Budget Agreement; California's Electoral Vote System; Video Surveillance Coming To Your Neighborhood; KCET Special Program: California At War; Google Sky
Budget Agreement
After one of the longest deadlocks in history, California finally has a budget. Lawmakers ended the impasse Tuesday, agreeing to a $145 billion spending plan that eliminates the state's deficit. However, Gov. Schwarzenegger has promised Republicans he will use his line item veto to cut an additional $700 million from the spending plan. Once the Governor signs the budget, billions of dollars in overdue state funding will be released to schools, hospitals, and a variety of social service agencies. Guest host, Ted Chen, talks with Julie Small, KPCC State Capital Reporter, HD Palmer Deputy Director of External Affairs with the California State Department of Finance, Jean Ross, Executive Director of the California Budget Project, and Mike Turner, head of Government Relations with the MTA about how they've fared so far, and what they expect from the Governor's cuts.
California's Electoral Vote System
A Field Poll released Tuesday found that California voters are likely to support a ballot measure that would change California's electoral vote system for presidential elections. The proposed measure would award votes separately to the winner in each of the congressional districts, rather than awarding all of the votes to the candidate who wins the entire state. The measure's proponents are mostly Republican, as the measure will likely favor their party's candidates. Ted Chen talks with Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for Californians for Equal Representation, and Chris Lehane, a strategist for Californians for Fair Elections Reform about the ballot initiative.
Video Surveillance Coming To Your Neighborhood
Since 9/11, more and more California cities are monitoring residents using video surveillance cameras on public streets and plazas. The ACLU has just released the first-ever survey of video surveillance in California, where 37 cities have implemented programs and 10 cities are considering them as crime reducing measures. The survey is critical of these unregulated programs claiming they don't reduce crime, they take funding from community policing, and they raise serious individual privacy concerns. Guest host Ted Chen discusses the proliferation of video surveillance cameras in Southern California cities with Peter Bibring, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, and Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti.
KCET Special Program: California At War
The award winning PBS series California Connected will debut a new special, California at War, exclusively on KCET, this Thursday. The one-hour program, hosted by journalist Judy Muller, focuses on the ways World War II affected California, and the ways California affected World War II. California at War features interviews with prominent historians, journalists, and artists including Mickey Rooney and author Walter Mosley. It will air in conjunction with Ken Burns' upcoming PBS series The War. Ted Chen, Judy Muller, and Bret Marcus, KCET vice president of programming, publicity and promotion discuss the special, which airs on KCET this Thursday, August 23 at 8pm.
Google Sky
Google has released a new version of Google earth which allows users to explore the sky as well as earth. Ted Chen talks with Chi-Kai Ohazama, Google Earth Product Manager about the new software.