Election check in: Measure to expand LA County Board passes and the latest on local races
While some ballots are still being counted in key California congressional races, we now know that Democrat George Whitesides has won District 27 against Republican incumbent Mike Garcia. District 45 (Michelle Steel and Derek Tran) and District 47 (Dave Min and Scott Baugh) are still too close to call. Other big news in Southern California: the measure to expand the L.A. County Board of Supervisors from five to nine has passed. Measure G would also create an independent ethics commission. Today on AirTalk, we check in on local elections with Frank Stoltze, LAist civics and democracy correspondent, and Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of political science at Pomona College.
Rent is expected to increase across Southern California--where does rent control stand for L.A.'s residents
The price of housing in L.A. and the rest of Southern California is always on residents' minds. Rent increases happen every year, the sole solace being that hopefully this year, the increase will be minimal. USC's annual Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast predicts rent increases for SoCal through 2026, projecting that L.A. County will see an average annual rent growth of 1.46 percent. The largest rent growth is expected in the Inland Empire with an average annual rent increase of 3.2 percent. Yet, despite rent increases, Californians voted no on Prop 33, a proposal that would have allowed for more cities to enact stricter rent control. With rent going up and housing availability at a stand still, what can L.A. residents expect in the coming years?
Today on AirTalk, we're joined by the forecast author and Associate Professor of Real Estate at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, Moussa Diop, and LAist housing reporter, David Wagner, to talk about where L.A. rent control currently stands and what we can expect from rent increases moving forward.
Do we ask ourselves enough questions about death? A death expert weighs in
Until the pandemic, death had been seen as something outside of our everyday experience here in the U.S. That is according to a new book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life by author and death expert Joanna Ebenstein. It wasn’t always that way. For many of our ancestors, death was a more immediate and intimate part of their lives. Lifespans were shorter, epidemics more rampant, and childbirth far more dangerous. All of those reasons and more contributed to an up close-and-personal relationship with death. But as our lifespans grew longer and medical and hygiene advanced, death became more distant and detached. Joining us today on AirTalk is author of the new book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, Joanna Ebenstein who offers readers a roadmap for how to contemplate and create art around matters of death. We also want to hear from you. What are your earliest memories of death and how was it talked about in your family?
Marketplace's David Brancaccio on a new series about (real life) marketplaces
These days, e-commerce reigns supreme. Online retailers like Amazon have revolutionized how we shop, offering every product imaginable from the comfort of our homes at the click of a mouse or tap of our phone screen. From Walmart to Target to Home Depot and beyond, every brick-and-mortar retailer has an online presence in addition to the physical store. But even though we live in a world where most prefer to conduct business via a screen, real-life marketplaces still exist where merchants set prices, shoppers hunt for bargains, and deals are made face-to-face. And as places like these take a backseat to online marketplaces, so too might the skills required to buy and sell goods at a price that's fair to the consumer and profitable to the seller. So, how do you go about getting the best stuff at the best price these days -- without getting ripped off? This question is the driver of a series on Marketplace Morning Report all this week called "Tricks of the Trade," in which host David Brancaccio visits five different in-person marketplaces in Los Angeles, including the Rose Bowl Flea Market and the L.A. Flower Market, to learn and share buying and selling tips from the experts who do it every day that can help us all be better marketplace participants. Today on AirTalk, David joins Larry to talk about the series.
How will California dairy farmers be impacted by regulations and new standards?
In its new Low Carbon Fuel Standards, California Air Resources Board (CARB) members have decided to phase out climate credits dedicated to manure methane emissions; in the past, CARB has dedicated a fair amount of resources to projects like digesters, which trap manure methane and allow the gas to eventually be used as fuel. The credits dedicated to California dairy come at a time in the industry when many smaller farmers are having trouble maintaining their profit margins due to the industry’s monopolization and the climate becoming an omnipresent environmental issue. So to help us better understand the current regulation for California’s dairy industry Michael Boccadoro, executive director of Dairy Cares, and Frank Mitloehner, UC Davis animal science professor and director of its CLEAR center.
Men are entering the workforce in a new role as the stay-at-home dad
Most households in the U.S. require both parents to work to sustain the family. But in recent years, for some heterosexual marriages, women have slowly become equal or even the main breadwinners for their families. For those couples where the wife earns more than the husband or has a more demanding career, it makes sense for the husband to stay at home and care for the children. This unique class of men are being called "househusbands." Today on AirTalk we want to hear from the house husbands in our audience! What do you like about the stay-at-home role? What are some challenges that come with being a house husband? How do you deal with the stigma or gender expectations around who should be the breadwinner?
