The Supreme Court heard arguments today about whether people with inaccurate online profiles have the right to file class action lawsuits for damages; for the first time in this country, a doctor has been convicted of murder for handing out prescriptions to patients who died of overdoses; and Ted Koppel stops by to talk about the probability of a cyber attack on the nation's power grid.
SCOTUS case pits consumers against ‘people engine’ Spokeo
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in a case that could have far-reaching consequences for the data broker industry.
The case involves Thomas Robins, a Virginia man who filed a lawsuit against Spokeo for disseminating incorrect information about him on its search engine. Robins sued the company -- which collects publicly available information on individuals and sell them online -- under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers can sue a company for anywhere between $100 to $1,000 for harm caused by inaccuracies in his Spokeo profile. Robins wants to turn his lawsuit into a class action suit, meaning that Spokeo is found to be at fault, it could face millions of dollars in damages.
What SCOTUS will decide is whether Robins can reclassify the case as a class-action suit. Spokeo and its supporters say that given Robins was not harmed, the suit should not be able to proceed as a class action.
Guest:
Joe Jacquot, a partner at the law firm, Foley and Lardner in DC, and former deputy attorney general of Florida. He co-wrote an amicus brief in support of Spokeo
Gautam Hans, Policy Counsel and Director of the San Francisco chapter of the nonprofit advocacy organization Center for Democracy and Technology. He co-wrote an amicus brief in support of Thomas Robins, the petitioner
Group mounts campaign to speed up death penalty in CA
In the latest chapter of California’s death penalty saga, a group of law enforcement officials and victims’ rights advocates have announced an initiative to get a death penalty reform proposal on the 2016 ballot.
Unlike past initiatives that have sought to completely abolish the ultimate punishment, The Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act of 2016 seeks to create a larger pool of lawyers for inmates sentenced to death, cut down the amount of time those inmates wait to be appointed a lawyer, and gives the California Supreme Court oversight of the state agency which manages death penalty appeals.
Opponents say that the initiative simply throws more money at a problem that clearly can’t be solved that way, and that true death penalty reform in California would mean amending the state constitution.
Since 1978, over 900 people have been sentenced to death, but only 13 have been executed. The last time the state of California executed a prisoner was in 2006.
What will death penalty reform look like on the 2016 ballot? Should a push still exist to completely abolish the practice or is the right move to look at ways to reform since repeal is difficult?
Guests:
Mike Hestrin, District Attorney, Riverside County
Paula Mitchell, executive director of the Alarcon Advocacy Center and legal director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent
Doctor found guilty of murder for overprescribing opioids raises new questions about abuse
In a first-of-its-kind verdict, a Rowland Heights doctor was convicted last Friday on three counts of second-degree murder.
The three deaths were patients of the doctor who overdosed from prescriptions she'd written. Dr. Lisa Tseng was accused of indiscriminately handing out prescriptions for dangerous drugs. But it's hard to catch doctors running prescription mills.
The state prescription monitoring program CURES is designed to ID questionable prescriptions. How well is it working?
Guests:
Dr. Joel Hyatt, MD, FAAFP, Co-Chair of the LA County Prescriptions Drug Abuse Medical Task Force, which was created this year to standardize guidelines for their emergency departments to avoid over prescribing opioid pain medications; he’s also Emeritus Assistant Medical Director of Community Health Improvement at Kaiser Permanente, Southern California Region
Dr. Paul Christo, MD,associate professor, division of pain medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and host of Aches and Gains on Sirius XM
Eco groups troubled by Gov. Brown's solution for bark beetle damage
Some forestry experts are turning a critical eye on Governor Jerry Brown's emergency proclamation to deal with the native bark beetle infestation, and they find the details worrisome.
On Friday, the governor's office said the four-year drought has made many California regions vulnerable to bark beetle infestations, so millions of dead trees will need to be culled and CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) will be suspended to expedite the actions. The lumber will be used by wood-burning power plants.
The proclamation also said die-off "worsens wildfire risk," but studies show that is not true.
Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity said CEQA was enacted to help ensure scientifically-based forest management. "You really need the review that CEQA would provide," he told KPCC.
Is Governor Jerry Brown simply choosing the lesser of two evil in trying to prevent expanding beetle infestations? How effective is this plan considering most strategies have failed to limit beetle infestations across the U.S.?
Guests:
Brian Nowicki, California Climate Policy Director, Center for Biological Diversity; Nowicki holds a master of science in forestry
Ted Koppel on the probability of a cyberattack on our nation’s power grid
The U.S. currently uses only three electric power grids.
What if even one of them was compromised by a cyberattack? The blackout could last for weeks or even months and the effects would lead to looted businesses, food and water shortages and a sanitation nightmare in several states.
Should this hypothetical situation happen, how prepared are we to take on such an ambush?
Former Nightline anchor, Ted Koppel, tackles that question in his new book, “Lights Out.” Today, he discusses the answers with Larry Mantle, and his investigation of the probability of such an attack, how national leaders are prepared to respond and what ordinary citizens would be faced with should the event strike.
Guest:
Ted Koppel, former anchor of ABC’s Nightline (1980 to 2005) and author of “Lights Out” (Penguin Random House)
The strange and increasingly popular practice of cloud seeding
Bloomberg BusinessWeek reporter Amanda Little looks at the world of cloud seeding for this week’s issue of the magazine.
Once considered the stuff of fringe science, cloud seeding is being seen as a legitimate tool to increase rain and snow. Little reports that more than 52 countries are now actively looking into cloud seeding to make rain--the most famous proponent being China, which famously used the technology during the summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008. In the US alone, 55 cloud seeding experiments took place last year.
What’s the science behind the practice? Does it really work? What are the drawbacks? And how much rain does it really produce?
Guests:
Amanda Little, a contributor to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, whose latest piece, “Weather on Demand: Making It Rain Is Now a Global Business” appears in this week's issue. She is also a Writer-in-Residence in the English department at Vanderbilt University, where she teaches investigative journalism and creative non-fiction
Neil Brackin, president of Weather Modification Incorporated, Inc. based in Fargo, North Dakota. With clients in 35 countries and the the US, including those in many parts of California
Robert Glennon, a water law and policy professor at the University of Arizona. He is the author of “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It” (Island Press, 2010)