Arizona passes a strict immigration bill. Funeral for LAPD officer killed in Afghanistan raises questions about costs. How has your tax burden changed? And Ring Festival LA kicks off.
Arizona ups the immigrant ante passing tough new bill
Arizona lawmakers yesterday passed what is being called the strictest state measure against illegal immigration. The bill requires that local police determine a person's immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person is undocumented. It would allow police to arrest a person unable to show documents and also prohibit cities from restricting immigration enforcement. Opponents of the bill say it amounts to racial profiling. What does the measure mean for immigration policy?
Guests:
Jessica Vaughn, Director of Policy Studies, Center for Immigration Studies
Chris Newman, Legal Director, National Day Laborer Organizing Network
LAPD funeral procession questioned
LAPD Officer Robert Cottle was killed last month in Afghanistan while on Marine Reserve duty. Yesterday a funeral procession moved through downtown Los Angeles, closing streets, backing up traffic and raising questions. Honoring slain officers is one thing, but at what cost? And why is one officer’s death – or one soldier’s death – more worthy of this kind of expenditure than another’s?
Taxes: somebody’s got to pay
It’s almost a given. Everybody thinks they pay too much in taxes. But somebody’s got to pay. Who should it be? The Obama Administration’s tax policy offers all sorts of rebates for first-time home buyers. And taxes are up for families earning more than $250,000. This is an increase over the Bush years. Conservatives worry this will be a drag on the already troubled economy. Progressives say it’s a return to a fairer tax structure; and necessary to pay for health care and the two wars. How has your tax burden changed?
Guests:
Dan Mitchell, tax economist and a Senior Fellow with the CATO institute
Chuck Marr, Director of Federal Tax Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Ring Festival LA presents Wagner's epic opera
This summer, the LA Opera will give the first-ever presentation in Los Angeles of Richard Wagner's four-part, 17-hour epic "The Ring of the Nibelung." Accompanying the ambitious $32 million production is Ring Festival LA, featuring a variety of "Ring"-related programming involving 115 cultural organizations throughout Southern California.
Some of the offerings during the 10-week event include discussions about Wagner's work and ideology, a screening of the Bugs Bunny parody What's Opera, Doc? and lectures on the opera's Norse mythology. Ring Festival LA runs from April 15– June 30.
Guests:
Barry Sanders, Leader, Ring Festival LA, and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Opera
James Conlon, Music Director of the LA Opera