4 million federal employees’ data may have been compromised after a cybersecurity breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Also, whether the earth experienced a break in rising temperature is being debated.Then, is the Los Angeles Film Festival on its way to becoming the next Sundance?
Assessing the damage from breach of federal employee data linked to Chinese hacking
4 million federal employees’ data may have been compromised after a cybersecurity breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, and intelligence officials say the hack leads back to the Chinese.
This isn’t the first time the OPM has been hacked. In July of last year, Department of Homeland Security officials reported a possible breach on the OPM’s network that was traced back to China. It was unclear at the time whether that also meant the Chinese government was involved.
The Chineses have vehemently denied any part in the breach, calling the U.S.’s allegations “baseless” in an editorial that ran Friday in the Chinese state-run news agency.
If hackers can breach government networks and access employee data, how serious is the threat to other Americans’ information? How and why are these hacks happening? If China is involved, what are they hoping to do with the data they took? How are officials in Washington, D.C. responding to the breach?
Guests:
Tal Kopan, cybersecurity reporter for POLITICO. She tweets
Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Previously, he was a Vice President of Threat Research at the security software company McAfee.
New NOAA study throws doubt on existence of ‘global warming hiatus’
The new study, conducted by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was published Thursday in the journal Science.
Whether the earth experienced a break in rising temperature has been a point of contention in the debate over whether climate change is a man-made phenomenon.
The 14-year hiatus is thought to have taken place between around 1998 to 2012, when the earth experienced very little change in surface temperatures despite a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.
Analyzing new data that wasn’t previously available, the NOAA study now says the pause might not have happened at all. “The notion that there was a slowdown in global warming, or a hiatus, was based on the best information we had available at the time,” Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, a NOAA unit in Asheville, N.C., told the New York Times. “Science is always working to improve.”
The new results quickly drew condemnation from climate change skeptics, but also questions from climate change proponents.
Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus
Guests:
Steve Gregory, KPCC's Environment and Science Editor
William Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge
GOP presidential field gets even more crowded as Rick Perry, Jeb Bush declare intentions
Hoping second time’s the charm, former Texas governor Rick Perry is the latest GOP candidate to throw his hat in the ring. He first tried his hand in 2012 and ultimately dropped out of the race two days before the South Carolina primary.
Joining Perry and an already crowded GOP field will be former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has announced that he’ll formalize his plans for the 2016 election on June 15.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is getting another two challengers in the form of erstwhile Maryland governor Martin O’Malley and former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee. Last month, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders officially kicked off his presidential campaign.
Guests:
Beth Reinhard, national politics reporter at the Wall Street Journal who’s covering the 2016 presidential campaign
David Mark, co-author of “Dog Whistles, Walk-Backs, and Washington Handshakes (ForeEdge, 2014), and co-author of a weekly political language column for the Christian Science Monitor
Weighing American Pharoah’s chances to win the Triple Crown
In June of 1978, the average price of gas was around 65 cents per gallon, L.A. still had a football team, ‘The Buddy Holly Story’ sat atop the box office movie list, and Affirmed won the Triple Crown in horse racing.
Since then, 13 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes only to come up short or not even race in the Belmont Stakes, the Triple Crown’s third and final leg. California Chrome looked strong in 2014 after winning the first two legs, but finished fourth at Belmont after suffering an injury at the start of the race. In 2012, I’ll Have Another was scratched the day before Belmont due to injury.
American Pharoah is the latest horse to have a shot at racing immortality after wins at Churchill Downs and Pimlico this year. If he can outlast all of his opponents during the grueling 1.5 mile stretch at Belmont Park, he’ll become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and the twelfth in horse racing history.
Do you think American Pharoah has what it takes to win the Triple Crown? How significant would it be to see a Triple Crown winner for the first time in 37 years?
Guests:
Steve Andersen, Southern California Correspondent for Daily Racing Form
Mike Willman, Director of Publicity at Santa Anita Racetrack
FilmWeek: ‘Entourage,’ ‘Spy’ and ‘Insidious 3’
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein and Tim Cogshell review this week’s new film releases, including the TV-hit turned film "Entourage," Melissa McCarthy’s comedic “Spy,” the horror prequel “Insidious: Chapter 3” and more. TGI-Filmweek!
Your Favorite Movies of the 1990s
Guests:
Lael Loewenstein, film critic for KPCC and Variety
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Alt Film Guide
Preview of 2015 LA Film Fest: More LA, more unique, more diverse artistry
Promising the most unique, diverse, and entertaining lineup, plus master classes, live performances and more at L.A. Live downtown.
One of the more successful themed programs at the fest last year was LA Muse, with movies that feature the city of Angels. This year's LA Muse includes a Zoe Cassavetes feature about a struggling actress, "Day of Days," and "The Drew: No Excuse, Just Produce" - fast-paced documentary about a storied, competitive basketball league in South Central Los Angeles.
Those features also highlight another unique aspect of LAFF - an exceptional number of female and minority filmmakers. How did the curators find and choose a ton of first-time and second-time directors? Is LAFF on its way to rivalling Sundance?
The LA Film Festival runs from June 10-18.
Guest: