Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s infamous drug lord, escaped from a maximum-security Altiplano prison Saturday night through passageway in his prison cell shower. Also, Hollywood, Koreatown, and Downtown are the areas with some of the county’s most dangerous traffic intersections, according to the analysis undertaken by the LA Times. Then, Author Stephanie Hosford shares her experience of beating cancer while pregnant.
‘El Chapo’ Mexico’s most powerful drug-lord escapes from prison for a second time
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s infamous drug lord, escaped from a maximum-security Altiplano prison Saturday night through passageway in his prison cell shower.
The tunnel he escaped through was nearly a mile long and authorities believe his escape has been in the works for months. This is Guzman’s second escape. His first escape was from a different prison in 2001. He remained a fugitive until he was captured just last year.
During his time as a fugitive, Guzman became one of the most powerful drug lords in the world with his fortune estimated at more than $1 billion. Guzman is an international criminal with many drug-trafficking and organized-crime charges against him in the United States.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement, “the U.S. government stands ready to work with our Mexican partners to provide any assistance that may help support his swift recapture.”
What should the U.S. role be in the effort to clean up corruption in Mexico?
Guests:
Sam Quinones, Journalist and author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
Andrew Selee, Director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C
LA Times crunches data to reveal county’s 817 most dangerous intersections
Hollywood, Koreatown, and Downtown are the areas with some of the county’s most dangerous traffic intersections, according to the analysis undertaken by the LA Times.
The paper finds that even though pedestrians were involved in 1 in 10 road accidents, they accounted for over 35 percent of traffic deaths.
As Los Angeles strives to get people out of their cars and increase travel by bike or public transport, ensuring the safety of pedestrians is going to be paramount for the city.
What can be done to make the streets safer for everyone?
Guests:
Laura Nelson, one of the reporters behind “Walking in L.A.: Times analysis finds the county’s 817 most dangerous intersections” published over the weekend in the LA Times
Deborah Murphy, Executive Director of Los Angeles Walks, a pedestrian advocacy group; Chair of City of Los Angeles Pedestrian Advisory Committee
As more people replace lawns, how is it changing Southern California landscape?
You’ve probably seen the ads on TV for Turf Terminators, the most popular company in the contractor direct-rebate program offered by the the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s (MWD) for lawn removal.
Once a homeowner has successfully applied for a rebate, the contractor fills out the paperwork, tears out the lawn, and replaces it with a drought tolerant landscape, and in turn, receives the entire rebate.
Turf Terminators won the business of 97% of the 15% of applicants that participate in the contractor direct rebate program and has earned $5.8 million through May for replacing people’s lawns. But some accuse the company of using the cheapest elements available to make the most money. Their signature look is to replace grass with white rock and a couple of plants.
Those plants may not be native, and the white rock’s reflective nature can create hot spots of urban heat island effect, preventing the earth beneath it from absorbing water because it evaporates so quickly off its bright surface. So while removing the lawn results in a lower water bill, it might be causing greater problems down the road as it creates hotter urban spots that can’t collect water.
14,000 households across Los Angeles have received MWD rebates so far. The program ran out of money earlier this month, but not before approving 45,000 applicants for the process of removing their lawns and replacing them with drought tolerant landscapes.
Have you decided to replace your lawn recently? If so, how did you do it? And with what material?
Guests:
Lili Singer, Director of Special Projects and Adult Education, Theodore Payne Foundation, a native plant nursery in Sun Valley
Mia Lehrer, Owner of Mia Lehrer + Associates, a landscape architecture firm She wrote an op-ed for the LA Times this summer, "Don't gravelscape L.A."
California ballot measure seeks signatures for cigarette tax
Just three years after a similar ballot measure was narrowly defeated, a new ballot initiative gathering signatures is asking California voters to support a $2 per-pack cigarette tax.
The effort being backed form the California Medical Association, the American Lung Association, and the Service Employees International Union seeks revenue for health care programs and services, to the tune of $1.1 billion in its first year.
Analysis by the California Budget and Policy Center of 2012's Proposition 29 tobacco tax initiative found a tobacco tax increase would disproportionately affect low-income Californians, who spend a larger share of their incomes on tobacco products.
The ballot's backers argue increasing the cost of cigarettes and tobacco products is widely recognized as the most effective way to reduce smoking across California.
What are the chances of this new initiative compared to 2012's Proposition 29?
California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016
PROPOSITION 29: SHOULD CALIFORNIA INCREASE THE CIGARETTE TAX?
Guests:
Anthony Wright, Executive Director for Health Access California - a statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition
David Kline, Vice President of Communications and Research, California Taxpayers Association
For millennials, ‘selling out’ is a concept that has become obsolete
Once upon a time, it was considered controversial for a band or a musician to pitch products made by giant corporations.
Think Bob Dylan and the Chrysler Super Bowl ad. But the millennial generation has little qualms with seeing their favorite artists “sell out.” As a matter of fact, most don’t know what the term means.
Frontline correspondent Douglas Rushkoff and Washington Post pop music critic have respectively looked at some of the reasons behind this shift.
Guests:
Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist and correspondent of the recent FRONTLINE documentary, “Generation Like.”
Chris Richards, pop music critic at the Washington Post and author of the recent piece, “Is it even still possible to ‘sell out’?”
How one woman beat cancer while pregnant
Being pregnant is hard enough. But pregnant and battling cancer, that is almost unthinkable.
In the book “Bald, Fat & Crazy: How I Beat Cancer While Pregnant with One Daughter and Adopting Another” author Stephanie Hosford shares her experience of getting two big doses of news within days of each other. The first, she has cancer. The second, she was going to have a baby.
Hosford describes her nine-month ordeal and how she found the strength to beat the odds and take on the obstacles thrown her way.
Guest:
Stephanie Hosford, author of “Bald, Fat & Crazy: How I Beat Cancer While Pregnant with One Daughter and Adopting Another” (Nothing But The Truth, 2015)