MEDIA MERGERS; UCI KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PROGRAM DIFFICULTIES; ORANGE COUNTY GREAT PARK; PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS; CANADIAN ELECTIONS; THE ART OF HOLLYWOOD NANNYING
MEDIA MERGERS
There’s news of merger in the entertainment industry today. Two television networks, UPN and WB, will merge to form a new network called the CW. And Pixar Animation Studio's board reportedly plans to hold a conference call today to discuss a deal with Disney. It’s possible that Disney could announce, as early as today, that it will acquire Pixar in a stock deal. The reported price tag is around seven billion dollars. Larry talks with industry experts about the deals.
UCI KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PROGRAM DIFFICULTIES
UCI Medical Center is facing more unwanted attention. A review by the Los Angeles Times found that over the past five years, the Center turned down kidneys at an exceptional rate. As a result, patients who would have had a far greater chance of receiving a transplant had they gone to other hospitals were left waiting for the potentially life-saving organs. The problems are similar to those that led to the shutdown of the liver transplant unit at the end of last year. Larry speaks with Los Angeles Times staff writer Charlie Orenstein to learn more.
ORANGE COUNTY GREAT PARK
New York-based landscape architect, Ken Smith, and his team, have been chosen to design the Orange County Great Park. The park will cover 1,347 acres of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine. Two jury panels of architects, designers and academics judged the designs of landscape architecture firms that competed for the Great Park job. In addition, close to 3,400 individuals from around the county participated in an online poll about the project. Nearly 1,700 of them responded positively to Smith's proposal. Larry and his guests talk about the process, the design, and the future of the Great Park.
PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS
With rallies throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinians wrapped up a parliamentary election campaign Monday that will pit the long-dominant Fatah movement against the radical Islamic Hamas. Larry talks with Palestinian experts about the repercussions of this vital election.
CANADIAN ELECTIONS
Canadians voted Monday in an election sure to significantly alter their country's political landscape. All polls predict a victory for Conservative leader Stephen Harper, which would end 13 years of Liberal Party rule, shift the country to the right and, perhaps, improve relations with the U.S. Larry talks with experts about what Canada’s election results mean for U.S. relations with our neighbor to the north.
THE ART OF HOLLYWOOD NANNYING
Suzanne Hansen, graduate of the Northwest Nanny Institute in Portland Oregon and veteran Hollywood nanny, has written a memoir about her experience as primary caregiver to the offspring of some of Los Angeles’s most famous residents. Hollywood moms seems to “do it all,” but Hansen points out that they do not do it all by themselves; they have the help of personal assistants, chefs, business managers, and of course, nannies. Hansen shares some of her favorite insights and stories about Hollywood nannying with Larry. Her new book is: You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again: The True Adventures of a Hollywood Nanny (Crown).