We'll hear from Californians who are struggling with unemployment; Is the US entering its own era of austerity?; The Senate votes to end air traffic controller furloughs; Producer Joe Boyd releases 'Way to Blue,' a tribute to late musician Nick Drake; State, federal officials meet to discuss restoration plan for the Salton Sea; Can online gaming company Zynga survive? plus much more.
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• 2:34
More than 400,000 Californians looking for work will find themselves struggling even more, starting this Sunday. That's the number of people in the state collecting federal unemployment benefits, and sequestration means the benefit on new filings will be cut by nearly 18 percent.
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• 9:24
Economists and policymakers have for years shirked the austerity measures deployed by Europe to deal with the recession. But now the U.S. is making the same type of spending cuts in a weak economy that European leaders are now distancing themselves from.
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• 17:54
We talk about the week that was with our regular journalists in-the-know. On tap this week, the Marketplace reporter David Gura in Washington and James Rainey from the Los Angeles Times.
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• 4:48
Today the mobile gaming company Zynga releases its earnings. All eyes are on the company who was once lauded as the future of gaming. While they have had hits like FarmVille and Words With Friends, overall the company has become a failure since it went public.
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• 12:48
Record producer Joe Boyd worked with Drake and he recently produced a new tribute album about his friend and colleague called "Way To Blue: The songs of Nick Drake."
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• 2:54
In Sacramento this week Democratic leaders went toe to toe with Governor Jerry Brown over his plan to change how California funds public schools. The rhetoric got pretty heated-with the governor vowing to give his own party, "the fight of their lives."
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• 4:30
All across the country health care providers are scrambling to get ready for changes because of the Affordable Care Act, what most call Obamacare. Among other things, they're keen to ensure Californians with chronic health conditions don't suffer a coverage hiccup during the changeover.
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• 3:10
Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren is using Twitter and Facebook to grieve over his son's suicide. The Orange County-based Warren is not expected to preach again at his Lake Forest church until August.
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• 5:52
In its heyday, The Salton Sea was considered the Lake Tahoe of Southern California, a glamorous destination for vacationers. Today, it has a reputation for being something of a toxic wasteland.
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• 10:08
In recent years, the Mojave desert has become a hot spot for the development of solar and wind power plants. Reporter Judith Mernit, who wrote about this for High Country News, joins the show with more.
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• 2:54
After complaints about catastrophic injuries, a State Senate committee approves a first-of-its-kind measure to give Cal-OSHA oversight of trampoline parks.
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• 7:23
If two weekends of Coachella weren't enough for you, perhaps you want to check out the StageCoach Music Festival, happening this weekend at the Empire Polo Fields. It's the other big desert music festival this Spring, and it's rooted in country music, bluegrass and folk.