Today on AirTalk, we examine a new CA bill that aims to protect certain hairstyles from workplace discrimination; discuss the Democrats new healthcare expansion bill; and more.
All charges against Jussie Smollett dropped by prosecutors
Attorneys for "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett say charges alleging he lied to police about an attack have been dropped.
Smollett attorneys Tina Glandian and Patricia Brown Holmes said in a Tuesday morning statement that Smollett's record "has been wiped clean." Smollett was indicted on 16 felony counts related to making a false report that he was attacked by two men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs.
A spokeswoman for Cook County prosecutors didn't immediately respond to messages requesting comment.
Police and prosecutors have said the black and gay actor falsely reported to authorities that he was attacked Jan. 29 in downtown Chicago because he was unhappy with his pay on the Fox show and to promote his career.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Laurie Levenson, professor of law at Loyola Law School and former federal prosecutor
Braids, locs and twists: new CA bill aims to protect certain hairstyles from workplace discrimination
Federal anti-discrimination law protects the rights of people to wear afros, but it doesn’t have any specific protections for other styles commonly worn by black men and women.
That’s why Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) introduced Senate Bill 188, which would amend the Fair Employment and Housing Act to bar employers from enforcing grooming policies that have an outsized impact on people of color. For example, “protective hairstyles,” such as braids, twists and locs.
Today, we discuss the history of black hair in workplace, and the cultural and legal impact of this legislation.
And we want to hear from you. If you are a POC, have you encountered issues in wearing your hair in certain way in the workplace? How would this legislation impact you?
Call us at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Ramit Mizrahi, employment lawyer with Mizrahi Law in Pasadena; she tweets
Noliwe Rooks, professor of Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and director of American Studies at Cornell University; she is the author of “Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture and African American Women” (Rutgers University Press, 1996)
Health care battle rages on: House Dems to introduce healthcare expansion bill, as Trump admin seeks to dismantle entire ACA
Leading House Democrats, backed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are unveiling broad legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act.
It’s an attempt to deliver on campaign promises about health care and to — just maybe— change the conversation.
According to Pelosi’s office, the bill being unveiled Tuesday would make more middle-class people eligible for subsidized health insurance through former President Barack Obama’s health law, often called “Obamacare,” while increasing aid for those with lower incomes who already qualify. And it would fix a longstanding affordability problem for some consumers, known as the “family glitch.”
The legislation would provide money to help insurers pay the bills of their costliest patients and restore advertising and outreach budgets slashed by President Donald Trump’s administration, helping to stabilize health insurance markets.
It also would block the Trump administration from loosening “Obamacare” rules through waivers that allow states to undermine protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions or to scale back so-called “essential” benefits like coverage for mental health and addiction treatment.
The bill will get a vote in the House, but as a package it has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate. However, some elements have bipartisan support and may make it into law.
The bill is expected to be unveiled today at 11:30am PST.
With files from the Associated Press
Guest:
Alice Ollstein, health care reporter on Capitol Hill for Politico who’s been following the story; she tweets
Receipts would go all-digital under proposed California bill that would toss out paper ones for good
If you love those two-foot long receipts with tons of coupons on them, you’ll be disappointed to hear that a bill making its way through the California legislature would require businesses to go paperless when it comes to receipts.
The Assembly Committee on Natural Resources voted 6-3 on Monday to advance Bay Area Assemblyman Phil Ting’s proposed bill that would require receipts for point-of-sale (P.O.S) transactions to be provided only in electronic form unless requested otherwise. The bill is modeled after one that passed the legislature and requires single-use plastic straws only be given out in restaurants upon request. Businesses found in violation of Asm. Ting’s proposed bill would be fined $25 per day in violation of the law, up to $300 per year. Advocates say the bill would go a long way in reducing paper waste and cut down on the use of Bispehnol A (BPA), a chemical that has been identified as potentially harmful and that is often used to coat receipt paper.
Business advocacy groups as well as privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the bill. Those on the business side say the cost for small businesses to convert to a paperless P.O.S. would be steep, and that the market, not the government, should be driving this change. Privacy advocates worry about the potential for sensitive customer data to be shared or to end up as part of a data breach.
What do you think of the state making a switch to completely paperless receipts? If you’re a small business owner, would you support going paperless? What are the challenges for small businesses?
Guests:
Beth Porter, climate and recycling director for Green America, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. advocating for ethical, environmentally-conscious consumerism and the group behind the national “Skip the Slip” campaign to reduce the use of paper receipts; she tweets
Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association
When medicine can’t cure, where should doctors and patients look next?
The hardest diagnosis a doctor has to give is a fatal illness.
But what does a patient want to hear after a terminal diagnosis? An honest confession about the limits of existing medical treatments? Or the promise to extend their life at all costs?
Most physicians spent their time in medical school learning how to cure patients. Not how to help the incurable. Yet inevitable death is universal, and as populations reach older ages across the world, what should the role of medicine be in our last days?
Palliative care is still considered a newer sub-specialty of medicine, focusing on comforting difficult symptoms in advanced illnesses along with having conversations about what matters most to a patient, and one doctor wants to share an insider’s view of what that world looks like.
Sunita Puri is the medical director of Palliative Medicine and Support Care Service at the Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center at the University of Southern California. She also serves as chair of their Ethics Committee. In her new book, “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour,” Dr. Puri explores the balance between caring for her sickest patients, the pressures they face to “keep fighting,” and life’s temporality.
Host Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Puri about the making of her book, which is also part memoir. To share your experiences and questions, call us at 866-893-5722 or comment below.
Guest:
Sunita Puri, M.D., author of “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour (2019, Viking);” she’s a physician, assistant professor of clinical medicine and the medical director of Palliative Medicine and Support Care Service at the Keck Medical Center of USC, where she also serves as chair of the Ethics Committee