Newspaper companies are joining the growing group of people calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to allow the commercial use of drones. How should the FAA handle creating a set of rules for commercial drones? Are penalties for dipping into retirement funds too severe? Later, should national parks have WiFi hot spots?
News organizations fight FAA restrictions on drones
Newspaper companies are joining the growing group of people calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to allow the commercial use of drones.
The new York Times, Washington Post, AP, and others say that the FAA is restricting free speech by not allowing commercial drones in U.S. airspace. The FAA has been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 for using a drone to shoot a commercial at the University of Virginia.
The news organizations filed a brief in support of Pirker after the case was dismissed by a lower court and then reignited by the FAA. News outlets would ideally use drones to expand coverage of events, particularly those that might be unsafe to report on the ground or by helicopter, such as natural disasters. The FAA is scheduled to introduce new rules about commercial drone operation in August.
Should news organizations and other parties interested in using drones commercially be able to operate without restriction? Does free speech protect drone use in U.S. airspace? How should the FAA handle creating a set of rules for commercial drones?
Guest:
Mickey Osterreicher of Counsel, Hiscock & Barclay. LLP; General Counsel, National Press Photographers Association (NPPA); the NPPA is one of the news organizations challenging the Federal Aviation Administration’s position on commercial drones; Mickey is a former journalist.
OC Journalists Roundtable: Corona Del Mar High School faces criticism after NFL-style ‘prom draft,’ stalled negotiations over Anaheim Angels lease extension, and more
Reporters covering the OC beat join Larry to discuss the latest news concerning Orange County residents including the backlash facing Corona Del Mar High School after a group of students rented a venue and held an NFL-style “prom draft” to select prom dates.
We’ll take a look at the ongoing negotiations between the Angels owner Art Moreno and the city of Anaheim over the Angels Stadium lease extension. The Anaheim City Council voted to approve plans to keep the Angels in Anaheim for the long-term nearly six months ago.
Larry and the reporters also discuss how the Kelly Thomas case may impact Laura’s Law, legislation to create a veterans cemetery in Orange county, and more.
Guests:
Ed Joyce, KPCC Orange County Reporter
Norberto Santana, Editor-in-Chief of the Voice of OC, a non-profit investigative news agency that covers Orange County government and politics
Teri Sforza, Columnist for the Orange County Register’s OC Watchdog blog
Are penalties for dipping into retirement funds too severe?
When people struggle financially, the temptation to take out early withdrawals can be strong. But, early withdrawals result in both a tax and a penalty. Nonetheless, in 2011, early withdrawals were at a record high, with the government collecting $5.7 billion in penalties.
Early taps of retirement funds have replaced home refinancing and second mortgages since the housing collapse in 2008. Loans taken out against a retirement fund aren’t always a viable option for those who most desperately need the money.
Critics of the penalties argue that the taxes and penalties on early withdrawals unfairly affect those most in need. Other economists and financial advisors say that these retirement accounts shouldn’t be accessible at all, and that the penalties correctly deter people from taking away from their retirement savings, which should be used only for retirement.
If people feel they have nowhere to turn, should the government loosen up restrictions on early withdrawal? Or, make the penalties for early withdrawal less onerous? Or, should people strictly adhere to not touching their 401K accounts, so a future financial cushion is better secured?
Guests:
Meir Statman, is the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University and the author of “What Investors Really Want”
John Lieberman, Managing Director at Perelson Weiner LLP, longtime member and spokesperson for the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants
Why are Latinos leaving the Catholic faith?
Hispanics in the country are increasingly turning away from the Catholic faith, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
The poll, done in 2013, found that 55 percent of the 1,023 Hispanic adults surveyed identified themselves as Catholic. In 2010, 67 percent said they were Catholic. Many of them either converted to evangelical Protestants or became religiously unaffiliated.
At the same time, the survey found that U.S. Catholic church members have become increasingly Hispanic, fueled by immigration trends.
Guests:
Cary Funk, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project who worked on the report
Father Thomas Rausch, T. Marie Chilton Professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University
Should California parks have Wi-Fi hotspots? (Poll)
A California parks advocacy group is calling for the Parks Department to ensure wireless internet access in all state parks. The Parks Forward report was presented to John Jarvis, the head of the National Park Service, last week.
For his part, Jarvis said the NPS is moving forward with making more Wi-Fi accessible in national parks. All this comes as Canada's national parks department announced Wi-Fi hotspots will be installed in more than a dozen remote parks areas.
"What we're finding is that parks are social," said Jon Christensen, Adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. "People are very social when they're in parks, they do many of the things that they do in social media when they're outside of parks."
For example, Christensen cites group events called "bioblitzes," where people fan out across a park to documents plant and wildlife. These groups often use their phones to snap pictures, then upload them to a database, making them citizen science collaborators.
"There are ways in which this technology can actually deepen our connection to place and to parks," said Christensen. "I think we need to see both sides of this and think about this in creative ways that it can connect people better to parks. That's really better to building a constituency that will support state parks, regional parks and local parks in California."
The reaction has been mixed. Some folks see the wildnerness as a respite from laptops and smartphones. Others say more people will visit parks if they can stay connected.
What do you think?
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
Jon Christensen, Adjunct assistant professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA; Jon is collaborating on a project visualizing social media in California parks at http://parks.stamen.com.