Toxins from hydraulic fracking could mean grave effects to the state’s wildlife and natural resources, according to a new study by the California Council on Science and Technology. Also, immigrant rights supporters will be protesting outside of the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, where Trump will be delivering a speech today. Then, petitioners in LA want an iconic filmmaker's name, David Wark Griffith, scrubbed from an East LA school.
Study released shows California could be at risk from fracking
A state-commissioned study of fracking in California contains both good and bad environmental news.
The good is that scientists found no evidence of groundwater contamination or widespread health effects. The bad is that they had so little data to consider when looking for problems. The report’s critical of oversight, record-keeping, and study of fracking chemicals. What effect will the report have on California fracking? Today on AirTalk, Larry Mantle talks to experts on both sides of the issue.
An Independent Scientific Assessment of Well Stimulation in California
Guests:
Jane Long, Chairman and Lead Scientist for the study by the California Council on Science and Technology
David Quast, California director of Energy in Depth, an oil and gas industry lobbying group
Delay on Iran nuclear deal leads to sanctions
It looks as though diplomats won't conclude an Iran nuclear deal by today’s deadline.
Under U.S. law, the seven nations negotiating in Vienna needed to complete the agreement before the end of Thursday in Washington. Now that it has been missed, it activates a 60-day mandatory period of sanctions. The extended time period is important as Iran is requesting prompt easing of economic penalties for nuclear concessions.
Guests:
Robert Kaufman, a political scientist and professor of public policy at Pepperdine University specializing in American foreign policy, national security, international relations, and various aspects of American politics
Josh Lockman, International Law Professor and expert on U.S. Foreign Policy at the USC Gould School of Law
Trump’s L.A. visit raises questions over strategy for immigrant rights movement
GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump is visiting Los Angeles today, and according to one national poll at least the real estate tycoon is leading the Republican presidential field.
Trump’s L.A. stop comes in the wake of a series of inflammatory remarks he made about immigrants from Mexico, which has resulted in a number of American companies – including Univision and Macy’s – severing business ties with him.
Local immigrant rights group the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) is planning a protest outside of the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, where Trump will be delivering a speech to the group, Friends of Abe, later today.
What’s the best way for the immigration rights movement to deal with a provocateur like Trump?
Guests:
Diana Colin, program director at the CHIRLA Action Fund, the political action arm of CHIRLA, The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. She is the lead organizer of the protests today
Ed Espinoza, Executive Director of strategy firm, Progress Texas; From 2009-2011, Espinoza served as Western States Director at the Democratic National Committee; California Superdelegate for Barack Obama in 2008
Filmweek: ‘Minions,’ ‘What We Did on Our Holiday,’ ‘Tangerine’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Wade Major, and Charles Solomon review this week’s new releases including the animated feature, “Minions,” Rosamund Pike in “What We Did on Our Holiday,” the filmed-on-an-iPhone, LA-set indie, “Tangerine,” and more. TGI-Filmweek!
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and chief film critic for LA Weekly
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and host for IGN’s DigiGods.com
Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC and Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine
Filmmaker D.W. Griffith - best forgotten as KKK booster or memorialized as ground-breaking director?
After the successful bid to tear down the Confederate flag from sites across the country, petitioners in LA want an iconic filmmaker's name, D.W. Griffith, scrubbed from an East LA school because of his 1915 epic that glorified the Civil War-era Ku Klux Klan.
Film critics are torn over the matter.
KPCC critic Tim Cogshell argues "Birth of a Nation" did not just spur a resurgence of the white supremacist group, but it also fell short of a being a great film. Still it was Hollywood's first blockbuster and broke new ground in its technique and style.
Wade Major, critic for IGN’s Digigods.com and KPCC, is loathe to revise history by removing Griffith's name. Major says concealing all evidence of the Confederacy and the Civil War ignores how the North and South came together after the war - honoring the dead on both sides.
After "Birth of a Nation," Griffith sought redemption with "Intolerance" - a film showing the damage and dangers of racial intolerance. By 1939, after Griffith's career had fizzled, Los Angeles school officials named the East L.A. school David Wark Griffith.
This controversy is similar to one that has dogged the 1939 epic, "Gone with the Wind." Some have called for the film to be excluded from the canon of American cinema for its derogatory depiction of blacks during the Civil War. Major protests, saying director David O. Selznick worked "in careful and close consultation with the NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) precisely because he did not want to face the same outrage that greeted Birth of a Nation."
With files from Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
Guests:
Tim Cogshell, Film Critic for KPCC and the Alt-Film Guide
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and host for IGN’s DigiGods.com