The results are in for the first year of Common Core student testing. Then, what are the laws governing teen sexting in California? Also, President Obama is weighing his options as a worldwide debate has opened up over how to deal with the burgeoning refugee crisis. All that and more, on today's AirTalk.
California Common Core test scores reveal troubling results
The results are in for the first year of Common Core student testing.
The results are discouraging, but educational leaders say we shouldn't be discouraged. Everyone agrees the test is harder than its predecessor, but still, the majority of students tested below grade-level standards in math and English. That's statewide - with high performing districts included.
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC education reporter
Dr. Ruth Perez, deputy superintendent for instruction with Los Angeles Unified School District
David Plank, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education
The fate of SB 350: One of the boldest climate change bills to hit the Calif. Assembly
It's do-or-die for the California Assembly this week.
It's the final four days of the 2015 session and legislators still need to fill the hole in the health care budget, divvy up billions in cap-and-trade funds — and finally vote on climate change centerpiece SB 350.
The bill wants to impose greater energy-efficiency standards for buildings. It also wants utilities to have more renewable power. But it's most controversial move? Requiring the state to cut petroleum use in half over the next 15 years.
Republican opponents and oil industry analysts warn this could lead to everything from gas rationing to a ban on minivans.
But its moderate Democrats who may pose the greatest threat to passing the far-reaching legislation. Several Assembly Dems — many from cash-strapped districts in the Central Valley —worry that that drastic cuts in oil use could lead to even higher unemployment.
Senate Bill 350: Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015
Guests:
Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced), has released an open letter opposing the measure
State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach), supports SB 350
John Myers, KQED’s California politics and government editor
Adam Nagourney, political reporter with the New York Times who’s been covering the bills
Debating whether the US should be taking in more refugees from Syria
President Obama is weighing his options as a worldwide debate has opened up over how to deal with the burgeoning refugee crisis.
Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday that "The [Obama] administration is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement."
Although no decision has been made, the White House is running out of time -- under federal law, the president must establish the annual refugee ceiling before Oct. 1. For 2015, Syrians will fill an estimated 2,000 of the 70,000 total openings for refugees.
In contrast, that number was only 132 in 2014. The International Rescue Committee called for the United States to open its doors to 65,000 Syrian refugees. An online petition asking the U.S. government to do exactly that has garnered more than 54,000 signatures.
In order to claim refugee status, applicants must typically be displaced from their home country because of "persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."
Under current law, the president can make exceptions, allowing people to claim refugee status from within their own country. Obama has done so for refugees from Iraq, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba. Yet so far, the administration has focused more on providing humanitarian aid to the tune of $4 billion rather than on raising the ceiling.
What is the vetting process? How will the administration respond as many ask why they are not doing more? Should the U.S. allow refugee status to people still in Syria? And as approximately four million Syrians have been displaced to neighboring countries, what is the role of the U.S. in this crisis?
Guests:
James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic, where he’s been writing about the Syrian refugee crisis
James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute in Washington D.C.-based think tank and author of "Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us, and Why it Matters"
Anna Green, Director of Policy and Advocacy for U.S. Programs at the International Rescue Committee
Acclaimed historian and LGBT archivist discuss the history of gay Los Angeles
Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land. The fight for marriage equality has been the dominant political issue the LGBT community in Southern California has rallied behind in the last decade, beginning with the battle to defeat Proposition 8 in 2008.
In this AirTalk exclusive, we take a look at gay life and the history of the growth and evolution of the LGBT community in Los Angeles and Orange County – decades before marriage equality was thought of as a reality, decades before the center of gay life migrated to West Hollywood, decades before the AIDS epidemic would redraw and redefine gay life in Los Angeles and other Southern California gay enclaves.
Here to discuss these issues and more are noted historian Lillian Faderman, and the director of the ONE archives, Joseph Hawkins.
Call 866-893-5722 to share your memories, your favorite old LGBT hangouts and haunts, and more.
Lillian Faderman will be in Los Angeles throughout October for a series of readings and book signings for her new book, “The Gay Revolution.”
Saturday, October 17, 2015 – 4:00PM
Book Soup
Sunday, October 18, 2015 – 2:30PM
June Mazer Lesbian Archives
Monday, October 19, 2015 – 7:00PM
Library Foundation of Los Angeles, ALOUD Series
Tuesday, October 20, 2015 – 7:00PM
Burbank Public Library
Guests:
Lillian Faderman, historian and author of many on GLBTQ history, including “Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians” (Basic Books, 2006). Her newest book is “The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle” (Simon & Schuster, 2015)
Joseph Hawkins, director of ONE archives at the USC libraries, the world’s largest collection of LGBTQ artifacts. He is also an associate Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at the school