Death penalty ballot measure. Orange County journalists’ roundtable. LACMA’s boulder is on the road. Mormon’s baptize Daniel Pearl. The Wrecking Crew steps out of the studio and into the spotlight.
Should the death penalty be overturned in California?
An initiative that would do away with the death penalty in favor of life without parole is one step closer to the November ballot. Backers of the Savings Accountability and Full Enforcement California Act, or SAFE are submitting what they’re calling “far and above the minimum” number of signatures in three California cities to qualify the initiative to go before the voters.
If enacted, the measure would have a number of far reaching affects. It would retroactively turn all death penalty convictions into life sentences, require prisoners to work while incarcerated with their wages going to pay any restitution they may owe and would also set aside $100 million to solve future crimes.
A Legislative Analysts Office review of the bill found it would save about $50 million dollars annually. The savings would come from shorter murder trials, a cut-down in incarceration costs in the pre-trial period and fewer man hours that law enforcement personnel would have to spend prepping for and participating in murder trials.
Opponents of SAFE however question those cost savings. They say there’s no real way to know how much money SAFE would save because the numbers don’t actually exist. In addition, the state could save millions if they just made the process more efficient.
WEIGH IN:
Is it time we rethought the death penalty? Do the costs savings outweigh the benefits of the death penalty? And, will the bill really make it to the November ballot?
Guests:
Ellen Kreitzberg, Professor of Law, Santa Clara Law School. Part of the organizational committee on the SAFE act
Michael D. Rushford, Founder, President, and CEO of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit, public interest law organization dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice
Orange County journalists’ roundtable
Larry and our talented trio of Orange County journalists riff on the latest news from the O.C. First up: O.C. Supervisors kill Chairman Moorlach’s plan to extend term limits. We’ll also talk about social workers worried over Percs found in soil; Superintendant Jeffrey Hubbard’s release from weekend jail stay, scandals at the Trinity Christian Center of Santa Ana; layoffs at the OC Register, including Yvette Cabrera; the strange tussle between conservative candidate Deb Pauly and Orange cops over Pauly’s husband’s drinking and much, much more.
Guests:
Gustavo Arellano, Managing Editor of the OC Weekly and author of "Taco USA" and “Ask A Mexican”
Teri Sforza, Staff Writer for the Orange County Register
Norberto Santana, Editor-in-Chief of the Voice of OC, a non-profit investigative news agency that covers Orange County government and politics
LACMA’s boulder is on the road
A 340-ton rock started moving on Tuesday from its home in Riverside County. The megalith will travel for almost two weeks until it arrives to Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Saturday, March 10. The two-story-high granite boulder comes from a quarry in the Jurupa Valley, in Riverside County; it will grace the museum’s entrance in artist Michael Heizer’s permanent exhibition titled “Levitated Mass.”
Just exactly how do you move such a gargantuan? It took months of research, engineering studies, and collaboration with officials in four counties and nearly two dozen cities to answer that question. The boulder is being transported on a custom-built, 294-foot-long trailer that will travel at a speed limit of 8 mph, and only at night between 11 pm and 5 am. The boulder is too tall for overpasses and too heavy for bridges, so engineers at Emmert International have established a fairly circuitous route that avoids both, including streets deemed too weak to support the boulder-laden trailer. The trip – no doubt costly – will be paid for by private donors.
Why spend so much time and energy on transferring the boulder? Why not just leave it where it was? What’s the significance of this art exhibit? What does it mean to LACMA?
Guest:
Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Mormons baptize Daniel Pearl posthumously
It's been revealed a group of Mormons performed a baptism ritual for slain "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl last year. Pearl, who was Jewish, was infamously kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002 while investigating Al-Qaeda operatives.
His widow Mariane Pearl is disturbed to learn about the ritual. "It's a lack of respect for Danny and a lack of respect for his parents," she told the “The Boston Globe.” Mormon Church officials have denounced the baptism by independent members of their church. While "proxy" and "posthumous" baptisms are a central tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the rite can only be performed with a family relation of the chosen one.
Nevertheless, Jewish Holocaust victims were baptized for years, before the Church agreed to halt the practice in 1995. NPR spoke with Helen Radkey, a former Mormon who has become a whistleblower for controversial church activity. Radkey says the number of such baptisms "is reaching really ludicrous proportions. [Mormon] officials promised time and time again that they would stop and they haven't done it."
Last month, records indicate the parents of the late Jewish-rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal were posthumously baptized. Church officials apologized for that rite, too. Another widely-reported posthumous baptism was performed on the atheist father-in-law of GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. The Mormon Church has considered disciplinary action against members who violate rules of the rite.
What is the Mormon Church’s rationale for these baptisms? What exactly upsets the opponents of this practice? How can the Church do a better job of controlling such activity by independent groups of people?
Guests:
Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles
Patrick Q. Mason, Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University
The Wrecking Crew steps out of the studio and into the spotlight
You might not know the Wrecking Crew by name, but you’d definitely recognize their music. This group of Los Angeles studio musicians comprised some of the most influential instrumentalists in pop music history.
They were the artists who provided the building blocks for Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound,” recorded the music for the Byrds’ first single and recorded with the likes of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, The Carpenters, The Monkees and Bing Crosby.
To shed some light on this oft-underappreciated cadre of musicians, Kent Hartman, music entrepreneur and author, wrote “The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret,” a collection of stories and accounts given by Hal Blaine, the Crew’s drummer-in-chief, Carol Kaye, noted bassist/guitarist and one of the only female musicians to be successful at the time, and several other members of the Wrecking Crew themselves.
What was it like to work for Phil Spector? How was it for these musicians to work behind the scenes and go without being credited? Did the money make up for it? Were they just happy to be getting paid to make music in some way? Where are the members of the Wrecking Crew now?
Guest:
Kent Hartman, author of "The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret" (Thomas Dunn Books)
On Friday, March 2 at 7:00pm, Kent Hartman discusses and signs "The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret" at Book Soup. For more information, click here.