Today on AirTalk, we get updates on the Bobcat fire. Also on the show, we discuss the latest political news; hear about the discovery that there may be signs of life on Venus; and more.
Bobcat Changes Course, Threatens Mt. Wilson Observatory
The Bobcat Fire continues to grow rapidly in the Angeles National Forest, causing evacuations and threatening foothill communities.
Last night, flames closed in on Mt. Wilson Observatory and firefighters were actively defending the facility. Officials said "favorable weather conditions" were helping crews as they worked overnight to protect the historic science station.
For the latest on the Bobcat Fire, visit LAist.com
Guests:
James Wettstaed, public information officer with the Bobcat fire for the U.S. Forest Service
Tom Meneghini, executive director of the Mt. Wilson Observatory
Politics Update: Trump’s February Comments on “Deadly” COVID-19, Russian Hacking Detected Ahead of Election
President Donald Trump talked in private about the “deadly” coronavirus last February, even as he was declaring to America it was no worse than the flu and insisting it was under control, according to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward. Trump said Wednesday he was just being a “cheerleader” for the nation and trying to keep everyone calm.
His public rhetoric, Trump told Woodward in March, was part of a strategy to deliberately minimize the danger. “I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Trump, according to the book, acknowledged being alarmed by the virus, even as he was telling the nation that it would swiftly disappear.
Coming less than eight weeks before Election Day, the revelations in the book — accompanied by recordings Woodward made of his interviews with Trump — provide an unwelcome return of public attention to the president’s handling of the pandemic that has so far killed about 190,000 Americans. He is currently pushing hard for a resumption of normal activity and trying to project strength and control to bolster his political position in his campaign against Democrat Joe Biden.
Additionally, the same Russian military intelligence outfit that hacked the Democrats in 2016 has renewed vigorous U.S. election-related targeting, trying to breach computers at more than 200 organizations including political campaigns and their consultants, Microsoft said Thursday.
The intrusion attempts reflect a stepped up effort to infiltrate the U.S. political establishment, the company said. “What we’ve seen is consistent with previous attack patterns that not only target candidates and campaign staffers but also those who they consult on key issues,” Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president, said in a blog post. U.K. and European political groups were also probed, he added.
Most of the hacking attempts by Russian, Chinese and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified, he said. The company would not comment on who may have been successfully hacked or the impact.
Questions? Join the conversation by giving us a call at 866-893-5722.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News; he tweets
Alyza Sebenius, cybersecurity reporter with Bloomberg News; she tweets
The History And Science Behind California’s Unprecedented Wildfire Season
It’s been an unusually bad fire season in California. According to the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more acreage has burned this year than any other year in the last three decades.
Some have lay blame at the feet of climate change, but the reality is far more complex and has to do with: lightning strikes, drought, fire suppression, communities built in forests, architecture, economic incentives and, yes, climate change.
We do a primer on the complicated history behind California’s unprecedented wildfire season.
Plus, we’ll also check in on SoCal’s air quality. When might the smoky cover dissipate?
Guests:
Philip Fine, deputy executive officer for planning and rules with South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD)
Greg Giusti, forests and wildland ecology adviser emeritus with the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
COVID-19: How To Differentiate Flu Vs. Coronavirus Symptoms, Should Cardrooms Reopen?
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Kimberly Shriner, infectious disease specialist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Today’s topics include:
Flu vs. COVID-19: how to differentiate
Study: NYC lockdown led to significant drop in spread
How quickly will a vaccine ease COVID-19 spread?
Safety concerns over cardrooms reopening
Guest:
Kimberly Shriner, M.D., infectious disease specialist at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena
Most California Kids Are Doing Virtual School. But What About Youth Sports?
Basketball, tennis, soccer— as anyone who has walked through a park in the last six months knows, kids went on playing them throughout the stay-at-home order, either through loosely organized games with friends or more formalized camps.
Last month, California finalized guidelines for youth sports after all but eliminating them in March. The three primary conditions laid out by the guidelines are that participants maintain a physical distance of six feet, have a stable cohort for play and that activities should take place outside. All athletes participating in indoor activities must have a face covering. Sports that do not lend themselves to six feet distance or a stable cohort (football, wrestling, etc.) are limited to conditioning. Regardless of the guidelines, however, many families are making the personal calculus by weighing the social benefits against the health risks. Kids that are kept at home may be put in the agonizing position of watching their friends go back to sports and resume a fuller social life. And families that allow their kids back must contend with the risk that their child could contract the virus and bring it home.
If you or your child are in youth sports, how are you making the decision? What are your concerns, and how are you making the choice to participate (or not) in sports this fall? Has your child taken up a new, pandemic-friendly sport? We want to hear from you. Leave a comment below or join the conversation by giving us a call at 866-893-5722.
Could There Be Life On Venus? Researchers Find Possible Sign
Astronomers have found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighboring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet.
Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted in the thick Venusian clouds the chemical signature of phosphine, a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with life, according to a study in Monday’s journal Nature Astronomy. Several outside experts — and the study authors themselves — agreed this is tantalizing but said it is far from the first proof of life on another planet. They said it doesn’t satisfy the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” standard established by the late Carl Sagan, who speculated about the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus in 1967. As astronomers plan for searches for life on planets outside our solar system, a major method is to look for chemical signatures that can only be made by biological processes, called biosignatures. After three astronomers met in a bar in Hawaii, they decided to look that way at the closest planet to Earth: Venus. They searched for phosphine, which is three hydrogen atoms and a phosphorous atom. On Earth, there are only two ways phosphine can be formed, study authors said. One is in an industrial process. (The gas was produced for use as chemical warfare agent in World War I.) The other way is as part of some kind of poorly understood function in animals and microbes. Some scientists consider it a waste product, others don’t. Today on AirTalk, we discuss the results of the recent study and how significant they could be in the search for life beyond Earth.
With files from the Associated Press
Guests:
Shannon Stirone, freelance writer based in the Bay Area who’s been covering this for the New York Times; she tweets
Sukrit Ranjan, planetary scientist and postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, where his work focuses on the coupling of planets and life; formerly a postdoc at MIT, where he was a co-author on four of MIT’s papers regarding phosphine and Venus