How California is turning unusually windy days into green power; Emily Rapp discusses her memoir "Still Point of the Turning World"; Tuesday Reviewsday takes a look ahead to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival; Vandals strike again in Joshua Tree National Park; San Bernardino eyes bankruptcy as city officials resign, plus much more.
California sets wind power record after gusty days
NBCLA's Fritz Coleman joins the show to fill us in on why we're having such windy days.
Then, according to the California Independent System Operator, the state has set new records for wind power. For more on this we're joined by KPCC environment reporter Molly Peterson.
Emily Rapp's 'The Still Point of the Turning World'
For most mothers, a baby's ninth month is an exciting time. It's a time to think about the future. When will the baby walk? What will his first words be?
For Emily Rapp, her son's ninth month marked a terrible turning point. He was diagnosed with the rare Tay Sachs disease. Her new memoir about that period in her life is called, "The Still Point of the Turning World."
Coalinga 'deportee' plane crash sparks search, 65 years later
Sixty-five years ago, a plane full of Mexican laborers crashed in the hills near Coalinga in Central California. The disaster grabbed national headlines, and even inspired a Woody Guthrie song.
Many artists have covered that song, but the event itself has faded into the mists of Central Valley history. Now some people are trying to make sure the victims of the disaster are remembered. Now some people are trying to make sure the victims of the disaster are remembered. Reporter Rebecca Plevin has the story.
Author Tim Z. Hernandez was digging through old newspapers at the Fresno County library when a dramatic headline from the late 1940s captured his attention.
“I stumbled upon this headline that said, ‘100 people see a ship plunge to the earth’ or something like that. It was just really a captivating headline. I instantly realized after reading it that it had to be tied into Woody Guthrie’s song,” says Hernandez.
The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon/A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills/Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?/ The radio says, “They are just deportees.”
That song is called ‘Deportee.’ The folk musician wrote the lyrics after hearing of a harrowing plane crash that occurred in Fresno County in 1948.
The plane, chartered by the U.S. Immigration Service, was transporting 28 Mexican nationals from Oakland to El Centro, near the U.S.-Mexican border.
The plane's wing caught fire and broke off, scattering body parts through Los Gatos Canyon near Coalinga.
W.L. Childers, who lived on a ranch in the canyon, witnessed the crash and its aftermath. His quote ran in the Fresno Bee in 1948.
“The plane was headed east about a mile high. I was watching it when I noticed a streak of smoke trailing off the left motor. The left wing then separated from the body of the plane and the fuselage and the right wing began to spiral down toward the earth. As I watched, I could see bodies separating from the wreckage as they either jumped or were thrown clear,” said Childers.
All 32 onboard, including the flight crew and an immigration officer, died.
The crash made national news. But the names of the victims did not. Locally, the Fresno Bee published some names. But an Associated Press article that ran in the New York Times the day after the crash only named the crew. It simply referred to the passengers as “28 Mexican deportees.”
That angered Guthrie, and inspired his song. In it, he assigned symbolic names to the victims. It’s performed here by his son, Arlo Guthrie.
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita/Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria; You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane/All they will call you will be “deportees.”
As Hernandez reflected on the news accounts of the tragedy and the song lyrics, he instantly knew he had another book idea.
“Being in that sort of mindset, and looking at these 28 lives that had perished in this plane crash in 1948, and didn’t have the dignity of their names afforded to them in the media at the time, was something that I think just felt compelled to want to find their story or put their story back,” says Hernandez.
“That's really was captured my attention. How can I not only find their names, maybe, but also give them their story back, to some degree?”
For Hernandez, piecing the story back together – 65 years later – has become a multi-year journey. His goal is to reconstruct the accident, and the lives of the people impacted by it.
“For me, that’s what the book is about. It’s about capturing the ripple effect of all the lives that this one tragedy touched, back then and even today,” says Hernandez.
That journey took him to the site of the crash. It’s located in a quiet, lush canyon.
