California lawmakers ended their final session of the year by approving immigrant driver licenses, and raising the state's minimum wage to $10.00. How will the new bills impact the state? Then, NPR announced that it's asking 10 percent of its staff to take a buyout. What does that mean for NPR listeners? And its been five years since the bankruptcy of the investment bank Lehman Brothers. Could something on the scale of the Lehman collapse happen again? Later, our film critics review the horror flick Insidious 2 and the dark comedy, "The Family." Lastly, why do so many A-list stars have C-list salaries? TGI-FilmWeek!
New minimum wage, potential driver’s licenses for undocumented Californians, and more
California lawmakers finished their final session of the year by approving bills to raise California’s minimum wage to the highest in the nation, addressing issues of environmental protection, teacher misconduct, and allowing illegal Immigrant in the state to obtain driver licenses. The Legislature adjourned after a final rush of numerous bills and debates and won’t return again until the new year in January.
Among the bills being sent to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk for approval is bill AB10 that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016. Brown has until mid October to make a decision, but he has already come out in support for this bill.
Immigrants who are in California illegally would be able to get a driver license under AB60. “This bill will enable millions of people to get to work safely and legally,” Brown said in a statement to the LA Times. The bill would require special marks on the licenses with the initially DP, driver’s privilege, to signify a difference. Other bills headed to Brown’s desk include AB375 that would speed up the process for dismissing teacher who are accused of misconduct.
What bills do you think Governor Brown should sign? How will the news laws impact the state? How will they impact you?
Guests:
Patrick McGreevy, LA Times Capitol reporter
Dan Walters, political columnist at the Sacramento Bee
Russ Stanton on NPR cuts and how they will affect KPCC
National Public Radio announced this morning that they're going to be asking 10 percent of their staff to take a buyout. NPR said it needs to cut its staff of 840 in order to balance their budget, which is operating cash deficit of $6.1 million.
RELATED: NPR to cut staff 10 percent, names SoCal businessman interim CEO
There's also a new acting CEO effective at the end of this month. Southern Californian Paul Haaga, a longtime KPCC supporter and former chairman of Capital Research and Management in Los Angeles will be taking over when current NPR CEO Gary Knell leaves to head the National Geographic Society.
So what does this mean for public radio generally? Does it mean any changes for KPCC?
KPCC 's Vice President of Content, Russ Stanton, offers his insight on this move by NPR, how it might affect KPCC and how public media can sustain itself in an uncertain media landscape.
Full Interview:
On the distinction between NPR and KPCC:
"National Public Radio, as its name indicates, is a national news organization. They've got a big staff of informed bureaus around the world and a lot of bureaus in the United States, and they're focused on those two segments. Like us, they're a nonprofit news organization. We focus all of our efforts on Southern California and the state of California, primarily. We are a unit of American Public Media, which is based in St. Paul, Minn."
On whether there are any programming announcements at this time:
"No, we haven't heard any, and, in fact, this move has been well-telegraphed by NPR for months. It's not any secret that they've been having an operating deficit. Today is the first time we've seen a number attached to the staff reduction, and it appears to be across the board, not just in the newsroom. 10 percent, they've got about 800 and some people there, half of those are in the newsroom, so if they spread it out equally, it would be about 40 or so folks.
"They haven't indicated that there will be any cuts to any of the shows right now. We run about eight of them over our programming schedule: 'Morning Edition,' 'All Things Considered' and 'Science Friday during the weekdays, and then on the weekends we run the shows either produced or distributed by NPR: 'The TED Radio Hour,' 'Ask Me Another,' 'Tell Me More,' 'Latino USA' and 'Snap Judgment.'"
On why the $220 million Kroc Endowment doesn't prevent cuts:
"What they're trying to do where is be a very fiscally responsible news organization and not have to tap that. That was, I believe, given by Ms. Kroc for the longterm betterment of news media coverage in America, particularly in the public media space, and they're trying to — like all news organizations that are going through this great disruption that the Internet has brought to out business — figure out how to restructure in such a way that they can accurately and competently cover the news within their financial means."
On having to preside over staff cuts:
"When the reality hits, it's never any fun. Staff reductions are miserable and heartbreaking work in a news organization, as they are with any company. It has an effect in morale, and if not properly managed by the news organization — and I think NPR has done a great job of telegraphing this — you want to not have the audience worry too much about the product that they're going to be consuming."
On how NPR got into this $6 million cash deficit:
"There isn't a news organization in this country that hasn't been affected by the disruption that the Internet has brought to the media business over the past 15 or so years. NPR like most news organizations has seen a decline in advertising, or in public media we call it underwriting spots by sponsors. There's been a lot of talk and handwringing on Capitol Hill about how much the federal government needs to be financing public media. The great recession that began five or six years ago has had an effect on the audience's ability to give, and that's also been a factor for NPR and for us."
