The University of Texas defends their admission process, a councilmember wants to help alleviate those hefty parking tickets and we talk about how millennials often seek recognition for fulfilling ordinary responsibilities.
Supreme Court revisits Texas affirmative action case
Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on a challenge to admissions programs at the University of Texas originally created to promote racial diversity on college campuses.
The case Fisher v. University of Texas is based on two plaintiffs Abigail Noel Fisher and Rachel Multer Michalewicz who applied to the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 and were denied admission.
The two women, both white, filed suit, alleging that the University had discriminated against them based on their race, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The case looks at whether the Fifth Circuit’s re-endorsement of the University of Texas at Austin’s use of racial preferences in undergraduate admissions can be sustained under the Court’s Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The case was first reviewed by the Supreme Court in 2013 but later sent back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. What do you think should race play a role in college admissions?
Guests:
Robert Barnes, Supreme Court reporter for the Washington Post, who followed today’s oral arguments
Timothy Johnson, Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of Minnesota, and co-author of “Oral Arguments and Coalition Formation on the U.S. Supreme Court: A Deliberate Dialogue” (University Michigan Press, 2012)
LA City considers cheaper parking fines, meters
City Councilmember Mike Bonin introduced seven recommendations to help solve some of L.A.’s parking problems.
The proposals include updating L.A.’s five year parking plan, creating electronic inventory of all of the city’s parking assets, ensuring fair fines for first time parking offenders, expanding L.A.’s express park, improving commercial delivery systems, funding for parking improvements, as well as using technology to reduce street sweeping tickets.
The recommendations stem from mayor Garcetti’s recently released report on proposals for parking reform in Los Angeles.
The city has been criticized for improperly using parking fines to solve budget problems and generate revenue rather than improve parking. How will the city meet revenue targets if they reduce parking fines? The motions will be heard by the City’s Transportation Committee. What is your parking experience in Los Angeles? What do you think needs to be done to solve L.A.’s parking situation?
Guest:
Mike Bonin, Councilmember for district 11 which encompasses Brentwood, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, West LA, and Westchester
New Poet Laureate announced
California’s newest poet laureate is native Californian Dana Gioia.
Gioia is a professor of poetry and public culture at the University of Southern California and the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Gioia’s list of accomplishments span from winning the 2002 American Book Award for his collection Interrogations at Noon to helping compile the anthology California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present.
During his time with the NEA he created the Poetry Out Loud recitation contest for high school students and launched a writing project with returning veterans to document their wartime experiences. Gioia succeeds Juan Felipe Herrera, who is now the U.S. poet laureate.
Guest:
Dana Gioia, California’s Poet Laureate and Professor of Poetry and Public Culture, USC
Manufacturing consent: polling and the creation of religious unity
The reach of polling goes beyond politics.
Today, pollsters are ever-ready to tell us what Americans think about a variety of things, including our views on religion.
In his new book, “Inventing American Religion” Princeton University sociologist Robert Wuthnow looks at how polls and surveys, despite how they claim to the contrary, ultimately fails to give us a provable understanding of our evolving relationship with faith.
Guest:
Robert Wuthnow, Author of “Inventing American Religion: Polls, Surveys and the Tenuous Quest for a Nation’s Faith” (Oxford University Press, 2015) and a professor of sociology at Princeton University
Food industry, branding experts unroll Chipotle’s recent burrito of trouble
It’s been a rough couple of months for Chipotle.
The popular chain restaurant slinging burritos made with fresh, locally grown ingredients has seen sales slump and stock prices dive in the wake of an E. coli outbreak that has seen caused several stores to temporarily close.
The company, which was trading for $760 a share at its highest in 2015, is down to about $553 a share. So far 52 people in nine states have been sickened because of the outbreak, and Chipotle has yet to put its finger on what caused it.
The issue at hand stems partially from the business model that has won Chipotle the praise of burrito-lovers nationwide. Chipotle sources fresh vegetables and antibiotic-free beef and chicken from local suppliers and cooks those ingredients in a traditional manner instead of using automation like many chain restaurants.
What customers potentially gain in freshness and farm-to-table quality, they could potentially lose in terms of safety, as many of the automated procedures that restaurants who make food en-masse normally use are not only for speeding up productivity, but also for keeping food safe from contamination.
Chipotle has tightened its supplier standards since the E. coli outbreak began, but some experts say the damage has already been done, and what remains to be seen is how well Chipotle does damage control and attempts to restore customers’ trust.
Do you still eat at Chipotle? Has the E. coli outbreak changed your opinion of Chipotle or its business model? In today’s world, can a company can produce food in mass quantities while continuing to source ingredients from local farmers and suppliers?
Guests:
Craig Giammona, restaurant and food reporter at Bloomberg Business
Chris Muller, Professor of the Practice at the Boston University School of Hospitality administration and an expert on restaurant and brand management
What does it mean to be 'adulting'?
In a recent piece for Jezebel, Madeleine Davies lamented the continued use of the word "Adulting" in social media.
For those not in the know, the phrase comes from those in their early to mid 20's who are just getting their first taste of serious personal responsibility. Whenever they file their taxes, pay the bills or go grocery shopping, they usually make a post about how they're "adulting".
Davies says that the phrase is misguided and that those who frequently use it are just asking for recognition for doing what being a grown-up requires.
We want to hear from you: Do you use the word "adulting"? Is hating the word "adulting" just an effort to lash out at unapproved whimsy? Do you think that it's just intended to be a self-aware joke or is it a cry for attention?
Guest:
Kristen Lepore, KPCC’s social media editor
The positive impact of vinyl records and physical books
Remember going to record stores and poring through vinyl albums? Or maybe you’re of an age where a record store is now a rare, independently-owned grand experiment?
Whatever the case, you could physically pick up the album, look at its art and maybe read some liner notes. You might give a sideways glance to the browser next to you, seeing if what they were looking at was cool.
Then there are physical books. Volumes that take up space on a bookshelf showing their value just by the mere fact you wish to display them or have them within easy reach to read them again -- like visiting with an old friend.
For all kids, physical books in the home provide significant academic advantages. But, for disadvantaged kids, research shows that when there are few books in the home, more books make a big difference. Comparatively, when a home is filled with books, a few more don’t have as much impact.
Were you raised in a home surrounded by books and vinyl? If so, what kind of impression have they had on you? As an adult, do you still buy physical books and LPs? If you were raised in a home with few books, what kind of influence have books had on you?
Guests:
Teddy Wayne, author of the recent New York Times article, “Our (Bare) Shelves, Our Selves”
Mariah Evans, professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada and lead author of the study, "Scholarly Culture and Academic Performance in 42 Nations"