“It’s nice here. It’s like someone’s backyard, it’s very pretty, it’s a cattle field right now, we had to step over the cow pies on the way out here. It’s very nice, pine trees, canyon, creek right here, but it’s a very famous crash site right here, also.” says Coalinga resident Larry Haws.
His mother was just a child when she saw the wing of the plane fall off, and land just steps from her grandmother’s home. He, of course, didn’t witness the crash, but he was willing to show me where it happened. We climbed under some barbed wire and walked through a field to reach the site, which today is unmarked.
“The plane came in, and barely made it over this little ridge we see right here to our right, and it was spiraling, and it barely made it over that, and it crashed head on into this creek bank, right here, and it caught these three trees on fire.”
Hernandez also connected with Haws’ aunt, June Leigh Austin, who was almost 10 years old when the plane crashed near her home in the canyon.
“I didn’t see the plane go down, although several members of my family did. I arrived there on the school bus, after it was down and they were still pulling the bodies out, and all the things were happening,” says Austin.
She recalls that parts of the passenger’s bodies were strewn across the canyon.
“There were bodies scattered all over, so it took a lot to even find everybody, all the pieces I should say. I don’t know that there were any bodies totally intact, and none were identified. There were mainly just bits and pieces,” says Austin.
Austin, who is 74, remembers the incident like it was yesterday.
“It was a horrendous thing and I don’t know if it was worse on me as a child or not, but it certainly stayed with me all my life. The sight and the smell, and everything that happened, it affected all of our family,” says Austin.
We died in your hills, we died in your deserts/We died in your valleys and died in your plains. / We died ‘neath your trees and we died in your bushes/Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
But Hernandez says a major component of this story is still missing.
Hernandez combed through records to properly identify, as best he could, the 28 Mexicans who died in the crash. He recites the names in this version of ‘Deportee,’which he recorded with Fresno musician Lance Canales.
He has learned a little about them: He’s determined that some were braceros, or guest agricultural workers. One person, he says, had a laundry workers union card in his back pocket. Another worked in a foundry in Sacramento.
“What I don’t have, though, still, at the end of the day, are the voices of the 28 people who died on board,” says Hernandez.
“Virtually nothing, about how to locate the surviving families of these plane crash victims – 28 deportees, or Mexican nationals. That’s why I feel like, right now, I’m not satisfied with moving forward with this book at this point, until I feel like I’ve exhausted every resource to find that family,” says Hernandez.
That’s where this historical event becomes a modern-day, community endeavor.
Rebecca Plevin: “If you were reaching out to those families, what would the message be?” Tim Hernandez : “Uh, call me!” (Laughs.)
Hernandez acknowledges that any survivors of the crash victims could be several generations removed. But if a grandchild, or great-grandchild, or a survivor has even a photo of one of the victims, that would make a difference.
“Sometimes, just seeing a photograph can speak volumes, as we all know. Even that would be something, putting a face to their names. It’s going beyond a step beyond just their names,” says Hernandez.
There’s another way that Hernandez is breathing new life into this story and its characters.
He learned that the 28 Mexican citizens were buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno. Their graves are marked with one headstone.
“It’s a 12 by 24 bronze memorial, as you can see, it’s weathered, it’s patina-ed. It says, ’28 Mexican citizens who died in an airplane accident near Coalinga, California, on January 28, 1948,” says Carlos Rascon.
He is the director of cemeteries for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno. He, like Guthrie and then Hernandez, was moved to learn that the 28 people were buried, without their names inscribed on a headstone.
“There are people that are buried here that are John Does, Jane Does. And if you had a family member that went missing, and later on you find out that they’re actually at a cemetery and they have no names, that would strike me as – why, why isn’t their names there? It’s unsettling to me, it’s almost like it’s unfinished,” says Rascon.
Rascon and Hernandez came up with a plan. They are raising $10,000 to establish a memorial to the victims of the plane crash. The memorial will include the names of each of the 28 Mexican citizens.
