The State Water Resources Control Board on Friday released its revised plan for cutbacks. Also, one non-profit believes it has the answer to low voter turnout: Drawing for cash. Then, during this year's maple sugaring season in New England, harvesters have found a market for the pure maple waters to compete against the massive coconut water industry.
Water suppliers react to State Board’s revised plan for cutbacks
After receiving over 200 letters from urban water suppliers and members of the general public concerned about its plans to implement mandatory statewide water-use cuts ordered by Governor Jerry Brown this month, the State Water Resources Control Board on Friday released its revised plan for cutbacks.
The plans includes cutbacks in water conservation for city’s like Compton, which saw its proposed reduction drop from 20% to 8%, or the city of Beverly Hills, which saw its proposed reduction jump from 35% to 36%.
Many of the suppliers had claimed they were being penalized for earlier conservation success and wanted higher usage districts to cut more, before those that already made cuts cut further. Friday’s revised plan was supposed to take those concerns into account. We hear from the board and get reaction from some local water suppliers about the changes.
Check out our water tool to see how much water people in your area use per day.
Guests:
Max Gomberg, Senior staff scientist, State Water Resources Control Board
Tom Tait, Director of Public Works Services for the City of Arcadia, which saw a jump in their proposed reduction
George Murdoch, Utilities General Manager/Co-Director, Municipal Operations Department, City of Newport Beach
Step right up to the ballot box - you could win $25,000
In a creative attempt to reverse decreasing voter turnout, one non-profit believes it has the answer: enter voters into a drawing for cash.
The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project is betting that more people will come out to vote in a key election for the Los Angeles Board of Education if they offer a chance to win $25,000 to one lucky voter. All voters who cast a ballot in the May 9 election will be entered into the drawing.
As LA’s most recent election brought a paltry single digit voter turnout and the midterm election not faring much better at under a third of the electorate, civic groups are desperate to increase voter participation. Charter Amendments 1 and 2, ballot initiatives that lessen the frequency of elections so as to increase participation, passed in March, but the jury is still out on whether or not they will make a dent in voter apathy.
Is money the answer to increasing voter turnout? What do you think are the most effective and innovative solutions to addressing voter apathy?
Guests:
Fernando Guerra, professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University
Jessica Levinson, professor at Loyola Law School, Vice President of the L.A. Ethics Commission
From desert to megalopolis: William Mulholland and the rise of Los Angeles
“There it is, take it,” William Mulholland proclaimed the day the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, an engineering marvel that delivers water from the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains all the way to the City of Angels.
Without that precious resource, Los Angeles would never have become the land that it is. Writer and historian Les Standiford tackles the larger-than-life story of Mulholland in “Water to the Angels,” as well as his six-year, $23 million project that continues to transform the city and the region.
Les Standiford will be at Vroman's Bookst0re on 4/22 at 7:00pm to discuss and sign "Water to the Angels." For more information, click here.
Guest:
Les Standiford, author of many fiction and nonfiction books, including his latest “Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles” (Ecco, 2015). He is also the director of the Florida International University Creative Writing Program
Are recent increases in crime stats linked to Prop 47?
Since voters approved it during the November elections, law enforcement officials and public safety advocates all over California have been trying to gauge the effect that Prop 47 has had on crime across the state.
Early numbers appear to show jumps in incidents of domestic violence and rape, but the reason why remains a mystery. While it’s impossible to say whether there is a direct connection between Prop 47 and the rise in crime statistics, there are certainly questions surrounding what role Prop 47 may (or may not) play.
What effect, if any, has Prop 47 had on the rise in crime statewide? Where is the state at in terms of developing programs designed to be alternatives to incarceration, which was part of the Prop 47 legislation?
Guests:
Bill Lansdowne, former chief of the San Diego Police Department, retired last year. He’s also been a police chief in San Jose and Richmond. Along with San Francisco district attorney George Gascón, Lansdowne was one of Prop 47’s official proponents.
David McGill, Deputy Chief of the Newport Beach Police Department and 2nd Vice President of the California Peace Officers’ Association.
As CA Attorney General launches implicit bias training, a look behind the science
Attorney General Kamala Harris on Friday released the results of an internal California Department of Justice review looking at implicit bias and use of force in its special agent training programs.
She also announced the development of an implicit bias training program for law enforcement in the state, the first program in the country.
The concept of implicit bias – defined as unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that we’ve internalized that affect the way we act – has been gaining social and cultural traction after a series of police killings of unarmed black men.
But the debate over the theory is far from over. In this segment, we look at the competing science behind it.
Guests:
Sharon Davies, professor of law, Ohio State University; Director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, which publishes a yearly study on implicit bias called “State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review.” The latest edition came out in 2014
Gregory Mitchell, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, whose scholarship focuses on legal judgment and decision-making, the psychology of justice, and the application of social science to legal theory and policy. One of his research focus areas is implicit bias
Tree-sap water, blended coconut water, alkaline water: No drought in trendy waters
During this year's maple sugaring season in New England, harvesters weren't just collecting watery sap to boil into syrup, instead they have found a market for the pure maple waters to compete against the massive coconut water industry.
Maple water brands claim the drink is rich in vitamins, minerals, electrolytes and more, but just as is the case for coconut water, nutritionists say it is no better for you than drinking plain water. While the claims made by companies such as Vita Coco about coconut water were debunked in 2011, the companies enjoy greater profits and expansion on grocers’ shelves.
Even Trader's Joe's is expanding its specialty water offerings to include bottled alkaline water boasting a higher pH level, but why? What trendy waters do you drink and why? Is it better than the alternative of sugary sodas and juices?
Guest:
Kenneth Shea, Senior food and beverage industry analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence
Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D., Registered Dietitian based in the South Bay