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AirTalk

AirTalk for December 17, 2014

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 17:  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the nation about normalizing diplomatic relations the Cuba in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 17, 2014 in Washington, DC. Obama announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, over 50 years after they were severed in January 1961. In a prisoner exchange, U.S. contractor Alan Gross was freed after being held in Cuba since 2009 and sent to Cuba three Cuban spies who had imprisoned in the U.S. since 2001.  (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the nation about normalizing diplomatic relations the Cuba in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 17, 2014 in Washington, DC. Obama announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, over 50 years after they were severed in January 1961.
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Pool/Getty Images
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Listen 1:33:42
The US is set to open talks to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after a 50-year stalemate. Also, in a highly anticipated move, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced yesterday that the city will buy 7,000 body-worn cameras for LAPD officers. Then, Millenials have been flocking back to their parents’ homes in increasing numbers, with some never leaving at all.
The US is set to open talks to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after a 50-year stalemate. Also, in a highly anticipated move, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced yesterday that the city will buy 7,000 body-worn cameras for LAPD officers. Then, Millenials have been flocking back to their parents’ homes in increasing numbers, with some never leaving at all.

The US is set to open talks to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after a 50-year stalemate. Also, in a highly anticipated move, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced yesterday that the city will buy 7,000 body-worn cameras for LAPD officers. Then, Millenials have been flocking back to their parents’ homes in increasing numbers, with some never leaving at all. 

What normalizing relations with Cuba means for the economy, history and 2016 elections

Listen 24:03
What normalizing relations with Cuba means for the economy, history and 2016 elections

The US is set to open talks to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after a 50-year stalemate, President Obama said on Wednesday. The announcement came shortly after the release of American aid worker Alan Gross, who was imprisoned in Cuba for more than five years.

The major policy shift is the endpoint of more than a year and a half of secret negotiations between the US and the Cuban government. Under the proposal, the US plans to re-open its embassy in Havana and relax restrictions on travel and commerce.

"We will end an outdated approach that has failed to advance our interests," Obama said. "Neither the American nor the Cuban people are well-served by a rigid policy that is rooted in events that took place before most of us were born."

How is the move being received politically? What is the impact on Cuba and the US?

Guests: 

Jonathan Allen, White House reporter and DC Bureau Chief for Bloomberg News who's been following the story. He tweets at

Andy Gomez, senior policy advisor for the law and public policy firm, Poblete Tamargo in Miami. He is also a senior fellow and special assistant to the President for International Affairs at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami

Michael Voss, Cuba Correspondent for CCTV News. He's based in Havana

LAPD Chief Beck takes your questions on body-worn cameras, violent crime stats and more

Listen 22:37
LAPD Chief Beck takes your questions on body-worn cameras, violent crime stats and more

In a highly anticipated move, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced yesterday [TUES] that the city will buy 7,000 body-worn cameras for LAPD officers. The goal is increased transparency and a check on bad behavior during police-citizen interactions.

What were the findings of LAPD’s pilot study on BWCs? How soon will the roll-out begin? Another significant development yesterday [TUES] happened at the Police Commission where LAPD officials announced reforms to crime statistics gathering and reporting. The changes were spurred by errors in violent crime stats which in recent months had underreported the number of serious assaults in the city. We’ll also ask for updates on: LAPD’s internal discipline processes; the offices involved in the death of unarmed Brian New Beaird; the impending autopsy report of Ezell Ford and more.

What are your questions for Chief Beck?

Guest:

Charlie Beck, Chief, Los Angeles Police Department

Theaters and moviegoers react to threats against Sony film 'The Interview'

Listen 23:25
Theaters and moviegoers react to threats against Sony film 'The Interview'

AMC Theaters, the country's second largest cinema chain, will not show the film "The Interview" in the wake of violent threats, according to multiple reports. The computer hacking of Sony Pictures catapulted from a business crisis to a security threat yesterday when supposed hackers targeting "The Interview" film threatened to attack cinemas showing the satire depicting the assassination of North Korea's leader. Citing the attacks of September 11, 2001, the alleged hackers wrote, "We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to." 

The Department of Homeland Security said there was "no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters," but noted it was still analyzing messages from the group, dubbed Guardians of Peace (GOP). In response Sony gave theater owners the okay to pull the film. Some cinema owners have announced they will not air the movie. And the GOP warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security. Should Sony pull the film from theaters entirely? Would you go see the movie Christmas Day? What about other big movies airing on neighboring screens? How seriously should the threat be taken?

With files from the Associated Press.

Guest: 

John Horn, host of KPCC's "The Frame" which covers arts & entertainment weekdays at 3:30 p.m.

More millennials are living at home and not hating it

Listen 23:36
More millennials are living at home and not hating it

Millenials have been flocking back to their parents’ homes in increasing numbers, with some never leaving at all. In LA County, the number of adults aged 18 to 34 living with a parent from 2009 to 2013 surpassed the national average by almost 10 percent. That’s according to a U.S. Census report published earlier this month.

They’ve been called lazy and entitled, but rising education costs, shrinking incomes and strict lending standards for home ownership are a few of the factors contributing to young adults calling mom and dad roommates. As NPR reports, there is a bright side that millennials can look to: They’re more educated than any other generation. They’re also the most racially diverse in U.S. history, with 43 percent identifying as “nonwhite.”

The stigma of living at home with your parents also appears to be fading. Demographers note that the influx of Asian and Hispanic immigrants into the U.S. over the last 50 years has contributed to millennials’ current ethnic diversity. For both cultures, multigenerational families in a household are commonplace.  Could it be that because millennials are such a diverse population, it’s more common within their cultures to live with parents longer?

And how are these multigenerational households making it work? For the most part, parents don’t mind having their kids back at home, according to a poll based on Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett’s research. Some millennials love it. As parenting styles evolve to become less authoritative, sociologists have documented a shift to a closer social and emotional connection between a parent and child.

If you’re a millennial living at home, what are your reasons for doing so? Do you feel like you're a "failure to launch" for still being there or does it feel commonplace? If you’re a parent with a millennial living at home, how are you navigating that? And as the stigma appears to be fading, how is this trend transforming other areas of life? Are millennials contributing to the family income? What does living at home mean for dating?

Guests: 

William A.V. Clark, professor of Geography, affiliate of California Center for Population Research at UCLA

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Ph.D., research professor, Clark University, Executive Director, Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood, Author, When Will My Grown-Up Kid Grow Up? Loving and Understanding Your Emerging Adult (Workman; May 2013)