The discussion over whether to ban raves on Los Angeles County property has reignited after two women died this past weekend at the Hard Summer music festival. Also, Rite Aid and Delhaize America said they will start putting issues of Cosmopolitan magazine behind plastic “blinders” in their stores. Then, ever had an energy bar? Or a cup of instant coffee? How about a hot dog? If you answer in the affirmative, you have the U.S. military to thank.
Dance, but make sure someone’s watching: Weekend deaths prompt Board of Supervisors to consider EDM party ban
The discussion over whether to ban raves on Los Angeles County property has reignited after two women died this past weekend at the Hard Summer music festival at the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona.
County Supervisor Hilda Solis called for the temporary ban on Monday and the Board of Supervisors will consider moving to ban raves during their meeting today. She wants to prohibit the events until a full investigation into the raves can be done to see if enough is being done to make sure patrons are safe. The two women, 18 and 19 years old, were found unresponsive on Saturday at the Fairplex. Toxicology reports have yet to come back, but the suspected cause of death is drug overdose.
Drugs like MDMA, known as ecstasy or molly, are prevalent at EDM parties and raves, and the environment of big dance parties with pounding beats and pulsating lights enhance the feelings of affection and euphoria. MDMA also raises the body temperature, and users who don’t monitor themselves can dehydrate, which can lead to soaring body temperatures and organ failure.
Opponents of the ban say the solution isn’t prohibition, but education. There are safety and advocacy groups that send members to dance parties and raves to provide support, distribute pill tests, and water, and provide calm, open spaces for patrons to come back to reality.
Should raves be banned on county property? What do you think is the solution to preventing deaths at dance parties and raves? Should party and festival organizers be taking more safety precautions or is it the responsibility of party-goers to police themselves?
Guest:
Dr. Brian Johnston, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at White Memorial Medical Center in East L.A.
Amy Morrill a.k.a. Amy Raves, Los Angeles-based rave advocate and president of Safer Raving by Amy Raves, and advocacy group that aims to spread awareness and educate about safe raving
How the drought is changing not only what we see, but what we hear
Rising temperatures and the fourth year of the worst drought in recorded history have meant that spring and summer have been coming earlier than usual to California.
The result of that, according to bird enthusiast Bernie Krause, sounds more like a winter day than one in spring in his neighborhood of Glen Ellen in Northern California. Krause has been recording songbirds throughout California for the past 20 years and in doing so has captured the dramatic effects of environmental degradation over that time. "This year—because of the drought—we experienced what was virtually a silent spring with no birdsong for the first time in living memory—even at what would have normally been the height of the season in mid-April," he told Fast Company's Co.Exist. A few monsoonal rains in Southern California have temporarily boosted the population of songbirds, but that's an outlier for the state.
Ecologists aren’t sure why the birds are leaving. Theories suggest West Nile virus may be a culprit, boosted by a consolidation of mosquitoes as water sources become more scarce. It’s also possible that migratory patterns are changing with the altered seasons.
We check in with the Audubon society of California about the the drought’s impact on California’s soundscape ecology.
Guest:
Andrea Jones, Director of bird conservation for the California Audubon Society
Sex positive or porn? Walmart joins 2 retailers to shield 'Cosmopolitan' magazine from kids
Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, will put copies of Cosmopolitan magazine behind "blinders," following in the footsteps of two other retailers.
The news was announced by Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, during an interview with Larry Mantle on AirTalk. The organization is behind the campaign to shield minors from seeing the magazine in retail stores.
Walmart's participation comes days after Rite Aid and Delhaize America – which owns Hannaford stores and Food Lion – announced a similar move. About 4,600 Rite Aid stores and more than 1,000 Food Lion and Hannaford outlets would participate, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Asked by the magazine why the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has singled out Cosmo as a target, the organization’s president said, “Many people think that it is just another magazine with beauty, fashion and health tips, but Cosmo is actually just another porn magazine glamorizing and legitimizing a dangerous lifestyle — pushing readers to try violent, group or anal sex.”
The news came amidst a period of soul searching for the popular women’s magazine. Veteran journalist Joanna Coles was named Cosmo’s new editor-in-chief in 2012, and she’s vowed to change the editorial direction of the rag to include more hard-hitting, investigative pieces.
Is Cosmopolitan too racy to be displayed at retail stores?
Guests:
Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director, National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a national organization based in D.C. that opposes pornography. The organization is behind the campaign to obscure issues of Cosmo in retail stores
Shira Tarrant, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cal STate Long Beach. She is the author of numerous books, including “New Views on Pornography: Sexuality, Politics, and the Law ” (Praeger, 2015), and “The Pornography Industry: What Everyone Needs to Know,” forthcoming from Oxford University Press
Calif. Fish & Game commission considers bans on bobcat trapping
A 2014 ban on trapping bobcats around Joshua Tree National Park might be expanded to all parklands in California and might go even further to a complete ban across the state.
Tomorrow in Fortuna, the Fish and Game Commission will hear from the California Trappers Association as well as the Center for Biological Diversity who are at odds on the issue. The trappers say a population survey is necessary before adopting further bans, but Brendan Cummings, counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity said that's akin to consistently withdrawing money from a bank account without knowing your bank balance.
In California, bobcats are trapped using cages, not steel-jawed leghold traps. (In 1998, a ballot initiative, Proposition 4, banned the use of body-gripping traps to kill fur-bearing animals.)
Guest:
Mercer Lawing, Director of the California Trappers Association
Brendan Cummings, Senior Counsel & Strategic Litigation Group Director based in Joshua Tree for the Center for Biological Diversity
Chow time: The link between your food and the military industrial complex
Ever had an energy bar? Or a cup of instant coffee? How about a hot dog? If you answer in the affirmative, like most modern-day Americans would, you have the U.S. military to thank.
In the book, “Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat,” food writer Anastacia Marx de Salcedo traces the invention of the abovementioned food items and other processed foods to the U.S. military. She writes that almost all of the mass-produced food items we consume today, or the technologies behind their productions, are trickled down from the innovations the U.S. has come up with in order to feed our soldiers.
Guest:
Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, author of the book, “Combat-Ready Kitchen: How the U.S. Military Shapes the Way You Eat (Portfolio, 2015) and a food writer whose writing has appeared in Salon, Boston Globe and other publications