Trump may hold lead with California republicans, exploring the seafloor for signs of ancient migration, the Arroyo Seco music and arts festival coming in 2017.
Field Poll shows Trump leads Cruz in California
A new poll finds Donald Trump has a 7 point lead overall in California, although his popularity shifts from region to region.
That's according to the latest Field Poll of 1,400 registered voters out today.
As the Associated Press reports:
The poll released Thursday found 39 percent of likely GOP voters back Trump, while 32 percent support Cruz, 18 percent support Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 11 percent are undecided or plan to support someone else.
But the poll found significant regional differences, a noteworthy factor since 159 of California's 172 delegates to the Republican National Convention will be decided by who wins each of the state's 53 congressional district races.
Cruz leads in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley/Sierra areas, while Trump leads in other areas of Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Kasich has his strongest showing in the San Francisco Bay Area, the poll found.
The poll also reported that many of Trump's supporters here are the same voters who backed Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor in 2003, according to AP.
These regional differences could affect the outcome of the primaries, according to Field Poll Director Mark DeCamillo.
"If you have big regional differences, which is what the poll does indicate, even if you lose the statewide vote you could accrue a lot of delegates," he said. "Cruz right now is ahead in L.A. County, there's quite a few congressional districts there, so even if the numbers never change, and he loses statewide, he's going to probably walk away with quite a few delegates in California."
DeCamillo found the amount of disagreement among Republicans unusual. Should Trump, Cruz or Kasich nab the nomination, about a third of the electorate reported they would be "dissatisfied or upset" in each case.
"You don't usually see that level of antipathy toward the opposing candidate. Usually they join together and hold hands after the nominee is known," DeCamillo said. "So I think there's a great amount of dissension within the party more than usual, and it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out, especially if someone does not win a first ballot majority at the Republican Convention. It's going to be hard, I think, for the GOP to reach a consensus."
For more on the topic, listen to Take Two's interview with Mark DeCamillo, director of the Field Poll, by clicking the blue audio player above.
Scientists search for underwater migration routes off California coast
When and how modern humans arrived in the Americas is one of the great mysteries of science, but now researchers at San Diego State University will embark on a four year project to try to answer these question.
A team of archaeologists, geoscientists and biologists are soon to begin a search of the seafloor off the coast of Southern California. Professor Jillian Maloney is the study's co-principal investigator. She spoke to host A Martinez about the details.
"We’re getting to look back through time at what the coast would look like for people arriving here and then further investigation somewhere down the road might be able to identify actual artifacts or things like that beneath the seafloor." said Maloney.
Using various kinds of sensor technology, the team hopes to find areas of ancient human settlements formed when sea levels were lower.
The team will have "a sonar that looks beneath the seafloor and we can see different layers of sediment and rock and that will help us to image these submerged landforms that may have been important to people living on these coasts at the time. So things like a river channel, that would have been a fresh water source or perhaps a cliff that could have been an overlook. We can see those that may have been buried under sediment underneath the seafloor." said Maloney.
The study, which received nearly $1 million dollars in federal funding, is one of the largest archaeological expeditions of its kind.
According to Maloney, discovering the paths early Americans used to arrive in North America are significant "in terms of just the story of human odyssey and connections that people have between different groups of humans, our environment and how humans have evolved…questions of human ingenuity are really important to get at through these types of questions."
Guest:
Jillian Maloney, Professor of Geology at San Diego State University and the study's co-principal investigator, spoke to A Martinez about the details.
SCOTUS on redistricting, how to become a delegate, and an LA county shakeup
On this week's State of Affairs, the Supreme Court upholds "one person, one vote," a looming shakeup on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, and how to become a party delegate.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Mary Plummer, KPCC Senior Politics Reporter
- , KQED Politics and Government Reporter
3 things to know about Pasadena's new Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival
When we explored the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2013, we found that its festivals "bring more than $90 million in economic impact to Indio and $254.4 million to the Coachella Valley."
No wonder AEG, the company that organizes Coachella, and the Rose Bowl Operating Company have teamed up to host the Arroyo Seco Music and Arts Festival.
A Martinez spoke with Victor Gordo, president of the RBOC and a Pasadena City Council member.
He says there are three things you should know about the new festival.
1. It's been a long time in the making
On Monday, the City Council greenlit the festival, which is set to debut in June 2017. But the road to the event dates back much farther than that, according to Gordo.
"You'll recall that in 2005/2006 we said no to the NFL and at that time we recognized that the stadium needed to be repositioned for success for its next 100 years. And we took on plan B and this is really the result of Plan B, a renovation and the search for a long term new tenant that is the music and arts festival."
2. It will not be Coachella 2.0
AEG is co-producing this festival but the company's involvement doesn't mean the Arroyo Seco festival will attract the Coachella crowd.
"We're not looking for an event like Coachella. Coachella is successful, it's a great event but we want this to be uniquely Pasadena and the people at AEG Goldenvoice understand that," explained Gordo. "We want an event that's welcoming to families and to all age groups."
3. Projected economic impact
As our look at the Coachella festival in 2013 illustrated to us, big festivals can have a big economic impact on the city and the surrounding areas. Councilman Gordo explained the findings from the economic impact study that was conducted surrounding the festival.
"We anticipate, based on our economic impact study, that this festival will have a $385 million impact to the city and to the region. That doesn't count things like the hotel tax and sales tax, those are simply the incremental expenditures on the part of the promoters, attendees, and induced expenditures on the part of the community."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
This post has been updated.
New children's book, 'Are we there yet?', encourages boredom
Most kids have a lot of curiosity, a lot of energy and a lot wonder.
But one thing children tend not to have in great supply...patience.
There's a reason most car trips involving kids are punctuated with these four words:
Are we there yet?
That's also the title of a new book for kids by local author Dan Santat - who spoke to Take Two's host Alex Cohen about his own lack of patience and dealing with boredom as a child and how this book is actually a love letter to his son.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.