What did we learn about the election over the weekend?; Nancy Reagan died on Sunday at age 94; and a political science and mathematics professor explains the STEM "delusion."
AirTalk election 2016: Flint debate analysis and handicapping both parties after weekend caucuses, primaries
It was a whirlwind weekend of political developments, including smaller primaries and caucuses, and last night's Democratic debate in Flint.
Tomorrow, Michigan and Mississippi voters decide.
Not surprisingly, given the location, much of the time was devoted to manufacturing, trade deals, and racial perceptions. Clinton clearly saw an opening to score with her support of the auto industry bailout when she accused Sanders of voting against it.
However, according to Fact Check.org, Sanders supported the first bill that explicitly provided $15-billion for carmakers. He voted against the second TARP allocation, which didn't contain much mention of Detroit. President Obama later disbursed nearly $80-billion of that money to GM and Chrysler, but the bill wasn't pitched that way to Congress. And for the first time, we had a question about how the candidates viewed their religious faiths.
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
Paris Dennard, Republican political analyst and former staffer for President George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee; he tweets
Obama’s SCOTUS nominee strategy after Sandoval trial balloon
The Brian Sandoval nomination the White House floated last month to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia was short-lived. What the litmus test revealed is the strength of the GOP’s united front against any Obama nominee.
Weeks after the trial balloon, the Washington Post is reporting on a new strategy the Obama administration is hammering out. In particular, the White House is looking at a list of relatively fresh-faced federal judges who are considered ideologically neutral, and without a long judicial records.
Citing anonymous sources, the paper says President Obama believes that a sitting federal judge would be represent his best chance at getting the Senate confirmation hearings held for the vacant seat, even though Republicans on both sides of the aisle have stood by their position.
Guest:
Amy Goldstein, DC reporter for the Washington Post who co-reported the piece looking at the federal judges the White House is considering for the vacant Supreme Court seat. She tweets from
What you need to know about superbugs that LA’s sewage plants can’t kill
It must be something in Southern California’s water.
At least that’s the concern about people getting sick from a superbug despite not having recently visited a medical facility.
Environmental Protection Agency officials just announced finding CRE, or carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, in a plant that treats sewage from local hospitals with the rest of the region’s waste. That treated water then makes its way into a stream or straight to the Pacific Ocean. Scientists worry that swimmers and surfers are getting exposed to the antibiotic-resistant bug.
How bad is CRE?
“It’s actually very dangerous,” said Los Angeles Times reporter Melody Peterson. “If it gets into [the] blood stream, it kills half of its victims.”
While Peterson didn’t find any beachgoers who have been found to be infected with CRE, she notes that many people going into Southern California’s water are getting sick.
“Officials are constantly monitoring our beaches for raw sewage, but they aren't doing tests for the drug-resistant bacteria,” said Peterson.
For more about the killer superbug and the steps officials are taking, hear the full conversation above.
This story has been updated.
Remembering Nancy Reagan
Larry Mantle talks with Edmund Morris about the life of Nancy Reagan.
Read the full story here.
Guest:
Edmund Morris, authorized biographer of Ronald Reagan and his memoir, “Dutch” (Random House, 1999)
Why American education’s emphasis on math is misplaced
In this era where student higher-level math skills are touted as never before, a contrarian voice has risen from Queen's College New York.
Professor emeritus of Political Science Andrew Hacker's new book, "The Math Myth," takes direct aim at what he calls the STEM delusion. Students are told repeatedly that to succeed in the economy of the future, a mastery of math and other STEM topics is absolutely necessary.
In his new book, Hacker argues that this emphasis on learning advanced mathematical skills -- algebra, geometry and calculus -- is missing the point. Computer coders don’t need that kind of math to do their job. Something more basic would do, he contends, like statistics and analytic thinking.
Given that one out of five students fails to graduate high school because they fail math, isn’t it time we rethink the country’s educational priorities?
Guest:
Andrew Hacker, a professor emeritus of political science at Queens College in New York, and author of the new book, “The Math Myth and Other STEM Delusions” (The New Press, 2016)
As Gold and Expo lines expand, a look at how it’s changing our commutes & communities
Riding the Metro just got a whole lot easier; at least that’s the Metro Transportation Authority’s goal.
With the grand opening of the Gold Line Foothill Extension on March 5 and a new Expo Line connecting Downtown Los Angeles to Downtown Santa Monica opening later this month, taking public transportation to Citrus College and neighborhoods like Pasadena and Santa Monica is possible.
Have the new extensions and added Wi-Fi convinced you to start riding the Metro? How will these new extensions and technological upgrades change how Angelenos commute?
Guests:
Meghan McCarty, Commuting and Mobility Reporter, KPCC
Ethan Elkind, Associate Director of the Climate Change and Business Program, a joint program between UCLA and UC Berkeley schools of law. He is the author of “Railtown: The Fight for the Los Angeles Metro Rail and the Future of the City” (University of California Press, 2014)