We get the latest on Tuesday’s LAUSD school board vote regarding a moratorium on charter schools. We also discuss a proposal to slash taxes as a way to jump start the legal marijuana marketplace; analyze if teen screen time is actually harmful; and more.
What’s at stake for LA parents, students if school board votes to put a moratorium on charter schools
Los Angeles Unified School District board members are gearing up for a vote Tuesday afternoon on a resolution to put a moratorium on charter schools.
A cap was proposed by United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl just days before the LAUSD teachers strike. The school board is voting instead to put a temporary moratorium to create any additional charter schools. Charters have been a hot button issue for some time. They were not part of teachers union negotiations with the district.
Rather, it has been a topic of conversation around the teachers union and LAUSD bargaining table, and with charter parents, especially some who feel that their voices around the issue of charter schools have not been heard. Caputo-Pearl has argued that charters take valuable resources from other LAUSD schools, and stifle traditional public school enrollment.
Larry speaks to KPCC Education Reporter Kyle Stokes and California Charter School President Myrna Castrejon for the latest on Tuesday’s LAUSD school board vote.
Guests:
Kyle Stokes, KPCC’s K-12 education reporter; he’s been following the story
Myrna Castrejon, president and CEO of the California Charter School Association
Teen screen time is actually not as harmful as some studies say, challenges a new study
With kids glued to their screens and well-circulated research sounding the alarm bells of increased risks of depression, anxiety and suicide, parents have had plenty to worry about.
But a new Oxford study published in Nature Human Behavior (and believed to have applied more rigorous statistical techniques) says those scary studies are wildly exaggerated.
The Oxford study examined 350,000 teens and included data from a popular study by San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge, which said increased screen time, especially among teen girls, might have caused the 2010 to 2015 uptick in depression and suicidal thoughts. But Andrew Przybylski and Netta Weinstein at the Oxford Internet Institute arrived at a much different conclusion: screentime is about as scary as potatoes, with even less of a negative impact on adolescent mental health than wearing glasses.
Why such drastically different conclusions, and how should parents respond to the conflicting arguments? We hear from both sides. Call us at 866-893-5722 with questions or comment below.
Guests:
Andrew Przybylski, experimental psychologist and director of research at the the Oxford Internet Institute, a multidisciplinary research and teaching department of the University of Oxford; he tweets
Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood” (Simon and Schuster August 2017); she is also the lead author of the study “Screen time might boost depression, suicide behaviors in teens” and tweets
The illicit market is eating the legal marijuana industry’s lunch. One proposed solution is to cut taxes
California’s much-hyped, year-old marijuana industry fell woefully short of expectations in 2018 and industry leaders blame their inability to compete with the state’s robust black market, which doesn’t pay the taxes and navigate the red tape they do.
So on Monday, several cannabis-industry supporting state lawmakers proposed to slash taxes as a way to jump start California’s legal marijuana marketplace.
Democrat Assemblyman Rob Bonta proposed to temporarily reduce the 15% tax consumers pay at the retail counter to 11% and eliminate the $148 per pound of pot farmers pay for three years.
Boosters of the legal pot industry said the tax proposal was a good start, but that onerous and costly regulations are also enticing growers and sellers to skip licensing and remain selling marijuana illegally. The proposal, if passed, would not lower county and city taxes.
We debate the proposal.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Jerred Kiloh, president of United Cannabis Business Association, a Los Angeles-based cannabis industry group representing regulated cannabis retailers in California, and owner of The Higher Path Collective, a medical and recreational cannabis dispensary in Sherman Oaks
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, co-director of Drug Policy Research Center at Rand Corporation; expert in health economics
Hollywood Burbank Airport terminal gets revamp, and stirs resident noise concerns
The Federal Aviation Administration is having a public scoping meeting Tuesday to hear public comments on its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a replacement terminal at the Hollywood Burbank Airport.
Formerly the Bob Hope Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport’s new passenger terminal was approved by a vote on Measure B in 2016. The plan is to rebuild the 14-gate terminal to meet current seismic standards, bigger walkways, indoor luggage carousels and more access to the disabled, all on a 355,000-square-foot layout.
But L.A. residents are challenging the plan, saying that the upgraded terminal will only add more traffic, both on the ground and in the air, and more noise. That, coupled with an ongoing debate about the noise caused by lowered flight paths to and from the airport are exacerbating concerns among those who live within earshot of plane activity.
Larry Mantle hosts a lively debate today, about whether these new airport upgrades will bring enough progress to outweigh resident concerns.
A general public meeting for the Hollywood Burbank Airport is held tonight, Jan 29, from 6 to 8pm at the Buena Vista branch of the Burbank Library
Guests:
Emily Gabel-Luddy, Mayor of Burbank
Kimberly Biddle, resident of Studio City who leads the community group, UproarLA
The new frontier in tipping: flight attendants
Earlier this month Frontier Airlines, the Denver-based low-cost air carrier, changed its policy regarding tips given to flight attendants.
Since fall of 2015, passengers who have ordered food and drinks from a digital tablet onboard Frontier flights have had the option of giving the flight attendant a tip. Under the previous policy, tips given from the tablet were collectively pooled and distributed evenly amongst the cabin crew.
But under the new policy tips given by passengers to attendants will remain with the individual flight attendants.
Regarding the recent change in policy Frontier spokesman Jonathan Freed said “We appreciate the great work of our flight attendants and know that our customers do as well,” and that the choice to include gratuity is “entirely at the customer’s discretion, and many do it,” he added. Frontier’s tablet based system does allow flight attendants to skip the screen at their own discretion when a customer pays
In response to Frontier Airlines' change in tipping policy, the Association of Flight Attendants International President Sara Nelson released the following statement: “Flight Attendants are certified for our safety, health, and security work. Safety is not variable and therefore base compensation for a safety job cannot be variable” Speaking further Nelson emphasized the importance of paying flight attendants a fair wage saying “Regardless of the tip issue, Frontier Airlines needs to step up and pay aviation’s first responders a wage that recognizes their critical safety role onboard.”
Similar low cost airlines, such as Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines, do not include tipping options, and other airlines such as United and American Airlines don’t allow tips at all or instruct their flight attendants to decline any tips they recieve.
Have you ever tipped your flight attendant? Should flight attendants be tipped at all? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Leslie Josephs, reporter covering airlines for CNBC; she tweets
Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the union representing 50,000 flight attendants across 20 airlines, including Frontier Airlines; she tweets