Discussing the verdict; country legend Merle Haggard has died at age 79; and a new bill seeks to bring theses facilities to California.
What's next for former LA Undersheriff Tanaka after guilty verdicts
Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka has been found guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Wednesday morning.
Read the full story here.
Guests:
Rina Palta, editor and former crime and public safety reporter for KPCC
Laurie Levenson, former federal prosecutor and a professor at Loyola Law School
Resetting the election 2016 table after Cruz, Sanders win Wisconsin
The underdogs prevailed in The Badger State on Tuesday night as Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders secured double digit victories in their respective parties’ primaries.
While it’s undeniable that this gives both campaigns a momentum boost, it’s also undeniable that the delegate math still doesn’t favor a comeback for either candidate. Frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump still hold solid leads in the race for their party’s nomination.
What are the big takeaways from Tuesday night in Wisconsin? Just how meaningful are Sanders’ and Cruz’s victories? With the eyes of the candidates and the nation turning to the April 19th New York State primary, how can Sanders and Cruz capitalize on the momentum gained last night? With New York being the home state for both frontrunners, is victory for them a foregone conclusion in New York or will they have to make up some ground after respective losses in Wisconsin?
Guests:
Lisa Camooso Miller, Republican strategist and partner at Blueprint Communications, public affairs firm based in D.C.; she tweets
Erikka Knuti, Democratic political strategist; she tweets
John Nichols, national affairs correspondent for The Nation; he tweets
LA wonders if it could be next in line after San Francisco's parental leave expansion
San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to approve six weeks of fully paid parental leave to employees.
The law, passed on Tuesday, will apply to all new parents including mothers, fathers and same sex couples. San Francisco’s law differs from the state’s existing rules for parental leave, which offer 55 percent of pay to new parents for six weeks through employee-financed public disability insurance.
The decision for fully paid leave comes despite pushback from small businesses.
Los Angeles City Council voted to conduct a study in February of this year on different aspects of parental leave including whether it would be feasible to give employees four weeks of paid leave.
Could Los Angeles be next city to offer fully paid leave to new parents?
Guests:
Jimmy Gomez, California state Assemblyman (L.A.); he’s introduced a bill in the legislature to significantly expand the state’s current parental leave benefit. The bill is awaiting Gov. Brown's signature.
Mark Wilbur, CEO of Employers Group, a HR consulting group in Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the advocacy group, Los Angeles County Business Federation
Is the Porter Ranch blackout warning overblown? Yes, says one expert
Critics of keeping the Aliso Canyon gas storage field open after its blowout disaster are at odds with California state energy officials who say the partial shutdown of the facility could lead to power outages on up to 14 days this summer.
State agencies that studied the impact of the partial shutdown proposed an action plan on Tuesday to prevent power outages, but concluded they "will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of gas shortages this summer that are large enough to cause electricity interruptions for the region's residents and businesses."
Their report comes as state regulators investigate the cause of what scientists said was the largest-known release of climate-changing methane in U.S. history. The Southern California Gas Company well leaked out of control for almost four months and sickened Los Angeles residents who lived nearby, displacing more than 6,000 families from their homes.
But Bill Powers, a frequent expert witness before the California Public Utilities Commission, isn't convinced by officials' claims, calling the blackout warning alarmist. He said that in at least the last decade, SoCal Gas has never hit its firm capacity during the summer peak in the L.A. basin.
“That’s why I see this as crying wolf and locking arms around a concept that Aliso Canyon must remain online, and doing it with poorly supported justifications,” Powers told AirTalk.
The San Diego engineering consultant is researching claims that the gas storage facility is a necessity for average consumers of SoCal Gas, as opposed to industrial consumers who benefit from lower gas costs resulting from keeping the facility operational.
Powers says the system can be changed.
"They can configure how they operate their system and require of their big non-core customers — who are taking advantage of the abundant storage that SoCalGas has — to trade and work with their gas supplies to absolutely minimize the price that they pay for gas," Powers said. "And at the same time, the primary core customers — the homes and the small businesses — are the ones that are paying the approximately $40 million a year by my estimate to maintain Aliso Canyon to keep it operational. And the customers that live near that facility in Porter Ranch are the ones who are taking most of the physical risk. That is being borne not by the primary beneficiaries which are [non-core] customers, that's being borne by the little guy.”
