What it's like to work at the IRS, Shelly Sterling to receive $2.6 million from V. Stiviano, Michael Finkel's memoir, 'True Story.'
FDA censures Kind: a look at sugar and fat use in the “health” food industry
The FDA is cracking down on Kind bars. The popular snack rocketed to fame in recent years, moving over 400-million units. But now the government says that Kind has been stretching the truth about the nutritional value of some of their most popular products. They’re demanding that Kind either change their packaging or change the recipe.
In a letter released this week, the government tells the granola bar maker that many of their bars contain too much fat to be labeled “healthy.” Additionally, the FDA takes issue with the use of the words “plus protein,” arguing that bars do not contain enough protein to qualify as a protein bar.
Kind is a go-to food for many snackers concerned with “natural” ingredients, however, syndicated food columnist Ari LeVaux says the marketing may be a little disingenuous. Still, “[c]onsumers relying on buzzwords like ‘healthy’ is a poor substitute for keeping up on the latest science and reading the labels themselves and making their own decisions.” He also points out that the FDA recently revamped their maximum fat standards, meaning that the concerns raised in their letter to Kind may be moot.
The FDA’s warning to Kind highlights a challenge faced by all would-be healthy eaters: how do you know what you’re really eating?
Excessive amounts of sugar can be hazards to our health, but even health food producers use it to make their products more satiating. Dr. Robert Lustig is a professor of pediatrics and endocrinology at UC San Francisco. He tells Take Two that the average American diet contains too much sugar--especially the diet of young people. “Look, I’m for dessert,” he begins hotly, “The problem is we’re having dessert for breakfast, dessert for lunch, dessert for dinner and dessert for every snack. If you’re in the national school breakfast program and your standard breakfast is a bowl of Froot Loops and a glass of orange juice, then you’re getting 11 teaspoons of added sugar and it’s only breakfast, and you haven’t had dessert yet.”
Dr. Lustig calculates that the average child consumes about 41 teaspoons of sugar a day. A serving that he passionately contends, “is just not O.K.”
Press the play buttons above to hear more from food columnist Ari LeVaux and Dr. Robert Lustig.
A look inside the miserable work environment at the IRS
It's Tax Day today. And if you thought filing your taxes was rough, you can be thankful that at least you don't work for the IRS.
The Internal Revenue Service has never been a very popular federal agency, but in recent years it's also become a pretty unbearable workplace.
Bloomberg Businessweek staff writer Devin Leonard joined Take Two to explain.
Judge rules V. Stiviano must pay back $2.6 million in gifts
A Los Angeles judge ruled Donald Sterling's former companion V. Stiviano must pay back $2.6 million, in a case that brings into question how community property works in this state. Joining the show to discuss the ruling is Associated Press reporter Brian Melley.
Garcetti says Uber and Lyft to be allowed to pick up riders at LAX
In his State of the City address on April 14, 2015, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti talked about a push for cleaner streets, more affordable housing, ending veteran homelessness and making moving around town a little easier.
"Whether it is your daily commute, or getting to and from the airport, we have to make navigating this city more convenient for our residents," said the Mayor. "So today, I'm announcing that by this summer, at my direction, ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft will be able to pick you up at the airport."
Los Angeles Times transportation reporter
joins the show to talk about the impact of this decision.
Impatient: Will California lawmakers help lower healthcare costs?
The Affordable Care Act made health coverage available to millions of people and yet medical care can still be very expensive. In California, several bills have been proposed to protect us from unmanageable out-of-pocket costs.
Southern California Public Radio's, Rebecca Plevin, joins Alex Cohen to talk about the latest in consumer health in her regular segment "Impatient."
If you're interested in consumer health coverage, check out Rebecca's regularly updated blog.
How we manage wildlife alongside LA's urban life
After being holed up in the crawl space of a Los Feliz home, mountain Lion P-22 made his way back to the wild on Tuesday.
But his appearance in the residential neighborhood - and the circus that it caused - brought up lots of questions about how we manage wildlife so close to our urban environment.
Seth Riley, a mountain lion expert with the National Parks Service who also teaches at UCLA, tells more.
How California's drought could be to blame in 2014 West Nile uptick
A record-breaking number of people came down with the potentially lethal West Nile virus in 2014.
Scientists say the ongoing dry, warm weather may be driving the recent uptick.
Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of the vector-borne disease section of the California Department of Public Health, explains more.
'True Story': A disgraced journalist meets the accused killer who stole his identity
Back in 2002, journalist Michael Finkel was at the lowest point in his career.
He'd recently been fired by The New York Times Magazine for creating a composite character for a story about modern-day slavery in Africa. Soon after, accused murderer Christain Longo fled to Mexico and assumed Finkel's name.
Finkel began a conversation with Longo, met him, and wrote about his experience in his 2005 memoir "True Story."
The film version of Finkel's memoir (starring Jonah Hill and James Franco) is out this week. Finkel joined Take Two to share the story behind the film.
LA's rules for being a ticket-free pedestrian
As Los Angeles becomes increasingly walkable, some Angelenos may not always know how to stay ticket-free when hitting the concrete.
Det. William Bustos, who oversees LAPD's Valley Traffic Division, joins Take Two to help sort through the confusion.
You can read more about pedestrian laws here.