ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS CALL FOR TAX HIKE; METROLINK LAWSUIT; CALIFORNIA ACUPUNCTURE BOARD TARGETED TO BE ABOLISHED; FRANK SINATRA
ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS CALL FOR TAX HIKE
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez presented a budget yesterday which would channel more money to schools by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Californians. Larry Mantle talks with a variety of guests about the idea.
METROLINK LAWSUIT
Last January, three trains collided behind a Costco store on the Los Angeles-Glendale border, killing 11 people. The tracks are fixed and the trains are running again; there’s no sign that the disaster ever took place. But behind the scenes, questions continue: what if anything, can be done to prevent a future disaster? Larry talks to Dan Brucker of New York’s MetroNorth commuter railroad, Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (a rail advocacy group) and Edward Pfiester, an attorney who is suing MetroLink on behalf of the widow of Tom Armiston, a conductor who died in the wreck, alleging that the railroad’s policies contributed to the crash.
CALIFORNIA ACUPUNCTURE BOARD TARGETED TO BE ABOLISHED
Larry Mantle discusses the move by the Schwarzenegger administration and Democratic Lawmakers to do away with the California Acupuncture Board. The lawmakers say that the board is more concerned with promoting the profession than with protecting patient safety.
FRANK SINATRA
Larry Mantle talks with biographer and investigative journalist Anthony Summers and co-author Robbyn Swan about their new biography of Frank Sinatra. The book, called Sinatra: The Life¸ traces the arc of his life from his boyhood in New Jersey to his twilight years in Palm Springs. It includes new information about Sinatra’s mob ties, and a never-before-published interview with his former wife, Ava Gardner.