Powers said neighboring states dependent on natural gas, like Arizona and Nevada, have no storage facilities like SoCal Gas's Aliso Canyon site. He said they only have access to one or two main pipelines to tap into, while SoCal Gas has about half a dozen pipes to tap into.
Other states do this by putting electric generators on firm gas contracts, Powers said. This means that the generators assure their gas supply by paying for firm interstate capacity. He said that if SoCal Gas did the same, the claim Aliso Canyon's facility is critical would become a "side issue."
"Pay somewhat more to assure your supply, and it lessens the need for storage," Powers said.
Listen to the full interview above.
Guest:
Bill Powers, Principal, Powers Engineering in San Diego, a consulting engineering firm; frequent expert witness before the California Public Utilities Commission
This story has been updated.
California country music legend Merle Haggard dies at 79 of pneumonia
Country giant Merle Haggard, who rose from poverty and prison to international fame through his songs about outlaws, underdogs and an abiding sense of national pride in such hits as "Okie From Muskogee" and "Sing Me Back Home," died Wednesday at 79, on his birthday.
Haggard's manager, Frank Mull, said the country icon died in Palo Cedro, California, of pneumonia that he had been battling for months. His publicist, Tresa Redburn, said no official cause of death has been determined.
Haggard had kept up an ambitious touring schedule, but the pneumonia in both lungs had forced him to cancel several shows this year. Mull said his family was by his side when he died at home and they were planning a funeral for Saturday at his home.
A masterful guitarist, fiddler and songwriter as well as singer, the Country Music Hall of Famer with the firm, direct baritone recorded for more than 40 years, releasing dozens of albums and No. 1 hits.
"He was my brother, my friend. I will miss him," said Willie Nelson, his longtime friend, in a statement.
The White House called Haggard a "legend" and said President Barack Obama was sending his thoughts and prayers to Haggard's family. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Haggard told stories that people from all walks of American life could relate to.
"His passing is a loss for country music, but obviously is a loss for all the people who got to know him personally, too," Earnest said.
Haggard — along with fellow California country star Buck Owens — was a founder of the twangy Bakersfield Sound, a direct contrast to the smooth, string-laden country records popular in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1960s.
His music was rough yet sensitive, reflecting on childhood, marriage and daily struggles, telling stories of shame and redemption, or just putting his foot down in "The Fightin' Side of Me" and "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."
His most beloved songs included the prison ballad "Sing Me Back Home," the tributes to his mother "Mama Tried" and "Hungry Eyes," the romantic lament "Today I Started Loving You Again" and such blue collar chronicles as "If We Make It Through December" and "Workin' Man Blues."
"We've lost one of the greatest writers and singers of all time. His heart was as tender as his love ballads," said Dolly Parton. "I loved him like a brother."
Few faces in country were as recognizable as Haggard's, with its wary, sideways glance and chiseled, haunted features that seemed to bear every scar from his past.
General audiences knew him best for "Okie From Muskogee," a patriotic anthem released in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War that quickly became a cultural touchstone for its anti-hippie lyrics proclaiming "we don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street; we like living right and being free."
"Okie from Muskogee" made him a hero among conservatives, but he softened on the counterculture and released the lighthearted "Big Time Annie's Square," a tribute to a hippie girl and her "crazy world." More recently, he was a backer of prominent Democrats. In 2007 he unveiled a song to promote Hillary Clinton and two years later he penned "Hopes Are High" to commemorate Obama's inauguration. In "America First," he even opposed the Iraq War, singing "Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track."
In 1970, Haggard was named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association, and "Okie From Muskogee" won best album and single. The No. 1 hits "Mama Tried" and "Workin' Man Blues" also broke onto the charts around that time, sealing his reputation as one of country's defining voices. He picked up another CMA album of the year in 1972 for "Let Me Tell You About a Song."
Still, Haggard referred to the improvisations of his band, the Strangers, as "country jazz," and in 1980, became the first country artist to appear on the cover of the jazz magazine "Downbeat."
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994, the same year he won a Grammy for best male country vocal performance in "That's the Way Love Goes."
Haggard also began headlining at Farm Aid, the benefit founded by his longtime friend Willie Nelson, and started touring with Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
Along with his albums of original songs, he recorded tributes to such early influences as country pioneer Jimmy Rodgers and Western swing king Bob Wills, and paired up with Nelson and George Jones among others. He also resisted the slick arrangements favored by some pop-country stars.
