The Weather!; Eminent Domain; The Musical Heritage of Los Angeles
The Weather!
Host Larry Mantle discusses the recent wave of storms to hit the Southland. They have brought mudslides, sinkholes, falling boulders and a raging LA River. Do people continue to build on unstable ground? Are we equipped to handle all this rainfall? And what kind of coverage does insurance provide home- and business owners? Larry speaks with Joseph Cassmassi, Senior Meteorologist for the South Coast Air Quality Management District; Mark Pestrella, principal engineer of Building and Safety, LA County Department of Public Works; Paul Jennings, PhD., Caltech Provost and Professor of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics; Ed Harp, a geologist for the US Geological Survey; John Garamendi, Insurance Commissioner for the State of California; Judy Gish, spokeswoman for CalTrans; William Robertson, Director of Bureau of Street Services for the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works; Pete Muraga, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California, IINC; David Fukutomi, Federal Coordinating Officer for FEMA, and Jill Wicke, Water System Operations group manager at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Eminent Domain
The Supreme Court heard a case yesterday about the rights of property owners vs. the rights of a city to purchase property to make way for business development. Seven Connecticut homeowners have refused to sell their homes to the City of New London, making way for commercial development, and tax revenues for the city. What does this case mean for the rights of property owners nationally? How do cases of eminent domain play out in California? Tim Sandefur, Attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest legal organization dedicated to defending private property rights, and Joe Pannone, senior partner with the law firm of Kane, Ballmer & Berkman, join Host Larry Mantle to discuss the topic.
The Musical Heritage of Los Angeles
Ken Marcus, Associate Professor of History at the University of La Verne, discovered that the early music of Los Angeles reflects the city’s very diverse beginnings. His new book Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of a Music Culture, 1880-1940 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), traces the cultural history of Los Angeles through World War II. There was no particular center of music, thus diverse music flourished all over the city. Professor Marcus joins Host Larry Mantle to share the musical history of Los Angeles, with musical excerpts from early groups like the Jose Arias Troubadour, the LA Philharmonic, Kid Ory’s Sunshine Orchestra and more.