No more overtime pay for LAPD officers. Father Greg Boyle discusses gang intervention and his book Tattoos on the Heart. The next political battle: a financial overhaul. And a talk with Paul Krugman about green economics.
LAPD officers lose overtime pay
Is the city's fiscal crisis keeping the Los Angeles Police Department from solving crimes? With a depleted budget, the LAPD has stopped paying its officers for overtime wages, instead making them take time off when they accrue large amounts of overtime hours. The department's homicide detectives are among the first to be sidelined, due to the long work schedules of the job. In one case, a homicide detective was forced to take six weeks off of work. How are LAPD officers adjusting to this policy, and how is it affecting efforts to solve murders and fight crime?
Guests:
Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer covering LAPD
David Doan, Chief of Detectives for the LAPD
Paul Weber, President of the Los Angeles Police Protective League
Bernard Parks, City Councilman for LA’s 8th district and former LAPD Police Chief
Father Boyle's Tattoos on the Heart
Father Gregory Boyle is the founder of Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention program in the country, offering job training, tattoo removal, and employment to reformed gang members. In his book Tattoos on the Heart, Boyle looks back on his experiences both heartbreaking and uplifting to offer parables on the importance of compassion in the face of despair. Father Boyle joins Larry in studio to talk about his work and the power of unconditional love.
Guest:
Gregory Boyle, author of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Free Press). He is a Jesuit priest and founder and executive director of Homeboy Industries.
Financial reform: too big to fail?
Fresh from a two-week spring break, the Senate returns to a push from President Obama for a financial overhaul bill drafted by Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd. The legislation was prompted by the Wall Street meltdown of 2008; the changes to financial regulations would be the most dramatic since the New Deal. One of the most contentious components of the bill would create a new consumer-protection division within the Federal Reserve. The Dems need the support of at least one Republican in order to reach 60 votes. Will the GOP be on board?
Guests:
Neil Irwin, National Economy Correspondent, Washington Post
Alex J. Pollock, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Heather Booth, Executive Director, Americans for Financial Reform
Building a green economy
Politicians and media outlets of different stripes paint wildly different pictures of the effect of environmental regulation on the economy. How aggressively should policy makers regulate carbon emissions? Do climate change laws hurt the economy—or help it? Which studies of cost are being taken out of context—and by whom? New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman looks at areas of agreement and controversy among environmental economists, writing, “we can afford to tackle climate change.”
Guest:
Paul Krugman, author of Green Economics: How We Can Afford to Tackle Climate Change in Sunday’s New York Times magazine; New York Times columnist; 2008 winner of Nobel Prize in economics.