Gavin Newsom takes the helm as the 40th governor of the nation's most populous state, succeeding fellow Democrat Jerry Brown. We also recap the headlines you might’ve missed over the weekend and look ahead to the biggest stories of the week; check in on the looming LAUSD teacher’s strike; and more.
Week in politics: What caveats the Trump administration added to its planned Syria withdrawal, the tick-tock of the ongoing government shutdown and more
AirTalk’s weekly political roundtable recaps the headlines you might’ve missed over the weekend and looks ahead to the biggest stories of the week to come in national and state politics. Here’s what we’re watching this week:
Follow up on Friday’s meeting between Trump and Congressional leaders, plus Trump’s news conference Friday, wants to look at declaring a national emergency to build a border wall
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
President @realDonaldTrump will travel to the Southern border on Thursday to meet with those on the frontlines of the national security and humanitarian crisis. More details will be announced soon.
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 7, 2019Trump will travel to border on Thursday
Bolton puts conditions on Syria withdrawal
House Dems unveil bill targeting Trump on tax returns and transparency, another on gun background checks
Nancy Pelosi now officially House Speaker – what will change, what does she bring to the table, what challenges lie ahead?
Economy check-in after Friday jobs numbers
Kansas Senator Pat Roberts to retire, opens race for seat
Latest on American detained in Moscow, what this means for already tenuous U.S.-Russia relationship
Guests:
Seung-Min Kim, White House reporter for the Washington Post; she tweets
Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
What a Rose Parade float’s accident could teach us about gratitude, expectation, and taking misfortune in stride
During the 130th Rose Parade last Tuesday, a float by the Chinese American Heritage Foundation unexpectedly caught fire.
The float, called “Harmony Through Union,” commemorated the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Aboard the float were descendants of immigrant laborers who built the railway.
In response to the float’s breakdown, co-founders of the Chinese American Heritage Foundation Wilson and Esther Lee expressed gratitude to everyone who helped quickly extinguish the fire and were thankful that around 50,000 people were able to see their work at all. They said they were not disappointed by the incident, but rather viewed it as a “minor mishap” in the grand scheme of things.
So what do you think about the foundation’s optimistic response? Are you surprised? What’s your reaction? Call us and weigh in at 866-893-5722.
The first LAUSD teacher’s strike in 30 years could take place this Thursday. Here’s what to expect
United Teachers Los Angeles and Los Angeles Unified School District leaders are set to meet Monday for their first face-to-face negotiation session since at least early December.
Both UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl and LAUSD superintendent Austin Beutner — who, for the most part, have left their bargaining delegations to conduct in-person talks — are set to personally join the discussion.
UTLA had called a strike on January 10. But teachers in the LAUSD may not be able to begin their walkout on that date. Instead, the strike may be delayed until Jan. 14. That's because of a disagreement about when and whether United Teachers Los Angeles officials filed the right paperwork giving formal notice of its intent to strike, according to a statement from the union sent Sunday.
If the strike date is delayed, that could mean not only more time for negotiators to hammer out a last-minute deal — which has eluded both sides for almost two years — and more time for the parents of 480,000 LAUSD students to make contingency plans.
Read Kyle’s full story on LAist.com
Guest:
Kyle Stokes, education reporter at KPCC; he tweets
The Gavin Newsom era begins in California: What to expect from the new administration
Gavin Newsom takes the helm as the 40th governor of the nation's most populous state, succeeding fellow Democrat Jerry Brown.
He enters the governorship two years into California's self-styled "resistance" to Trump, and appears poised to ramp up the contrast even more. And Newsom will draw immediate battle lines Monday with President Donald Trump in his inaugural address, portraying California's "progressive, principled" policies as the antidote to the White House's "corruption and incompetence."
We’ll look at the Newsom administration and its policy priorities. In what ways would Newsom continue policy goals set forth by the Brown administration? In what ways would the new regime be different?
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Dan Walters, long-time CA politics observer with CALmatters, a nonprofit public interest publication
Miriam Pawel, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of “The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation” (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018); her op-ed on Jerry Brown’s legacy was published in the New York Times today
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Garrick Percival, associate professor of political science and director of the Institute for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement at San Jose State University, where he teaches courses in state and local government, public policy and American government