Gardena's Financial Woes; Affirmative Action in American Law Schools; FilmWeek
Gardena's Financial Woes
On Tuesday, Standard and Poor's put the City of Gardena on a "watch list," because it cannot pay a $26 million debt by December 15th. Gardena borrowed money twelve years ago to create an insurance company to cover the city against lawsuits. When the company did not turn a profit, the city had to borrow money to refinance the initial loan, creating more and more debt. The city has only $3 million in its reserves and may have to declare bankruptcy. Hector Becerra, staff writer for the LA Times joins Host Larry Mantle to discuss Gardena's financial woes.
Affirmative Action in American Law Schools
A new study to be published this month in the Stanford Law Review is causing controversy by questioning whether affirmative action policies actually help African Americans who attend law school. The study concludes that African Americans who benefit from affirmative action are being admitted to law schools where they find themselves in over their heads, achieving lower grades and failing the bar exam in higher numbers than they would have without the preferences. Host Larry Mantle speaks with Richard Sander, professor of law at UCLA and author of A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools, and critic Cheryl Harris, Professor of Law at UCLA, with expertise in the area of constitutional law, employment law, race and the law.
FilmWeek
Larry Mantle and critics Scott Foundas of Variety and the L.A. Weekly, Charles Solomon, animation critic for amazon.com, and Lael Loewenstein of Variety discuss this week's new film releases, including National Treasure, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, A Silent Love, Moolade, Vodka Lemon, Broken Bridges, and Overnight.
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