Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he will block enforcement of new measures that make it easier to dismantle homeless encampments. Also, Covered California will collect data on prescriptions, doctor visits and hospital stays, a move that has stirred serious concerns about data protection and privacy. Then, has hitchhiking become obsolete in today’s America?
Mayor Garcetti reverses position on homeless measures
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he will block enforcement of new measures that make it easier to dismantle homeless encampments until the City Council softens some provisions.
The council voted last week to trim the notice time from 3 days to 24 hours before removing personal belongings from sidewalks, parks and beaches. It also moved for ticketing or charging violators with a misdemeanor.
In a statement today, Mayor Garcetti explained more work must be done to “consider amendments that would enable smarter law enforcement, more compassionate treatment of homeless Angelenos, and strengthen the City’s ability to withstand legal challenge.”
How long will this issue continue to be in limbo?
Guests:
Gil Cedillo, Los Angeles City Councilmember representing District 1, which represents neighborhoods in northeast and northwest L.A. including Highland Park, Glassell Park, and Echo Park. Cedillo has voted against seizure of homeless encamp
Raquel Beard, Executive Director, Central City East Association (CCEA) - the principal advocate for property owners, businesses, employees and residents of eastern Downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey explains new wrongful conviction unit
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles district attorney announced Monday that a team of veteran prosecutors will begin reviewing wrongful conviction claims from state prisoners who present new evidence of their innocence.
A newly established conviction review unit will join nearly two dozen other prosecutors' offices nationwide that now investigate claims of innocence, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said.
Guest:
Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles District Attorney
Health care experts debate privacy threat of Covered California’s patient data collection
Covered California, the Affordable Care Act’s state exchange in California, will collect insurance company data on prescriptions, doctor visits and hospital stays, a move that has stirred serious concerns about data protection and privacy.
The stated reason is to use patient data to maintain accountability from health insurers and medical providers; data the exchange already collects on enrollment was used to negotiate lower premiums for consumers, saving them over $100 million this year. But actual medical information is more important than enrollment information as medical records can be used to create a story about a person which may be invaluable to hackers and those who would sell or misuse them.
Covered California will be collecting the data on the approximately 1.4 million people enrolled on the exchange and then storing the data with Truven Health Analytics Inc. At present, there are no plans to let consumers in the exchange opt out of the data collection process, a concern that has critics countering that the state must ask permission for the information before taking it.
But the more pervasive concern has been about how the state will protect the data. The federal government has recently discovered multiple hacks throughout the executive branch, including the comprehensive theft of more than 4 million files from the Office of Personnel Management in June and 100,000 tax accounts at the Internal Revenue Service in May.
The private sector is similarly susceptible to such attacks - Anthem, the county’s second-largest health insurer, revealed a hack in February that may have affected 80 million people.
How will Covered California reassure its consumers that their data is safe and will only be used in an appropriate manner? Should Covered California ask permission before collecting the data they say is necessary to provide the best services to consumers? Are the consumer benefits promised by Covered California worth the risk of a potential hack?
Guests:
Dr. Andrew Bindman, MD, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco; he was also the lead UCSF researcher on the exchange’s 2014 enrollment
John Simpson, Director of Privacy Project at Consumer Watchdog
Death penalty’s future in California after Supreme Court OK’s execution drug
Over the next 120 days, California Governor Jerry Brown and prison officials will be working to come up with a one-drug lethal injection method for the nearly 750 inmates on California’s death row, the largest in the nation.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that states could continue to use midazolam as an execution drug after the state of Oklahoma challenged the practice following a botched execution. The majority said that executions don’t need to be painless and said that inmates challenging state execution methods should find alternatives that pose less risk of pain. The 120 day timeframe is part of a recent settlement with families of murder victims.
Despite the new deadline, there will be the need for lots of public comment on this issue, and that could take a year or more. Questions about what drugs to use in the execution cocktail and cost of housing and executing death row inmates are just some of those that are bound to come up as the process moves forward. There’s also a case before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on whether the delays in executions that sometimes span decades have left California’s death penalty system unconstitutional.
What does the future of the death penalty in California look like? How should the state formulate its execution protocol? Does the death penalty have a place in California or should it be abolished completely? What is to be done with the hundreds of inmates waiting on death row?
Guests:
Sam Stanton, reporter for the Sacramento Bee. He wrote an article last month before Monday’s Supreme Court decision entitled “Is capital punishment dead in California?” He tweets
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Michael Ramos, San Bernardino County District Attorney
Donald Heller, attorney at Donald H. Heller, A Law Corp., and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. He is a former supporter of the death penalty turned opponent. He headed up a in 2012 to abolish CA’s death penalty but also wrote the 1978 ballot measure that reinstated capital punishment in CA before changing positions.
Pondering the Angels’ future without GM Jerry Dipoto
The Angels aren’t confirming, but Jerry Dipoto told the Los Angeles Times today that he has resigned from the team as General Manager.
Dipoto’s departure comes amid an ongoing rift between him and the Angels’ veteran manager Mike Scioscia. The two represent two opposing beliefs in baseball, with Scioscia more of an old-school holdout, and Dipoto a devotee of using big data and sabermetric analysis to put together a team.
Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in baseball, has been with the Angels since 2000. Dipoto replaced Tony Reagins as the GM of the team in 2011.
Guest:
Pedro Moura, reporter covering the Dodgers and Angels for the Orange County Register. He tweets at @pedromoura
Traveling by thumb: The lost and forgotten art of hitchhiking
Hitchhiking has been around as long as there have been things on wheels.
The mass production of the Ford Model T made car ownership affordable in America, and made hitchhiking commonplace. The 1960s and 1970s saw flower children thumbing a ride to a Grateful Dead concert, say, or wherever their freewheeling lifestyle was taking them.
But the practice has all but become obsolete in today’s America. A dramatic rise in car ownership, the expansion of the country’s highway system, and the perception that hitchhiking is dangerous are factors that have contributed to its decline.
Have you ever hitchhiked? Do you still do it? Call in and tell us about your experience.
Guest:
Elijah Wald, author of many books, including “Riding With Strangers: A Hitchhiker’s Journey” (Chicago Review Press, 2006) and the forthcoming “Dylan Goes Electric” (HarperCollins, 2015)