Legality of LAPD’s car impound policy under review. Oscar contender “Undefeated." You can’t say that in the classroom. Adventures with Bitcoin, the crypto-currency. Howard Shore scores another hit.
Legality of LAPD’s car impound policy under review
Lawmakers are questioning the legality of a proposal to change impound rules on unlicensed drivers in Los Angeles.
Police Chief Charlie Beck had been seeking a more relaxed approach for unlicensed drivers. For them, Beck wants to allow the vehicle’s owner to retrieve it as soon as the next day, instead of waiting for the mandated 30-day hold, which can lead to fees of over $1,000. Beck says reducing impound numbers would improve public safety and provide incentives for offenders to obtain vehicle insurance. He specified that this policy would only apply to people who have never had a California license, excluding those who have had their licenses suspended or revoked.
Beck’s hopes that the law would take effect soon, however, have been held back by a nonpartisan state agency that issued a report examining the proposal's legitimacy. The report concluded that an officer is required by law to invoke a 30-day hold on an impounded vehicle whose driver has never been licensed.
According Ira Melman, media director of the Federation of American Immigration Reform, the impound law should remain as is. To Melman, easing the harshness of car impounding policies will cause issues of road safety.
“You catch people driving without a license, there has to be meaningful consequences. That's the way we enforce most laws, that's why most people, we see the highway patrol, we take our foot off the gas, because we know there are going to be meaningful consequences when they're caught,” he said.
Some immigration activists and the ACLU are angered by the hold on impound reform; they say it’s unfair to undocumented immigrants who cannot receive licenses in California. Los Angeles Civil Rights and Criminal Defense Attorney Cynthia Anderson-Barker said that the fines accrued from citations are too much of an economic toll on undocumented drivers.
“When your car is impounded for 30 days and you go back to pick it up with a licensed driver, you're paying about $1,500. Then you've been cited into traffic court for a moving violation or the reason you were stopped, and also driving without a license,” she said. “You're paying off a ticket over $500, a huge problem economically for folks. I don't believe the person is going to go back and drive.”
Barker added that allowing everyone to get a license would solve public safety issues. “Prior to 1994, anyone, regardless of legal status, could get a driver’s license and that's great. That was good for public safety. People had to pass a road test and a written test,” she said.
But Melman said that impounding reform would weaken immigration laws, and state and local governments should not be involved in federal issues.
“The irony here is that [undocumented drivers] lose the ability to get to jobs that it's illegal for them to have in the first place. Under federal law, they are barred from workng here in the United States. And so what Los Angeles is saying is, ‘We are going to try and make it more convenient for you to go on violating federal immigration law.’”
To Melman, the driver’s license symbolizes more than someone’s ability to navigate the road. “What document do you use when you get on an airplane? What document do you use when you go into a federal building?” he said. “People have to be able to demonstrate that they are legal residents of the United States. Otherwise, all we're doing is validating perhaps the false identifications that people come into the DMV with.”
WEIGH IN:
What are the conclusions of the report? Why the delay? Is Beck’s proposal possibly illegal? How does Los Angeles compare to other cities with reformed impound rules?
Guests:
Ira Melman, media director of FAIR, the Federation of American Immigration Reform
Cynthia Anderson-Barker, Civil Rights and Criminal Defense Attorney in Los Angeles and Member of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
Oscar contender “Undefeated”
Each of the Oscar-nominated documentaries has spirit, passion and heart. In the film “Undefeated” the emotion plays out on the field of an underdog high school football team.
The Tigers, from an underdog town in Tennessee, were founded in 1899 at Manassas High, but never turned that longevity into success ... never ever won a play-off game. It got so bad, spirit-wise and money-wise, the team started selling game appearances to teams across the state who wanted to score an easy win.
Enter Coach Bill Courtnay, the man with the patience and fortitude to take individual players and turn them into a team. If you liked the popular television series "Friday Night Lights," you have to see “Undefeated.”
WEIGH IN:
What motivates a volunteer coach to dedicate himself to a seemingly hopeless football program? How do the realities of North Memphis affect the Tigers? What makes “Undefeated” a top doc this year?
