How will today's wins and losses affect the presidential race?; Should welfare programs be used to measure the income inequality gap?; The L.A. Sports Arena will host it's last and final performance on Saturday, what are some of your most memorable experiences there?
What you need to know as voters in Ohio, Florida and three other states hit the polls
Super Tuesday 3, as some call it, is underway and voters in several key states will cast their ballots for the 2016 presidential nominees.
Florida and Ohio are the two biggest prizes of the day. Both are key swing states that could not only be indicators of voters’ moods for the fall campaign, but also spell the end for some or the beginning for others. More Donald Trump victories could spell the end for the rest of the GOP field, but he’s going to have to win two states that two of his rivals call home (Rubio in Florida and Kasich in Ohio).
Rubio and Kasich failing to win their respective home states would almost certainly mean the end of their campaigns. For the Democrats, Bernie Sanders looks to build on his surprise win in Michigan, a victory he secured by attacking the U.S.’s international trade agreements, in another Midwest state where manufacturing industry jobs are disappearing.
Hillary Clinton held the lead in Ohio coming into today, but we learned from Sanders’ win in Michigan that polls aren’t always right.
Guest:
Dave Weigel, national political reporter at The Washington Post; he’s on the ground in Ohio today; he tweets from
New SCOTUS nominee shortlist features judge with SoCal roots
Three names apparently remain on President Obama’s shortlist for a Supreme Court nominee, according to an anonymous source that spoke with Reuters.
They are federal appeals court judges Sri Srinivasan, Merrick Garland, and Paul Watford, a UCLA law graduate who is serving on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
If nominated and confirmed, Watford would be the third African American – and the first Southern Californian – to serve on the high court.
Guest:
Julia Edwards, Justice correspondent for Reuters who broke the story
How should income inequality be calculated?
A commonly cited figure concerning the wealth gap has it that the top 1 percent in the US own 42 percent of the wealth.
But a new paper from Brookings Institution has found that the chasm is smaller when using another method of measurement.
The Brookings study’s authors — including three Federal Reserve economists — took into account government benefits like Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps economically disadvantaged Americans receive when calculating income inequality. Those contributions, the report finds, increase the incomes of lower-income earners thereby shrinking the size of the wealth gap.
Using that methodology, the wealthiest 1 percent own 33 percent of overall wealth in the US.
What is the best way to calculate income disparity? Is it fair to include programs like Medicare into the calculation?
Measuring income and wealth at the top using administrative and survey data
Guests:
Aparna Mathur, a resident scholar in economic policy studies at the think tank American Enterprise Institute, where her research focuses on income inequality and mobility and other subjects
Christian Weller, a senior fellow at Center for American Progress, a DC-based policy institute. He is also a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston
The Centers for Disease Control issues guidelines for prescribing opioid-based pain medications
Today the CDC released 12 long-awaited recommendations for prescribing, monitoring and addressing the harms of opioid medication for use in treating chronic pain.
Between 1999 and 2014, the CDC estimates that over 165 thousand people died from overdoses related to opioid-based medication such as OxyContin, Percocet, Hydrocodone, and Vicodin.
Emphasizing patient safety, the agency recommends administering the lowest possible dosage of opioids only if a doctor finds that the benefits outweigh the risks of the highly addictive medications. Primary care doctors must also monitor patient usage more closely by conducting evaluations at least every 3 months. If a patient develops use disorder, doctors should offer treatment for patients including medication-assisted treatment.
These new recommendations, which are voluntary, come after Massachusetts also passed into law a landmark bill that limits the amount of pain pills prescribed to patients after surgery or injury to a seven day supply.
Supporters of tougher limitations on painkiller prescriptions argue that supply restrictions are needed to stop this unique public health crisis. Opponents argue that the measures places an undue burden on patients who really need the pain relief.
Guests:
Andrew Kolodny, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Phoenix House, a nonprofit addiction treatment organization and Executive Director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing (PROP)
Lynn Webster, M.D., Former President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and author of the book “The Painful Truth: What Chronic Pain is Really Like and Why It Matters to Each of Us”
Analyzing Putin's enigmatic strategy of withdrawing Russian troops from Syria
As the most promising talks for peace in Syria kicked off yesterday in Geneva, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria and a cessation of five-plus months of daily airstrikes that helped the Syrian military regain ground.
