The melee that broke out following the street party known as Deltopia last Saturday night led to more than one hundred arrests and dozens of injuries. The party is unsanctioned by University of California Santa Barbara. Can UCSB change its reputation as a "party school?" Later, is it safe and ethical to send people to Mars?
UCSB Spring Break Riot: Will Deltopia violence spur a change in party school mentality? (Poll)
The melee that broke out following the street party known as Deltopia last Saturday night led to more than 100 arrests and dozens of injuries, including those suffered by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies who were hit by bricks and full bottles of alcohol.
RELATED: Santa Barbara spring break party 'Deltopia' turns into riot, officers injured
15,000 people convened this year for the annual spring break celebration known as Deltopia, an unsanctioned, largely unregulated event that draws partiers from all over Southern California, even from out of state.
Last year’s event was plagued by several violent and tragic events, including an accidental falling death of 18-year-old Giselle Esme Ayala, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student. The annual street party is not a new phenomenon for UCSB’s off-campus Isla Vista community.
Many locals point fingers at the out-of-towners, blaming them for the wild and dangerous behavior. But UCSB student body representatives stated that a change in Isla Vista resident’s party mentality is also in order.
If events like this can’t be better regulated, should they be banned altogether? Does the responsibility fall on law enforcement to crack down? What can students do to discourage disorderly conduct in their community? Can a “party school” change its collective mentality and, therefore, change its reputation?
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Guests:
Kelly Hoover, Public Information Officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office
Jonathan Abboud, UCSB student association president
STATEMENT FROM UCSB:
“Deltopia” is an unsanctioned event that took place in the streets and private residences of a nearby community where many college-age students, including some from UC Santa Barbara as well as Santa Barbara City College, choose to live during their studies. Unfortunately, it also draws large numbers from outside the Santa Barbara area who typically represent the largest percentage of arrests and citations during the event.
The unsanctioned event is a serious concern for the University as well as many Isla Vista residents. Although not in the jurisdiction of the University, we discourage student participation and work closely with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office to promote safety and provide policing support. In addition to contributing significant policing resources, the University also provides resources for lighting and security cameras in Isla Vista.
The actions of some the participants involved in Saturday night’s incidents were outrageous and extremely dangerous. Any of our students found to have violated the law or University policies are subject to University sanctions.
In the coming months we look forward to discussions with local government officials, law enforcement, Santa Barbara City College administration and our own students on ways to address the events of last night and hopefully prevent them from taking place in the future.
Finally, we are extremely grateful for the efforts of the law enforcement officers and safety teams who risk their own safety to protect the community -- the Sheriff’s Office, the UCPD, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and other local law enforcement departments. Our thoughts go out to those officers who were injured Saturday night and we wish for a quick recovery.
From grow-ops to greenbacks: How California became the center of cannabis culture
California has been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement since it passed the Compassionate Use Act back in 1996 that allowed ill residents to smoke marijuana with a doctor's note.
Since then, the marijuana movement has come up through the ranks in public opinion to the point where recreational use is now legal in a handful of states. Medical marijuana has thrived despite being the subject of DEA raids, crackdowns by the federal government and social opposition.
With so much stacked against it, how did the medical marijuana movement manage to go mainstream? Why has recreational use not been legalized in California?
Sacramento Bee reporter Peter Hecht has been taking an in depth look at the movement in California, tracing its history from fledgling ballot measure to a lucrative industry that served as a launching point for liberalization across the country.
Guest:
Peter Hecht, senior writer at the Sacramento Bee and author of "Weed Land: Inside America's Marijuana Epicenter and How Pot Went Legit" (University of California Press, 2014)
Is it safe and ethical to send real people to Mars?
The true story of six strangers, picked to live in a 1,000 square foot dome, work together, have their lives documented, to find out what happens when humans land on Mars. It sounds like the opening to a pretty cool new reality show but it's all in the name of science.
Three men and three women have been handpicked by NASA to live together for four months inside a Mars simulator dome on Hawaii's Big Island. The HI-SEAS 2 mission has been underway for just a few weeks and with the goal of exploring the psychological impact of sending astronauts on long term missions to Mars.
The participants will live and work together in an environment much like what NASA expects astronauts to encounter when they embark on a 2.5 year Mars mission slated for sometime around 2030.
The tight quarters and long duration of the Mars mission is leaving a lot of questions about how well a group of strangers will be able to get along. On top of psychological concerns, NASA also has to deal with other ethical issues when sending astronauts on years-long missions to Mars. The astronauts will be subjected to high levels of radiation, vision impairment and bone loss from the microgravity environment.
