Town hall attendees urge Feinstein's retirement, LA State Historic Park opens after 16 years of roadblocks, Museum of Ice Cream pops up in the Arts District.
State of Affairs: Sen. Feinstein's rough week, Rep. Issa's ostensible journey to the center
In this week's edition of State of Affairs:
- A couple of raucous town halls for California Senator Dianne Feinstein
- Governor Jerry Brown faces some heat over deals he cut earlier this month
- A look at the story that Congressman Darrel Issa is calling BS
Guests:
Scott Shafer, senior editor for politics and government at KQED
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of public policy at USC
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
California educators join Saturday's March for Science
Tomorrow, scientists and their supporters will take to the streets to demand more political support for scientific research.
The March for Science will have its main event in Washington D.C along with hundreds of simultaneous satellite marches across the country.
The National Science Teachers Association has urged its members to participate. And many K-12 teachers in California are expected to attend the various marches.
To find out what all this means for educators and their students, Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Carolyn Jones. She's been covering this for EdSource.org
Interview Highlight
You don't usually see science teachers out marching in the streets. This is a real shift towards activism for science teachers not just for California, but for all over the country.
What they've told me is that they see science under attack nationwide. With the proposal to cleave the Paris climate accord, to cuts to research funding, to proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, clean air and clean water laws, sort of the rise of climate denial.
And also proposed cuts to teacher training which is really important to science teachers. Especially as we're adopting new science standards in California and 19 other states. So, they see these things that are really a big part of their job, under attack.
Quotes edited for clarity
To hear the full interview with Carolyn Jones, click on the blue Media Player above.
5 things you need to know about this weekend's meteor shower
Let's shoot for the stars.
If you are a night sky watcher, you may want to look up this weekend. The Lyrids meteor shower is streaking across our skies and it will peak on Saturday, just days before the new moon, when the sky is darkest.
To tell us a little bit on where and how to see it, we spoke with Jane Houston Jones. She's a public outreach specialist for JPL and hosts a podcast called "What's Up," which is about the solar system. Here are her five tips on this weekend's meteor shower:
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Best time to see the meteor shower
From 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., a couple of hours (on Saturday morning) before dawn is the best time to see the meteor shower.
Experts estimate meteors will fall at a rate of about 20 per hour during those times.
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Best place to look up
I would go to some California desert, or somewhere that's away from city light. There are plenty of open spaces, forest, and parks in L.A. County. You don't have to go that far. And I have actually seen meteors from my home in Monrovia.
Jones recommends going into your backyard, as far away as you can from streetlights or other light sources. She also recommends the desert in Anza-Borrego or up in the San Bernardino Mountains.
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The annoying moon
The best thing about this year is that there's no full moon to wash out the meteors in the sky. We are really close to a new moon, which means that there's no moon. The last showers have been lukewarm because of the big bright moon.
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Binocular, telescope or bare eyes?
If you were looking through a telescope, your field would be so narrow. Your eyes would be your best astronomical device in this case.
Meteor showers are the most accessible of celestial events. All you need is a comfortable chair and your eyes to observe it.
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Saturn and Jupiter
Jupiter and Saturn will also be visible on early Saturday morning. But you'll really need a telescope to appreciate their beauty.
Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through a trail of debris left by a comet or fragmented asteroid. When a comet nears the sun, its icy surface heats up. As it does, it releases clouds of gas, dirt and dust that form a trail of debris that can stretch for millions of miles, Jones explained.
“What happens is, little bits of that comet debris, which are really no bigger than a grain of sand, create streaks of light in the sky as they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere,” she said.
Click on the blue media player above to hear the full interview
This story has been updated.
'There's no place like this in the heart of Los Angeles': A sneak peek at the new LA State Historic Park
It's been a 16-year process for the new Los Angeles State Historic Park.
It's in the heart of the city, within reach of Dodger Stadium, nestled right in between Chinatown and the L.A. River. Take Two took a sneak peek tour just ahead of the park's grand opening on Earth Day. There are art installations and native plants all around to create many Instagram-ready selfie backgrounds.
If you stand right in the middle of it and look south, you see the DTLA skyline and City Hall ...
... Look north and you get a shot of the Spring Street bridge with the San Gabriel Mountains right behind it.
Sean Woods took us around the park, in a golf cart no less. He's the superintendent of California State Parks, Los Angeles sector and he says this park wasn't just made for people, but that everything about its construction was made in conjunction with the people it's intended to serve.
Building with the people
From the beginning, the park faced countless roadblocks and obstacles. But the problems only rallied the community to come together and build the park alongside one another. While bumping along through the park, Woods stopped in the middle of what's been coined "the great lawn" and explained the park's history.
"Let's go back to 2001. OK, so you purchase a piece of land and then you have to have an extensive planning process to decide what you're going to build on this site. Most people don't know that the original bond funding in 2001 was just to purchase the land. We had no money to build this park, so we were always optimistic that we would figure it out as we went along, but what we decided to do with this park was uniquely different than other state parks.
