Workers’ Compensation Reform; Observations on the History of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants: Rats!; Urinetown: The Musical
Workers’ Compensation Reform
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez have ironed out the remaining obstacles in revamping California’s workers’ comp law. Because of this, it looks like the Democratic Legislature may pass the workers’ compensation insurance reform bill as early as Friday. Larry discusses the reform with Vince Sollito, Deputy Press Secretary for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; Marc Lifsher, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times; Martin Hopper, California State Director of the National Federation of Independent Business; Brendan Huffman, Director of Public Policy for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce; Arthur Azevedo, President of the California Applicants’ Attorney’s Association, and Jackie Goldberg, Assemblywoman representing the 45th district.
Observations on the History of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants: Rats!
Larry Mantle speaks with Robert Sullivan, author of a new book titled RATS: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants (Bloomsbury). It tells of the centuries-old war between human city dwellers and the wild city rat. City-dwellers have been warring with rats since cities existed and Sullivan recounts not only the history of the city rat but also the history of the city as told by tenant organizers, sanitation workers, rodent control officials and exterminators.
Urinetown: The Musical
Larry speaks with the creators of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit musical Urinetown, a comedy tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution in a place where there is such an extreme water shortage that a private company (Urine Good Company) emerges to control all water usage in the town. This company institutes legislation requiring everyone to use only public bathrooms and charges a fee for each use. A young revolutionary comes along to turn the whole process upside down and falls in love with the daughter of the owner of the Urine Good Company. On tax day, this is a perfect time to have a “tongue in cheek” discussion about how government reaches deeply into the pockets of the “oppressed” masses.