Governor Settles Education Lawsuit; Budget Cuts for County Department of Mental Health; U.S. Going After Cleric Muqtada Sadr and His Al Mahdi Militia in Najaf; 20 Years Running The National Enquirer
Governor Settles Education Lawsuit
In a tentative lawsuit settlement agreed upon by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office and the American Civil Liberties Union, the state would have to spend $1 billion dollars over several years for school repair, $50 million to assess such needs, and $139 million for textbooks this year. Larry Mantle talks about the impact of the settlement on underserved schools with Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU Southern California Legal Director, Rick Miller, spokesman for the California Department of Education and Jose Huizar, LAUSD School Board President.
Budget Cuts for County Department of Mental Health
The County Board of Supervisors cut the Department of Mental Health’s budget by $28.6 million in June, 3% of the department’s overall budget. The cuts are on both ends of the spectrum of care--in restrictive mental health facilities, as well as in outpatient clinics that cater to many uninsured patients seeking mental health services. Critics worry that uninsured patients will fall through the cracks, and that those who need to be in state mental hospitals will be placed in short-term community homes. On the positive side, some advocates hope this shift of patients away from state mental hospitals may lead to better community-based services for the mentally ill. Joining Host Larry Mantle to discuss the issue is Richard Van Horn, President of the National Mental Health Rehabilitation Center of greater Los Angeles, Ken Foxman, PhD, Clinical director of La Casa Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Long Beach and Dr. Marvin Southard, Director of the L.A. County Department of Mental Health.
U.S. Going After Cleric Muqtada Sadr and His Al Mahdi Militia in Najaf
US forces say that they will no longer attempt to negotiate with radical cleric Muqtada Sadr. US commanders say that they aim to “defeat and destroy” his Al Mahdi militia in Najaf. The cleric’s forces surround the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, one of the holiest Shi’ite shrines in Iraq. Hal Kempfer, a military analyst for ABC 7 News and a Lt. Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves, and Tom Keany, Executive Director of the Foreign Policy Institute at the School of Advance International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, join Larry Mantle to discuss the military and political implications of this move.
20 Years Running The National Enquirer
Over the course of a career that spanned several decades, former National Enquirer editor-in-chief, Iain Calder brought the lurid newspaper to new heights, dramatically raising circulation by combining his street wise journalist background with the genius of the Enquirer publisher Generoso Pope, Jr. Calder has written a no-holds-barred account of his 20 years running America’s most infamous tabloid. He joins Larry Mantle to talk about his life feeding the public’s insatiable appetite for celebrity and gossip. Calder's new book is called The Untold Story: My 20 Years Running The National Enquirer (Miramax Books).