ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL; UNITED HEALTH/PACIFICARE MERGER; ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT REFORM; AMERICA’S CRUISE SHIP EMPIRES
ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL
A bill that would have allowed terminally ill people in California to get a lethal prescription to hasten their deaths has failed in the California legislature. Polls show a solid majority of Californians favor such a law, but Assemblywoman Patty Berg of Eureka and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys could not muster enough votes in the face of strong opposition from the Catholic Church and activists for the disabled. The Death With Dignity Act cleared two committees but was never brought up for a vote on the Assembly floor. Levine said 33 of the 80 lawmakers had committed to vote for the bill — short of the 41 votes needed. Larry Mantle discusses the failure of the bill with a spokesman for its backers in the Assembly and Ned Dolejsi of the California Catholic Conference.
UNITED HEALTH/PACIFICARE MERGER
Larry talks with experts about the proposed merger of United Health Group, the nation’s second largest health insurer, and California based Pacificare.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT REFORM
The 33 year-old Endangered Species Act is itself endangered. A pair of competing House bills seek to reform ESA so it can meet the environmental realities and political demands of the 21st century. Larry Mantle talks to Brian Kennedy, an aide for the House Resources Committee, Montana Governor and scientist Brian Schweitzer and John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation.
AMERICA’S CRUISE SHIP EMPIRES
A few decades ago, the cruising business was moribund, a dying backwater of the transportation industry. Today, it’s one of the most profitable businesses in the world, a truly global enterprise of immense proportions. Larry Mantle talks with Kristoffer Garin about his new book Devils on the Deep Blue Sea in which he chronicles the cruise industry’s dramatic rise from obscurity to a hugely lucrative and powerful enterprise.