Guests:
T.J. Martin, Director/Editor/Director of Photography
Dan Lindsay, Director/Editor/Director of Photography
You can’t say that in the classroom
In Arizona, a number of Republican state senators are championing legislation which would severely crack down on cursing in the classroom. However, this bill is not targeting students, it’s directed toward teachers.
The guidelines for what words are and aren’t allowed in front of the blackboard would be modeled after what is allowed during prime-time television. The “f-word” would be completely off-limits for any public school instructor, and that includes those at the college level. Lesser curses, such as “hell,” would be permitted.
A three-strike policy would be put in place, with the first offense resulting in a week suspension, the second offense a two-week suspension, and the third offense would lead to termination. The law doesn’t just affect what teachers actually say, but also any materials shown to students, or anything tangentially related to the teacher. This ranges from a movie played in class to a quote from a TV show posted on a teacher’s personal Facebook.
Analysts have raised several different issues with the bill. While no one seems to see this as restricting First Amendment rights, it does represent a noticeably shift of power from local schools to the state government level. Furthermore, many feel this law, if implemented, would become effectively obsolete. For instance, the Supreme Court is currently determining whether or not the FCC guidelines for obscenity are themselves unconstitutional. Finally, public universities and colleges in Arizona take issue with the fact that certain courses, particular film and literature studies, cover content that would be considered profane.
WEIGH IN:
What is the overall point of this legislation? Is cursing a rampant problem in Arizona schools? Whose place is it to police teacher language and behavior? Should it rest with the local school administration, or by legislators at the state level? If you are a educator, how would this affect or limit your curriculum and teaching style?
Adventures in Bitcoin, the crypto-currency
If you haven’t heard of Bitcoin, don’t worry. You’re not alone. While it’s not likely to replace the cash at your local bank anytime soon, Bitcoin was developed as a potential alternative to traditional currencies like the dollar or euro. Instead of being tied to a fixed level, say by a central bank, Bitcoins (BTC) are assigned value by the free market. This is made possible because, unlike money, which is traditionally printed when it’s needed, the BTC is released in specific amounts on a certain schedule.
Then, in the same way that gold has to be mined to be used, a cryptographic puzzle has to be solved by a user, or actually a user’s computer, to “activate” the BTC. Only then can it actually be used and is its value assigned. The “mining” of BTC is reportedly getting more sophisticated. Nerds with money — and people with money who can buy the nerds — are buying up the processing power they need to obtain more BTC.
The financial benefits for Bitcoins are real. Bitcoins were originally worth only pennies in April of 2010, but by 2011 the exchange rate reached $29.57 for one Bitcoin. Some who invested in Bitcoins from the start become millionaires within a year. Plus, it’s completely transparent, yet completely secure — in theory anyway (there have been some hacks at the margins). It eliminates the need for banks and state backing, and the costs associated with them. Even its biggest problem, potential deflation, is a plus if never ending inflation freaks you out.
WEIGH IN:
So, should we embrace or fear Bitcoins? What are the pros and cons of a “free market” currency? Can non-techies get in the Bitcoin game? Are you raking in the Bitcoins?
Guest:
Matt DeBord, KPCC business reporter; writes the DeBord Report
Howard Shore scores another hit
Howard Shore is without a doubt one of the most accomplished and respected composers and conductors working in Hollywood today. His career actually started in television, as he was one of the creators of “Saturday Night Live,” serving as music director for the first five years of its existence. In this period of time, he also started working with David Cronenberg, scoring a total of 13 of the director’s films.
Shore’s best known work may be the music he provided for Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. He earned an Academy Award for each score, and also garnered Grammys and Golden Globes as well. Shore was even invited to conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for the world premiere of “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” in Wellington.
In 2008, Shore completed an opera, “The Fly,” and in 2010 he finished a piano concerto which was premiered by Lang Lang in Beijing. Most recently, he collaborated with Martin Scorsese on “Hugo,” the fantastical story of a young boy’s adventure in a French train station.
WEIGH IN:
What are some of Shore’s fondest memories working with Scorsese on “Hugo”? What about throughout the rest of his career? How does he go about composing an entire score to a movie? What input does the director have? What do you love about Howard Shore’s work?
Guest:
Howard Shore, Oscar nominated composer for the original score of “Hugo”