Amazon may begin delivering groceries, including fresh produce, to Los Angeles. The company, known as AmazonFresh, has been operating in Seattle for some time, but will this expansion into L.A. succeed? Also, about 20 players may be suspended from the MLB for doping, education reform activist Michelle Rhee discusses her new memoir and current battles in improving schools, and actor and director Dustin Hoffman talks about his new film and role with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. All that and more, today on AirTalk.
Would you use Amazon.com's grocery delivery service? (Poll)
The hyper-competitive grocery market in LA is expecting a major new player in the coming days. Reuters reports that Amazon.com will offer grocery delivery to your doorstep, including fresh organic produce, meat and dairy.
AmazonFresh, as its grocery section is called, has been testing in its hometown of Seattle for the last five years. It's expected to add LA, San Francisco and 20 other urban markets if all goes well.
The fear for other grocers, large and small, is that Amazon.com will treat its food business as a loss leader; just one more way to attract consumers buying more expensive wares such as electronics. Regardless, market watchers have seen many grocery businesses fail, both online and off.
If you're a regular Amazon shopper, will you add milk and strawberries to your power blender order? If you're not a regular on Amazon, could rock-bottom prices make you switch from your current market? Why is Amazon taking this step? What will Amazon do differently to try to ensure success?
Guests:
Mary Sullivan, research analyst at RetailNet Group
Burt Flickinger, Managing Director, Strategic Resource Group; Flickinger is a retail consultant specializing in grocers and the Southern California food market
MLB Update: Doping allegations, McCourt in court, and Yasiel Puig on fire
With summer almost upon us, the MLB season is in full swing, pardon the pun, and this week it’s produced action both on and off the field. In a surprise feature on ESPN this morning, it came to the fore that the league is looking into lengthy suspensions of about 20 players connected to a Miami-area clinic embroiled in a performance-enhancing drug scandal.
Players under investigation include MLB superstars Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, and if the league followed through on punishments, it would seem to be a turn toward confronting doping in baseball in a profound way. If players are found to be doping, what’s a fair punishment?
Also breaking this morning, a judge ruled that former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and current club ownership can’t keep details of their financial relationship secret. But odds are Dodgers fans aren’t too distraught by the news, because, after a lackluster beginning to their season, a star in the making has suddenly arrived in the dugout by the name of Yasiel Puig. The Cuban connected on three of his four at bats last night against the San Diego Padres, and the result was a double, a solo homerun, and a two-run homer that pushed the Dodgers safely past the Padres, 9-7. Can Puig save the Dodgers?
Michelle Rhee and her ‘Radical’ education reform agenda
Education activist Michelle Rhee has made quite the name for herself in education reform. While being a chancellor in the Washington D.C. school district, she closed 25 schools and laid off and fired about 300 teachers, principals and district office workers. The reason? “Students first” — Rhee’s slogan and guiding principle in education reform. During her time as chancellor, Rhee boasts that the pay-off for her drastic changes was seeing math and reading scores increase in the Washington D.C. school district, graduation rates rise and education funding increase.
In her new memoir, “Radical: Fighting to Put Students First,” the book begins with a glimpse into Rhee’s first experience as a young teacher in a difficult school district, where she had no control over her classroom and her students. By watching another teacher, she realized that it was not her students who were bad, but it was herself that needed to improve as a teacher. From there, she began to develop the belief of needing to let go of poor-performing teachers, regardless of tenure, and being able to measurably increase students’ math and reading scores.
Michelle Rhee tells AirTalk about her memoir and her current battles in education reform. Rhee supported California Senator Ron Calderon’s proposal to hold teachers accountable by more evaluations. How does she feel about that bill failing to pass? Also, Rhee weighs in on Governor Jerry Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula Proposal to increase funding for low-income students and English learners.
Does Rhee have any regrets about her past actions? Is there anything she would have done differently? What is vital to education reform in California?
Guest:
Michelle Rhee, author of “Radical: Fighting to Put Students First;” founder and CEO of StudentsFirst; former chancellor to the District of Columbia Public Schools
Presenting...Dustin Hoffman, Director
Actor and now director Dustin Hoffman joins AirTalk to discuss his new projects. This veteran actor took a shot at directing in his new movie, “Quartet,” a film about retired opera singers living together in a retirement home. As the movie explores aging musicians, how did Hoffman feel about his new venture as a director after decades of acting? Also, Hoffman will be the honorary chairman of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's 24th annual Silent Film event. The event will present Walt Disney’s "Hungry Hobos" and Buster Keaton’s "Our Hospitality" with live orchestral accompaniment. How did Hoffman get involved with the Chamber Orchestra and become an honorary chairman?
Guest:
Dustin Hoffman, legendary film actor and honorary chairman of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's 24th annual Silent Film event this Saturday, June 8th
The 24th annual Silent Film event will be at 7 P.M. on Saturday, June 8th in Royce Hall. Click here for more information.