Anaheim mayor urges city officials to purge emails. Detroit Auto Show – more than cars. Tonight’s BCS Championship: How will the Crimson Tide fare against number one ranked LSU? GOP debates strike the Granite State as race heads to first primary. Diane Keaton on Annie and Dorothy Hall. Plus, the latest news.
Anaheim city officials order destruction of emails
Anaheim officials are under fire for apparently ordering employees to destroy emails that might reflect badly on city leaders and developers. City employees were told by email that they’d face disciplinary action if unflattering messages weren’t purged.
The warnings came shortly after the Voice of OC filed a Public Records Act request for communications between Anaheim City Council members and the planning department. One email, sent last month by Planning Department staffer Hanna Jones, ordered employees to purge records deemed “old” or “unnecessary” and threatened “disciplinary action” if they failed to do so.
The latest memo, written by Anaheim Community Preservation Manager Sandra Sagert, ordered workers “not to archive emails for any purpose.” The directives follow a year of political turmoil in Anaheim, during which several high-level officials, including City Manager Thomas Wood, have resigned due to conflict of interest revelations in the city’s Building Division.
First amendment experts have said such moves violate state law because public records, without exception, must be kept for two years and can only be destroyed with authorization from the City Council. After remaining silent for nearly a week, Mayor Tom Tait Thursday issued a statement acknowledging that the order was “a mistake.”
What are officials doing now to deal with the fallout? To what extent are governments required to hold onto public records? What are the penalties for breaking the rules?
WEIGH IN:
And what are the email policies in your workplace?
Guests:
Terry Franke, General Counsel, Californians Aware, a group committed to open government and a free press
James Righeimer, Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem; Former Chairman, Costa Mesa Planning Commission
Detroit Auto Show – more than cars
The world's biggest auto show isn't just a chance to preview hot new wheels. Sure, we will get a first look at sexy and strange new concept cars – including an Acura that promises headlines and reinvigorated Honda Accord. Nevertheless, it's also a good time to take the temperature of the automobile industry, its impact on the economy and the economy's impact on car manufacturers.
In terms of product and profit, the U.S. auto industry is back. What does that say about the bailout packages for the big three? Again this year, the show will see an abundance of hybrids, electrics and alternative-fuel vehicles. Is the public buying in yet? How have gas prices affected car designers?
Automakers aren't obliged yet to follow the latest CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, but they are already coming on board with better mileage. Cars are being built smaller using lighter metals and turbo-charging.
Also crowding the floor will be a plethora of new luxury models from Cadillac, Mercedes, Lexus, and Acura. Will 2012 bring luxury back? The Wall Street Journal's Dan Neil joins us from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and KPCC's in-house car guy, Matt DeBord, is in studio.
Guests:
Dan Neil, Automotive Columnist & Senior Editor, “The Wall Street Journal;” Neil is at the Auto Show in Detroit
Matt DeBord, senior reporter and business blogger for KPCC. He writes The DeBord Report for KPCC.org
Tonight’s BCS Championship: How will the Crimson Tide fare against number one ranked LSU?
The New Orleans’ Superdome is the site of this year’s game to determine the national college football champion. This is the 15th year the NCAA has held the game and it’s had its fair share of controversies, most of them stemming from the way in which teams are chosen for the game.
Unlike most other championships, the entrants aren’t chosen by play-off. Instead a complicated mélange of rankings and polls determines who will play the game. This has led many, including the president to question the validity of the system.
This year the top ranked school, Louisiana State University will be playing against Alabama. A team that had an 11-0 season with their only regular season loss being against LSU. This is the first time in the history of the BCS championship that the teams have already played one another in the regular season.
In fact, in the 14 years since the bowl game began the teams have always been from different divisions and conferences, something that has many fans sports writers and fans thinking the computer made a bad call. Either way, the game must go on. Now the question is will Alabama ride the crimson tide to victory, or will the Tigers tear them the shreds?
Guest:
Chris Dufresne, Sports Reporter, Los Angeles Times
GOP debates strike the Granite State as race heads to first primary
The Republican field was dramatically altered by the impact of the Iowa caucus. Michelle Bachmann dropped out, Rick Perry decided to hang in despite his poor showing and Rick Santorum surged. But Mitt Romney remained the man to beat.
Over the weekend, Romney faced-off in two pivotal debates, along with rivals, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry. Gingrich, Santorum and Perry all vied to consolidate conservative support and emerge as the top alternative to the mild-mannered front-runner.
Now, the race heads to the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire, where independent voters may hold the key. In New Hampshire’s primary, independents – who make up more than 40% of the local electorate – can vote, so this may be the best test yet of electability in the general election. We’ll look at how the GOP presidential hopefuls fared in the weekend debates and the likely impact on the New Hampshire primary.
Guests:
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, who now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group
Diane Keaton on Annie and Dorothy Hall
We all know Diane Keaton as Michael Corleone's wife from "The Godfather," before serving as the real world basis for the fictional title character she played in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall," which garnered her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Since then, she went on to star in several more of Allen's films, as well as such hits as "Baby Boom," "The First Wives Club" and "Something's Gotta Give."
Recently, Keaton has turned away from the camera and to the page, with the release of her memoir, "Then Again." The book includes talk of her role in "Annie Hall," where she played a character that had many personality elements coinciding with Keaton's own self.
"That was one of those fortuitous experiences in my life where somebody like Woody actually made observations about me and was able to translate that into a script," Keaton said. "Annie Hall was just a breeze to perform." She said that she was impressed by director Allen's ability to hear language and use it in movie dialogue. According to Keaton, the awkward exchange between Annie Hall (Keaton) and Alvy Singer (Allen) after they play tennis, including all the 'ums' and other hesitations, were not improvised.
While the book delves into autobiographical information about her life and career, the core of the work rests on Dorothy Hall, Keaton's mother, who was a tremendous cataloguer of letters, journals (85 in total) and photographs.
"She must have had great expectations and great ambition because I came across an unfinished memoir, I discovered how ambitious she was about her own photography, what she wanted to do as an artist, all these things that, of course as a daughter, I conveniently overlooked as I was mapping my own life out with her encouragement," Keaton said.
Keaton called Dorothy "the love of my life hands down." Her mother, who was afflicted with Alzheimer's, passed away in 2008. The actress said she regrets waiting until after her mother's death to read the documents that were left behind. She cited sifted through this abundance of family history as the inspiration for her memoir's title.
"It really made the depths of my love for her all the more powerful," Keaton said. "But the disappointment was that I didn't express that. I wasn't really able to put my hands on her face and tell her while she was still very much present, how much I loved her."
Guest:
Diane Keaton, Golden Globe and Academy Award winning actress, author of “Then Again” (Random House)