Why Pres. Trump wants to to split up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, what the White House's tax proposal means for California, flying car technology is here
Trump aims to split up the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
On Wednesday, President Trump told Washington Examiner he would like to break up the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That is the federal panel that serves most of the Western states, including California.
With 29 Judges, it iss by far the largest Appeals Court in the country, and the President is not the first to suggest it should be broken up.
But Trump has some specific complaints that go beyond the idea that the court is just too big.
Host A Martinez checks with with UCLA law professor Adam Winkler on the future of the 9th Circuit Court under the new administration.
Click on the blue media player above to hear the full conversation
President Trump’s tax proposals and you: 4 things to know
The tax reform plan released by the White House yesterday might look pretty good to Californians.
It's supposed to cut taxes for almost everybody. But, some provisions of the plan may mean some of us, or most of us, will end up paying MORE taxes.
It's times like this when we all need a financial advisor. And we've got one. Our regular Take Two contributor, Delia Fernandez. She broke down the big takeaways from the White House's plan to overhaul the tax code and how it will affect folks in the Golden state.
Doing away with the deduction for state and local taxes
"Well, this means that right now in our federal income tax return we can deduct the income taxes we pay to the state or if we have local taxes. You know, we're a high tax state and in California, a lot of people are going to be sorry to see that deduction go away so we're not going to like that.
...It means we can be lowering our taxable income by thousands of dollars and they're taking that away from us. We'll pay more taxes."
Doubling the standard deduction: Good news for married couples filing jointly
"Married couples filing jointly right now have a standard deduction of about $12,500 this year and it would double to $25,000. You know, for some people who are thinking about buying a house only for the tax deduction, this could be really easy. They can stay renting, they don't have to itemize taxes, it could make tax preparation easier for everybody."
Getting rid of the estate tax
"The estate tax affects how much money we can give away either at our death or during our lifetime. This affects people who have $5.5 million or more to giveaway as an individual...
Frankly, it's just not a lot my clients...it's more narrow. The big winners are obviously those people with a lot of money and somebody who wants to give it to them."
There's still a lot we don't know
"We just don't have enough detail. The information that they handed out yesterday was one sheet of paper with bullet points on it. We know some of the things that they've said in the past, so we have to listen very carefully to what it means for us.
...here's what we should feel good about, our elected officials are going to hear from us if these tax breaks are going to hurt us. And we have a midterm election coming in 2018. So, those election officials know what we care about but we need to tell them and we need to be firm with that and I think that all of this is going to work out.
Obviously, the real estate industry is going to be concerned, people who own homes who get a big property tax deduction are going to be concerned and we're kind of suspecting that this plan is going to be better for the very wealthy than it is for the rest of us and the rest of us need to be sure to vote and tell our elected officials how we feel."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
The Ride: Flying cars are closer to reality than you think
Imagine being able to get around traffic by flying above it. It's an idea that was first popularized by The Jetsons, but it's no longer restricted to sci-fi. Companies big and small are pouring billions of dollars into making flying cars a reality, according to a flurry of mainstream media reports this week.
A version of George Jetson’s aerocar really could be parked in your driveway by the end of this year. That's the goal of Kitty Hawk, a Silicon Valley startup backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. The New York Times reported Kitty Hawk's Flyer prototype is currently being tested in the skies north of San Francisco. Seating one in an open cockpit of a vehicle that looks like a cross between a pontoon boat and a drone, the Flyer uses battery-powered propellers to fly.
Not to be outdone, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is also working on a flying vehicle. According to several news outlets, the project involves a blimp that could be used to haul cargo.
Uber announced Tuesday that it is partnering with five different aerospace companies, including Bell Helicopters and Aurora Flight Sciences, to develop "on-demand urban mobility." The San Francisco-based ride-hailing pioneer is looking to develop a brand new type of aircraft that’s electric and takes off and lands vertically, like a helicopter. The idea is that this urban air mobility service will work like Uber with its cars, only the rides will be in cars that fly. Uber plans to demo an urban air mobility network in Dallas and also Dubai in 2020.
Last week, the University of Michigan's Sustainable Worldwide Transportation division released a study about Americans' attitudes toward flying cars. While the majority of survey respondents said they were "very concerned" about flying cars' safety, they are still interested in using them, especially if they're equipped with parachutes.
The biggest reason for the positive attitude is that they think flying cars will shorten travel times, but other perceived benefits include fewer crashes, better fuel economy and lower emissions. Most people would like flying cars to be powered with electricity rather than gas.
The survey found that more men are interested in flying cars than women. Younger people are also more interested than older people. About half of the survey's respondents said they would definitely be interested in learning how to fly a car if it required 20 hours of flight training, but most people were more interested in a taxi model. They'd rather hail a ride in a flying car, and prefer that the car fly itself than have a licensed pilot.
How to help students navigate the darker side of online
It's hard enough when kids have to hear mean comments in the hallways at school, but now those comments can follow them all the way to their online profiles.
With more students connected to the internet than ever, schools are forced to confront the problem of cyber bullying.
That includes Jurupa Unified School District, which began offering digital training lessons to kids after thousands of its students received netbooks from the schools this year.
"We really wanted to demonstrate to our parents and community that we are committed to teaching the students to use these devices in enriching and responsible ways," said Joshua Lewis, director of Education-Information technology at Jurupa Unified.
He told Take Two's A Martinez that schools need to, "create a district-wide culture of digital literacy and appropriate digital citizenship."
Lewis said that the classes make sense for the modern student. This generation is the first to grow up with constant online access. Helping them navigate the waters is a key responsibility for educators.
"We teach students a variety of things in education. Sometimes it's quantum physics and not all students can relate to that. But when it comes to digital citizenship and these lessons, it mirrors their daily lives and the reality of their futures."
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Unheard LA: hidden stories of Southern California
This past weekend, KPCC's live events team launched the live personal storytelling series, "Unheard LA - Hidden stories of Southern California."
All week, we’ve been airing selections of that event - and today we hear from She told her story about how, back in 2006, she taught her first class in American government at Cal State Fullerton, which was ironic because she didn't have a green card.