A new set of rules released by state regulators on Friday affect the way marijuana is delivered, how it's advertised and much more. We discuss the details. We also conduct our weekly political round table; analyze why black babies are twice as likely to die as their white counterparts in the U.S.; and more
Week in politics: Takeaways from Trump-Putin summit, what CA Dems endorsement of Kevin de Leon means for Sen. Feinstein and more
AirTalk’s weekly political roundup covers the headlines you might’ve missed this weekend and previews the political stories to watch for in the week to come.
What we are learning/have learned from the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki
Follow to Friday’s indictment of 12 Russian military officers in 2016 election meddling
Recap of president’s visit to U.K., comments on Theresa May’s handling of Brexit as well as digs at NATO, future of U.S.-U.K. relations and likelihood of a post-Brexit trade deal
What we learned from the Peter Strzok hearing and impact of cable news & camera presence on those kind of hearings
Party strategies for Kavanaugh confirmation and what we might actually learn from the hearing
Latest on reunification of migrant families separated at border
Kevin de Leon gets California Democratic Party endorsement — what does this mean for him and for Sen. Feinstein? And what does this portend for progressives like de Leon and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in New York?
With guest host Libby Denkmann
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Pussy Riot interrupts a World Cup that was otherwise fairly free of political conversation
If you were watching the World Cup Sunday night, you may have seen three women and one man dressed as police officers rushing the field and disrupting the France/Croatia final game.
These were members of Pussy Riot, the Russian protest group, who said they were making a point about Russian policing and the jailing of citizens for political crimes, such as “liking” certain posts on social media.
This was a move of protest in the context of a World Cup that has been fairly free of conversation about Russia’s human rights record. Why haven’t there been any other statements about Russian politics during this month of soccer matches? What is the history of Pussy Riot and political protest in contemporary Russia?
With guest host Libby Denkmann.
Guests:
Yuval Weber, expert on Russian domestic politics and international security; associate professor at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security; his forthcoming book is "Designed to Fail: Patterns in Russian Economic Reform, 1860-2018" (Fall 2018, Agenda/Columbia University Press)
Yoshiko Herrera, professor of political science specializing in Russia and the former Soviet states at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
State agencies released a draft of permanent regulations for legal marijuana in CA, a check-in on the industry
For the last seven months that California’s recreational marijuana industry has been officially legal, growers, manufacturers and retailers have been operating under emergency regulations, the most recent set of which set new testing regulations that have some dispensaries scrambling to replenish their inventories with compliant product.
But state regulators say a new set of permanent rules in the works would not only ease certain testing requirements, but also clarify some of the bigger questions about where pot delivery services can operate and how certain products can be advertised.
The California Bureau of Cannabis Control, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Public Health put out drafts of their proposed regulations on Friday, and maybe the biggest takeaway appears to be the clarification of exactly where cannabis delivery services can legally operate. The draft proposal also contained updated rules for how products can be packaged and advertised, but left out a 1-acre cap on grow space per farmer that growers and cultivators say is necessary to open up the cannabis market to smaller grow operations.
The new rules come not only as the industry is trying to get up to speed with the new set of emergency regulations that went into effect on July 1, but also as the industry tries to find its footing and prevent growers, cultivators, retailers, manufacturers, and customers from going back to the black market to get their cannabis to take advantage of the lack of strict regulations and, at least for customers, the potential for lower prices thanks to no taxes.
AirTalk guest host Libby Denkmann checks in on the state of California’s legal marijuana market more than half a year into its existence and looks ahead to how permanent regulations will impact the industry.
With guest host Libby Denkmann
AirTalk invited the California Bureau of Cannabis Control to participate in this segment but as of its airing, we had not received a response.
Guests:
Brooke Staggs, reporter covering cannabis for the Orange County Register and The Cannifornian, a collaboration of the Southern California News Group and other Digital First Media organizations across California covering the state’s legal cannabis industry; she tweets
Sarah Armstrong, policy chair for Southern California Coalition, an advocacy group representing the marijuana industry; director of industry affairs, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a Washington, DC-based advocacy organization for medical cannabis patients
Why are black babies twice as likely to die as white babies in the US?
It’s not easy to talk about infant mortality rates, but one ugly statistic is causing alarm: black babies around the country are twice as likely as white babies to die before their first birthday.
In Los Angeles county, they’re three times as likely to not make it to one year. In Oakland, the rate is up to four times.
This problem has persisted for decades, but why? And what’s being done to try to close the gap? KPCC early childhood reporter Priska Neely has been tackling the issue in a series of reporting and joins us to talk about it.
Have you or someone you know experienced this loss? How has it impacted your life? Call us at 866-893-5722 to share your stories or comment below.
With guest host Libby Denkmann
This project received support from the Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship and its Fund for Journalism on Child Well-being.
Guests:
Priska Neely, KPCC reporter covering early childhood; she tweets
Tyan Parker Dominguez, clinical associate professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work; her research focuses on persistent racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality, the psychosocial and biological impact of stress on pregnancy and more