Attorney General Jerry Brown weighs in on Bell salaries controversy. Will a federal judge block Arizona's SB 1070 immigration law? Remembering legendary journalist Daniel Schorr. And it's FilmWeek on AirTalk. Larry and the critics review the week's new movies, including Salt, Ramona And Beezus, Farewell, and Valhalla Rising. Later, the star of Farewell, Guillaume Canet.
City of Bell: AG and CalPERS investigate excessive local city salaries
An emergency closed-door meeting of Bell’s city council last night ended with three of the city’s top officials stepping down. With angry residents holding vigil outside, The City Manager, Assistant City Manager and Police Chief resigned their positions. The three may receive severance packages or the remainder of their lucrative contracts, the highest in the country, which were negotiated under Bell’s city charter. But are they still entitled to their hefty pensions – the source of residents’ outrage?
Guests:
Jerry Brown, California Attorney General and Democratic candidate for Governor
Frank Stoltze, KPCC Reporter covering Bell
Raphael Sonenshein, Professor, Political Science, CSU Fullerton
Christina Garcia, resident of Bell Gardens; member of The Bell Association to Stop The Abuse (Adjunct Professor of statistics at University of Southern California / USC)
Will Arizona’s immigration law SB 1070 get overturned?
Attorneys from the Justice Department, the ACLU, and the state of Arizona piled into a Phoenix courtroom yesterday, as a federal judge heard arguments challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s strict immigration law. Judge Susan Bolton grilled both teams of lawyers, but issued no ruling. Will she block portions of the law before it’s scheduled to go into effect July 29?
Guest:
Kim Buchanan, Professor of Constitutional Law at USC School of Law
Veteran journalist Daniel Schorr dies at 93
Daniel Schorr, a longtime senior news analyst at NPR and a veteran Washington journalist, has died at 93. Schorr served in Edward R. Murrow's team at CBS News, and in over 60 years in journalism he covered major stories on the Cold War and Watergate. Larry Mantle discusses Schorr's work and legacy.
Guests:
Roger Mudd, television journalist and broadcaster, most recently the primary anchor for The History Channel and a former anchor at CBS Evening News. He is the recipient of a Peabody Award and five Emmy awards.
Craig Curtis, KPCC Program Director
FilmWeek: Salt, Ramona and Beezus, Farewell, Valhalla Rising
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com discuss the films opening this week including Salt, Ramona And Beezus, Farewell, Valhalla Rising, and Mademoiselle Chambon.
Guests:
Lael Loewenstein, KPCC film critic from Variety Henry Sheehan, KPCC film critic from henrysheehan.com Peter Rainer, KPCC film critic from The Christian Science Monitor Live tweeting this week's reviews:
Guillaume Canet delves into Cold War espionage in Farewell
Larry talks with actor Guillaume Canet about the new thriller, Farewell, based on a true story, about the biggest theft of Soviet information in the Cold War. Canet also opens up about his relationship with Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard.
Guest:
Guillaume Canet, director and actor, currently starring in Farewell, opening on July 23