We debate one of the most talked about and contested propositions on California's November ballot, Proposition 10. We also examine a study that says most people can be identified via genealogy databases; discuss the accuracy of space exploration in movies; and more.
Home ownership has become a luxury in California – but could the tides be shifting?
With mortgage rates spiking and housing costs remaining stubbornly high, it’s no wonder that only a quarter of California residents can afford to buy homes.
This week brought the latest numbers on mortgage rates in the U.S. and it’s not looking promising for buyers. Rates have risen to nearly 5%, and though the Wall Street Journal indicates that mortgage rates of 5-7% are historically normal, nearly a generation of buyers have become used to paying below 4% and may hesitate to commit to a purchase with more financial strings attached.
In addition to the creeping mortgages, housing prices continue to climb, and California remains one of the least affordable states for home ownership.
We speak with analysts and experts across the housing industry to dissect the numbers and see how the trends may influence SoCal residents.
Guests:
Chris Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics; his focus includes economic forecasting, employment and labor markets and economic policy
Oscar Wei, senior economist at California Association of Realtors; he tweets
Stuart Gabriel, professor of finance and Arden Realty Chair at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the director of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate
Study says most people with European ancestry can be identified via genealogy databases – what are the implications for law enforcement and privacy?
About 60 percent of the U.S. population with European heritage may be identifiable from their DNA by searching consumer websites, even if they’ve never made their own genetic information available, a study estimates.
And that number will grow as more and more people upload their DNA profiles to websites that use genetic analysis to find relatives, said the authors of the study released Thursday by the journal Science.
The use of such databases for criminal investigations made headlines in April, when authorities announced they’d used a genetic genealogy website to connect some crime-scene DNA to a man they then accused of being the so-called Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and murderer.
So what’s the latest with this new study? And how exactly does this technique work to track down a suspect based on DNA evidence? We discuss with New York Times science reporter Heather Murphy, who has been covering the evolution of genetic genealogy and its use by law enforcement for the last five months, ever since the Golden State Killer case breakthrough.
With files from the Associated Press.
Guest:
Heather Murphy, science reporter for the New York Times who’s been following this story; she tweets
AirTalk debates 2018 ballot initiatives: Prop 10, the so-called ‘Affordable Housing Act’
One of the most talked about and contested propositions on California's November ballot is Proposition 10, the so-called "Affordable Housing Act."
It goes before voters at a time when rents across California are higher than they have ever been, with almost a third of the state's renters paying more than half of their monthly income on rents.
Enter Proposition 10, a ballot initiative that's set off a $60 million spending war between California's landlord lobby on one side, and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and tenants' rights activists on the other.
If passed, Proposition 10 would repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. That would open the door for much wider implementation of rent-stabilization or rent-control policies by cities, something that has been very restricted since the act passed more than two decades ago.
But there would be limits on the limits. Prop 10 also specifies that cities not pass any policy that would infringe on "a landlord's right to a fair rate of return on a property."
Today, We debate the measure.
To read the full explainer of Prop 10, click here.
Ready for Election Day? Get up to speed on what you need to know with our Voter Game Plan at elections.laist.com. Read up on the candidates and ballot measures, find out about registration deadlines or ask us your questions.
Guests:
Peter Dreier, representative for ‘Yes on 10’ and professor of politics and urban and environmental policy at Occidental College
Debra Carlton, representative of Californians for Responsible Housing, which opposes Prop 10; she is the senior vice president of government affairs for the California Apartment Association
FilmWeek: ‘First Man,’ ‘Bad Times at the El Royale,’ ‘The Oath’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson and Tim Cogshell review this weekend’s new movie releases.
- "First Man" in wide release
- The Frame's John Horn interviewed "First Man" director Damien Chazelle earlier this week, you can listen to the interview here
- "Bad Times at the El Royale" in wide release
- "The Oath" in select theaters (check your local listings)
- "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween" in wide release
- "Sadie" at Arena Cinelounge Sunset
- "Beautiful Boy" at ArcLight Hollywood & The Landmark
- "After Everything" at Vintage Los Feliz
- "Moynihan" at Laemmle's Music Hall
- "22 July" at Laemmle's Playhouse, Laemmle's NoHo, Laemmle's Town Center, Laemmle's Claremont, Laemmle's Glendale, The Landmark, IPic Theaters Pasadena & Netflix
- John Horn interviewed "22 July" director Paul Greengrass earlier this week on The Frame, listen to that interview here
- "Apostle" at Laemmle's NoHo & Netflix
- "The Sentence" at Laemmle's Playhouse (debuting on HBO next week)
- "The Kindergarten Teacher" at Landmark's Regent Theatre in Westwood & Netflix
- "Studio 54" at Nuart Theatre
Critics' Hits:
Tim: "Beautiful Boy", "The Kindergarten Teacher" & "The Sentence"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NR8w8s9zWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n1NP6w5lXs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BDAiN7oe8
Amy: "After Everything", "The Oath" & "Sadie"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOPCrORwdw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I8x79pgqok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO8_CNvwp_Q
Mixed Feelings:
Tim: "Bad Times at the El Royale" & "22 July"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7wzBVARwaU&t=45s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVpUZGmHJB8
Amy: "Apsotle" & "First Man"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JdWOqc9Q8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSoRx87OO6k
Misses:
Tim: "Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQeOzfm-lps
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘The Canon’ and ‘Unspooled’; she tweets
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com; he tweets
The Final (Film) Frontier: Talking favorite space movies, and why a real-life rocket scientist says ‘First Man’ tops her list
“First Man” the biographical drama about Neil Armstrong and the legendary space mission that led him to walk on the moon opens in theaters this weekend.
In the past few years it’s fairly common to see a big-budget Hollywood movie about space exploration. Whether it was 2015’s “The Martian”, 2014’s Interstellar, or 2013’s “Gravity” Hollywood seems to love sending celebrities into space.
But Hollywood’s love of space isn’t just limited to the past decade. Movies like “The Right Stuff”, “Apollo 13”, The Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien franchises, and even “2001: A Space Odyssey” (which was released in theaters 16 months before Armstrong stepped foot on the moon) have shown that audiences love movies about humans, and other life forms, in space.
Earlier this week on AirTalk, we aired a segment about Los Angeles' role in the future of human space travel and spoke with rocket scientist and USC professor Anita Sengupta, who mentioned to Larry Mantle in passing that "First Man" is the best space movie she's ever seen, so we brought her back to explain why. We’ll also discuss and ask the question “Just how accurate are these movies in their depiction of space and space travel?”
If you’ve got any questions for Dr. Sengupta regarding the accuracy of space exploration in movies, or have a favorite or all-time great space movie to share, give us call at 866-893-5722.
Guests:
Anita Sengupta, rocket scientist, aerospace engineer who formerly worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, adjunct research associate professor of astronautics at USC, and senior vice president of systems engineering at Virgin Hyperloop One, the L.A.-based tech company that built the first operational Hyperloop in Las Vegas; she tweets
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘The Canon’ and ‘Unspooled’; she tweets
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC, Alt-Film Guide and CineGods.com; he tweets