STATE OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES; CALIFORNIA BOARD OF EDUCATION ADOPTS NEW GUIDELINES; RETIRED GENERALS CALL FOR RUMSFELD'S RESIGNATION; INVOLUNTARY TREATMENT FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
STATE OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivers his first State of the City address at the Accelerated School in South Los Angeles. He's expected to propose plans to whittle down the city budget deficit, to increase the ranks of the LAPD and to take over the Los Angeles Unified School District, a move that will require the approval of California's legislature. Guest host Judy Muller examines the speech with experts on city politics, Roy Romer, Superintendent, Los Angeles Unified School District, Marlene Canter, President of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, Bill Ring, Chair of the LAUSD Parent Collaborative, and Raphe Sonenshein, Professor of Political Science, Cal State University Fullerton.
CALIFORNIA BOARD OF EDUCATION ADOPTS NEW GUIDELINES
Earlier this week, in a 6- 4 decision, the California Board of Education approved new guidelines for English language arts textbooks for elementary and middle school classrooms through 2014. It rejected pleas from bilingual-education advocates who wanted to include textbooks that are better suited to the needs of English learners. The critics call it a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the needs of English-language learners. Supporters say the new curriculum will provide high standards of language competency for all children. The new guidelines specify criteria for oral and written vocabulary development. Guest Host Judy Muller talks with guests Judy Chu, California Assemblywoman from the 49th Assembly District, Shelley Spiegel-Coleman, member of the group Californians Together, and Roger Magyar, Executive Director of the State Board of Education about the controversy over California textbooks guidelines.
RETIRED GENERALS CALL FOR RUMSFELD'S RESIGNATION
A widening circle of retired generals and high-ranking military officers have come out and said what they were just thinking during the invasion of Iraq: Donald Rumsfeld is arrogant, incompetent, and needs to resign as Secretary of Defense. The White House hit back yesterday, and President Bush dismissed the accusations, complemented Rumsfeld's performance, and vowed to keep him on board. Is the President showing blind loyalty, or are the generals simply frustrated by the Secretary's transformative military doctrines? Guest-host Judy Muller talks with Christian Science Monitor reporter Brad Knickerbocker, General Bernard Trainor, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general. He co-authored Cobra II, The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq, Max Boot, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Professor Denis Showalter, Military Historian at Colorado College on this controversy.
INVOLUNTARY TREATMENT FOR THE MENTALLY ILL
California's treatment threshold for imposing non-volitional psychiatric care on a person suffering from a mental illness states that he or she must be either "a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled." Today in Pasadena, a group of mental health advocates stands in support of involuntary treatment for the mentally ill. Guest host Judy Muller speaks with Randall Hager, Director of Government Affairs for the California Psychiatric Association, Sally Zinman, Executive Director of the California Network of Mental Health Clients.