Today on the show, we'll start with an update on the latest news surrounding the fatal bus crash in Orland, California. Then, much of North and South America will be able to see a "blood moon" eclipse late tonight. Plus, Pitzer College announces divestment from fossil fuels, LGBT couples face challenges when filing their taxes, and much more.
Update: The latest news about the fatal bus crash in Northern California
We go first to the investigation of last week's bus crash that killed 10 people near Orland.
A FedEx truck veered across a grassy median on I-5 and collided head-on with a charter bus of high school students. It could take weeks for officials to issue its first report into the cause of the accident.
For the latest details, we're joined again by Chris Megerian, reporter for the LA Times who has been covering the story.
Orland bus crash: Family and friends mourn Jennifer Bonilla
Rosa Bonilla and her husband were driving to Las Vegas Thursday to renew their wedding vows. Then she got word that her sister, Jennifer Bonilla, may have been in that fiery bus crash in Northern California that claimed 10 lives. The happy trip turned somber as the couple returned to Los Angeles.
The lack of information and confusion about the survivors prompted Bonilla, her mother and other members of the family to drive seven hours to Orland, CA on little sleep early Friday morning.
An hour later, they turned back. The math sadly confirmed everything they needed to know.
"The sheriff notified us that 10 people were dead, five were kids, five were adults," Bonilla said. "And there was only five kids missing, and Jenny was in that list."
Related: Orland bus crash: FedEx semi didn't brake before crash
Jennifer was a 17-year-old who attended Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. She was described as a star student and was participating in a program to encourage kids to be the first in their family to attend college.
Blood Moon: How and where to view the lunar eclipse
Are you ready for the "blood moon"?
That might sound like something from the "Twilight" series, but it's not as morbid as it sounds. It's just the colloquial name for Monday night's total lunar eclipse. At around midnight, much of North and South America will be able to see the eclipse, which turns the moon a coppery red. (Full details of where, when and how to view the eclipse are at the bottom of this post.)
KPCC science reporter Sanden Totten fills us in on the significance of this eclipse, how it gets its name and what times are best to check out the show.
Why is it called a blood moon?
It's called the blood moon because it's got this red color when the lunar eclipse happens. ... It's actually a natural thing. This happens when the moon fully enters the Earth's shadow. First, it starts getting darker and darker as it enters the shadow. Then, all of a sudden, it's fully immersed, and it actually turns red.
It's sort of the same thing that happens with the sunset. The light from the sun is directly behind the Earth, and it's going towards the moon getting blocked by the Earth. But some of it gets refracted by the Earth's atmosphere. The smaller waves — the greens and blues — get scattered, but the longer ones — the reds and oranges — can kind of curve through the atmosphere like light curving through a crystal and hit the moon and make it red.
Why is the moon red during a lunar eclipse?
Is a blood moon always red?
The cool thing about a blood moon is every time it happens, the color is different, depending on what's in the atmosphere at the time. We could get a creamy orange. We could get a dark crimson red. Or sometimes it's even black if there's a lot of soot in the air from, say, a volcanic eruption.
Will I need special glasses to see the lunar eclipse?
No. This is one of those things where you don't need special glasses. You can just go out there and check it out. If you have a telescope, tonight would be a good time to use it.
How common are these blood moon eclipses, and when is the next one?
It's fairly common. A blood moon happens any time there's a total lunar eclipse. As Laura Danly from the Griffith Observatory told me, eclipses come in two flavors: partial and total. We're about to get four total lunar eclipses right in a row, and because scientists are awesome, they have a word for this: a Tetrad. Every six months from now until some time in 2015, we're going to be getting a total lunar eclipse.
When is the best time to see the eclipse in Los Angeles?
The most dramatic part of the eclipse starts at 10:58 p.m. PDT Monday, April 14th. By 12:06 a.m. PDT, the moon will be fully in the Earth's shadow, and the eclipse peaks around 12:45 am PDT. It will be [over by] 1:30 a.m. PT Tuesday, April 15.
