Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention and Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, joined together to pen an editorial in the Wall Street Journal criticizing the Republican-led House for failing to pass immigration reform.
With evangelicals no longer thought of as a single voice, what impact will that have on politics? Can the GOP still rely on the Christian vote? What issues are most important to young evangelicals?
Guest:
Tom Krattenmaker, contributing columnist for USA today in religion and public life and author of "The Evangelicals You Don't Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians"
Are anonymous and 'antisocial' apps changing the way we interact online?
Smartphone users are accustomed to the ever-changing social rules that govern apps. Certain apps may broadcast your location to earn you points, delete your photo and video messages in ten seconds, or pair you with other users based on romantic matching. The common theme is social networking -- interacting with others. But Cloak, the so-called “antisocial network” purports to do the exact opposite.
Using the location tracking tools integrated with other apps, like Foursquare and Instagram, Cloak helps users avoid their virtual friends in person by sending notifications when a flagged contact is nearby.
Other apps play on anonymity to attract users on a different level -- Secret, created by two former Google engineers, aggregates anonymous statements made within a social network -- you know that the person gossiping on the app may be a co-worker, but you don’t know who said what. Whisper and other anonymous apps are after the same thing -- intimate confessions and discussion in a faceless forum.
How is social networking changing to accommodate privacy and anonymity? Would you use an anonymous app, or one intended to help you avoid unwanted in-person interaction?
Guest:
Karen North, Director of the Annenberg Program on Online Communities at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, expert in social media and internet privacy