Eric Garcetti is the new mayor of Los Angeles. In other races, what will happen now that former Assemblyman Mike Feuer is the new city attorney, Monica Ratliff is on the school board, and marijuana dispensaries are going to be limited? Also, former drug dealer Rick Ross tells his story, and we discuss the politics that moved immigration reform. Then, why is it a bad time to be a L.A. sports coach, should anchored putting be banned in golf, and how did Vermont girl Jody Williams win the Nobel Peace prize? Click here to RSVP for AirTalk's live discussion on immigration reform at 6:30 PM TONIGHT
Los Angeles’s new mayor, the future of pot shops, and more
City Councilman Eric Garcetti beat out opponent Wendy Greuel to become the city's newest mayor. He took 54% of the vote compared to Greuel's 46% in preliminary results. Turnout was estimated to be about 19% and some 345,000 votes were cast in all the races.
In other races, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich was unseated by former Assemblyman Mike Feuer; Monica Ratliff bested Antonio Sanchez for the 6th District seat on the Los Angeles school board. Measure D, which would limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in the city, passed with 63% of the vote.
Guests:
Fernando Guerra, professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University where he is Director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles
Raphe Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CSU Los Angeles
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Senior Fellow, School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California
Marcy Stech, National Press Secretary, Emily’s List
Will the real & reformed Rick Ross please stand up?
It's a L.A. story seemingly far from Studio City and Hollywood lots. The story of a one-time drug kingpin who emerged from prison still very much an entrepreneur but stripped of criminal intent and, somehow, renewed with optimism. In the new issue of Los Angeles magazine, profile writer Jesse Katz tracks Ross’ complicated navigation of life, possibly with hopes of truly making it in Hollywood.
Katz writes, "[Ross] had grown up on 87th Place, where it dead-ends at the Harbor Freeway, which is how he earned his nickname: Freeway Rick. It was not uttered in awe, at least in the beginning. To be poor and illiterate in the shadow of the 110 was to be a junky-ass freeway boy. Later, when he emerged as the first crack boss of the cataclysmic 1980s, after he went from slanging $25 rocks to wholesaling $1 million loads, that moniker sounded like a Southern California joyride: slick, agile, unfettered, one step ahead of the law."
What influences steered Ross in a new direction - before he was thrown into prison? How did he come to terms with the pain wrought by crack cocaine? Why does his name and his image still sell? Is it enough to make someone in Hollywood buy it?
Guests:
Rick Ross AKA Freeway Rick, former drug dealer; entrepreneur with a clothing business and record label at freewaysocialmedia.com
Jesse Katz, writer; profiled Rick Ross for Los Angeles magazine; byjessekatz.com
Political machinations moving the Immigration reform bill
The immigration bill passed a major landmark yesterday with a 13-5 approval vote in the bipartisan Senate. The bill will now undergo further debate in the Senate. However, the immigration bill still faces another challenge in the House, where it may be harder to pass, but lawmakers are hoping to soon have similar legislation.
This bill provides a 13-year pathway to citizenship, but over 100 amendments were made to bring both parties to the table. One division has been whether the bill should allow gay Americans to sponsor green cards for their foreign-born spouses. How will this affect the passage of the immigration bill?
What can we expect in this next month of debates? Will Democrats and Republicans try to undo some of the amendments? How will the parties trying to gain more Latino and minority voters influence this bill?
Also, join AirTalk this evening at 6:30 PM for further debate on the immigration bill.
Guests:
Kitty Felde, KPCC Washington Correspondent; Felde joins us from outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration
Lisa Mascaro, Congressional Reporter, Los Angeles Times; Mascaro joins us from outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration
It’s a bad time to be a Los Angeles sports coach
Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro confirmed on Tuesday that his contract with the team was not extended for next season. The Clippers and Del Negro have had some differences over coaching style this season and the move isn't a huge surprise.
Del Negro is the latest in a string of LA coaches and managers who have spent time in the hot seat lately. UCLA basketball's Steve Alford, the Angels' Mike Scioscia, Dodgers' Don Mattingly and more have been defending their records, and their jobs, in the wake of intense criticism.
What is in the water for LA's coaches? Why are so many teams dissatisfied with their management? Who will be the next to go?
Guest:
Bill Plaschke, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times
Golf’s governing bodies ban anchored putting
Professional golf’s two governing bodies -- the R&A and the USGA -- have banned something called “anchored putting,” a technique that’s favored by four recent major golf tournament champions, including Keegan Bradley, who won the 2011 PGA Championship by using a belly putter.
The new rule bars against any golfer from anchoring the club against their bodies, which gives them better control over a putt. Tiger Woods has thrown his weight behind the move. But opponents say anchored putting doesn’t give them a competitive edge over other competitors and it’s more of a preference than anything else.
At issue is what exactly constitutes a legitimate golf stroke. USGA and R&A say anything short of someone picking up a club, gripping it with two hands and making a free swing away from the body should be questioned. Despite yesterday’s decision, the debate over anchored putting would likely persist in the golf community. The PGA Tour has its own congress and says it will deliberate whether to also implement a ban.
Guest:
Jeff Ritter, senior producer at Golf.com
Jody Williams: Grassroots activism, landmines, and the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jody Williams tells AirTalk about her new memoir that chronicles the ups and downs of her life. She begins by going back to her hometown in Vermont, where she defended her deaf and mentally ill brother against bullies. After attending college and marrying a man that she was not romantically in love with, Williams became very politically active concerning the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
In her memoir, she opens about her sexual assault by a member of the El Salvador death squad and all the triumphs and failures that led to an international ban on landmines, a ban that led to the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. In her book, “My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize,” Williams presents herself as an “ordinary person,” hoping to spark others to pioneer change.
Guest:
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, co-founder and chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, and author of “My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize.”