Where can I see the eclipse in the L.A. area?
You should be able to see the eclipse from anywhere the moon is viewable. Look to the south to find the moon, which will be about 45 degrees up. Don't wait too late to start looking, because the moon will get harder to find as the eclipse grows.
You don't have to be high up to view the eclipse; just try to get somewhere with an unobstructed view of the sky. You can also partake in a group viewing of the eclipse at the Griffith Observatory and take part in a number live streams and chats:
- The Griffith Observatory will be open late for people who like to do their skywatching with a crowd — and expect a big crowd tonight, with long lines and lots of walking. You can also watch a live stream of the eclipse at the observatory's website. It opens at 7 p.m. Monday for moon watching and closes at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
- SLOOH Observatory in the Canary Islands off of North Africa is hosting a live stream and will track the eclipse. Along with the stream will be commentary by hosts Bob Berman, Paul Cox, and the Slooh broadcast team.
- NASA is hosting a live chat with astronomer Mitzi Adams and astrophysicist Alphonse Sterling beginning on April 14 at 10 p.m. PDT and continuing through the end of the eclipse (approximately 2 a.m. PDT). The chat module will go live on this page at approximately 9:45 a.m. PDT.
IRS chasing children to pay family members' old debts
Your taxes are due tomorrow and while some people could get a return, there are others who will owe the government not just for their own taxes but for old debts racked up by family members.
The practice was first reported by the Washington Post and has prompted calls for changes by some lawmakers. For more, we're joined by Marc Fisher, senior editor at the Washington Post.
Making tax day headache free for same-sex couples
With the changes in marriage laws around the country, a lot of couples are trying to figure out how to file their taxes. Several states recognize gay marriage and so does the federal government, but some states do not, creating a host of problems.
Selwyn Gerber, a certified public accountant in Beverly Hills, joins the show to offer some advice.
On The Lot: 'Captain America,' SAG-AFTRA negotiations and more
On the Lot is Take Two's regular series of talks about the film business with LA Times reporter Rebecca Keegan.
Let's start with the weekend box office. The Captain America sequel "The Winter Soldier" held onto its box office supremacy. Meanwhile if you build it, they might not come. The Kevin Costner football movie, "Draft Day," brought in a measly $9.8 million finishing fourth, but there's an interesting backstory to this movie which involves real life football teams.
There was a bit of controversy on Friday when the President of the Hollywood Foreign Press — that's the group behind the Golden Globe awards — was forced to take a 6-month leave of absence.
Listeners may remember Berk, he was mentioned in a somewhat unflattering way by Globes host Ricky Gervais back in 2011.
James Cameron did a Reddit Ask Me Anything on Saturday, and revealed his very ambitious plans.
Finally, SAG-AFTRA will start contract negotiations next month, their first union negotiations since SAG and AFTRA merged. How will that change things? What are the big issues facing actors now?
'Veep' Fact Check: Does HBO get the vice presidency right?
The HBO series "Veep" starring Julia Louis Dreyfus is in its third season. Dreyfus plays vice-president Selina Meyer who's unhappy with her role in this imaginary administration.
The show and Dreyfus have received critical acclaim, but when it comes to the actual vice-presidency, just how much does it get right? For a "Veep" fact check, we've reached out to Joel Goldstein, vice-presidential historian at Saint Louis University.
SpaceX tries to break into the spy satellite industry
SpaceX is sending supplies up to the International Space Station today, which is a big deal for the small company that's trying to establish itself in the space industry.
RELATED: SpaceX rocket launches to International Space Station Monday
But as it turns out the company has loftier ambitions, they want to break into the business of shipping spy satellites. That's a bit tough, as it's an industry that's been dominated by only a couple of companies (Boeing and Lockheed Martin) for decades now.
In his piece for the Los Angeles Times, writer W.J. Hennigan, details the deal reached between the two aerospace giants to create the United Launch Alliance, which basically helped them offset the costs of sending spy satellites into space.
