New Appointments To The Obama Cabinet; NPR Makes Big Cuts To Staff; Orange County Journalists Roundtable; Mexican Violence And Corruption; How U.S. Interrogators Took Down The Deadliest Man In Iraq
New Appointments To The Obama Cabinet
In a Chicago Press Conference this morning, President-elect Barack Obama officially named former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also announced the formation of a new White House Office of Health Reform; Jeanne Lambrew will serve as deputy director of that office. Reporters also asked Obama about the future of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Larry talks to Tasha Flournoy, reporter for Chicago Public Radio and Gerald F. Kominski of UCLA about healthcare reform and the politics at the press conference.
NPR Makes Big Cuts To Staff
NPR announced yesterday that it will cancel "Day to Day" and "News & Notes." It will eliminate 64 positions nationwide out of a total staff of 889. This is in response to a $22 million deficit. Larry gets the latest from Ellen Weiss, Senior Vice President for News at NPR and asks what it will mean to the future of the network and KPCC's own programming.
Orange County Journalists Roundtable
Larry Mantle talks with Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly staff writer, William Lobdell, Orange County journalist, and Orange County Register senior editorial writer and columnist, Steven Greenhut, about the latest news events and developments in Orange County.
Mexican Violence And Corruption
Drug-related violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives in Mexico in the past two years. The Los Angeles Times is running a series on the problem; almost nobody has covered the subject as long as Sam Quinones. His latest report comes from Monterrey, Mexico, where he covered a bold and violent drug-related robbery of a jewelry store. He comes to KPCC to discuss the violence and attempts to stamp out the corruption that fuels it.
How U.S. Interrogators Took Down The Deadliest Man In Iraq
Larry Mantle talks with an American interrogator whose non-violent interrogation methods led special forces to Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, one of Iraq's deadliest men. In his new book "How to Break A Terrorist," Matthew Alexander (not his real name) gives us the first inside look at the military's more civilized techniques for extracting information from prisoners and how his team's careful deployment of those methods led to Zarqawi's killing. Alexander joins Larry to discuss why he so strongly disagrees with using torture as an interrogation technique.