Today on AirTalk, we update you on the latest COVID-19 news and answer your questions. Also on the show, we talk to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer; KPCC film critics Claudia Puig and Angie Han review this weekend’s new movie releases; and more.
DOC AMA: LA Cancels Thousands Of Vaccinations Due To Shortage, Pfizer Highly Effective After One Dose & More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with UCLA’s Dr. Kim-Farley.
Topics today include:
LA cancels thousands of COVID-19 vaccinations for Friday due to new vaccine shortage
COVID-19 was spreading in China before first confirmed cases, fresh evidence suggests
Pfizer vaccine is highly effective after one dose and can be stored in normal freezers, data shows
A professor of medicine estimates we’ll have herd immunity by April
These doctors want to pick their COVID-19 vaccine, fearing reactions, lower efficacy
Guest:
Robert Kim-Farley, M.D., professor of epidemiology and community health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; he served as the director of the Division of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health from 2004-2018 and is a former senior official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the WHO
OC DA On Mass Incarceration, Racial Disparities And More
Earlier this month, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer issued a statement in which he acknowledged that “we as a society have engaged in systemic mass incarceration” and laid out policy positions that include ending mass incarceration and the establishment of Recidivism Reduction Units.
We sit down with the OC DA to dive into these initiatives and how he plans to achieve them.
Guest:
Todd Spitzer, Orange County District Attorney
LA's Park To Playa Trail: After 20 Years You Can Now Hike From Crenshaw To The Beach
The last section of a 13-mile hiking and biking trail that's been 20 years in the making has finally opened in Los Angeles.
The Park to Playa trail connects a network of parks and trails from the Crenshaw District to the ocean at Playa del Rey. The trail has several sections, each with its own charms and attractions, starting with the urban trail running along the Stocker Corridor, sloping up to the spectacular viewpoints of the Baldwin Hills Overlook, and following the landscaped bike path that runs alongside Ballona Creek to the Pacific. KPCC/LAist visual journalist Chava Sanchez and infrastructure reporter Sharon McNary ran and biked the whole thing, meeting nature-loving Angelenos along the way.
Today on AirTalk, Sharon joins Larry to talk about the decades-long effort to restore and reopen the trail, what it was like to run it and what she heard and saw along the way.
To see, hear, and read about Sharon and Chava’s experience, click here.
Guest:
Sharon McNary, KPCC/LAist infrastructure reporter and author of the LAist piece “LA's Park To Playa Trail: After 20 Years You Can Now Hike From Crenshaw To The Beach”; she tweets
FilmWeek: 'Nomadland,' 'Test Pattern,' 'Twilight's Kiss' & More
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Claudia Puig and Angie Han review this weekend’s new movie releases.
- "Nomadland" showing at the Hollywood Legion Theater (Hollywood) & Mission Tiki Drive-In (Montclair); Hulu
- "Test Pattern" on Laemmle's Virtual Cinema
- "Twilight's Kiss" on Laemmle’s Virtual Cinema & The Frida Cinema; VOD (including Vudu & Google Play)
- "I Care A Lot" on Netflix
- "17 Blocks" on Laemmle's Virtual Cinema
- "Days of the Bagnold Summer" on Laemmle’s Virtual Cinema; VOD (including Vudu, Google Play & FandangoNOW)
- "Pelé" on Netflix Feb. 23
- "Flora & Ulysses" on Disney+
Our FilmWeek critics have been curating personal lists of their favorite TV shows and movies to binge-watch during self-quarantine. You can see recommendations from each of the critics and where you can watch them here.
Guests:
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) and senior programmer for the AFI Film Festival; she tweets
Angie Han, film critic for KPCC and deputy entertainment editor at Mashable; she tweets
The Author Of ‘Nomadland’ On Bringing The True Story And Real Nomads To The Big Screen
The new film “Nomadland,” from Director Chloé Zhao, follows a woman who sets off on the road after the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada. It’s the third feature film from Zhao and is based on the book, “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” (W. W. Norton & Company, 2017), written by journalist Jessica Bruder. The film stars Frances McDormand and some of the real-life nomads featured in Bruder’s book. KPCC’s John Horn talked with Bruder about the adaptation from the page to the screen.
Guest:
Jessica Bruder, author of the book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” (W. W. Norton & Company, 2017)