Today on the show, we'll start with the latest on the tragic bus crash in Northern California, which left 10 people dead. Then, Boeing announces plans to move 1,000 jobs to the Southern California. Plus, we talk to singer Philip Bailey of helped Earth Wind & Fire, Mayor Garcetti gives his State of the City address, the many faces of LA Sheriff candidate Paul Tanaka, plus much more.
Boeing to move 1,000 jobs to Long Beach, Seal Beach in the next two years
Southern California had some good news yesterday — while the company announced plans to close a production plant in Long Beach, Boeing is moving 1,000 jobs from Washington state to Long Beach and Seal Beach in the next two years.
RELATED: Boeing moves 1K customer support jobs to SoCal (updated)
KPCC business reporter Wendy Lee says the jobs are in customer support, which gives technical and maintenance support for commercial planes like the next generation 737 and 747. Boeing's Southern California center currently has about 1,800 employees.
AM: So Boeing is adding these engineering jobs — but didn’t I read earlier this week that Boeing is closing a production plant in Long Beach?
Wendy Lee: That’s true. Boeing announced a while back it was shutting down its Long Beach production plant for C-17 Globemaster III. The military cargo jet wasn’t getting enough orders to keep production going. On Monday, Boeing said it would close the plant three months earlier than expected—by mid-2015. When the plant closes, roughly 2,000 Boeing employees in Southern California will lose their jobs.
AM: That should make Long Beach feel a little happier, right?
WL: Yes. In fact, Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster told me he was delighted. Plus, these jobs pay well. Boeing wouldn’t give me the salaries for customer support employees. But the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation says last year, the average wage for an aerospace engineer was roughly $121,000 a year. The LAEDC says there were roughly 5,000 aerospace engineers last year in L.A. County and the concentration is more than double that of the nation as a whole.
AM: Sounds like that could lead to some competition. Who is likely to go after the Boeing customer support jobs?
WL: Boeing is also interested in hiring engineering graduates from SoCal universities. The customer support workers in Washington state can apply for the California jobs, as well as C-17 workers. So all these jobs won't necessarily go to only locals
Southern California's gain is Washington's loss
To talk about what this means for Boeing employees up in Washington state, and what this move says about the future of the company, we're joined by Carolyn Adolph, economy reporter for KUOW public radio in Seattle.
AM: How much of a blow is this to the Puget Sound, and what's been the initial react?
Carolyn Adolph: A thousand jobs isn’t a large blow to the Puget Sound, but of course the initial reaction is one of horror. There’s a concern this is retaliation against the local engineers union. There’s a fear about what it means to see Boeing actively investing in Southern California. But Boeing is trying to reassure that all it is doing is assigning clear roles to each of its three design centers. And Southern California is a big winner here because the focus is on engineering jobs which are high value and highly paid.
AM: How has Boeing explained why they are moving these jobs?
CA: Boeing says it wants to focus the mission of each of its three design centers. So Puget Sound will be about developing new commercial airplanes and composite wings. South Carolina will be about composite fuselages for 787s. And SoCal will be all about customer support. The secret message embedded in this is that Boeing knows Long Beach is flagging. It’s the end of the c-17 production. And so So-Cal needs a change of vocation.
What’s happening is that SoCal is being kept going because Boeing will not leave behind the old McDonnell-Douglas talent. It wants to keep have access to the high quality pool of engineers being produced in California. That’s a compliment to the universities, and it’s a recognition that many of CalTech’s finest do not crave 10 damp months a year, every year without fail. And Boeing wants to spread its risks by not having everything in the Puget Sound basket.
AM: Long Beach is gaining engineering jobs and losing production jobs. Does that mean in Washington you're seeing the reverse?
CA: Well, we’re losing 1,000 engineering jobs. But we still have over 80-thousand Boeing jobs overall, and we got the 777X that California couldn’t have. So it’s hard to stand around protesting for too long.
AM: What do these moves say more broadly about the health and direction of Boeing?
CA: Boeing says it is doing this because it believes it’s part of a successful growth strategy. It is living a dream right now, with airlines in Asia and the Middle East bulking up their fleets at a rate so fast people wonder if this is an aerospace bubble. It’s a great time for this company, and it is making big plans for the future.
Philip Bailey and his Shining Star
From up and coming bands to one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands of the twentieth century - Earth Wind and Fire.
Spanning the genres of R&B, soul, gospel, disco and funk, the band has sold ninety million records and won 8 Grammys.