We own some of the most iconic locations and resources in the nation. This was a new direction for the department with the realization that the state was changing, that it was becoming more diverse, more urban ... and that by and large, the people who were coming to our parks did not represent the diversity of California ..."
And so an initiative was born, one aimed to build parks in urban areas to make more culturally relevant programming.
"We're really focused on the programming because you can build beautiful parks and if you do not create an inviting space for the people who surround this park, people who might, for various reasons, might think that that park 'isn't for me, maybe it's for the downtown residents ...' so we're working very, very diligently on creating programming and making the people who actually fought for the park feel welcome, before that new wave of residents comes about."
After a few pictures, we were off to explore more of the vast park.
Park design
Because of the unique nature of the park, a LOT of thought went into the layout and design. Woods continued through the park as he explained the park's zones.
"The park is designed in three zones. We just came through the habitat zone, which is a recreation of the historic flood plain of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles river basin. Eventually, we hope to have a physical, hydrological connection to the river and we're working with the Annenberg Foundation on the water wheel project called, 'Bending the river back into the city' which hopefully in the next year or two, we'll actually bring water from the river into the park ... that was really a reaction to environmental concerns about making sure that this was in some way contributing to the revitalization of Los Angeles river.
As we get further down into the park, it's the urban node, which is more focused on the cultural historical elements of the park and the history of the city. This place was created as a central location for civic dialogue, historic remembrance, to look back on all the stories of Los Angeles, as I like to say, warts and all. We want to uncover all those things in that, what can we learn from the past moving forward, and also a place to capture the ongoing history because this is industrial, but it's been rezoned, adapted for reuse and we just see on the rise and rate all kinds of enormous changes."
The details didn't just stop at the layout, lots of planning and effort went into landscape and plant selection. Each plant and shrub were selected with a purpose.
"There was a very strong emphasis on natives and drought tolerants, obviously. Because of the drought. So, the zone we passed through, the habitat zone is 100% percent native. We're into this zone now, the great meadow, where you're seeing native transition into more ornamental and so what we tried to do here through design was instead of having to put structures to tell the story of the history of Los Angeles, we used plant materials."
Hopes for the future
After surpassing all of the obstacles thrown its way, the park will open to the public Saturday, which is Earth Day. And while those behind the park are excited to celebrate its success, they also have high hopes for what it will mean for future projects like it:
"This is probably the flagship in the departments urban strategic initiative, a new way forward. So, there's a lot riding on the success of this park and we're really hoping that there's a scalability so that this could be duplicated in other places throughout the state."
For more information on the park's grand opening, click here. And just a suggestion, if you're thinking about going there, the Metro Gold Line's Chinatown stop puts you right at park's front door.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
6 things to do this weekend in SoCal
LA's Museum of Ice Cream: Where you'll get your next great selfie
It's not really a museum – the Museum of Ice Cream is better described as a colorful burst of an art installation where you're surrounded by treats and photo ops.
It comes to L.A. by way of a popular New York run last summer.
Maryellis Bunn founded the museum because she wanted to create a passion project.
"What do I love? What am I passionate about?" she remembers brainstorming, "and I was eating ice cream and it was, like, I love ice cream."
From there, it was as simple as vanilla.
Once inside, your admission comes with around six different ice cream and treat samples that come mostly from local shops like McConnell's and CoolHaus.
Meanwhile the art installations were created by artists from around the world.
The major highlight is a mini-pool filled with rainbow sprinkles where you can dive in.
They aren't edible, but they are made of antimicrobial plastic in case you wondered about germs.
Another gem comes early in the tour with an iridescent banana-print wallpaper that's scratch and sniff.
When you go, make sure your phone is completely charged: you'll want to Instagram and Snapchat the whole experience.
And remember to not eat too much beforehand because you need to save room for all the ice cream you'll try.
Museum of Ice Cream
Where: 2018 E 7th Pl, Los Angeles
When: April 22 – May 29
Hours: Wednesdays – Monday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. (closed Tuesdays)
Price: $29 adults, children and seniors $18 (must be purchased online ahead of time)
KPCC kicks off Unheard LA: Live stories from SoCal voices
On Sunday, April 23, KPCC will launch its Unheard LA series - a collection of stories told live by people of different stripes living all over LA and Orange Counties.
For a sneak peak, Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Jon Cohn and Ashley Alvarado of the KPCC In Person team.
Highlight
Jon Cohn: We've engaged the community beyond the KPCC listening audience with a variety of tools to hear real stories, real people, things about Southern California that may be a little off the beaten path. And we've assembled them in a series of live shows. It'll be a combination of spoken word, music, visuals as a way to sort of celebrate and illuminate the complexity and diversity of Southern California.
Quote edited for clarity
Want to check out the first installment of the Unheard LA series? Details below:
Unheard LA Episode 1 - Live in Whittier
Sunday, April 23, 2017
5:30 - 7:00 PM
Ruth B Shannon Center for Performing Arts
Whittier College: 6760 Painter Ave, Whittier, CA 90601