Trump wants to tariff movies produced in 'Foreign Lands.' What does that mean?
President Trump said in a Sunday night post on his Truth Social platform that he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” The president wrote that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw” filmmakers and studios away from the U.S. It wasn’t immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world. For years, incentive programs have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom. With California weighing whether or not to increase its own incentive program payouts, will this move be a boon or a bust for the state’s film making sector? And will it be implemented at all? Joining Larry to discuss this is Dawn Chmielewski, U.S. Entertainment Business Correspondent for Reuters, and Kevin Klowden, an executive director at Milken Institute Finance.
Aging Series: How attitudes around aging have changed and what that means for all of us
Public perceptions around aging are not fixed. They change and evolve with time. To kick off our aging series today, we’re talking about how the idea of “old age” has been reinvented, going all the way back to the early 1900s when older folks were called “infirmed.” But as more and more people live longer, as lifespan extends, our ideas of the “aged” change as well. Joining us today on AirTalk is associate professor of history at Duke and a senior fellow at the Duke Aging Center, James Chappel and distinguished professor of sociology at Boston University and author of the book Aging in America, Deborah Carr. We also want to hear from you. What do you think we should call “older folks”? What terminology makes most sense or feels right to you? Call us at 866-893-5722 or email us at atcomments@laist.com.
New CA bill could see added investment in phonics-based teaching
Following the work being done by legislators and education advocates, a bill is making its way through the legislature that sets aside funding for teachers looking to use phonics-based practices to teach their students how to read. This amended version of Assembly Bill 1454 would offer training to teachers across the state seeking to include phonics into their teaching, however does not mandate the teaching of phonics. Today on AirTalk, we’ll dig into this updated assembly bill’s investment in phonics-centric education and what it means for California students. Joining us this morning to discuss the bill is Democratic state assemblymember for the state’s 48th district, Blanca Rubio, and Pedro Noguera, dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education.
NASA’s Golden Record is seen in a new light at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
In 1977, NASA launched Voyager I and II into space. On board the spacecrafts were a one-of-a-kind object: The Golden Record. The phonograph records carry sounds and images of planet earth that its creators hope will one day reach another form of intelligent life. Today, Voyager I and II are still on their missions into the deep cosmos, over 15 million miles from earth. That means the sights, sounds and artistic undertaking of the record's curation is interstellar. The Golden Record is also the subject of a current feature-length film installation called “Ancient Beacons Long for Notice” at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Joining us today on AirTalk is the visual artist behind the film installation, Dario Robleto. Robleto’s exhibit runs through May 25 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. You can find more information here.
SoCal History: why strawberries took root across the region
Before the turn of the century, taking a trip to Disneyland meant you might come across a rather odd sight: a full blown strawberry field. The H&M Fujishige Farm was a prominent fixture in Orange County from the fifties well into the 90s, but it was by no means the only strawberry patch in SoCal. Nearly all of the strawberries sold in the US trace their roots back to California, and many of the farmers behind these delicious red berries can trace their family’s roots back to Japan. Before World War II, 95% of all strawberry farmers in the Los Angeles area were Japanese. The war brought the mass internment of Japanese Americans, with over 120,000 people being incarcerated due to their heritage. With their internment, the nation’s strawberry crop numbers plummeted. After the war, some former internees were recruited for their strawberry growing prowess by big growing coops, and the state’s strawberry harvest ballooned once more. But as population centers formed and grew, these strawberry farms were pushed further and further out to the periphery of metros. Joining Larry today to talk about the history of strawberry fields in SoCal, and the people who made their livelihoods farming these plots of land is Emily Anderson, a project curator at the Japanese American National Museum and Farmer Tanaka, owner and operator of Tanaka Farms in Irvine, a multi-generational family farm known for their strawberries tours and pumpkin picking.
