AirTalk brings you the latest on Gov. Jerry Brown’s infrastructure projects after the price tag on California’s bullet train rose $2.8 billion. We also dive into LA’s 2017 crime numbers during our monthly check-in with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck; how necessary are annual physical exams?; and more.
Another price hike for CA bullet train, plus potential downsizing of Delta tunnels
On Tuesday, it was announced that Gov. Jerry Brown’s bullet train project will cost $10.6 billion – that’s an increase of about $2.8 billion from what’s in the current budget.
The price of acquiring the land needed for the project, moving utility systems and installing the needed safety measures are all on the list of issues which drove the price increase for the train. That means the California High Speed Rail Authority may need to go back to the Legislature for more funding, and it’s unclear what this means for the project.
Meanwhile, potential changes are portended for Brown’s Delta tunnels project. Last week, California officials told potential contractors that the project may be downsized from two tunnels to one.
We get the latest on these California developments.
Guests:
Ralph Vartabedian, L.A. Times national correspondent; he has been following this story; he tweets
Dale Kasler, covering water and the environment for the Sacramento Bee; he’s been following this story; he tweets
North Korea’s ‘Army of Beauties’ and other things you might see at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang
Tensions have been high between South and North Koreas, but the Winter Olympics taking place in Pyeongchang are providing a slight opportunity for diplomacy between the two places.
South Korea has announced that it will field a combined women’s ice hockey team with players from North Korea at next month’s Winter games. The two Koreas will also march under one flag.
North Korea will also send a delegation of more than 400 people, including 140 artists and 30 Taekwondo players for a demonstration.
Additionally, the North will send around 230 cheerleaders, all of which are members of a special cheerleading squad made up of beautiful, young North Koreans that has been dubbed the “Army of Beauties” by some in the South.
Check out this video from the Army Times on this famed group of cheerleaders:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/TzX72KjPUhs
Guests:
Sergey Radchenko, professor of international politics at Cardiff University in the UK, whose areas of specialties include Asia and Cold War politics; he has studied the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and what it meant for relations between the North and South Koreas
Sung-Yoon Lee, an expert on the Koreas, and a professor in Korean Studies at The Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts
LAPD Chief Beck: Homicides and gun violence decline in 2017, but violent crime rises
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck joins Larry Mantle for his monthly check-in.
Topics discussed include:
LA’s decline in homicides and gun violence, but increase in violent crime in 2017
Issues the LAPD has run into after recreational pot sale became legal on Jan. 1 – plus, how they’re handling those driving under the influence of marijuana
The next steps for the LAPD’s drone program after the Los Angeles Police Foundation approved a donation to buy four drones
How the LAPD approaches ‘swatting’ situations like the fatal hoax in Kansas
A check-in on how the department is handling its influx of high-profile sexual assault investigations
An update on the Police Commission’s impending recommendation on releasing footage from officer body cameras after the LA Times published video from a controversial police shooting on skid row
How the department reacts and prepares for ambushes after an officer was wounded in an ambush in December
Guest:
Charlie Beck, chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department
Air quality regulators considering proposal to ban or reduce risk of toxic chemical at Torrance, Wilmington oil refineries
The South Coast Air Quality Management District is expected to meet with representatives from the Torrance and Wilmington petroleum refineries on Saturday to discuss a proposal that could ban or change their use of modified hydrofluoric acid (MHF) — a potentially lethal chemical if leaked.
The two Southern California refineries are believed to be the only refineries in the state that use MHF.
Saturday’s meeting, which is open to the public, comes after two years of community groups pushing for a total ban of the toxic chemical following an explosion at the Torrance Refinery in February of 2015, where a 40-ton piece of debris landed just five feet away from a tank filled with thousands of gallons of the acid.
An MHF leak could cause a catastrophic public health issue because it doesn’t dissipate into the air and severely damages the eyes, lungs and heart function.
But the likelihood of a leak is very low, and critics say it would cost hundreds of jobs to remove or replace the chemical, causing a spike in gas prices.
We speak with KPCC’s Sharon McNary who has been following the story closely since the explosion, and hear from both sides of the proposal.
For more information on the public comment hearing on Saturday, click here.
Guests:
Sharon McNary, infrastructure reporter for KPCC who’s been following this story
David Pettit, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council
Mike Karlovich, a spokesman for PBF Energy which owns the Torrance refinery
US Supreme Court to examine constitutionality of attorney conceding client’s guilt despite the accused’s objections
In 2011, Robert McCoy was facing three counts of murder and, if convicted, a trip to Louisiana’s death row.
He had fired his original public defenders after not seeing eye-to-eye with them, and his family had hired a criminal defense attorney named Larry English to take their place. When English said he wanted to admit McCoy’s guilt in court in the hopes that it might bolster his credibility with the jury (and maybe even prevent a death sentence), McCoy protested. He wanted English to maintain his innocence, arguing local police had framed him for the murders to cover up a drug smuggling ring they were running. Despite his client’s objections, English told the jury that the evidence pointed to his client as the culprit of the murders.
So, was it unconstitutional for English to do this?
This question is at the heart of oral arguments being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court today. McCoy wants a new trial because he says his Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel was violated when English refused to maintain his innocence in court. The state of Louisiana says that while some cases do require a client’s consent before moving ahead with a legal strategy, that this case wasn’t one of them, and cited a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court case which ruled, in part, that an attorney admitting a client’s guilt does not equate to a guilty plea.
Where do you come down on this case? Was McCoy’s right to assistance of counsel violated? Or was English’s strategy of admitting guilt to save his client’s life the best option? Where do you think the line is between being in charge of your own defense and deferring to your attorney?
Guests:
Daniel Suleiman, partner at the Washington D.C. offices of Covington & Burling and a former senior official in the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division from 2010-2013
Stanley Goldman, professor of law at Loyola Law School and former deputy public defender for Los Angeles County
How necessary are annual physical exams?
Doctors recommend coming into their offices for a check-up and blood work once a year… but is the cost to insurers and patients worth the benefits?
Some experts are saying no, as a variety of studies suggest these appointments don’t actually prevent disease or prolong a patient’s life. Plus, they take up a lot of time and money – a 2007 study found about 10 percent of all appointments with primary care physicians are for annual physicals, costing more than $10 billion per year and possibly making it more difficult for sick patients to visit their doctors.
But supporters of the annual physical exam argue they’re necessary to form trusting doctor-patient relationships and increase patient accountability for any unhealthy habits they may be struggling with. Regular check-ins can also help physicians identify dementia, depression or cognitive delays if a patient’s behavior has shifted over time.
Patients, do you feel you benefit from your annual physical? Has your doctor ever detected a health issue you weren’t aware of, or is it perfunctory hoop you have to jump through every year? And doctors, what are your thoughts on the recommended yearly preventative exam? Do you feel it serves you and your patients, would you fix it, or just do away with it all together?
Guests:
David Hilden, MD, MPH, assistant chief of medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota medical school
Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; he co-authored the 2007 study “Preventive Health Examinations and Preventive Gynecological Examinations in the United States”