Governor Brown gives his state of the state speech during his inauguration today. Also, gearheads and tech geeks convene at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week for the latest in all things tech. Then, how much of an impact does porn have on relationships?
State of the state as Jerry Brown is sworn in for 4th term
It’s inauguration day for California Governor Jerry Brown, and true to his thrifty tendencies, his speech is also this year’s state of the state address. Brown is the only governor to serve four terms in office, and with term limits enacted after his first stint as governor 40 years ago, it’s a milestone unlikely to be repeated.
“The state budget is finally balanced -- more precariously than I’d like -- but balanced,” Brown said early in the speech, in a nod to his biggest accomplishment in his third term. The Governor then touched on education, touting its move toward decentralization, the impact to health care through Covered California, prison changes through realignment and ballot measures that scale back of the three strikes laws, water and the environment, and drivers licences now being issued to undocumented residents.
Looking ahead, Brown cited pre-funding state employee pensions and funding repairs for roads and highways, and new environmental targets to combat climate change as top of his agenda. Among those targets, moving 50% of electricity generation to renewable sources, up from the existing goal of one third, and cutting fossil fuel use in cars in half.
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC’s Education Correspondent
Ben Adler, Capitol Bureau Chief at Capitol Public Radio
The complications of jury selection for Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Over the next three days, nearly 1,200 people will be called to sit a Boston federal courtroom, as the jury selection process for one of the most high-profile cases in decades commences. The defendant, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, faces more than 30 charges related to the explosions from the two bombs as well as the three deaths and hundreds more injuries that occurred at the Boston Marathon nearly two years ago. With the marathon attacks still fresh in the minds of so many Bostonians, the next few days are crucial to the whole trial, as attorneys for the prosecution and defense work to find the right jurors.
For that very reason Tsarnaev’s lawyers have attempted to get the trial moved from Boston, arguing that finding impartial jurors there would be impossible--they cited the case of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, whose trial was moved to Denver--however their requests were denied. If convicted, Tsarnaev could face the death penalty, which increases the pressure on jury selection. Trial consultant Richard Gabriel tells KPCC that the challenges faced by defense attorneys are threefold:
- First you must find an impartial jury. Nearly everyone in Boston was affected by the manhunt or the bombing, so this will be difficult.
- Second is finding a juror who hasn’t been exposed to too much pre-trial publicity, which poses another considerable challenge.
- Finally, attorneys must find people who are qualified and also willing to sit on the jury for the next three to four months.
A sample of the questions jurors will face can be found on the Boston Globe.
Today on AirTalk, Larry Mantle will discuss the less obvious factors that go into jury selection, and examine the unique challenges attorneys will face throughout the trial.
Guest:
Richard Gabriel, trial consultant and author of “Acquittal”
New LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell checks in after 1 month in office
After beating former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka in November’s election, former Long Beach Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell became the first non-LASD member to head of the department in 100 years. He was sworn in on December 1st as Los Angeles County’s 32nd Sheriff, and called for a fresh start for a department that has been entwined in controversy for the last several years. Allegations of deputies beating and humiliating inmates, the convictions of several deputies for obstructing an FBI investigation into the jail, and general low morale have plagued the LASD in recent years.
However, McDonnell has promised that change is coming to the LASD, and it will include more transparency, better accountability for LASD employees, enhanced crime prevention, and managerial evaluations. He has also said he wants to rebuild the run-down building that houses the Men’s Central Jail.
McDonnell rose through the ranks at the Los Angeles Police Department before leaving to become the chief of police in Long Beach, where he is credited with helping lower violent crime rates, reduce gang violence, and improving community relations with police. At the LAPD, he held every rank except chief of police and served as second in command to Bill Bratton, who is now the Commissioner of the New York Police Department. McDonnell is a native of Boston, Massachusetts.
Guest:
Jim McDonnell, Sheriff of Los Angeles County
Consumer Electronics Show 2015: The tech to expect
For gearheads and tech geeks, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is their Comic Con. The show, which opens on Tuesday, January 6th, features a convention center full of the latest gizmos and gadgets, a preview of new tech that will come out later this year, and even a little sampling of some of the tech that is still a ways down the road.
In years past, new TVs have dominated the more exciting announcements, and in 2015, that trend continues. Manufacturers are pushing the new 4K Ultra High Definition TVs this year as companies like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube playing a few titles in 4K resolution with more to come. Drone tech, wearable tech, virtual reality headsets, new developments in wireless audio, and new car tech are also expected to make a big splash at the show, which will run until Friday, January 9th.
Guests:
Lindsey Turrentine, editor-in-chief of CNET.com
Jeremy Kaplan, editor-in-chief of DigitalTrends.com
Porn’s impact on modern sexuality
Statistics on pornography consumption are sketchy at best, thanks to unreliable self-reporting. What we do know is the business of porn, especially on the web, has been booming, which means many Americans must be clicking and watching. Google data from 2013 shows that monthly page views (pvs) of some of the top porn sites approach Wikipedia-hit proportions: PornHub, 2.5 billion pvs; YouPorn, 2.1 billion pvs; Tube 8, 970 million pvs; and LiveJasmin, 710 million pvs.
As Salon reported, in comparison, Wikipedia gets about 8 billion pvs. Just thirty years ago, folks had to leave their bedrooms or basements to seek out adult videos or Hustler magazines at video stores and newsstands. Today’s in-your-face ubiquity inspired the movie "Don Jon" about a young man so addicted to porn it interferes with his relationships. Perhaps inspired by that film some German researchers published a recent study associating higher porn consumption with the decline of marriage in the U.S.
Is that too far a stretch? How has porn impacted your sex life? What advice do you need about navigating this terrain with your partner(s)?
Guests:
Marty Klein, Ph.D., Marriage & Family Therapist; Author "Sexual Intelligence: What we really want from sex and how to get it"
Elizabeth Schroeder, Ed. D., Sexuality Education expert
Rams owner wants to build an NFL stadium in Inglewood
Football fans in Los Angeles haven’t had a team to call their own in over 20 years. The Raiders and Rams both relocated in 1994. More than a dozen stadium proposals have cropped up in the intervening years to try and draw the NFL back. Two of them gained the necessary political and environmental approvals: Ed Roski’s plan for a stadium in the City of Industry, and an AEG development in Downtown Los Angeles. Neither came to fruition. Now, fast forward to 2015. Enter St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who is teaming up with the owners of the former Hollywood Park site and planing to build a stadium in Inglewood.
Kroenke made his fortune in real estate before becoming a team owner, buying a 40% stake in the Rams when they moved to St Louis in 1995. He snapped up 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum in Inglewood in 2014, and is now partnering with the nearly 300 acre Hollywood Park site to develop an 80,000 seat stadium, a performance venue, in addition to retail, hotel and office spaces.
LA has long been the place teams threaten to move when dissatisfied with aging stadium facilities, in an effort to wring more money or development from home cities. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said that no teams may relocate in 2015, so a possible move to LA would be on hold until at least 2016.
Is this new proposal proof that the Rams are ready to return to LA? Or is it just another move to push St Louis and other cities toward providing their teams with more and better financing?
Does LA need a football team? And, if you’re a fan, which team would you like to see make the move?
Guest:
Vincent Bonsignore, sports columnist at the LA Daily News