On the cuts despite NPR's strong brand and popularity:
"I think the trick for the management team at NPR, which is terrific, as the challenge is for any management team in media today, is to figure out how to make these reductions in the most seamless way possible so that the net effect is — to the degree possible — not noticeable by the audience."
On whether KPCC will end up with programming changes:
"We like to joke around here that the programming job is never done. I think it's important to note that in recent years NPR has only canceled one program, 'Talk of the Nation.' We've replaced it and some other spots on our programming schedule with other shows.
"There is a healthy aspect to this in that there's been a lot of introspective thinking within the public media system about the ability to add new shows and new voices to the programming mix. From that standpoint there is an upside to this, but, again, NPR has done a great job of limiting the headcount damage in terms of how that is noticed or affected programming."
Five years after the Lehman collapse, is the financial system safer?
The bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers is typically seen as the beginning of the unraveling of the U.S. financial system that ultimately ushered in a period of economic contraction not felt since the Great Depression. It's not an overstatement to argue that everything changed that day in September and that we, as Americans, are still dealing with the consequences today.
RELATED: Financial crash 5 years later: A timeline of key events in the Great Recession
From macroeconomic issues like chronic unemployment and the popping of the housing bubble, to personal financial decisions like how much we save and how much we spend, the recession has touched all aspects of our lives, whether we realize it or not.
RELATED: Financial crash 5 years later: Where are YOU now? (poll)
Five years after the start of the financial crisis, the question we at AirTalk want to ask is: are we safer going forward? Could something on the scale of the Lehman collapse happen again? Have we laid the foundation--legally, ethically and regulatorily--to preempt another domestic economic catastrophe?
RELATED: Looking back: How did Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy affect you?
Is the era of "too big to fail," too interconnected to fail, reckless lending, easy borrowing, the trading of esoteric derivatives, and irresponsible secularization a thing of the past? Or has it been a crisis wasted? To take on those questions is, in essence, to take on the topic of regulation.
RELATED: Great Recession Redux: Where are they now?
Has Dodd-Frank, the signature financial reform bill that came out of the crisis -- done the work that it is supposed to? Have regulators done enough? Has the financial industry been reined in?
Guests:
Ross Levine, an economist at UC Berkeley and a former economist at The World Bank. He is also a co-author of the book, “Guardians of FInance: Making Regulators Work for Us” (MIT Press, 2012)
Aaron Klein, the director of the Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and former deputy assistant for economic policy at the US Department of the Treasury
Filmweek: The Family, Insidious: Chapter 2, Jayne Mansfield's Car and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Henry Sheehan and Andy Klein to review this week’s releases, including Insidious: Chapter 2, The Family, Wadjda and more.
We also remember the major contributions of Ray Dolby who has died. He was, of course, the creator of that famous Dolby sound technology heard on so many films you’ve enjoyed.
And KPCC critic Peter Rainer joins us over the phone from Toronto to discuss some of the highlights from the Toronto Film Festival. TGI-FilmWeek!
The Family
Insidious: Chapter 2
Jayne Mansfield's Car
Guests:
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and CriticsAGoGo.com
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC and the L.A. Times Community Papers chain
Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor; author of “Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era”
Sound Pioneer Ray Dolby Dies
Ray Dolby died Thursday at the age of 80 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease and acute leukemia. Dolby was a sound pioneer, and took out the hiss in sound recordings. He founded Dolby Laboratories in 1965, and he revolutionized the movie theater sound with films like Stars Wars and A Clockwork Orange.
He acquired a network of $2.4 billion over the years and won two Oscars, several Emmys and a Grammy. While he retired years ago, his company continued to thrive. Last year it had revenues over $900 million. He continued to make inventions including the Dolby Amos, which the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey used.
In on post to their founder, Dolby Laboratories posted a tribute that included quotes on Dolby's view of success. "I was never a gold-digger, or an Oscar-digger, or anything like that. I just had the instinct about the right sort of things that should be done in my business. "
Guest:
Kevin Yeaman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dolby
Hollywood’s new A-listers (and their C-list salaries)
Actor Chris Pine may have the leading-man looks, even the leading-man roles such as the most recent "Star Trek," but he is not commanding paydays of yesteryear's stars. As The Hollywood Reporter explains, the new batch of A-listers can only expect the rare $10-million deal. Familiar faces including Denzel Washington, Robert Downey, Jr. and Leonardo DiCaprio still command $20-million a picture, but rare is the woman or up-and-comer who can come close. The salary tumbles started when the economic collapse hit everyone in 2008 and 2009, and when the home-movie market fell away.
Is this a good thing or bad thing for Hollywood? Who do you think deserves the bigger checks? Who are the names on your A-list?
Guest:
Tatiana Siegel, Film Reporter The Hollywood Reporter