Fur Flies Over Spaying Proposal; California's Population to Reach 60 Million by 2050; You're Always on Candid Camera; The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
Fur Flies Over Spaying Proposal
The debate over government-mandated neutering of California's pets continues. Assembly Bill 1634, authored by Democrat Lloyd Levine, would impose a substantial fine on pet owners who don't spay or neuter their pets, unless they obtain a special permit. Proponents of the bill hope to reduce the number of unclaimed cats and dogs put to death each year in California--currently around 454,000. They face substantial opposition from pet owner's rights activists and breeders. The bill will be voted upon Wednesday in the Senate Local Government committee. Larry discusses this emotional debate with California State Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, and Kelly Moran, state campaign director of PetPAC.
California's Population to Reach 60 Million by 2050
According to a new report by the State Department of Finance, California's population will grow from 45 million to nearly 60 million by mid-century. The report also predicts that Latinos will be the dominant ethnic group, comprising 52 percent of the population, while whites will account for only 26 percent. Larry Mantle talks with California State Demographer Mary Heim about the projections.
You're Always on Candid Camera
For some, it's the stuff of George Orwell--in London a citizen is typically caught on a police security camera 300 times a day. For others, it's assuring knowing that law enforcement is always on the lookout. There's no debate that closed-circuit cameras were instrumental in the arrest and recent convictions of terrorists in London. But with so much video imagery coming in, is it possible to monitor it all fast enough to actually prevent crimes? Some argue that having thousands of cameras spread throughout a city is like adding more hay to the proverbial needle in the haystack. Do cameras actually prevent crimes, or just help catch the bad guys after the facts, when there's time to sift through all the imagery? This hits home, since similar systems already monitor parts of Hollywood and MacArthur Park and there are calls to expand the systems. Larry talks with Mathew Norwell of the Westminster City Council in central London, Commander Dan Finkelstein of the LA Sheriff's Department, Peter Bibring from the ACLU, and James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, about the security advantages of general video surveillance in fighting terrorism and crime.
The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
In her new book The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty (Gotham Books), veteran Wall Street Journal writer Julia Flynn Siler chronicles four generations of the Mondavi family and the wine business they built into an empire. Flynn Siler joins Larry to talk about the Mondavi wine dynasty.