L.A. County prosecutors have decided against filing charges against 15 students at Venice High School accused of sexual assaults. Also, Boy Scouts of America President Robert Gates says the ban on participation by openly gay adults can't be sustained. Then, historian Richard Reeves delves into one of the darkest episodes of American history.
High profile Venice High sexual assault case ends with no charges filed
L.A. County prosecutors have decided against filing charges against 15 students at Venice High School accused of sexual assaults, two months after police launched a high profile investigation into the case.
Prosecutors cited “insufficient evidence” in not pursuing charges, and declined to elaborate given the case involved minors and sexual attack allegations. The LAPD opened its investigation in mid-March, after Venice High School officials reported to law enforcement about an ongoing series of sex crimes involving a group of students at the school that might have taken place since 2013. Police acted swiftly and took eight students at Venice High into custody. The case would broaden to include a total of 15 teenage boys.
The case received a lot of local and national attention. With charges now dropped, critics have raised questions about whether the LAPD had moved too aggressively on the case.
Guests:
Laurie Levenson, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School; former federal prosecutor.
Dmitry Gorin, a defense attorney at the law firm Eisner Gorin LLP in Van Nuys, who has defended juveniles in sexual assault cases. He is a former Senior Deputy District Attorney in L.A. and specialized in sex crimes and narcotic cases.
Delta farmers volunteer to give up some of their rights to water
A group of farmers in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River delta are volunteering to give up 25 percent of their water usage or leave a quarter of their land unplanted, in exchange for guaranteed and unrestricted access to the other 75 percent they have rights to.
These farmers are in the unique position of having senior or riparian rights to their water. In other words, they have the longest standing rights to water usage — some going back to the late 19th century — Gold Rush times. In fact, about 4,000 landowners have these kind of rights. But, there are about 80,000 farmers in California, and the majority of those farmers buy water from a water district. The water district holds the water rights.
Most of the water districts in this state don't have senior or riparian water rights, like the Delta farmers do. In fact, the growers across this state are very diverse. They grow different crops, in different places, and have different water arrangements. Also, part of the challenge for the current state of California’s water regulation, or lack thereof, is that there’s no infrastructure in place to accurately measure, verify and therefore manage our water. Right now the data for water usage by farmers is merely estimated. Just last year, California started requiring management of groundwater — the last state to do so.
Might other senior water rights holders follow the example the Delta farmers are setting? Will water districts be willing to cut their water sales by 25 percent? What about junior rights water holders who have had claim since 1914?
Guests:
Jonas Minton, former deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources, and now a water policy adviser for the Sacramento-based Planning and Conservation League Environmental Group.
Chris Scheuring, an environmental attorney for the California Farm Bureau Federation.
David Guy, Northern California Water Association.
Will the Boy Scouts of America open up its ranks to the LGBT community?
Boy Scouts national president, Robert Gates, today said the organization's long-standing ban on participation by openly gay adults is not sustainable.
Speaking at the national annual meeting in Atlanta, BSA President (and former Secretary of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama) Robert Gates stated, “the status quo in our movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained.”
The status quo of which he spoke was the organization’s ban on participation by openly gay adults, one that has been increasingly under fire as state chapters of the organization have openly defied it. Just one month ago, the New York chapter hired openly gay Eagle scout Pascal Tessler.
In response to the discrepancy between national and chapter policies, Gates also said, “we can expect more councils to openly challenge the current policy.” He views potential court challenges as a fight that the organization would lose. The organization reversed its ban on openly gay boy scouts two years ago.
Will the Boy Scouts of America open up its ranks to the LGBT community? As one of the more high profile fights over the years for LGBT activists may be coming to a close, what does this portend for hiring in other national organizations that currently ban openly LGBT workers and volunteers?
Guests:
Rabbi Sarah Hronsky, of Temple Beth Hillel in Valley Village; Temple Beth Hillel sponsors two units of the Los Angeles branch of Boy Scouts of America, Cub Scout Pack 311 and Boy Scout Troop 36;
Matthew McReynolds, staff attorney at the Pacific Justice Institute
Why are GOP voters so happy with their options for 2016?
A new poll from Pew Research Center reveals that nearly 57 percent of Republican voters are pretty satisfied with pool of GOP candidates in the race for the presidency.
That may seem low, but satisfaction is actually higher than it was at the same point both either 2008 or 2012. In contrast, only about 54 percent of Democratic-leaning voters have warm feelings for their 2016 options — that’s nearly 10 percent lower than they felt in 2008.
The numbers come from a national survey conducted among about 2000 adults, living in all 50 states. The survey also revealed that, though Jeb Bush was the best known of all the potential GOP contenders, he also had the highest unfavorable rating: 35 percent. Mike Huckabee had the highest approval and lowest disapproval rate at 54 percent and 23 percent respectively.
On the Democratic side, 77 percent of Democratic-leaning voters viewed frontrunner Hillary Clinton favorably. The survey notes, however, that Clinton’s ratings have declined over the past year. Forty-seven percent of the general public now views her adversely — the lowest since spring of 2008.
Why do you think GOP satisfaction is so high? What could be contributing to the lack of enthusiasm for Democratic candidates?
Guests:
Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California
Mark Barabak, political reporter for the LA Times
Acclaimed historian turns gaze on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II
Fear after the bombing of Pearl Harbor lead the U.S. government to round up and incarcerate over 100,000 Japanese Americans living in the West Coast.
Many of them were American citizens. They were forced to give up the lives and businesses they had built and forced into internment camps.
President Roosevelt signed the order in February, 1942. Even though the Justice Department had opposed the relocation, the move was backed by an array of popular and respected people, including then California governor Earl Warren, news broadcaster Edward Murrow, and an artist by the name of Theodor Seuss Geisel, who’s better known today as Dr. Seuss.
In “Infamy,” historian Richard Reeves delves into one of the darkest episodes of American history.
Author Richard Reeves and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge A. Wallace Tashima will hold a conversation on the Japanese American internment tonight, at 7 p.m. at Chevalier’s Books in Hancock Park. For more information, click here.
Guest:
Richard Reeves, author of multiple books, including his latest, “Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II” (Henry Holt, 2015). He is also a senior lecturer at USC.
Dealers file suit against TrueCar
The California New Car Dealers Association filed a lawsuit this week against Santa Monica auto sales service company TrueCar, claiming the company violates various laws that govern car sales in the state.
TrueCar is an online service that’s changing the historic model of car buying. TrueCar links car buyers with dealers who bid to supply the vehicle requested. It saves the buyer from having to run all over the region to get quotes. However, the dealers claim the way TrueCar is compensated makes it a dealer, requiring state licensure.
Will services like TrueCar break down the dealership model? Will buyers largely be purchasing cars online? What will the role of car dealerships be if models like TrueCar take over?
Guests:
Patricia Glaser, Attorney representing California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) and Partner and Chair of the Litigation Department at Glaser Weil.
Johnny Stephenson, chief risk officer at TrueCar.