Michelle King has been promoted to LAUSD superintendent; How will the recent bombing affect tourism and security; reviewing 'lame duck' State of the Union addresses; and are you able to maintain a relationship with your ex?
LAUSD stakeholders weigh in on newly-minted Superintendent Michelle King
After months of searching, it appears the Los Angeles Unified School District finally has a new leader.
Michelle King went to LA schools and starting working for the district part-time while still a student. 35-years-later she's still there - now in the top position.
How will she cope with the huge challenges the district faces?
Guests:
Monica Garcia, LAUSD Board Member representing Board District 2
Scott Folsom, vice president for health California State PTA
Sarah Angel, Greater Los Angeles managing regional director for California Charter School Association
Maria Ott, professor of clinical education at USC’s Rossier School of Education and a retired senior deputy superintendent of LAUSD (2001-2005)
Weighing the impact, significance of Istanbul bombing in historic district
A suicide bomber affiliated with the Islamic State group detonated a bomb in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people - nine of them German tourists - and wounding 15 others, Turkish officials said.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the bomber who carried out the attack in Istanbul's Sultanahmet district was a member of IS and pledged to battle the militant group until it no longer "remains a threat" to Turkey or the world.
Davutoglu described the attacker as a "foreign national." Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus had previously said the perpetrator was born in 1988 and was a Syrian national, but the private Dogan news agency claimed the bomber was Saudi-born.
On NPR, reporter Peter Kenyon in Istanbul said "Folks here in Istanbul have been on edge for weeks, wondering if something was going to blow up here."
A shopkeeper near Istanbul's Blue Mosque, Ayse Demir, speaking to "The New York Times" lamented, "Tourism had already dried up after last year's explosion, but after this it's game over."
Sinan Ciddi told KPCC, "I question the sincerity of the Turkish government in taking the best security precautions." Ciddi is Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies and visiting assistant professor at Georgetown University. He spoke with Larry Mantle on "AirTalk" (audio playback above.)
Istanbul is one of the top tourism destinations in the world. Would this attack impact your travel plans there? What more can be done to increase security for the people of Turkey? What is this historical significance of this district?
With files from the Associated Press.
Guest:
Sinan Ciddi, Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies and visiting assistant professor at Georgetown University
A brief history of ‘lame duck’ State of the Union addresses
No slave to 24-hour cable news and the Twitterverse, President Thomas Jefferson eschewed delivering public speeches on the State of the Union, choosing instead to send his message to Congress in writing via messenger.
The tradition held for more than a hundred years possibly because Jefferson explained his choice in an 1801 letter to the President of the Senate stating: "[I] have had principal regard to the convenience of the legislature, to the economy of their time, to their relief from the embarrassment of immediate answers on subjects not yet fully before them, and to the benefits thence resulting to the public affairs."
Woodrow Wilson later revived the tradition of delivering the speeches in person, which has had only a temporary break when lame duck Jimmy Carter shied from a speech in 1981.
Guest:
Margaret Talev, White House Correspondent for Bloomberg
Allan Lichtman, Distinguished Professor of History, American University
L.A. County supervisors set to vote on civilian oversight for Sheriff’s Department
Should retired law enforcement officials be allowed to sit on a newly created commission to oversee the Sheriff’s Department?
That’s a key issue the LA County Board of Supervisors will vote on today. The same supervisors voted to create a Civilian Oversight Commission over a year ago at the urging of community members following a series of mistreatment of inmates by deputies in the county's jails that have. More than twenty members of the Sheriff’s Department have been indicted.
Opponents like Mark-Anthony Johnson told KPCC they fundamentally oppose law enforcement policing other law enforcement.
But LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs argue that excluding former deputies from eligibility would be unfair and also exclude people who know the inner workings of the department.
Guests:
Sarah Favot, reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News. She tweets from
Cindy Chang, reporter who covers the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department for the Los Angeles Times. She tweets from
Philadelphia Inquirer editor talks paper’s future as nonprofit
(AP) The owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com has turned over the media company to a nonprofit institute in the hope that a new business model will help them survive the digital age and stanch years of layoffs and losses.
Local philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, who bought the media company 19 months ago, will give the struggling properties to the newly formed Institute for Journalism in New Media and donate $20 million to endow the enterprise.
How would it work? Would it work?
Guest:
William Marimow, Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer
David Folkenflik, Media correspondent for NPR
Ken Doctor, Media analyst for newsonomics.com and the author of “Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get” (St. Martin Press, 2010) who's been following the story
Are you friends with your exes?
In a survey released by WE tv, most Americans say a clean break with an ex is the best way to get over the demise of a relationship, but over half say they haven’t taken their own advice and have stayed friends with an ex.
More than a third say they’ve slept with their ex.
Have you stayed friends with an ex? Did you regret it? Or were you glad to make amends? If you maintained a good friendship, how did you make that happen?
Guest:
Julie Albright, Ph.D., Professor in Sociology at USC’s Dornsife School and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in infidelity, relationship issues and online dating. She tweets from