The FBI's Acting Director Andrew McCabe is taking issue with White House claims that Jim Comey lost the confidence of Bureau employees - AirTalk checks in on the latest of the firing aftermath. We'll also cover Gov. Jerry Brown's revised state budget; new reports on the Oroville Dam spill; how to cope on Mother's Day without a mother?; and more.
Day 2: Comey firing aftermath and next steps for the FBI
The acting director of the FBI is taking issue with White House claims that Jim Comey lost the confidence of Bureau employees.
Andrew McCabe told the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning that Comey had broad support. McCabe also said he’d alert Congress to any White House efforts to interfere with the Russian probe. AirTalk checks in on the latest on the aftermath of the firing of former FBI director James Comey.
Guests:
John Bresnahan, senior congressional reporter for POLITICO; he has been following today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing
Kevin Whitelaw, congress editor for Bloomberg News; he tweets
Los Angeles in the running for the site of the 2024 and 2028 Olympic games
Los Angeles has a chance to host the city’s third Olympics, but the question is twofold: should LA get the bid, will it be the 2024 games or the 2028?
While the International Olympic Committee is visiting today to tour the future Santa Monica Beach site of LA’s NFL stadium, the Committee will decide the location of the 2024 game this September in Lima, Peru. Paris is the only other contender for 2024, and is committed to getting the 2024 bid — but Los Angeles leaders are not backing down either. A proposal to split the games between 2024 and 2028 is on the table as a solution.
AirTalk speaks with KPCC senior business and economy reporter Ben Bergman, who has been covering the city’s bid for the 2024 Summer Games.
Guest:
Ben Bergman, senior reporter at KPCC who covers the Southern California economy
AirTalk asks: For those without a mom, how do you celebrate Mother’s day?
Mother’s Day usually brings up images of flowers, brunch and pastel colored greeting cards.
But for those who don’t have a mother, this time of year can stir up mixed feelings. Visiting a grave, sharing memories of her with loved ones, or starting new traditions with your own kids can be ways to cope. There are also people who don’t have a “mom” in the traditional sense, and a step-parent, older sibling or family friend has stepped in to fill that role.
For people who don’t have a mom this Mother’s Day, how do you celebrate? If she’s passed away, do you still have a tradition of celebrating her life? Or in her absence, how has someone else stepped in to fill the role of mom?
Call us at 866-893-5722.
What’s in Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised state budget
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday unveiled a revised state budget proposal, and big items include health care funding and tax collections.
As the most populous state in the nation, there’s a lot at stake in the announcement. The state has been at odds with the Trump Administration over issues such as sanctuary laws and environmental regulations. So what’s in the revised budget?
KPCC senior politics reporter Mary Plummer offers AirTalk some of the early highlights from the 92-page summary of what Brown calls a “wary and prudent” budget:
- $124 billion general fund budget, up from $122.5 billion in Brown’s January proposal
- slight increase in revenues since January — $2.5 billion — which Brown attributes to the stock market
- includes additional $1.4 billion for K–12 education via the local control funding formula
- $500 million child care package — Brown had planned to cut it but restored it in this latest revision
California has until June 15 to pass a final budget. The next couple weeks will see negotiations back and forth in the state Legislature.
Guest:
Mary Plummer, senior politics reporter for KPCC
After report details problems that might’ve led to issues at Oroville Dam, a look at the status of repairs
As engineers continue to work to repair the main spillway at the Oroville Dam, they’ll know going forward that they won’t be repeating the mistakes that led to its failure in February of this year.
On Wednesday, a panel of engineers tasked with looking into the spillway failure released a report citing 24 possible causes for the failure, though they stressed that the report was preliminary and that there may be other factors identified as the investigation moves forward. The report doesn’t identify one singular issue that ultimately led to the failure, but it does say that overall, the dam spillway wasn’t strong enough to handle the weight of the water when dam workers opened the spillway back in February.
The report comes as the state is hoping the federal government will foot the bill for the majority of the dam repairs. The state has secured a $500 million line of credit to front the cost of the repairs, which is about the same amount of money the state expects the fixes to cost, while it waits to find out whether FEMA will grant a request to cover 75 percent of the total repair cost. The state considers all of the repair work emergency management, qualifying it for FEMA funding, and says that state water contractors like the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California who get water from Lake Oroville, the second largest reservoir in California, will pay the rest.
For more on the history of the Oroville Dam and what led to February's massive failure, check the Sacramento Bee on Sunday for special coverage.
Guest:
Ryan Sabalow, reporter for the Sacramento Bee covering water, drought and the environment; he tweets
A look at the origin story of the best and deadliest forces in the US military
The Special Operations Forces are the most elite soldiers in the U.S. military and the subject of Mark Moyar’s new book, “Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America’s Special Operations Forces.”
These special units started off as small appendages to the conventional armies of World War Two, but today, they are the popular soldiers in the U.S., with several branches and a total of 70,000 troops.
The Special Operations Forces have produced some of America’s most beloved heroes, but have also struggled to survive as a unit.
In “Oppose Any Foe” Moyar, a historian, delves into the Special Operations Forces’ origin story and the way they carved out their role within the military. He also addresses the times they’ve been misused or misdirected by Commanders in Chief.
According to Moyar, past Presidents have deployed the Special Operations Forces based on uninformed or romanticized notions of them, and that this ultimately harmed the elite troops.
Larry Mantle talks to Moyar about these struggles and how the Special Operations Forces can become a crucial supporting arm of the military rather than continue to be used as independent strategic actors.
Guest:
Mark Moyar, director of the Center for Military and Diplomatic History in Washington, DC, and author of “Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America’s Special Operations Forces” (Basic Books, 2017); he tweets
Inside KPCC’s new storytelling series, ‘UNHEARD LA’
“Unheard LA” is a brand-new, three-part series of live shows in different venues around our sprawling and too-often disconnected metropolis.
Each show is unique and features a distinct lineup of real people sharing their true stories of struggle and survival, of hope and fear, of the unexpected and the unbelievable.
Here to talk about the project are “Unheard LA” co-producer Ashley Alvarado, and the host Bruce Lemon.
Alex Wand shares his piece, “Song a Day,” as part of KPCC In Person’s “Unheard L.A. – the stories of where you live” series of storytelling events.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4Zw1U7OZU
Guests:
Ashley Alvarado, manager, public engagement at KPCC; co-producer of the project, “Unheard LA”
Bruce Lemon, artistic director at the Watts Village Theater Company; host of “Unheard LA”