AirTalk

Next month, Art Leahy will move from the top position at Metro to become the chief executive officer at Metrolink. Also, the shootings of two police officers outside the Ferguson Police Department on Thursday have brought the St. Louis suburb back into the national spotlight. Then, a debate over whether the American flag should be banned from display in a student government office is still raging across the campus of UC Irvine more than a week after the issue erupted.

ACLU attorneys are suing two California law enforcement agencies for failing to disclose how they use cellphone surveillance. Also, the next big entry into the realm of powdered drink mix? Alcohol. Then, the number of unmarried, cohabiting parents in the US is at a record high. What are the economic and sociological implications?

Following the $7.4 million copyright infringement lawsuit of Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", what does it mean for a song or a sound to be original? Also, we take a look at virtual reality being used across industries beyond entertainment. Then, the debate over incarceration vs. diversion for mentally-ill inmates continues.

Democrats are outraged over an open letter sent yesterday by 47 Senate Republicans to the government of Iran. Also, despite bad press, a UCLA study shows that incoming college students’ interest in joining a fraternity or sorority is the highest it’s been in 15 years. Then, are helicopters an effective tool for the police to be deploying in Los Angeles?

In a reversal of his July pleading of not guilty, director Randall Miller pleaded guilty today to charges related to the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones. Also, is it a religion or a cult? New Yorker journalist Lawrence Wright takes on his latest investigation into Scientology alongside renowned documentarian Alex Gibney. Then, in the wake of a ballot measure that legalized the use of marijuana in our nation’s capital, a D.C. Council committee has advanced a bill to ban employers there from prescreening job applicants for the drug.

A California State Senator is looking to shore up protections for civilians who record police activity in public places. Also, a solution to the shortage in health care workers: Expand the role of nurses. Then, it's T-G-I-Filmweek.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced today that it will be winding down its elephant acts by 2018. Also, parents of three victims killed during a rampage by Elliot Rodger near UC Santa Barbara last year have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.Then, author Kevin Carey delves deep into the American college system to expose the declining standards of the brick and mortar colleges, and looks ahead to emerging technologies that are disrupting the nation’s college system.

Oral arguments begin today in King v. Burwell, the latest Supreme Court challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Also, only about 8.6% of voters turned out in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Then, as AirTalk celebrates 30 years on the air, we look ahead to how political parties will shift in the decades to come.

Federal agents served search warrants at 20 locations in Southern California suspected of running “maternity hotels” as well as apartment complexes. Also, the Fourth Amendment comes under fire as arguments begin in the Supreme Court over whether police can inspect hotel and motel registries without a warrant. Then, Hillary Clinton came under fire yesterday after it was revealed that she exclusively used her personal email account while at the State Department.

The California republican party voted to formally welcome the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay political group, to the state GOP yesterday. Also, a homeless man was shot dead by the LAPD on Skid Row in downtown LA on Sunday night. Then, in her six decades in the food criticism business, Mimi Sheraton has travelled the five continents writing about restaurants, testing recipes, and sampling dishes from the boeuf bourguignon to the Sichuan cold jellyfish salad.