"I'll tell you what the public likes more than anything," he told the Boston Globe in 1999. "It's the most rare commodity in the world — honesty."
The Byrds, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams and Reba McEntire all covered his songs, while many others paid tribute to him in theirs. In the Dixie Chicks' "Long Time Gone, which criticizes Nashville trends, the trio crooned: "We listen to the radio to hear what's cookin' / But the music ain't got no soul / Now they sound tired but they don't sound Haggard."
His childhood was out of a John Steinbeck novel; his family migrated from Oklahoma to Californiaand lived as outsiders in their adopted state. Born in 1937 near Bakersfield, Haggard was raised in a converted railway boxcar, the only dwelling his parents could afford. When Haggard was 9, his beloved father suddenly fell ill and died, leaving Haggard with lasting grief. He turned to petty crime and spent several years in and out of institutions.
He served three years in San Quentin as inmate 845200 for burglarizing a cafe during a drunken spree. It was during that stint he saw Johnny Cash play, and he returned to Bakersfield at age 22 in 1960 ready to write music. Singer-bandleader Wynn Stewart was an early patron, hiring Haggard to play bass in his group. Haggard's first hit was a cover of Stewart's "Sing a Sad Song" and by 1966 he had been voted most promising vocalist by the Academy of Country and Western Music. He became a superstar in 1967, first with a cover of Liz Anderson's "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive," then with such originals as "Sing Me Back Home" and "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde," featuring Glen Campbell on banjo.
Fame brought him unexpected respectability. His criminal record was erased by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, who pardoned him in 1972, and he was invited by President Richard Nixon to sing at the White House. Officials in Kern County, where he spent his boyhood years, have since honored his legacy by renaming a portion of road Merle Haggard Drive.
Haggard was active as ever in his 70s, and received strong reviews for his 2010 album "I Am What I Am." He lived his last years outside Redding with his fifth wife, Theresa Lane. Haggard previously was married to singer Leona Williams, and to country crooner Bonnie Owens, the former wife of Buck Owens, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. He is survived by five children, Marty, Dana, Kelli, Noel, Jenessa and Ben, and his sister Lillian Haggard Rea.
When doctors found a spot on his lung in 2008, Haggard announced he didn't plan to seek treatment. But after friends and family members convinced him otherwise, he had a tumor removed and vowed to keep performing.
"When I quit doing them (tours), the next big event is the funeral," he told the AP in a 1990 interview. "They keep me young."
An Associated Press story was used in this report. This story has been updated.
Guest:
René Engel, country music DJ, Host and Producer of Citybilly on San Louis Obispo NPR affiliate KCBX and former KPCC host
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the town where Merle Haggard was born. KPCC regrets the error.
Should flight attendants wear headscarves on flights to the Middle East?
Air France has capitulated on requiring its flight attendants to wear headscarves on flights to Iran.
The company sent a memo to employees detailing the dress code in March, which includes pants and loose-fitting clothing for women, and pants and long-sleeved shirts for men. The flight union immediately pushed back, calling the policy “an attack on freedom of conscience and individual freedoms, and [an] invasion of privacy.”
The union asked the airline to give flight attendants the option to opt-out on flying the route, which Air France has agreed to do this week.
The airline is slated to start flights between Paris and Iran flight in April.
Guest:
Lisa Klerman, a mediator specializing in employment law disputes.A former attorney, she is a clinical associate professor of law at USC
California lawmaker proposes heroin safe-injection sites needed
Rising rates of heroin and opiate abuse have led Stockton-area Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D) to propose a law allowing supervised drug injection facilities which some experts argue reduce overdoses, HIV infections, health costs, and overall drug use.
The bill (AB-2495) is getting opposition from a string of law enforcement groups. They argue the law falls short of providing resources and auditing to ensure success, plus they highlight a conflict with federal law banning Schedule 1 narcotics. Other Americans cities are considering similar ordinances, including San Francisco, Seattle, New York City and Ithaca, New York, citing the success of a site operating in Canada since 2003.
What data shows harm reductions borne out of the Canadian facility? What resources would be needed to make this proposal worthwhile?
Guests:
Susan Talamantes Eggman, California Assemblywoman (D-Stockton)
Tom Lackey, California Assemblyman (R-Palmdale) representing the 36th Assembly District, which includes Lancaster and Palmdale; he also spent 28 years with the California Highway Patrol