The Manhattan Beach City Council will decide today whether it wants to make a ban on fishing from the pier permanent. Also, according to new surveys out this month, the Affordable Care Act has cut California’s uninsured rate in half. Then, LA City Attorney Mike Feuer released a statement today to file a temporary restraining order on a new medical marijuana farmers market in Boyle Heights.
Should Manhattan Beach ban pier fishing?
The Manhattan Beach City Council will decide today whether it wants to make a ban on fishing from the pier permanent. Fishing from the Manhattan Beach Pier has been barred temporarily after a Great White shark bit a swimmer on July 5. Many surfers and swimmers were shaken by the incident, which they say is a result of irresponsible fishing practices.
The shark was hooked on the line of a fisherman on the pier during the attack -- although fishing for sharks is already illegal, some of the pier fishers have big game in mind, and use metal lines and big bait. Critics of the ban argue that banning pier fishing is an unreasonable response to the incident, and that many people fish from the pier to cheaply feed or entertain their families.
What is the best way for swimmers and fishers to compromise to keep everyone safe? Should Manhattan Beach ban pier fishing?
Guests:
Chris Erskine, Los Angeles Times Columnist and Surfing enthusiast
Craig Shuman, marine region manager, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Who should take prophylactic HIV medications like Truvada?
In an announcement last Friday, the World Health Organization recommended that all men who have sex with men take antiretroviral medication to prevent the contraction of HIV. Antiretrovirals, sold under the name Truvada, are used to treat HIV, but have also been shown to prevent the spread of the virus. Men who have sex with men are the most at-risk population when it comes to HIV -- they are 19 times more likely to contract the virus than heterosexual men.
The United States CDC recommended Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for people with HIV-positive partners and for certain populations of gay men in May. The WHO’s more sweeping advisory includes all men who have sex with men, and may carry more weight internationally. There is some concern about the WHO’s recommendations, including worry within the LGBT community that men will stop using condoms, and that the focus on PrEP might be misplaced at a time when community outreach and sex education is still vital to HIV prevention.
Other critics argue that it’s best to learn more about the long term impact and side effects of Truvada, and that condom use and other safe sex practices are the best bet. Proponents of the announcement say that it will legitimize PrEP and make it easier and cheaper for at-risk populations to prevent the spread of HIV.
What are the best ways to prevent the spread of HIV? Is prophylactic use of antiretrovirals a feasible option? How will the WHO recommendation impact HIV treatment and prevention in the U.S. and internationally?
Guests:
Thomas Coates, Ph.D, Director of the UCLA Center for World Health, and is the Michael and Sue Steinberg Endowed Professor of Global AIDS Research within the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA
Perry Halkitis, Ph.D, Professor of Applied Psychology, Public Health and Medicine; Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Global Institute of Public Health at NYU
New numbers add fuel to the ACA debate
According to new surveys out this month, the Affordable Care Act has cut California’s uninsured rate in half (from 22% last fall to 11% today). Moreover, 60% of the newly insured say they’re better off, and nearly 80% of the newly insured say they’re very or somewhat satisfied with their coverage. But critics cry foul. Does your experience match those findings? We’ll debate the future of the ACA with our health policy reporter and two dueling health policy experts. Call or write in with your experience and questions.
Guests:
Stephanie O’Neill, KPCC Health Reporter
Yevgeniy Feyman, Fellow at the Center for Medical Progress at the Manhattan Institute
Shana Alex Charles, director of health insurance studies at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
LA Court halts Boyle Heights pot farmers market just weeks after opening
LA City Attorney Mike Feuer released a statement today to file a temporary restraining order on a new medical marijuana farmers market in Boyle Heights.
The California Heritage Market — which opened on 4th of July weekend — is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, marking a unique opportunity for card-carrying cannabis patients to purchase marijuana directly from growers.
Feuer says that this market is “an unauthorized, unpermitted use of the property” that has not obtained the proper zoning approvals. David Welch, an attorney representing the market, on the other hand, says that’s not the case. Welch says the market’s executive director, Paizley Bradbury, spoke to an engineer with the city’s Building and Safety Department who said a permit was not necessary.
As of Tuesday morning, the LA Superior Court granted the restraining order on California Heritage Market and it is effective immediately. There will be an additional hearing on this ruling August 6.
Guests:
Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney
David Welch, Attorney for West Coast Collective and represents the market’s operators
Spurring drought-stricken Californians to turf thirsty lawns
Today, California's Water Board is considering imposing fines and limits on water usage. Outdoor watering accounts for more than half of residential water use, which is why local jurisdictions have been paying homeowners to rip up thirsty grass lawns and replace them with anything resistant to drought.
As KPCC’s Molly Peterson reported, the incentive programs have not proved popular yet. Records compiled from the Metropolitan Water District, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Burbank Water and Power, the City of Anaheim, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, the Western Municipal Water District and other sources reveal that nearly 5 million square feet of lawn have been torn out because of incentive programs—that’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the square footage possible.
Why haven’t these programs caught on? What would prove to be a better incentive?
Guest:
Hadley Arnold, Executive Director, Arid Lands Institute - focused on the intersecttion of design, policy, and science of water scarcity at Woodbury University in Burbank
NASA closer to learning more about Pluto
At this time next year, NASA's probe New Horizons will fly by the planet-like object Pluto and discover more about the icy ball. The last time scientists reached for a major solar system body was Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989.
Data from New Horizons might reignite the debate about Pluto's interstellar status.It was back in 2006 when - what was thought to be the furthest planet in our solar system - Pluto was demoted to a "dwarf planet." Pasadena astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech played a major role in reclassifying little Pluto.
His team had found that Pluto was not the largest object in the faraway Kuiper Belt - the ring of icy bodies in orbit beyond Neptune.
Guests:
Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy, Caltech; Author, “How I Killed Pluto”
Sean Carroll, Senior Research Associate in Physics at California Institute of Technology