A new ethics report raises some questions about NASA's plans for a manned mission to Mars. Is it ethical to send people into space for several years at a time? What sort of health risks are there? What are the psychological impacts of being isolated in small groups for long periods of time?
Guests:
Kim Binsted, professor of information and computer sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and principal investigator on the HI-SEAS 2 Mars simulator mission.
Jeffrey Kahn, professor of bioethics and public policy at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Breitbart California shakes up the partisan media landscape
The conservative media empire launched by the late Andrew Breitbart is making a major push into the Golden State. Breitbart California made its debut this week and will showcase conservative success stories in California and what it calls the 'failures of the left-wing establishment.'
Conservative politics could use the boost as figures show Republican engagement in California dwindling. Republicans currently hold no major statewide offices and the number of registered Republicans dropped from 35.2% in 2003 to 28.9% in 2013.
The new site was still celebrating its debut when critics pounced on its controversial marketing campaign, which featured Photoshopped images of a 'twerking' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in a bikini with her tongue hanging out a la Miley Cyrus.
Other images in the campaign showed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's face on a topless female body with the phrase "Covering Cali-sized IQs & cup sizes." The controversy already cost Breitbart California one of its most prominent voices when House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy pulled his column from the site.
How will the addition of Breitbart California shake up the conservative media landscape? Will the site have any impact on flagging Republican participation in state politics? Will the controversy over the Pelosi marketing photos cause a setback in the party's efforts to engage more women?
Guest:
Jon Fleischman, politics editor for Breitbart California
40 percent of LA food trucks and carts unchecked by health inspectors
Of the roughly 3,200 licensed food trucks and carts wheeling meals around Los Angeles County, about 40 percent have never been inspected by the Department of Public Health. The rest are checked less frequently than guidelines require, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Those troubling figures come from Angelo Bellomo, the Department’s director of environmental health, who oversees restaurant and food truck inspections, who told the L.A. Times that, "this is an area that needs improvement."
The Vehicle Inspection Program, which mandates letter grades for food trucks, was first introduced in 2011, and county health guidelines require two annual field inspections. However this hasn’t happened for a significant number of mobile eateries on the road and consumers still cannot review health inspection information for many of these trucks.
The 40 percent report does not include any unlicensed vendors that are currently doing business in the city.
"[The Health Department] estimates around 11,000 illegal vendors operate every day here in Los Angeles County," said Matt Geller, Co-Founder & CEO, Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association on AirTalk. "So they have a huge task ahead of them. I'm sure that there are lapses at times, but 40 percent seems like a very high number to me."
The term illegal vendors refers to any person selling food or beverages without a license, from the person selling sodas out of a cooler to a food truck roaming the streets without a license.
There are two different programs under the LA County Health Department for inspecting mobile restaurants: The Vehicle Inspection Program deals with licensed vendors, and a separate Street Vending Compliance Program deals with unlicensed. Geller says the Health Dept. is doing its best to get every one of these legal vendors, which are often difficult to track down for surprise inspections because of their mobility.
When an unlicensed operation is discovered, the consequences are significant.
"What we have is a program that's…routinely going out, trying to find illegal vendors, confiscating the equipment and giving tickets," said Geller. "So if it's an unlicensed vendor, the Health Department does act pretty quickly and harshly when they can catch them."
Fifteen field inspectors and two supervisors with the Department of Public Health are responsible for food service inspection in L.A. County. Trucks and carts that receive complaints are highest priority.
Would you have thought inspection rates for food trucks were this low? Are you willing to take your chances with food trucks? How should consumers get safety information about trucks and carts? Should there be more field inspectors monitoring L.A.’s mobile eateries?
Guest:
Matt Geller, Co-Founder & CEO, Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association
Sergio Mendes on bringing the beat of Brazil to the cinema
Sergio Mendes, one of the most successful Brazilian artists of all time, has recorded more than 35 albums and is a three-time Grammy Award winner. Mendes started his career with 1961’s “Dance Moderno” and the groups Bossa Rio and the Sergio Mendes Trio. Global fame came to Mendes a few years after, when he and another group, Brasil ’66, remade “Mas Que Nada.” The hit marked the first time that a song sung entirely in Portuguese hit Billboard’s Pop chart in the U.S., and came to define Brazilian music for many music enthusiasts and converts around the world.
Mendes was the executive music producer and contributed five songs to the animated film “Rio” in 2011. Mendes, who along with Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett, was nominated for an Oscar for the song “Real in Rio.” The 73-year-old has reprised his role as executive music producer for “Rio 2,” the follow up to the Blue Sky Studios film.
Mendes joins AirTalk to talk about his decades-spanning career and his work on the “Rio 2” soundtrack.
Guest:
Sergio Mendes, musician with over five-five releases, and executive music producer of the animated film “Rio 2”