General Motors Reaches Tentative Deal With The United Auto Workers, Ending Six-Week Strike
General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end a six-week-old strike against Detroit automakers, two people briefed on the deal said Monday.
The agreement follows the pattern set with Ford last week and Jeep maker Stellantis over the weekend.
The deals will last four years and eight months and include 25% general pay raises and cost of living adjustments. Combined they bring the wage increase to over 30% over the life of the contract. Joining us today on AirTalk is Neal Boudette, New York Times reporter covering the audio industry and Jessica Caldwell, Head of Insights at Edmunds.
With files from the Associated Press.
The State Of Bighorn Sheep In The Sierra Nevadas And Why It Matters
Half of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep tracked by scientists died during last season’s record-breaking winter, according to researchers interviewed by LAist. Some sheep got trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, and some were killed by mountain lions when the sheep were forced to move to lower elevations to look for food. The population is now estimated at 360 sheep, a 40% decline from a year ago, according to Tom Stephenson, who heads the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program. That estimate includes new lambs that were born in the spring. Some herds, including two of the three living in Yosemite National Park, have been mostly or perhaps entirely wiped out. During their summer field surveys, researchers found just one live ewe, the term for adult female bighorns, from Yosemite's Mount Gibbs herd. Last year there were 20. Other Sierra Nevada herds fared better, including Yosemite's Mount Warren herd. In the Mount Baxter herd, which is the largest, near the eastern Sierra town of Independence, researchers observed 75 sheep over the summer. Researchers try to keep tracking collars on about one-third of all female ewes in order to gauge a herd's health and ability to reproduce. They generally collar fewer rams. Half of the collared animals died over the winter. Today on AirTalk, we’ll speak with LAist Orange County Reporter Jill Replogle, and John Wehausen, president of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation and retired research scientist at the University of California.
With files from Jill Replogle at LAist.com. Read her full story here.
Agent Of KAOS: How Local Multimedia Artist Ben Caldwell’s Vision Of Creating A Nucleus For Black Art In Leimert Park Became A Reality
Leimert Park’s community arts organization KAOS Network and its founder, multimedia artist, Ben Caldwell are at the center of the new book “KAOS Theory: The Afrokosmic Ark of Ben Caldwell” by Caldwell and USC Communications Professor Robeson Taj Frazier. The book follows Caldwell’s personal history, from his childhood days growing up in New Mexico to his time serving in Vietnam to the birth of the KAOS Network in Leimert Park Village -- Caldwell says he liked the location because it allowed him to work with young artists in the area, for which he received a grant, and it put him right in the center of a neighborhood with a strong connection to Los Angeles’ Black art and culture scene -- to the present day. KAOS Network remains an incubator for local Black artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, and more, and calls many household names its alums, including director Ava DuVernay and musicians Anderson .Paak and Doja Cat. When Caldwell met Taj Frazier through a collaboration the two were working on, it became clear that Ben’s personal journey and the KAOS Network itself had the makings of a book, and “KAOS Theory” is their realization of Ben’s story and the impact it has had on Leimert Park Village and the Afrofuturism art scene in L.A.
Today on AirTalk, Ben Caldwell and Taj Frazier join Larry to discuss “KAOS Theory.”
Taj and Ben will be discussing “KAOS Theory” at The Artform Studio at 5611 N. Figueroa Blvd. in Highland Park on Thursday, November 9th. You can also see them at our very own Crawford Family Forum as part of LAist and KCET’s Artbound Screening Series, where we’ll be showing the documentary “Angel City Press: L.A. through the Pages” about the creation and influence of local publishing house Angel City Press.
SoCal History Monday: A Deep Dive Into The SoCal Waters Of Aqueducts, Aquifers And Underground Basins
Over the past several centuries, Los Angeles has gone from a small farming community to one of the world’s biggest metropolises. In the early days, farming communities were able to reply on surface water from lakes and rivers. But as the population grew, that changed. We needed more water so we began to tap into groundwater resources, which at times were run dry by a lack of regulation. As we began to pave over much the natural land, these underground basins had no way to replenish from rainwater that would otherwise seep into the earth. Today, LA residents rely on a complex and highly managed system of aqueducts, wells, rivers and basins. Joining us today on AirTalk is Greg Pierce, director of UCLA’s Water Resources Group and Stephanie Pincetl, professor at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Electric Vehicle Prices Are Dropping. Is Consumer Demand Waning?
Demand for electric vehicles in the U.S. has started to level off after a couple of years of huge growth. In August, for example, automakers sold almost 111,000 EVs, equating to 8.3% of the total market. But in September, sales dropped to just under 106,000, or 7.9% of the market. U.S. dealers had an 88-day supply of new EVs at the end of September, compared with the industry as a whole, which had a 56-day supply, according to data from Kelley Blue Book. The average price of an EV was just over $61,000 in January, but that fell to just under $51,000 in September. That’s because of large price cuts by market leader Tesla and increased production and sales of the lower-cost Chevrolet Bolt. Do these price cuts reflect a significant drop in consumer demand? Or are they the byproduct of a more diverse market of EVs? How are oil companies and U.S. policy adapting? Today on the program, we’re joined by Gil Tal, director of UC Davis’s Plug-In, Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center and K Venkatesh Prasad, senior vice president of research and chief innovation officer at the Center for Automotive Research.
With files from the Associated Press
How The Climate Crisis Is Impacting Local Trails
The Mt. Wilson Trail is a beloved and historic hiking trail in the San Gabriel Mountains, but it’s being battered and changed by increasingly severe climate impacts. With last year’s record rain and then Tropical Storm Hilary, a lot of the trail got washed out and trail volunteers have been working nonstop to fix the damage. And who knows what conditions are ahead of us. Erin Stone, climate emergency reporter for LAist who's latest piece is “The Forest Service Can’t Keep Up With What The Climate Crisis Is Doing To Our Trails. Volunteers Are Filling The Gap,” and Erik Hillard, board director and CFO of Lowelifes Respectable Citizens’ Club, a non-profit founded in 2019 that partners with the Forest Service to restore trails across the Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, join to discuss the state of trails and what's being done to manage it. Has your favorite local trail been impacted? Share what you've seen by calling 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com.
