LONDON TERRORISM UPDATE; PROP 77 REMOVED FROM SPECIAL ELECTION BALLOT; YUAN REVALUATION; CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER TO SUE OVER KOCE SALE; FilmWeek
LONDON TERRORISM UPDATE
Plainclothes police chased a man in a thick coat through a subway station, wrestled him to the floor and shot him to death in front of stunned commuters Friday. Police said the shooting was “directly linked'' to the investigations of the bomb attacks on London's transit system. Larry Mantle talks with Wall Street Journal reporter Mark Champion for the latest news in London. Then he talks with Time magazine security writer Nathan Thornberg and Captain Dan Finkelstein of the LA Sheriff’s department about security measures being taken in the U.S. and here in the Southland.
PROP 77 REMOVED FROM SPECIAL ELECTION BALLOT
A judge's decision to kick Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative off the November ballot throws another obstacle in the way of his efforts to reshape state government. Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled Thursday that the initiative's supporters violated the state constitution by using two versions of the measure in the qualifying process. Larry Mantle talks with Gale Kaufman of the Alliance for a Better California, Ted Costa of the People's Advocate, Inc. and Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Weintraub.
YUAN REVALUATION
China's currency rose about 2 percent against the U.S. dollar on Friday, a day after the government cut the yuan's link to the dollar in a move that could make Chinese exports more expensive and foreign assets cheaper for China to buy. The surprise announcement Thursday came after years of lobbying by China's trading partners, which said the tightly controlled currency was undervalued and gave Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage. Larry Mantle talks with Jack Kyser of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.
CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER TO SUE OVER KOCE SALE
Daystar Television Network, a Christian broadcaster owning over 40 television stations nationwide, will sue the trustees of Orange County’s KOCE for declining their bid to buy the PBS station. Daystar announced it would sue Coast Community College District, the owners of KOCE, alleging that it violated the company’s constitutional right to freedom of religion by rejecting its bid. KOCE has a noncommercial license that requires it provide educational programming. Larry Mantle talks with KOCE Foundation Chairman Bob Brown, Coast Community College District attorney Milford Dahl and Jim Loper USC’s Annenberg School for Communication.
FilmWeek
Larry Mantle and critics Jean Oppenheimer of New Times and Henry Sheehan of HenrySheehan.com discuss this week's new releases, including The Bad News Bears, The Island, The Devil's Rejects, Hustle & Flow, Last Days, Meet the Family, The Oil Factor: Behind the War on Terror, Twist of Faith, Tropical Malady, and November.