“My idea, as part of the inscription, is to have one leaf represent each of the 32 people. 28 of them are here, but the other four were buried elsewhere. And if you hear Woody Guthrie’s poem, it says, ‘they were scattered like dry leaves on our topsoil,” says Rascon.
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?/Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit? To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil/And be called by no name except “deportees?”
Hernandez encourages people to embrace this part of our history.
“We want the community to feel that this is part of their history as well, not just California history, but American history, as Woody Guthrie told us. At the end of the day, our names are really what we have,” says Hernandez.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Coachella 2013 preview
Now it's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment.
This week we'll be focusing on live music, seeing as one of the world's biggest music events kicks off this weekend right here in Southern California. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Annual Festival runs this weekend and next.
Over the years, the event has served as a proving ground for new artists, a place for old groups to reunite and even a safe place for some artists to come back from the dead.
You may recall that crazy Tupac hologram from last year:
To help us get acquainted with this year's festivities we have music critic Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com and Shirley Halperin, music editor from The Hollywood Reporter.
Vandals strike again at Joshua Tree National Park (Map)
Vandals have struck again in Joshua Tree National Park.
Officials from the park report that rocks and walls at the popular Rattlesnake Canyon were spray painted and damaged. They've closed a 308-acre canyon area temporarily to prevent more damage.
RELATED: Joshua trees in the Southern California desert are in 'once-in-a-lifetime' bloom
Vandalism in Joshua Tree is unfortunately not a new issue. The Barker Dam area was closed due to carved graffiti vandalism in February of this year, and park officials say it has been an ongoing problem that has been getting worse.
"I've been here five years and it's certainly the worse I've seen it in the time that I've been here," said Mark Butler, park superintendent at Joshua Tree National Park. "We're asking the public to be aware when they're visiting the park to be aware of their surroundings, if they observe any damage or any vandalism to report it immediately to one of the park staff, at one of our entrance stations or one of our visitor centers."
According to a report in the San Bernardino Sun, vandals had been spreading word of the graffiti via social media, likely spurring others to add their mark to the area. Some archaeologically significant areas have also been defaced.
Those who violate the closure are are caught adding to the graffiti can be fined a maximum of $5,000 with six months in jail, plus three years probation.
The Rattlesnake Canyon area will remain closed until April 30, so park officials and law enforcement personnel can decide how to clean up the damaged area and prevent future vandalism.
San Bernardino eyes bankruptcy as city officials resign
Last week, a federal judge granted bankruptcy protection to the city of Stockton, California. This week, the city of San Bernardino is hoping for the same outcome.
In the meantime, San Bernardino's fire chief Paul Drasil has resigned, and he isn't the only city official to call it quits. The city's finance director and city manager have also resigned since the city began seeking bankruptcy last August.
Joining us with more on his departure and San Bernardino's pending bankruptcy is Ryan Hagen, reporter with the San Bernardino Sun.
San Bernardino Fire Chief Memo
Mexico-based firefighting team among best in the world
There's one group of people with permission from the United States to freely — and legally — cross the US-Mexico border without passing through a formal border crossing. It's a crew of firefighters from Mexico that authorities say are among the best in the world in fighting wildfires.
Lorne Matalon from the Fronteras Desk reports from the U-S/Mexico border in west Texas.
How to be smart and stay safe when hiking in Southern California
Here in Los Angeles, finding a place to go hiking is easy. From Griffith Park to the Santa Monica mountains, trails with varying degrees of difficulty are available for people of all ages.
RELATED: Going hiking? Don’t forget to bring 'The Ten Essentials’
So it may be hard to believe how many get themselves into dangerous situations by making some simple mistakes. Last week, Nicolas Cendoya and Kyndall Jack wandered off-trail in Cleveland National Forest on Easter Sunday and had to be rescued days bruised and dehydrated.