Cost is something that could be a problem for SpaceX as a young startup. It's successfully sent a few payloads to the International Space Station, a few satellites into orbit, but never anything as sensitive as something that deals with national security.
Hennigan details the small margin of error for shipping something that's important to national security and costs more than a billion dollars into orbit. The United Launch Alliance has been very effective at sending satellites into space over the years.
But if SpaceX can offer the government a cheaper option that's just as secure as anything from Boeing or Lockheed, then the opportunity to upset the market is there, says Hennigan.
The story behind Yasiel Puig's journey to the Dodgers
Yasiel Puig is the Dodgers' right-fielder, a Cuban defector who loves driving too fast and indulging in steak and eggs just about every morning. This season, he was late to his first game, overweight, and playing his usual no holds barred baseball, injuring his thumb in a wild head-first slide into first base not too long ago.
Puig's definitely got his defenders and his haters when it comes to his behavior on and off the field, but little has been known of his journey from Cuba to the U.S., until now.
Jesse Katz, who wrote about Puig's journey for the May issue of the Los Angeles Magazine joins the show with more.
Claremont's Pitzer College to divest from fossil fuels
Over the weekend, Pitzer College announced plans to sell off its financial holdings related to fossil fuels by the end of this year.
The move makes Pitzer College the first college in Southern California to commit to climate divestment. With a $125 million endowment, the Claremont-based school is the biggest name in higher education so far to divest as a matter of climate policy.
RELATED: Pitzer College, Robert Redford announce plans to divest $125 million endowment of fossil fuels
Trustee Don Gould says it's a careful move for the college.
"Divestment is about aligning our actions with our values. We envision a future substantially less dependent on fossil fuels. We can no longer reconcile that vision with an endowment that seeks to profit from investment in those same fossil fuels," said Gould.
Here to tell us more is KPCC's environment correspondent Molly Peterson.
UN scientists call for shift in energy sources in IPCC climate report
The world's scientists say time is running out to avert the most dire effects of climate change.
The latest report by the UN's climate change panel, released Sunday, calls for lowering global greenhouse gas emissions 40-70 percent by the end of the century. A big part of that is focusing on what energy sources we use and how much we consume.
For more, we're joined by Cara Horowitz, co-executive director at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA.
Some highlights of the report:
- Global greenhouse gas emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades.
- The goal of limiting the increase of the global mean temperature to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels will depend on "institutional and technological change."
- The report involved 235 authors from 57 countries; more than 800 experts reviewed drafts and submitted comments.
Orange County Sheriff issuing concealed carry permits under new rules
Thousands of people in Orange County have applied for concealed weapon permits following a federal court decision in February. The ruling struck down California's "good cause" standard for issuing concealed carry permits.
The February 2014 court ruling by three U.S. Ninth Circuit Court judges means people who want the permits don't have to state a 'good cause' to get one. Those "causes" have included people carrying large sums of money or private investigators.
Study: 1 in 3 fish are imported illegally into the US
There are some fishy practices going on in the global seafood trade.
A recent study found that as many as one in three fish imported into the U.S. is done so illegally. Tony Pitcher, co-author of the study and a professor of fisheries at the University of British Columbia, joins the show with more.
Piglet-killing virus blamed for pushing up bacon prices
A virus new to the U.S. from China has killed millions of piglets, and scientists are struggling to contain it.
The government has little information on the virus, but they've spent $1.7 million on research so far. All this means that the cost of pork products is rising.
Rocco Loosbrock, CEO of BaconFreak.com, joins the show with more on how this impacts you bacon lovers out there.
The case for reading Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' on its 75th year
Seventy-five years ago today, John Steinbeck's classic novel, "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published.
The book follows the Joads, a family of farmers who migrate from Oklahoma to California during the height of the Great Depression. You might have read the book in school years ago, but David Kipen, founder of Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights, thinks people should give it another look — and another read.