Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California is suing Huntington Beach, accusing the Orange County city of deliberately blocking new homebuilding needed to accommodate population growth in the state. We also discuss Roger Stone's arrest; review this weekend’s new movie releases; and more.
Latest on the Mueller investigation: Roger Stone arrested, indicted
Roger Stone was arrested in an early morning raid Friday at his Florida home on charges of witness tampering, obstruction and lying to Congress.
He is the sixth Trump associate charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign and possible coordination with Russian efforts to sway the 2016 election.
Stone has previously denied wrongdoing. The charges against him do not accuse him of participating in any conspiracy with Russia.
Larry and guests provide legal analysis on this latest arrest in the ongoing Russia probe.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times reporter based in Washington, D.C. where he reports on the special counsel investigation; he tweets
Laurie L. Levenson, professor of law at Loyola Law School and former federal prosecutor
Gov Newsom urges CA to sue Huntington Beach over lack of new homebuilding
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California is suing Huntington Beach, accusing the Orange County city of deliberately blocking new homebuilding needed to accommodate population growth in the state.
The rare legal action, which will be filed in the Orange County Superior Court, alleges that Huntington Beach officials have thwarted a state law that mandates cities and counties provide sufficient housing development.
“California’s housing crisis is an existential threat to our state’s future and demands an urgent and comprehensive response,” said Newsom in a statement. “Cities and counties are important partners in addressing this housing crisis, and many cities are taking herculean efforts to meet this crisis head-on. But some cities are refusing to do their part to address this crisis and willfully stand in violation of California law. Those cities will be held to account.”
We get the latest from the Los Angeles Times.
Guest:
Liam Dillon, reporter for the Los Angeles Times covering housing and state politics; he’s been following the story; he tweets
New study shares a deep dive into U.S. Army’s critique of the Iraq War
The U.S. Army War College published last week its study of the U.S. in the Iraq War--and it’s big, literally.
The two volume report is comprised of more than 1,300 pages. More than 3,000 declassified documents were used to research the study on the eight-year war. Named the costliest conflict since the Vietnam War, decisions in the the Iraq war are garnering criticism in the report. That includes the U.S.’s failure to train Iraqi military forces to become self-reliant, and a review of the George W. Bush Administration’s decision to “surge” additional forces into Iraq.
The massive study also includes original interviews with President George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Robert Gates and more.
For a deep dive into what this extensive report uncovered, the U.S.’s missteps in combat and strategy and what we can learn moving forward, Larry speaks to one of the study’s principal authors on the ins and outs of this newly published research.
Guest:
Ret. Col. Frank Sobchak, former special forces officer and co-editor and one of the principal authors of the Army War College study, “The U.S. Army in the Iraq War Vol. 1 and 2”
Big brands are testing reusable containers this year — would you buy in?
It’s a green shopper’s dream to curb plastic waste: Häagen-Dazs in stainless steel pints, Tropicana in glass bottles, Pantene in aluminium containers and hundreds more products all refillable and delivered to your door in what harkens back to the days of the milkman.
But whereas the milkman would replenish your dairy on the spot, this pilot program, called Loop, would collect and clean your containers before scheduling the next service.
Backing Loop are dozens of big name companies including PepsiCo and Nestlé, which announced their project at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in hopes that eco-conscious consumers are ready to deliver on their calls for eliminating single-use containers. New York, Paris and London will be the first cities to test the refillable brands.
But is the reusable market still too niche? How cost-effective would the rollout be and what unintended environmental impacts would need to be avoided, such as even more congested roads to keep up with delivery? More importantly — would you buy in?
Call us at 866-893-5722 or comment below.
Guests:
Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a recycling firm and parent company for the pilot program Loop, which will handle the delivery, returns and cleaning for a number of companies testing refillable brands; he tweets
Susan Collins, head of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit focusing on research and education towards container recycling and deposit systems
Kit Yarrow, consumer research psychologist, professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco and author of “Decoding the New Consumer Mind”
FilmWeek: ‘Serenity,’ ‘The Kid Who Would Be King,’ ‘King of Thieves’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Christy Lemire and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s new movie releases.
- "Serenity" in wide release
- "The Kid Who Would Be King" in wide release
- "King of Thieves" at AMC Universal CityWalk
- "The Invisibles" at Laemmle's Royal Theater & Laemmle's Town Center
- "Jihadists" at Laemmle's Royal Theater (Thursday January 31st only) & Leammle's Music Hall (Friday February 1st only)
- "Polar" streaming on Netflix
- "Heartlock" at Laemmle's Music Hall
- "An Acceptable Loss" at Leammle's Moica Film Center
- "Dead Ant" at Laemmle's Music Hall
CRITICS' HITS
Christy: 'The Kid Who Would Be King'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg-h8TwQCgs
MIXED FEELINGS:
Peter: 'Serenity' & 'Jihadists'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbrOMrjhyvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOwt3lPU5lA
Christy: 'King of Thieves,' 'The Invisibles' & 'Heartlock'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeQAY_9vG8M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2aVBot4DNY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMi2EoMjTF8
MISSES
Peter: 'Polar' & 'An Acceptable Loss'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMHwRal-AR8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72yO_JRVKuo
Christy: 'Dead Ant'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu6BD8HO5-s
Guests:
Christy Lemire, film critic for KPCC, RogerEbert.com and co-host of the ‘Breakfast All Day’ podcast; she tweets
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor
Breaking down the Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography
If you’re a regular FilmWeek listener, which you probably are if you’re reading this, you’ve likely already secured your tickets for our annual FilmWeek Oscars Preview on Saturday, February 17th at 1 p.m. at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Larry Mantle and the FilmWeek critics will be live on stage breaking down and sharing their picks for all the major categories.
Today on FilmWeek, critics Christy Lemire and Peter Rainer are breaking down a couple of the categories we traditionally can’t get to during the Oscars show -- Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography. Here are the nominees:
Best Foreign Language Film
Capernaum (Lebanon) -- Nadine Labaki
Cold War (Poland) -- Pawel Pawlikowski
Never Look Away (Germany) -- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Roma (Mexico) -- Alfonso Cuarón
Shoplifters (Japan) -- Hirokazu Koreeda
Best Cinematography
The Favourite -- Robbie Ryan (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
Never Look Away -- Caleb Deschanel (dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
Roma -- Alfonso Cuarón (also directed)
A Star is Born -- Matty Libatique (dir. Bradley Cooper)
Cold War -- Lukasz Zal (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)
If you haven’t reserved your seats yet for our FilmWeek Oscars Preview show, click here for tickets and information.
Guests:
Christy Lemire, film critic for KPCC, RogerEbert.com and co-host of the ‘Breakfast All Day’ podcast; she tweets
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor