Today on AirTalk, we check in on the reopening of LAUSD elementary schools and early education centers. Also on the show, we discuss the latest reporting on mistreatments within a state nursing home chain; discuss the closure of ArcLight and Pacific Theaters; and more.
Parents React As First Wave Of LAUSD Students Return To Campus In Person
A relative handful of Los Angeles Unified School District campuses will welcome students back this week, exactly one year and one month since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the state’s largest school district into online-only mode.
The beginning of LAUSD’s reopening marks a huge turning point in efforts to resume in-person instruction in California’s K-12 schools. This week, students at 72 LAUSD elementary schools and early education centers will begin coming back to campuses in waves. LAUSD kindergarteners and first graders at these campuses will return on Tuesday. Second and third graders will join them on Wednesday. The oldest elementary students will return on Thursday. This is just LAUSD’s soft opening: there are more than 700 elementary schools in LAUSD, and most of them will reopen next week. Middle- and high schools reopen the week of April 26.
Today on AirTalk, we’ll check in on how things are going at LAUSD schools where kids are returning for in-person learning and hear from parents about how they and their kids are feeling about it. Join the live conversation by calling us at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Kyle Stokes, education reporter for KPCC/LAist covering K-12 education; he tweets
COVID-19 AMA: What’s Going On With J&J Vaccine, Latest On Variants And More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Kimberly Shriner of Huntington Hospital.
Topics today include:
U.S. urges pause in use of J&J vaccine due to blood clotting issue
A year into the pandemic, it’s even more clear that it’s safer to be outside
Recent rise in U.S. COVID-19 cases driven by younger people
New study finds U.K. variant no more deadly than original virus strain
What to do with your COVID-19 vaccine card, including if you lose it
Are herd immunity and the California coronavirus variant preventing a West Coast spring surge?
Guest:
Kimberly Shriner, M.D., infectious disease specialist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena
Latest Reports Show Mistreatment Of California Nursing Homes Residents And Staff
At a nursing home in Glendale, a certified nursing assistant was charged with raping a mentally ill patient in her room. After the incident, according to investigators, the victim said she felt "scared, sad, wanted to kill herself."
At a facility in Simi Valley, the daughter of one elderly resident told LAist that staff didn't adequately care for her mother, who developed a gruesome bedsore. "I could stick my pinky in it," she said. "It was down to the bone."
At a nursing home in Compton, a schizophrenic patient with one leg was inappropriately discharged. He went missing, only to turn up two weeks later in a park, unconscious, under his wheelchair. Regulators charged that the facility's lapses presented "imminent danger or a substantial probability" that if the man hadn't been found, he would have suffered grave harm, even death.
All three nursing homes are connected to ReNew Health Group, a fast-growing chain of skilled nursing facilities founded in 2014 and headquartered in Southern California. ReNew Health and its CEO, Crystal Solorzano, own or are affiliated with at least 26 facilities throughout the state. Solorzano owns, or is applying to own, the majority of them; in five other facilities her company has been involved in management or in administration. The network stretches from Orange County to the Central Valley to the Bay Area.
In its short time caring for California's most vulnerable -- many of them elderly and mentally ill -- the company has racked up an inordinate number of red flags and citations, many for infractions known as "Immediate Jeopardies," the most severe federal citation a nursing home can receive.
Today on AirTalk, we talk to reporters from LAist and CalMatters to discuss their reporting on issues residents and workers have faced in nursing homes across California, as well as get legal insights on the subject. Questions? Call us at 866-893-5722.
With files from LAist. Read more here.
We reached out to the California Association of Health Facilities, the non profit trade association that represents skilled-nursing facilities and intermediate-care facilities for people with intellectual disabilities across the state of California, but they declined our interview request.
Guests:
Aaron Mendelson, investigative reporter at KPCC; he tweets
Elly Yu, investigative reporter at KPCC; she tweets
Jocelyn Weiner, health reporter for CalMatters, her latest piece is “California oversight of nursing homes called ‘befuddling,’ ‘broken’”, she tweets
Mike Dark, staff attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform
After Pandemic Losses, ArcLight And Pacific Theaters Plan To Close For Good
The iconic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, beloved by filmmakers and film lovers alike, is one of 300 Pacific Theaters screens set to close down permanently after the pandemic.
“This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward,” a Pacific Theaters representative said in a written statement. Pacific Theaters is also the operator of the multiplexes at The Grove and The Americana, which function as important anchors to both shopping centers. The closures come as Los Angeles County recently expanded capacity for indoor moviegoing to 50%— but after over a year with shut doors, the economic effects of the pandemic have proven too catastrophic for smaller chains. Major Hollywood power players took to Twitter to mourn the loss of the ArcLight Hollywood, housed inside a concrete geodesic dome (the only one of its kind in the world) and featured prominently in films like “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.”
Today on AirTalk, we want to hear your thoughts about the Pacific Theaters closures and the loss of LA’s iconic Cinerama Dome. Comment below or give us a call at 866-893-5722.
Guest:
Anthony D’Alessandro, editorial director and box office editor at Deadline who has been covering this story; he tweets