German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Washington today to speak with President Obama about the crisis, and world leaders have increased their attention on the issue in hopes of a diplomatic solution. Also, callers weigh in on Harvard's ban on sexual relationships between professors and students. Then, L.A. lost out to Boston as the U.S. candidate to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. But maybe that’s a good thing.
Reporter, Russia expert analyze Obama’s call for diplomatic solution to Ukraine conflict
As fighting continues in Ukraine, peace talks are expected to restart among the major players.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Washington today to speak with President Obama about the crisis, and world leaders have increased their attention on the issue in hopes of a diplomatic solution.
Russia is currently under sanctions from the US and the EU, yet sanctions have not stopped Russian support of opposition fighters in the separatist-held area of Donetsk. EU leaders are considering ramping up sanctions, but they have decided to preliminarily wait in order to give diplomacy a chance. On the domestic front, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) supports arming Ukraine, and President Obama has made it clear that supplying weapons has not been taken off the table.
It is at present unclear if President Obama and EU leaders will succeed in their diplomatic efforts or how they will address the crisis if diplomacy fails. Some have suggested creating a demilitarized zone between the separatist region and Ukraine. Others have proposed a ramping up of sanctions. But the West is encountering the two-fold problem of stemming a crisis that has left thousands dead in Europe and tackling an emboldened Russia that is continuing to expand its presence after its annexation of Crimea.
Can diplomacy solve the crisis in Ukraine? What should the West do if diplomacy breaks down?
Guest:
Angela Greiling-Keane, White House correspondent for Bloomberg News. She was at the Obama-Merkel press conference this morning.
Robert English, Director of the USC School of International Relations; he’s an expert on Ukraine and the politics of Russia and former Soviet states.
LA & California lawmakers struggle to address hit-and-run 'epidemic'
Tomorrow, L.A. City Councillors will vote on expanding alerts for severe hit-and-run car collisions, so that social media, law enforcement, even UBER, taxi and Metro workers would be notified about suspects.
The motion does not go as far as a California bill being considered in Sacramento. Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D - 43) reintroduced AB 8 in December which would spur "Yellow Alerts" on LA freeway billboards with details of hit-and-run suspects, similar to AMBER alerts for child kidnappings. The effectiveness of such alerts is an open question. Criminology professor Tim Griffin of the University of Nevada says AMBER alerts have been effective in familial abduction cases, but not stranger abductions.
What are the implications of his research on Yellow Alerts? Last year, Governor Brown vetoed Gatto's last iteration of this bill due to cost concerns. Has Gatto addressed that issue?
Guest:
Mike Gatto, California Democratic Assemblymember for District 43, including, Burbank, Glendale, and parts of Los Angeles including East Hollywood and Silver Lake; Author of AB 9 - yellow alerts for hit-and-run incidents.
Tim "Skip" Griffin, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at University of Nevada; studied AMBER Alerts
Therapists argue California child-porn reporting law causes more harm than good
A group of California psychotherapists is suing the California Attorney General over a law (AB 1775-Melendez) passed last year that requires all therapists to report to law enforcement any patient who has ever seen child pornography online.
Bill Owens, who is also suing LA County over the law, says the bill was well-intended but it means law enforcement resources are being misdirected to innocuous incidents and therefore fewer real cases of child sexual abuse are being investigated. The office of Assemblymember Melissa Melendez says mandatory reporters always have been required to report such incidents, but her bill updated the language to include Internet porn.
In your opinion, should all “mandatory reporters,” such as psychologists, doctors, and teachers, be required to report any and all access to porn with minors? Would it violate therapist-patient privilege? Or is the benefit of targeting child porn worth the cost of patient privacy?
Guest:
Mark Hardiman, Attorney and Partner, Nelson Hardiman; suing the state and LA County over AB 1775
Tim Shannon, Lobbyist of Shannon Government Relations, advocated for AB 1775 on behalf of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
AirTalk listeners weigh in on Harvard’s ban on professor-undergraduate romance
Harvard University announced last week that it is banning professors from having any “sexual or romantic relationships” with undergraduate students.
The new policy replaces an old one, which looked down on undergrad-professor relationships but didn’t outright ban them. There number of U.S. universities that ban these kind of relationships is unclear, but according to the L.A. Times, USC “strongly discourages” physical relations between professors and students in its 2014 student handbook, and Stanford outright prohibits them.
So what do you think? Is this necessary? Is it a problem for professors to have relationships with undergrads who aren't, and won't be, their students? Should other universities enact such a ban?
We’re opening our phone lines to take your calls!
Theater community debates whether stage actors should be paid minimum wage
Los Angeles has a rich theater scene, beyond the major productions at the Ahmanson, Taper, Geffen, and Pasadena Playhouse. For years, 99-seat and smaller theaters have given actors and playwrights a chance to work and to receive valuable audience feedback.
These small theaters have been able to cast union members of Actors Equity and avoid paying them the scale rate that larger theaters have to pay. Equity actors often receive just $7 a performance at these little houses. However, some Equity members are unhappy with that. They want actors and other theater personnel to be paid at least minimum wage for the hours they perform and rehearse. What impact would that have on LA theater?
Guest:
Doug Clayton, actor, director, writer, producer and long-term member of the Los Angeles theater community
Bill Brochtrup, actor and artistic director of Antaeus, an actors collective in North Hollywood
Why it’s a good thing that LA won’t be hosting the 2024 Olympics
L.A. lost out to Boston as the U.S. candidate to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. But maybe that’s a good thing.
Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist lays out all of the reasons in his new book “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup.” According to Zimbalist, even though national pride is at stake, hosting bids are driven by private economic interests. In order to accommodate these games, billions of dollars will be borrowed to build out infrastructure. Often times, the wealthy are the only ones to reap the benefits of these investments.
That isn’t to say there haven’t been winners in the past. We’ll take a microscopic look at what the circumstances and policies need to be in place for a successful event.
Guest:
Andrew Zimbalist, Professor of Economics at Smith College and author of the new book, “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup” (Brookings Institution Press, 2015)