We'll speak to reporters and political commentators for analysis of Gov. Newsom’s State of the State address today. We also discuss a plan to phase out three LA natural gas power plants; examine a tentative agreement to fund the federal government through the fiscal year; and more.
Mental health jail or mental health hospital? LA County Board of Supervisors to vote on county jail replacement
There's general agreement that the aging Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A. needs to be torn down.
The plumbing often doesn't work, vermin infestations are not uncommon and the design with long rows of cells leaves deputies vulnerable to attack. The question is: what should replace the 1963 concrete fortress?
On Tuesday, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is set to provide an answer. It's considering a few options:
Replace the jail with a lockup tailored to provide better care to mentally ill inmates
Build a mental health treatment center instead of a jail
Put the whole thing off and study how to divert more people with mental health problems out of the criminal justice system
Until recently, many believed the project to build a new jail was a done deal. It was pitched to be a 3,885-bed facility "primarily designed for the treatment of different acuities of medical and/or mental illness or substance abuse disorders," according to a county website that explains the project.
Now, there's fierce debate over whether it's the right way to go, given that the county is in the middle of attempting to transform how it deals with mentally ill people who commit crimes - many of whom are homeless. About one-third of all jail inmates have some sort of mental illness and one-quarter need special housing - an estimated 5,100 in all.
To read more, click here.
We reached out to Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas and Supervisor Janice Hahn. We also reached out to the LA Sheriff’s Department. The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs was not able to join because of timing.
Guests:
Frank Stoltze, KPCC’s criminal justice and public safety correspondent
Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles County Supervisor representing District 3, which stretches from the ocean to Los Feliz, and from Venice up to San Fernando
Peter Eliasberg, chief counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California
Brian Moriguchi, president of the L.A. County Professional Peace Officers Association, which represents about 9,000 county law enforcement professionals, including those who work in the Men's Central Jail
Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles County Supervisor representing District 2, which encompasses parts of the Westside, including Culver City, and the Eastside, including Carson and Compton
How viable is a plan to phase out three LA natural gas power plants?
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that the city will no longer pursue plans to fund the rebuilding of three natural gas power plants along the state’s coast.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Garcetti’s decision is an attempt to inch the city towards its 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2045. Environmental groups have argued that rebuilding the plants would conflict with that goal. The facilities in question are the Scattergood, Harbor and Haynes plants. Scattergood and Harbor are located in areas where pollution is among the worst rated in the state.
But not rebuilding the plants is a sharp turn for the Department of Water and Power, which has argued that they are essential to powering L.A. Critics of phasing out the facilities have said that other sources of renewable energy will not be sufficient to keep up with the on-demand power of natural gas. There’s also a question of cost when considering alternative sources of energy and the question still remains of whether the public will be asked to pay more for cleaner power alternatives.
Larry speaks to both sides of this environmental debate today, for a look at what alternatives could be brought to the table in lieu of natural gas at these plants.
We invited the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to participate in our conversation but they were not able to make anyone available for us at the time we requested.
Guests:
Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley; he also leads the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative on behalf of UC Berkeley and UCLA
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association
There’s bipartisan budget proposal that would keep the government open until September, but would President Trump sign it?
A tentative agreement to fund the federal government through the fiscal year averts a shutdown but gives President Donald Trump far less money than he sought for building a border wall with Mexico.
The deal hammered out Monday night provides nearly $1.4 billion, not the $5.7 billion the president had demanded and was at the center of the dispute that sparked last month's record shutdown. The agreement calls for 55 miles of metal slats or other types of new fencing, not a concrete wall. The fencing would be built in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
The pact includes money for other border security measures, including advanced screening at border entry points and customs officers. The White House says it needs more time to assess a bipartisan border security deal.
Spokesman Hogan Gidley says it's difficult to say what will and won't be acceptable before officials have a chance to review details of the proposal House and Senate lawmakers agreed to Monday night.
President Donald Trump has demanded $5.7 billion to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall but Congress has refused to provide the money. Negotiators instead have tentatively agreed to $1.4 billion for border barriers - well below the amount Trump has sought.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Anna Edgerton, Congressional reporter for Bloomberg News
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, drug lord and former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, convicted
One of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial.
Guzman faced a laundry list of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year former drug lord behind bars for decades in a maximum-security U.S. prison. New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating six days in the expansive case, sorting through what authorities called an “avalanche” of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling various illegal drugs into the U.S.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Sam Quinones, author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic” (Bloomsbury Press, 2015); reporter for the Los Angeles Times from 2004 to 2014; he tweets
Key takeaways from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first State of the State
California’s newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom will give his first State of the State address today.
Gov. Newsom gave some heavy promises during his campaign regarding more access to health care, an expansion to the state’s paid parental leave program, and of course, much opposition to President Donald Trump. Most recently, Newsom announced he would sign an executive order ending the deployment of California National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But there is more to talk about in terms of the disastrous year our state has had. Wildfires and mudslides were a big part of our ‘new normal’ here in California. Newsom has a lot to talk about, so what will stand out most in his speech? Larry speaks to a reporter and two state political commentators today for analysis of Gov. Newsom’s State of the State address.
Guests:
John Myers, Sacramento bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times; he’s been following the story; he tweets
Mike Madrid, Republican political strategist for the Sacramento-based public affairs firm GrassrootsLab; he tweets
Amanda Renteria, chair of Emerge America, a national organization that works to identify and train Democratic women who want to run for political office; she is the former national political director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and was a staffer for Senators Dianne Feinstein and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); she tweets
Asm. Jay Obernolte (R-Big Bear), California State Assembly member representing the 33rd State Assembly District, which covers a wide swath of the High Desert and San Bernardino County including Hesperia, Victorville, Barstow and the Mojave Desert, and chair of the California State Assembly Republican Caucus; he tweets
Dan Walters, political columnist and longtime California politics observer with CALmatters, a nonprofit public interest publication; he tweets