Californians can find out how environmentally challenged are the neighborhoods they live in by using a new tool from released this week by the California Environmental Protection Agency. Is Hillary Clinton's refusal to announce her 2016 candidacy for president hurting other women's chances?
New pollution map highlights environmentally-burdened communities in state
Californians can find out how environmentally challenged are the neighborhoods they live in by using a new tool from released this week by the California Environmental Protection Agency. It's an interactive map called CalEnviroScreen, which takes into account multiple pollution sources (including polluted air, water, waste facilities and contaminated soil) to identify the most impacted communities in the state. Each census tract receives a score based on 19 criteria.
The tool, developed by the California Environmental Protection Agency and the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, was released this week. It is currently in draft mode. Bt identifying troubled areas, officials hope the tool would spur action from regulators and pave the way for more green funding into these areas.
Guest:
George Alexeeff, Director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) in the California Environmental Protection Agency, which developed the new tool
Sacramento lawmakers consider reserve fund ahead of schedule
In light of the state’s budget surplus, Governor Jerry Brown wants to pay down the debt and increase California’s rainy day fund. And, as things go in Sacramento, Democrats and Republicans are at odds on how best to do so.
Governor Brown has called for state legislators to debate his new proposal tomorrow in a special meeting. He wants to replace the current proposal set to appear on the November ballot with one that would increase deposits to accommodate fluctuations in “volatile” capital gains revenues.
The new proposal would also create a special reserve for California schools, allow supplemental payments toward paying off California’s debt when the state is in the black, and raise the maximum size of the rainy day fund to ten percent of general fund revenue.
As the proposal stands now, three percent of annual revenue is funneled into a reserve fund, even in years when California is running a deficit, but there are no restrictions on how often that fund can be accessed for state expenditures.
How should California handle its reserve fund? Is it possible to pass this legislation without the Democratic supermajority? Will state politicians be able to collaborate on the rainy day fund and other upcoming proposals?
Guests:
Assemblywoman Connie Conway, (R-Tulare) leader of the California Assembly Republicans, representative of the 23rd assembly district
Assemblyman Mike Gatto, assemblymember for California’s 43rd district, which include Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and Burbank
Connecting the genetic ties between impulsiveness and procrastination
Are you putting off a project at work, mailing a bill, or getting started on spring cleaning? You may be able to blame your parents.
Researchers at the University of Colorado have found that procrastination is almost half-heritable, and that it shares genetic factors with traits for impulsiveness. While the two attributes may seem unconnected, studies have shown they are closely related, and that they share a key factor -- deviation from long-term goals.
The University of Colorado study used identical and fraternal twins in their early twenties to examine tendencies towards procrastination and impulsivity. Results of the study indicated that about half of reported instances of procrastination and impulsivity were caused by genetics, with the other half caused by environmental influences.
The study authors hypothesize that procrastination may be a byproduct of impulsive behavior. How and why do humans inherit impulsive behavior? Could it once have been genetically beneficial to procrastinate or to act impulsively?
Guest:
Daniel Gustavson, Psychological Scientist, University of Colorado Boulder; Study author of the "Psychologist Science" journal study.
Is Hillary Clinton's 2016 silence hurting other female candidates?
She's been notoriously mum on the biggest political question of the year but is Hillary Clinton's refusal to announce her 2016 candidacy for president hurting other women's chances?
Women have made major gains in American politics - from Governors mansions to plum committee chairs- but the Oval Office has still proved elusive. Clinton may be womens’ best chance of running the country but she still hasn't taken the plunge and announced that she's running. Her silence may be blocking a number of high profile Democratic women who would have a shot at either the presidency or the vice presidency in 2016.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire have all been tossed out as possible names on the ticket. But if Hillary Clinton takes the presidential nomination it would make it less likely that another women would be tapped for VP.
Is there any chance that Clinton would choose a female running mate? If Clinton isn't going to run in 2016, should she step aside now so another woman candidate can have the spotlight? Might an all-female presidential ticket be the fresh change that Americans are looking for?
Guests:
Lara Brown, associate professor in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University, and the author of "Jockeying for the American Presidency: The Political Opportunism of Aspirants." (2010)
Jennifer Pihlaja, partner in the political media-consulting firm McKenna Pihlaja and former political director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
30 years of breakthroughs in HIV research
In April 1984, scientists made the breakthrough discovery of the virus which causes the fatal disease AIDS, which was rapidly sweeping through America in the early 1980s.
Then-US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler announced that a virus had been discovered which may be causing the disease and confirmed that a simple test would soon prevent the spread of HIV through blood transfusions.
The announcement set off decades of research into the spread of HIV and despite major advancements, no cure has yet been found.
Researchers have made significant progress in preventing the spread of HIV with a number experimental drugs and treatments. A cocktail of antiviral drugs has drastically reduced the rates of death and several doctors have even claimed to have cured babies born with the virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection and nearly 20 percent of them are unaware they are carriers of the virus.
Without better detection and testing for HIV, how much can modern treatments stop its spread? What sort of experimental treatments are proving the most promising? What are the prospects for an eventual cure for HIV?
Guest:
Michael Gottlieb, MD, a practicing physician and immunologist who is credited with being one of the authors of the first report to the CDC identifying AIDS as a new disease in 1981
Director of LA’s Child & Family Services questions recommended overhaul
A Los Angeles County commission has recommended sweeping changes to the embattled Department of Children and Family Services. The commission asked the LA County Board of Supervisors to appoint a new oversight body for DCFS.
The department’s director, Philip Browning, says they have an oversight body already - the Board of Supervisors. He says many of the ideas have been instituted already - “about 96% have been partially or fully implemented.”
He goes on to say new social-worker training incorporates home-call simulations and promotes critical thinking and common sense. Was the Blue Ribbon Commission on Child Protection more of the same - or critical to overhaul DCFS? What will the Board of Supervisors decide?
Guest:
Philip Browning, Director, Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles County
Director Diane Paulus on reimagining ‘Porgy and Bess’
Many people know “Porgy and Bess” as the grand George Gershwin opera which debuted on Broadway in 1935, but director Diane Paulus has since re-invented the popular tale of Southern black life as musical theatre with "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," now playing at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre.
In the Paulus rendition—commissioned by the Gershwin estate in 2011—the storyline includes more dancing and spoken word than the original. It’s the story of Porgy, a physically disabled man living in the fictitious Catfish Row in the Charleston, South Carolina slums—and Bess, the beautiful, drug-addicted woman he falls in love with. Some of the songs that originate from the Gershwin opera include Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and “I Got Plenty of Nothing.”
Gershwin’s original opera—based on Dubose Heyward’s 1925 novel “Porgy” and starring an all-black cast—received mixed reviews initially, and was subject to controversy—but has since gained a following. In 1959, Otto Preminger revived the story with a film starring Sidney Poitier.
For Paulus’ production, the Tony Award-winning director required her cast to be familiar with the long and complicated history of the story. Her "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess” cast includes Nathaniel Stampley as Porgy and Alicia Hall Moran as Bess.
The musical debuted at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre on Wednesday, April 23. Performances continue through June 1, 2014.
Guest:
Diane Paulus, Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) at Harvard University; directs "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess," now playing at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre; Tony winner for “Pippin” last year
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