RELATED: Safe hiking in Southern California
According to the L.A. County Sheriff's department, a record 560 similar rescue efforts were made last year in L.A. County. Why are so many people winding up fighting for their lives on Southern California hiking trails?
RELATED: How can we prevent the need for wilderness rescues?
Here to answer that question is Greg Miller, president of the American Hiking Society and a southern California native.
60 years of epic (and deadly) climbs at Mount Everest
This year marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most epic hikes ever. On May 29th 1953, Sir Edmund Hilary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
Since then, all sorts of ambitious folks have followed in their footsteps.
For more on what's happened at Everest this year and what we can expect to see in coming weeks, we're joined now by Grayson Schaffer, senior editor for Outside magazine.
Interview Highlights
When did this year's climbing season begin?
"It's actually just getting underway now. Most of the teams are now arriving in base camp, the team of sherpas responsible for clearing a route through the Khumbu icefall, which is the dangerous glacier at the bottom of the mountain – they've put the route through the icefall now and have established camp two. So teams are now arriving and beginning to climatize."
There has already been one death on the mountain. What happened?
"One of the icefall doctors apparently slipped and fell into a crevice between camp one and two, and in the 20 years that the ice fall doctors have been establishing this route through the Khumbu icefall, which is known for being an extremely deadly place, but these sherpas who put the route through it are highly talented, are some of the best climbers up there, in 20 years this is the first time that one of them has died on the job."
What is an icefall doctor?
"The Icefall doctors are a core group of sherpas who don't guide clients, don't carry loads, they just maintain the aluminum ladders and ropes that span the crevices in the icefall at the bottom of the mountains. If you've ever seen photos of Everest and people climbing it, you see people on these rickety looking ladders. This ice fall is moving down hill about four feet per day and it's constantly moving and swallowing these ladders and avalanches land on top of them, so these guys are constantly tinkering with the ladders and keeping them in good shape so that people can cross them and get to the upper flanks of the mountain."
With so many people climbing the mountain have things begun to go out of control?
"I think it's a constant worry. It's something people are constantly debating, whether there are too many people climbing it. I think there are very few people who would tell you that there aren't too many people climbing it. The question is can they communicate and figure out a way so that they're not all climbing the mountain at the same time. Last year what we saw was a giant traffic jam during the first weather window where 200-300 people all got in line at about 25-26,000 feet and essentially created the world's highest traffic jam, and people were getting exhausted and were dying because they had to wait in line for too long with very little water and extreme cold."
What performance enhancing drugs are climbers using to scale the mountain:
"It needs to be said that climbers have always used drugs, basically starting with bottled oxygen, being one of the most powerful drugs you can get an carry up to high altitude, and then in the 1960's using amphetamines. Now the drug of choice is dexamethasone, which is a steroid that helps reduce inflammation on the brain. Cerebral and pulmonary edemas, which is where you have water and fluid in the brain or in your lungs is one of the most common causes of death on the mountain, so this drug reduces inflammation. Typically its used for people who are experiencing difficulty to escape or get off the mountain, increasingly people are using it to go up the mountain as crutch to help them get up rather than an escape patch to get off."
Study: Climate change may shift wine production out of California
The wine list at your favorite bar or restaurant may be changing in the years to come, thanks to climate change.
A new study appearing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests climate change will shift wine production from California to other regions more hospitable to growing grapes.
For more on this we're joined by Lee Hannah, an ecologist with Conservation International and lead author of the study.
California considers pushing last call at bars to 4 am
Some good news for wine lovers here in California, the State Assembly is considering pushing back last call across the state. San Francisco Senator Mark Leno is the author of Senate Bill 635, which would allow bars to serve alcohol until 4 a.m.
Leno is hoping serving alcohol for an additional two hours would boost tourism and jobs in the state. Opponents of the bill are worried that alcohol-related crimes would rise like drunk driving.
Mark Mandala is the co-owner at First Cabin, a bar in Arcadia.