First day of school for LAUSD. San Bruno fire aftermath: where's the gas pipeline closest to you? Does stretching before exercise prevent injury? Will Congress extend the Bush tax cuts? Later, I'm With Fatty author and foodie Edward Ugel on how he lost 50 pounds in 50 weeks.
LAUSD school year begins and RFK opens
It's the first day of school for most of LA Unified, and while many students return to familiar classrooms, brand new schools will open at 17 sites. Among them are the 6 Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools at a complex on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel, a $578-million project. Meanwhile, academic performance jumped in the district last year, according to scores released today. Will the trend continue amid budget cuts? And how will the news schools fare? Sharpen your pencils, class, school’s in session.
Guests:
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC Reporter
Howard Blume, Education reporter, Los Angeles Times
San Bruno fire and gas pipelines near you
Last Thursday, a 30-inch gas “transmission line” ruptured beneath suburban San Bruno, south of San Francisco. A massive fireball shot 1,000 feet into the air, destroying 37 homes and killing at least four people. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion. While it may seem like a freak accident, this incident is only one of a number of natural gas disasters this year. How many gas lines are there in residential neighborhoods? Are there sufficient safety precautions in place?
Guests:
Tony Barboza, LA Times metro reporter in San Bruno covering the disaster
Bret Lane, Vice President of field services for Southern California Gas Company
Does static stretching before running prevent injuries?
Stretch before your work out to prevent injuries, right? Hold that hamstring. A study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports seems to indicate that static stretching actually has no relationship to injuries. Some 3000 runners were looked at, with 1500 stretching and 1500 foregoing the stretching routine…the results: an equal number of injuries. Have we been wasting our time stretching? Get ready for the answer: no warm up necessary.
Guests:
Dr. Daniel Pereles, Orthopedic surgeon in Maryland
Malachy McHugh, Director of Research, Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma, Lenox Hill Hospital in New York
Congress is back in session
After its August recess, Congress is back in session today and the major issue that’s up for debate over the coming weeks is whether or not to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of the year. President Obama wishes to increase income taxes on households making more than $250,000 per year. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner announced he might not oppose Obama’s tax plan, although many other Republican leaders want to extend all tax cuts originally introduced by George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003. What will be the final fate of the Bush-era tax cuts? And, along with a small-business jobs bill, what else is on the legislative agenda?
Guest:
Glenn Thrush, Senior Congressional Reporter, politico.com
Jack Shaw, Capitol Hill reporter for Market News International
“I’m With Fatty” author weighs in on food, failure & losing fifty pounds in fifty miserable weeks
“I'm with Fatty” chronicles Edward Ugel’s yearlong journey to figure out how to live in a world without dim sum, prosciutto, and constant culinary gratification. Ugel is a committed foodie but at 36 years old, he weighed in at 263 pounds. His doctor ordered him to drop fifty or risk keeling over in line at Popeye’s. Ugel’s memoir explores the complex love triangle between him, his wife, and his nearly cult-like obsession with food. It’s also a confessional treatise on the private hell of being fat in America and the seldom-discussed issue of male body image. Where does one draw the line between eating enthusiast and food addict?
Guest:
Edward Ugel, author of I'm with Fatty: Losing Fifty Pounds in Fifty Miserable Weeks
(Weinstein Books)