Vietnamese family from Southern California reflects on the anniversary of Vietnam, a check-in with a man from Katmandu after the devastating Nepal earthquake, Bobby Fuller.
For former Corinthian students, uncertainty looms
Corinthian has closed its remaining campuses in California. We spoke to a student affected by the closing.
On Sunday, Everest College student Heather Arellanes and 10,000 of her classmates received an email that would change their lives: Corinthian, parent company of Everest, WyoTech and Heald Colleges, announced that they would be closing their remaining 28 campuses. Now, months in to her studies and thousands in debt, Arellanes is searching for answers.
“I received an email [at] nine o’clock in the morning,” Arellanes tells Take Two. “I contacted my teacher right after I received it to see if it was our school, all schools, or what was going on. … They probably sent out a phone call around three to tell us our school was being shut down.”
Arellanes was studying to become a medical assistant at Everest’s Anaheim campus. She was just two months away from finishing the program. Her last final of the term was scheduled for today. Instead, she and a group of classmates met at the school to find out if all their time and money was for nothing.
Molly Hensley-Clancy reports on the business of education for BuzzFeed and published an in-depth investigation of Corinthian in November of 2014. She says the closure was a long time coming. “There have been a bunch of lawsuits from the state’s attorney general and from the Department of Justice doing an investigation, basically alleging that Corinthian schools were misleading students about their prospects of getting a job,” Hensley-Clancy tells Take Two. “Last July, the Department of Education made this move to cut off Corinthians access to federal money, and this created this spiral where Corinthian was compelled to sell off all of its schools.” California institutions didn’t sell, because the state was unwilling to release buyers from legal liability.
The education behemoth earned over $10 billion dollars in the past decade. “A lot of that 10-billion dollars comes from taxpayer money,” Hensley-Clancy explained. “They [had] access to, basically, an unlimited stream of taxpayer money that students would pay for their school using Pell Grants, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans … and were very good about getting new students to sign up.” Hensley-Clancy notes that while she conducted her investigation, she discovered many of the students weren’t even aware that they had taken out loans until she looked over their documents personally.
Former Corinthian student Heather Arellanes says she’s now close to $17,000 in debt after 8 months of classes. Arellanes signed a lease closer to campus and would even take off work to attend classes. In a meeting with the Anaheim campus president today, she was informed that she had two options: accept a refund, or transfer course credits to a college of Corinthians choosing. She plans to attend another meeting on campus tomorrow.
“My mother always warned me, ‘don’t go to a trade school. Go to a community college,’" Arellanes said. “Well, I didn’t listen to her, I went to a trade school and this trade school had a lot of shady things.”
Press the play button above to hear more about the campus closure and the challenges now faced by the students who went there.
Same sex marriage goes before the Supreme Court
A historic case heads to the Supreme Court tomorrow. It could determine whether same sex couples have the right to marry once and for all.
Appeals courts across the country have signaled their support for same sex marriage. Many have also ruled against it. Now it will be decided by the highest court in the land.
David Cruz is a professor of constitutional law at USC. He tells Take Two:
“If I had to predict a ruling today, I would cautiously expect the court will rule in favor of same sex couples [and] will hold that it violates the constitution for states to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples or to recognize valid marriages that they had entered into.”
Press the play button above to hear more about what we might expect from the Supreme Court.
Could the woolly mammoth roam the earth once again?
The woolly mammoth could be making a comeback.
Last week scientists announced that they've come one step closer to possibly cloning a mammoth. To hear A Martinez speak with Hank Greely, the Director at the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University, click on the audio above.
Fall of Saigon sparked Vietnamese flight to Southern California
Nineteen years, five months, four weeks and a day – that's how long the Vietnam War lasted.
It came to an end 40 years ago this week, in the final days of April 1975, as U.S. personnel fled a city quickly falling to Communist forces from the north of the country. By April 30, the Vietnamese that remained in Saigon – now Ho Chi Minh city – faced dire conditions.
"Virtually no provisions had been made for their evacuation," said Marilyn Young, professor of History at New York University and author of "The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990."
In the end, thousands of South Vietnamese were evacuated, but there were no clear guidelines to determine who would leave and who was left behind.
"The top people in the government made arrangements and they got out with their money and their goods," said Young. "Lower down it was much more of a hit or miss…and if you missed, you really missed."
Of those who remained, high-ranking Saigon government officials or those known for aiding Americans were likely to suffer longer periods of time in political prisons, also known as re-education camps.
Many of those who fled the violence eventually settled in Southern California, where another journey to rebuild lives and establish bonds in a new land began.
Listen to the story of Lam and Christine Tran, in conversation with their daughter, Yvonne.