In a televised meeting with Russia's foreign and defense ministries, Putin said the recent military actions helped create conditions for peace talks. Syrian state TV quoted President Bashar Assad as saying the collaboration between Russian and Syrian forces has secured "victories against terrorism and returned security to the country." While a Pentagon spokesman confirmed Russia has pounded ISIS targets, the strikes have also targeted Syrians opposed to the Assad dictatorship.
In a statement highly critical of the White House, U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Russia and its proxies in Syria have gained an edge thanks to the Putin's military campaign. "They have changed the military facts on the ground and created the terms for a political settlement more favorable to their interests. This likely result is that the Syrian conflict will grind on, ISIL will grow stronger, and the refugees will keep coming."
Last week, Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama's envoy to the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, announced that the militant group had lost more than 1,158 square miles of territory in Syria and more than 600 fighters over the past month.
Meanwhile in Geneva, a spokesman of the Syrian opposition, Salem Al Mislet, cautiously welcomed the move in hopes it would help the peace talks and a political transition. "As far as I know, the only plan B available is a return to war - and to even worse war than we had so far," Al Mislet said.
The Syrian conflict is moving into sixth year today. More than a quarter of a million people have been killed and half of Syria's population has been displaced, flooding Europe with refugees.
With files from the Associated Press.
Guests:
William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center - a nonpartisan think tank
Michael Rubin, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute - a right-wing think tank; author "Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes" (Encounter Books; 2015)
Joshua Landis, Director, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma; Landis’ blog is SyriaComment.com
Angelenos and AirTalk listeners share memories of the LA Sports Arena
Bruce Springsteen will be the last performer to grace the stage of the soon to be demolished Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena located at Exposition Park. Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform tonight and Thursday with the final performance scheduled to take place this Saturday.
In 1959, then Vice-President Richard Nixon inaugurated the opening of the once state-of-the-art, 16-thousand-seat arena, which will be torn down to create a new outdoor soccer stadium.
Designed by the architectural firm of Welton Becket, the glory days of the arena included hosting both UCLA and USC home basketball games, the Lakers, the Clippers, the Democratic National Convention that nominated John F. Kennedy, the 1984 Olympics boxing matches, and the filming of iconic scenes from the sports movie classic “Rocky.”
AirTalk listeners — including "Rocky" actor Carl Weathers — share their favorite memories of the venue:
Carl Weathers, actor and former NFL player
My first James Brown concert I saw at the Sports Arena…. When we finally were about to shoot "Rocky," I never made it to Philadelphia to shoot there. We shot all the fights in the Sports Arena downtown. And I had one of the great honor of sharing one of the locker rooms, because it was a low-budget film, as my dressing room with the great Burgess Meredith…. We were so fortunate [the filmmaker and crew of the film] transformed that to make you think you were in Philadelphia. But we had this great iconic building, the Sports Arena, that was such a huge part of that movie.
Warren in South Los Angeles
I was the bass player for Tina Turner for 8 years and we did concerts there. I remember that place very well. The place was just so comfortable. I remember it because it was part of my neighborhood. I went to Jefferson High School. The Coliseum and the Sports Arena were just close to your heart if you grew up in South Central in the ‘50s and ‘60s, like I did.
Bob from Anaheim
A buddy and I used to take the bus from Anaheim to get the cheapest seats we could to see the L.A. Blades, the hockey team. Every time they broke a stick, they would take it to where the players entered the ring. Our seats were so high, we would run at full tilt down, like two or three levels, and we’d always get there just missing the stick.
Leonardo in Silver Lake
I remember in the late ‘70s and early ’80 they had roller disco right in front on the cement. They brought out these mobile DJs and local families would hang out in the grassy area and had these barbecues. Someone should bring that back.
Guest:
Alan Hess, architect, historian, and author of nineteen books on modernism
Basketball analytics are helping shape the game like never before
Instead of waiting for the next Michael Jordan, NBA teams are taking matters into their own hands.
So-called “number crunchers” are using basketball analytics to find the next “perfect player.” Often times, a player's athletic potential is overlooked and in turn, the player is undervalued. But with big data, it’s easier than ever to find the perfect player to help transform a team.
How do teams determine what data should be prioritized and how the data what should be weighted? How can teams afford to depend on analytics when so much is at stake?
National sports writer Andy Glockner explains how technology is shaping basketball in his new book, “Chasing Perfection.”
Guest:
Andy Glockner, author of “Chasing Perfection: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the High-Stakes Game of Creating an NBA Champion.” He is also a national sports writer and executive editor of The Cauldron; Andy tweets from