Singer Philip Bailey has helped Earth Wind and Fire reach some of its highest notes - literally and figuratively...
And now, more than four decades after Phillip Bailey joined Earth Wind and Fire he has a new memoir out -- it's called SHINING STAR: Braving the elements of Earth Wind and Fire.
Alex talked to him about it
What it takes to produce a 'Winter Soldier'
"Captain America: Winter Soldier" has been in theaters for about a week, but in that short time it's already managed to break records.
It made $92 million this past weekend giving it the biggest April opening of all time and it out-earned the first Captain America's three day total by $27 million.
Many credit the new dark and thrilling tone that the directing team of Joe and Anthony Russo injected into the sequel. Host A Martinez sat down with both of them recently to talk about the movie, and what it took to make it.
Colin Firth opens up about his new film 'The Railway Man'
The new film "The Railway Man" is about a British Army Officer who was captured and tortured by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
It's the true story of Eric Lomax, who struggled for decades to deal with his past until one day an Army buddy approached him with a newspaper clipping. It turned out one of their torturers was alive and well and leading tours in Thailand at the same prison camp where Lomax was once held.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with actor Colin Firth about the process of making the film.
Combing through Mayor Eric Garcetti's first State of the City address
Frank Stoltze joins Take Two to talk about Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's first State of the City address.
Stoltze says Garcetti has been changing things since day one.
LA Sheriff's race: A look at the many faces of Paul Tanaka
Among the candidates running for Los Angeles Sheriff this year is Paul Tanaka, a 55-year-old Gardena resident who has already seen overwhelming support and criticism.
RELATED: LA Sheriff's race: The many faces of Paul Tanaka
KPCC Reporter Frank Stoltze talks about what has made Tanaka who he is today, including a look at his work history, cultural heritage and how the public views him.
'Desert Gold' curators offer alternative festival to Coachella this weekend
Coachella begins today, but the massive Southern California music festival isn't the only big event happening this weekend. Thirty minutes up the road in Palm Springs, Desert Gold is also starting. It's a collaboration between the Ace Hotel and the folks from Mexico's Festival Nrmal.
The multi-day event is all about featuring up and coming artists from Mexico and other parts of Latin America.
Festival Nrmal, which began in 2010, features music events in Monterey and Mexico City, Mexico. Monica Saldana, one of the founders, says she wanted to create a platform where emerging artists from Latin America could perform.
Now, she's brought the festival north to Palm Springs.
"There's a very big electronic music trend in Mexico and Latin America," says Saldana. "It's very interesting the way that the Latin American artists are mixing the more regional sounds with global sounds."
As an example, Saldana said to look at the Tijuana trio Los Mocanos.
"They understand a lot the context and the background of regional music from Mexico, but they also like to create something new out of it and mix it with new sounds from around the globe," Saldana said.
Desert Gold begins tomorrow. Check out the set list here.
Scientists look at icy moons in search of alien life
Mars once seemed the best candidate for finding alien life in our solar system. These days though, scientists think icy moons like Europa and Enceladus are more likely to harbor living creatures than the Red Planet.
That's because there's growing evidence suggesting some moons have vast oceans of water flowing under their icy surfaces.
KPCC's science reporter Sanden Totten has the story.
Friday Flashback: Obama in Texas, Paycheck Fairness Act and more
It's the end of another week and time for the Friday Flashback, Take Two's look at the week in news. This morning we're joined in-studio by Los Angeles Times columnist James Rainey, and in DC by Jamelle Bouie of Slate.
President Obama was in Texas yesterday to honor Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act, which he signed 50 years ago. There's an interesting piece in the L.A. Times comparing and contrasting Obama and LBJ.
This week, President Obama appealed to Congress to close up the pay gap between men and women, but Republicans in the House voted to block the Paycheck Fairness Act. What was their reasoning?
Keeping with the theme for the moment, what did you make of the gender spat that was spark by former CIA director Michael Hayden when he said that Senator Dianne Feinstein's "emotional reaction" to the CIA's enhanced interrogation programs was clouding her judgement?
Let's bring the conversation a little close to home here in California. This week, a lot was made of the 2020 commission's report. This was a pretty scathing report looking at what Los Angeles needs to be doing better in order to become a world class city.
There's was pretty unanimous cheering going around the internet yesterday when Stephen Colbert was swiftly named successor to David Letterman's "The Late Show." Not to be a spoil sport, but is there any disappointment here that we're continuing the long tradition of white, male late night show hosts? Did you have a favorite that got passed over?