LAPD’s Biggest Police Union Proposes Handing Off Some 911 Calls to Alternative Agencies
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the LAPD’s largest employee union, has proposed that certain 911 calls should not be handled by police officers, but instead by unarmed responders staffed by other city departments and nonprofits. Calls that would fall under the proposal include non-criminal mental health episodes, landlord/tenant disputes, panhandling, welfare checks, public intoxication, and more. The LAPPL says this would free up resources for police to respond more quickly to emergencies and ease the burden on an understaffed police department. The proposal comes ahead of the police union’s contract negotiations with the city, and would have to be approved by the city’s Executive Employee Relations Committee before it could be implemented.
Joining us to discuss the proposal are Michel Moore, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, Lt. Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, and Dr. Jonathan Sherin, professor of psychiatry at USC and UCLA and former Director at Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and Bob Blumenfield, Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 3rd Council District and member of the Executive Employee Relations Committee.
Why Is It Still Raining In March? The Unusual Atmospheric River Traveling Through California Right Now
California has been experiencing record rain and snowfall. This extreme weather system has unleashed deadly flooding and mudslides in many parts of Southern California. In San Bernardino County, residents have been put under a state of emergency since Monday. The National Weather Service reports that yesterday is the last day of this weaker storm system. Most of the heavier rain passed through overnight. Despite promises of less extreme weather, swaths of the region saw bouts of heavy hail and high winds, with breaks of sunny skies that seem unfamiliar at this point in these storms. Winds were so high that the L.A. Department of Water and Power is reporting a new round of outages. LADWP officials reported about 25,000 customers had no power as of Wednesday afternoon. Though some sunshine was able to peak throughout the day, another set of storms is expected to happen soon, bringing even more rain, snow and cold temperatures. Already into March, when will this stormy season end? What is causing this atmospheric river? And what can we expect in this next storm? Joining us to discuss the recent and impact of this weather pattern is Eric Fetzer, project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
With files from LAist. Read the full story here.
“K-Pop Dreaming” Explores The Rise The Music Genre Through The Lens Of LA’s Korean Diaspora
Korean pop music, or K-Pop for short, had a major moment in the U.S. in 2012 when Korean rapper Psy’s catchy dance track “Gangnam Style” exploded onto the music and social media scene. But the story of K-Pop making its way to the U.S. dates back well before Psy, BTS, Blackpink or even H.O.T, whose hit “Candy” is viewed as the first generation of K-Pop music. In the second season of LAist Studios’ podcast “California Love,” titled “K-Pop Dreaming,” host and Los Angeles native Vivian Yoon dives into the rise of K-Pop in America and shares the story of her own discovery and love of K-Pop music while growing up as a second generation immigrant and struggling to fit in and come to terms with her own identity.
Today on AirTalk, Vivian is with us to preview “K-Pop Dreaming,” explore the origins of K-Pop music and why it has exploded in popularity recently in the U.S., and talk about why it was important to her to tell this story through the lens of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles.
Future Of Orange County Power Authority In Question Following State Audit. Here’s Why It Matters
A new state audit of the Orange County Power Authority (OCPA) found a lack of transparency in marketing and financial services contracts at the beleaguered clean power agency. The audit also called into question the agency’s financial health.
The OCPA is a community choice energy provider that buys mostly renewable power on behalf of customers in Buena Park, Fullerton, Huntington Beach and Irvine. The Orange County Board of Supervisors had also planned to enroll customers in incorporated parts of the county in the OCPA, but pulled out in December citing a lack of confidence in agency leadership. In a letter to the governor and state legislative leaders California State Auditor Grant Parks wrote that OCPA demonstrated a pattern of contracting practices that were noncompetitive and that reduced accountability by repeatedly circumventing and violating its own policies. The findings released on Tuesday raise questions about whether OCPA customers are receiving the highest quality professional services available, Parks said. Joining AirTalk to break down the controversy and why it matters is Jill Replogle, senior reporter covering Orange County.
With files from LAist. Read the full story here
Human Rights Lawyer Luis Moreno Ocampo, Subject Of Oscar-Nominated ‘Argentina, 1985,’ On His Career Of Pursuing Of Justice
Two of the nominees for this year’s Oscar for best international feature are based on true events. Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the novel of the same name, is a fictional account of the last days of World War I. The other is Argentina 1985, from Argentina, and it’s a narrative interpretation of a landmark trial, in which the leaders of Argentina’s military dictatorship, including de facto president Jorge Rafael Videla were charged with torturing and killing thousands of Argentine citizens. The prosecution was led by two lawyers; the chief prosecutor was Julio Strassera, and his deputy was a 32-year-old attorney named Luis Moreno Ocampo. Strassera died in 2015. Ocampo went on to become a distinguished human rights lawyer; in 2003 he was named the first prosecutor of the then-new International Criminal Court in The Hague. Ocampo, now 70, is an academic, and he lives in Malibu.
LAist arts and entertainment reporter John Horn spoke with him earlier this week about his career and the movie Argentina 1985, and today on AirTalk we’ll share John’s conversation with Mr. Ocampo about what the movie means to him, what it was like to see a story from his actual life play out on film, his take on human rights progress in Argentina and South America in the nearly 40 years since the case, and what progress still needs to be made.
TV-Talk: ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3, ‘Perry Mason’ Season 2, ‘True Lies’ & More
Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network tv and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we’re going to try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, Larry talks to Jen Chaney, television critic for Vulture, and Liz Shannon Miller, senior entertainment editor at Consequence.
This week’s reviews include:
- The Mandalorian [Season 3] (Disney+)
- Perry Mason [Season 2] (HBO Max)
- True Lies (Airing on CBS, Streaming on Paramount+)
- Daisy Jones & the Six (Amazon Prime Video)
- Party Down [Season 3] (Starz)