Listen to the interview with Marilyn Young in the blue audio player above.
After Saigon: A quick choice, a new life in California for one family
Starting in April of 1975, tens of thousands of refugees from Vietnam began to arrive in Southern California. These were mothers, fathers, children – some with family members, many without.
More than 50,000 came through Camp Pendleton, the Marine base near San Diego.
Eventually, they formed the largest community of Vietnamese in the U.S.
Today, the events of those April days, 40 years ago, still linger for many. It can be especially tough for a younger generation of Vietnamese Americans.
“For a long time, I kind of shunned this identity," said Yvonne Tran, 25, who was born in Orange County. "You know, you always question: why do I feel so different compared to my friends?"
She found that for a child trying to fit in, it wasn’t always easy growing up in her Vietnamese family.
"It’s kind of that typical second-generation immigrant story: you bring these weird foods from home and people would be questioning it because it would smell funny or look funny," said Tran. "Or my parents would come in and talk with an accent and I would be so embarrassed.”
Understanding history
As Tran got older, she realized that her parents had lived dramatic and difficult lives. She wanted to find out more, but they rarely talked about the war.
Her father, Lam Tran, was an officer in the Vietnamese Air Force. Her mother, Christine, was a young student who drove through the chaotic streets of Saigon.
The two never met in Saigon, instead connecting in the U.S. where they married and had three daughters.
Lam Tran's arrival in the U.S. came down to a split-second decision to board a military airplane at the base in Saigon. His arrival in the United States was marked by loneliness. Building a life for his family in Southern California has been a long and, at times, challenging process.
"I'm happy that we're still together," said Lam Tran. "For me, that's the most valuable thing in my life."
Gardena man's family survives Nepal earthquake
The death toll now tops 4,000 in the massive earthquake which rocked Nepal on Saturday.
Madav Gurung is an Uber driver who lives in Gardena. His wife and family live in Kathmandu, and he says he was on the phone with his wife when the quake hit.
"After five minutes, the phone was dead. No connection. Nothing," he said. "I was so worried ... We didn't have a connection for another few hours."
Gurung says his family members are OK, and the fence to his home was destroyed.
"But most of all of the heritage of Nepal is gone. Our historical places are gone," Gurung said.
For those in the U.S. with close ties to Nepal, like Gurung, the news has prompted calls to mobilize relief. California is sending 57 urban search and rescue experts to help find people buried under the rubble.
Gurung is also a member of a group of Nepalese now living in southern California called the Los Angeles Gurung Society, and they too are organizing relief efforts. Visit the group's Facebook page for more information on how to help.
The Forecast: The Clinton Foundation and the protest concerning a death in Baltimore
A conservative writer makes Hillary Clinton uncomfortable and questions remain in the death of Freddie Gray - the Baltimore man killed while in police custody.
It's the Forecast, our look at the stories that will dominate the week's news. Joining us this week is Jamelle Bouie, staff writer for Slate and Scott Bland - editor in chief of National Journal's Hotline.
Lake Mead hits low point with drought in West
Nevada's Lake Mead, the largest capacity reservoir in the US, hit a low point Sunday and it's expected to dwindle even further by the end of the summer.
The river that feeds Lake Mead, the Colorado, has been experiencing a 14-year drought. It's the most important source of water in the west, supplying cities and farmers in seven states and Mexico.
Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA's JPL joins the show to put the situation in perspective.
Amid record drought, CA salmon get 'free taxi ride' down San Joaquin River
Amid the worst drought on record in California, fish biologists are trying to save a salmon run in the San Joaquin River.
The river no longer flows continuously to the confluence of the Merced River as it did many years ago. Parts of it are shallow and too warm; parts of it are now completely dry.
That's made things very tough for the San Joaquin's Chinook salmon population. Saving them and helping them continue their run is the work of fisheries biologist Don Portz and his team from the US Bureau of Reclamation's San Joaquin River Restoration Program.
Portz spoke with Take Two about how he and his team give the salmon a"free taxi ride, so to speak," down miles of dry river bed to the Merced River confluence, so they can make their way out to the Pacific Ocean from there.
Nearly 5 decades later, Bobby Fuller's death remains a mystery
In December 1965, singer and guitarist Bobby Fuller released his version of a song first recorded by Sonny Curtis and the Crickets six years earlier, "I Fought the Law."
Just three months later, "I Fought the Law" cracked Billboard's Top 10, but Fuller wasn't able to enjoy that success for long.
Miriam Linna's new book, "I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller," explores the musician's life, and sudden death.
Linna and Fuller's brother, Randell, who coauthored the book, tell more.