Lead Found in some LAUSD Drinking Fountains; Dodger Stadium Revamp; Analysis of Last Night's Mark Ridley Thomas-Bernard Parks Debate; Body Of War; FilmWeek Reviews
Lead Found in some LAUSD Drinking Fountains
Last night Joel Grover, reporter for KNBC, Channel 4 in Los Angeles, aired an investigative report into kids' lead exposure in LAUSD school fountains and the pipes connected to them. He found that schools aren't flushing the taps on the fountains as they're supposed to do under an 18 year old directive - and some plant managers at the schools are faking logs that the district started to require last fall. Grover's team tested 30 schools and found lead in 9 of them. All schools where they didn't flush the pipes had lead in the water. The district claims that some of the paperwork regarding these logs is missing and it can't find test results it did at its then accredited in-house lab that showed that hundreds of fountains were tainted. Larry talks with Joel Grover and David Holmquist, Chief Operating Officer for the LAUSD about this investigation.
Dodger Stadium Revamp
Larry talks with Dodgers owner, Frank McCourt, and LA Times Architecture Critic, Christopher Hawthorne, about the $500-million redesign of the 46-year-old Dodgers Stadium. The stadium is the fourth oldest in the major leagues. The renovations plan to honor the landmark's history while adding attractions, landscape elements and parking structures.
Analysis of Last Night's Mark Ridley Thomas-Bernard Parks Debate
Larry Mantle talks with KPCC reporter Frank Stoltze about last night's debate between Mark Ridley Thomas and Bernard Parks. The two are running for the Supervisor's seat being vacated by Yvonne Burke.
Body Of War
This new documentary chronicles the story of Tomas Young, a 26-year-old soldier who was shot and paralyzed from the chest down after serving in Iraq for less than a week. The film was produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro. It follows Young as he deals with his disability and ultimately becomes an anti-war protestor and what he describes as a "political irritant." Larry talks with Donahue and Spiro about the film.
FilmWeek Reviews
Larry and critics Wade Major, of boxoffice.com and CityBeat, and Jean Oppenheimer, of Village Voice Media, review some of the week's new feature films including Then She Found Me, Baby Mama, Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Four Minutes, Jellyfish, as well as the documentaries Constantine's Sword and Body of War. Animation critic and historian, Charles Solomon, also joins Larry to talk about the Best of the Ottawa International Animation Festival at REDCAT.