LAUSD is moving to enforce a policy that groups students of similar English fluency together. Will this benefit or hurt students? Then, we'll talk about the Dodgers future after Friday's night elimination. Next, the Oakland Police Department is cracking down on prostitution by sending out "Dear John," letters. Do you think this campaign will be effective? Then, what can be done to improve the Affordable Care Act's website, and is the tentative deal JP Morgan Chase reached with the Justice Department a good one? Lastly, we'll talk about the China credit agency downgrading the US debt, and we'll talk with author Scott Adams about succeeding despite failure.
Should students be separated by their English proficiency?
The Los Angeles Unified School District is moving toward enforcing a policy of grouping students with similar language ability in the same classes. Last week parents got together in protest, asking that their English-learning students be taught in the same way as native English speakers. Proponents of the policy say it's too difficult to teach concepts to students who are also struggling to learn English.
What do you think? Is grouping students based on their language abilities a good idea?
Guests:
Cheryl Ortega, Director of Bilingual Education, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA); Kindergarten Teacher for 43 years, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), currently retired
Patricia Gándara, Research Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA
Dodgers post-mortem: the lessons of 2013
A 9-0 loss in Game 6 Friday night eliminated the Dodgers from the playoffs, meaning no World Series in Los Angeles this year. But what do the Dodgers have to look forward to next year? The boys in blue will still have many of the stars who got them this far, but will injuries hamper their hopes for another run at the World Series? What lessons can they learn from their successes and failures in 2013?
Guests:
Kevin Baxter, LA Times sports reporter
Jon Weisman, author of 100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He is founder and writer of the blog "Dodger Thoughts"
LA officials consider 'Dear John' letters to curb prostitution
If the Oakland Police Department sends you a "Dear John" letter, it's not trying to break up with you. In an effort to dissuade johns who solicit sex workers, the Bay area city has been mailing letters to men suspected of cruising for prostitutes.
RELATED: Could 'Dear John' letters help deter prostitution in Los Angeles?
The carefully crafted letters avoid accusations, simply saying their vehicle was spotted in a high-risk neighborhood.
Because the letter is sent to whomever is the registered owner, it sometimes lands in the hands of an unsuspecting spouse. Now, word is that Los Angeles may try the same tactic.
While dozens of cities across the country have used the strategy, it's not clear whether it's effective. Last week, police in Sanford, Florida started a letter campaign, but they will include photos of cars and license plates, making it more difficult to deny the whereabouts of a suspected john.
Do you think such a campaign would be effective? Would the program need the participation of residents who spot suspect vehicles?
See another example of a Dear John Letter here.
Guests:
Erika Aguilar, KPCC Crime and Safety Reporter
Michael Shively, Senior Associate at Abt,Associates, a private research company focused on criminal justice, social science and public health; Shively was the lead researcher on the “National Assessment of Efforts to Combat Demand for Prostitution and Sex Trafficking” released in 2012 by the National Institute of Justice at the Department of Justice
Will ACA enrollment glitches be overcome?
President Barack Obama today said there is "no excuse" for technical glitches delaying some people from signing up for "Obamacare" on-line. After the website healthcare.gov went live three weeks ago, some users experienced crashes and slow service, which the president said are being fixed.
In order to qualify for the earliest ACA start date of January 1, 2014, a patient would have to sign up by December 15. Is that enough time to fix the website? Will enrollments by phone and in person be able to pick up the slack? What caused the hiccups in the first place?
Guests:
Joseph Antos, Scholar in Health Care, American Enterprise Institute; Former Commissioner, Maryland Health Services Cost Review; Former Assistant Director, Congressional Budget Office
Sarah Lueck, Senior Policy Analyst specializing in health care at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Is the whopping $13-billion JPMorgan settlement fair?
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest bank in the U.S., has tentatively agreed to pay $13 billion to settle Department of Justice allegations that it had sold bad home mortgages to investors in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
It would be the government's highest-profile enforcement action related to the financial meltdown, if the deal is approved.
Still, the government is not getting a lot of love for what could be a record settlement. Defenders of the bank say the settlement is unfair, given JPMorgan’s role before its purchase of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns in the mortgage finance mess was relatively minor. And other critics of the deal say the government hasn’t gone far enough to hold individual bankers accountable for the financial meltdown.
Guests:
Chris Kotowski, senior analyst at Oppenheimer Equity Research
Julia Gordon, Director of Finance Policy at the Center for American Progress
China credit agency downgrades US debt. Does it matter?
In the run-up to the debt ceiling deadline, stateside credit rating agency Fitch threatened downgrade US sovereign debt rating. Congress acted on time and that was that. But last week, we found out that US credit rating did get slashed, from an A to A-, by a credit rating agency in China by the name of Dadong, based in Beijing.
At around the same time, an editorial writer for Xinhua, the China’s official news agency, wrote an op-ed piece calling for a “de-Americanized world” and the creation of a new world reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar.
What is Dadong? What kind of impact does the Chinese downgrade of US debt have in the US and internationally? The idea of phasing out the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is not new, but given chronic political instability in D.C., is the world giving that proposal another look?
Guest:
Michael McDonough, Bloomberg Chief Economist and China expert. He tweets at
Dilbert creator says invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket
Scott Adams explores the benefits of failure in his new book, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.” The creator and author of the popular comic series, Dilbert, Adams knows about failure. Adams has been a full time cartoonist since 1995, but prior to that career he worked in technology.
He shares in this book his numerous failures in his corporate career, inventions that never took off, and failed restaurants. He shares his personal story, anecdotes, and tries to show how to advance despite failure. He makes some interesting arguments against the traditional notion that passion is everything, and the importance of goals. Instead he advocates for personal energy, and creating systems that work best for each individual.
What are some of your failures in life? What have you learned from them?
Guest:
Scott Adams, Author of How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life (Portfolio / Penguin); creator of Dilbert, one of the most popular and widely distributed comic strips of the past quarter century