How Trump vs. Khan debate has resonated with the SoCal Muslim community, "Meet the Donors" the new documentary by Alexandra Pelosi, the latest on the Soberanes fire.
Local Muslim voices weigh in on Trump's latest remarks
Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump made efforts to defend comments he made about the family of a slain Muslim Army captain over the weekend. This, despite a public-issued letter by GOP vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine. "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American."
Khizr Khan, father of the fallen soldier, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia accompanied by his wife, Ghazala Khan. Khan criticized Trump's plan to deport Muslims, and said in comparison to their son's sacrifice, that Trump has "sacrificed nothing to no one."
Trump took to twitter Monday saying, "Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!" Mr. Trump's remarks have caused a rift between him and power players in the GOP including John McCain, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich.
For more on how the recent exchange has impacted Southern California's Muslim community, Take Two talked with Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Tasbeeh Herwees, staff writer at GOOD magazine.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
For disillusioned Democrats, Republicans, third-party candidates represent new hope
Republicans and Democrats alike aren't as enthusiastic about their presidential nominees as they have been in years past.
The Green Party and Libertarian Party are drawing support from disillusioned voters.
So what could third-party candidates mean for the presidential race?
Take Two put that question to Christian Grose, associate professor of political science at the University of Southern California
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
What do mega-donors expect in exchange for campaign donations?
The new documentary "Meet the Donors: Does Money Talk?" takes a look at money in politics and why some of the nation's wealthiest individuals invest so much in presidential campaigns.
Filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi goes behind the scenes at top-dollar fundraisers and talks with mega-donors from across the political spectrum to find out whether money actually does buy power.
"Meet the Donors" debuts August 1, 2016 on HBO.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview
Why foreclosed homes and used tires spread Zika virus
Florida Governor Rick Scott announced today that there are now 14 cases of the Zika virus concentrated in one Miami neighborhood.
It was likely transmitted in each of those cases by mosquitos.
But what if Zika's spread could also be driven by global economic forces?
For more, Take Tw's Libby Denkmann spoke with Sonia Shah . She's the author of the book "Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond."
She recently wrote about the possibility of Zika in foreclosed homes for the Washington Post.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
Soberanes Fire: Full containment not expected until end of August
The Soberanes Fire near Big Sur started burning on July 22, and firefighters don’t predict it will be fully contained until Aug. 31, a Cal Fire spokeswoman told Take Two on Monday morning.
More than 40,000 acres and 57 homes have been burned during the past week and a half, but the location of the fire along the picturesque coastal cliffs of northern California is making it difficult for firefighters to access the flames.
“Our number 1 priority is obviously getting this fire out, our number 2 is getting people back in their homes,” Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff told Take Two.
The flames threaten about 2,000 structures, some of which are vacation homes, and 350 residents have been evacuated. Flames sparked Tom Torlakson, serving as active governor while Jerry Brown was out of the state, to issue an emergency proclamation.
A bulldozer operator was killed working on the fire, and Tolmachoff said the incident is under special investigation.
Tolmachoff said that heavy use of aircraft assisted with the remote locations of some of the flames, but at times the fire simply has to burn itself out.
“The weather has been very difficult — triple-digit temps and just a little bit of wind, which is just the perfect conditions for a fire to spread,” Tolmachoff said.
Vegetation fueling the fire has not burned in many years, which is one of the reasons behind the lengthy outlook for getting the fire contained, Tolmachoff said.
Just like authorities are prioritizing residents' return to their homes, they're also trying to clear the way for vacationers who planned to make their way to the scenic parks near the fire. All state parks from Point Lobos National Park to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park are currently closed.
For a full list of mandatory evacuation locations and road closures, visit Cal Fire's incident page. There is a collection of donations underway at the Big Sur State Park Multi-Agency Building. Visit montereyco.recovers.org or call (831)-667-3173 for information on how you can help.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
LA tree counting goes high tech
Los Angeles may be a huge city, teeming with people and buildings and cars. But it is also home to thousands of trees.
Just how many? It's tough to say, but answers are on the way, thanks to modern technology.
That's where Caltech professor, Pietro Perona comes in. Using a computer model first utilized in Pasadena, Pietro now plans to count trees in L.A. He says teaching a computer to identify a tree is all about pixels, and lots of different tree images.
"For example, suppose that you are trying to decide if a traffic light is red or green. You count how many pixels are green or red, and you can compare the two numbers and you can tell if it's more green or more red," he said. "By imitating processes that occur in the brain, like how neurons engage to discriminate details in a picture, computers are then able to differentiate between not just what is a green tree, but also what kind of tree it is. Having examples of different tree species are key for a computer's ability to distinguish between an oak and a Mexican fan palm," Perona said.
Andy Lipkis, founder and president of Tree People, an environmental nonprofit based in Los Angeles, says knowing how many and what types of trees are in L.A. is key to humans.
"Many [trees] are being attacked and are dying right now, at a time when we need trees more than ever to shade and protect us from a city that's getting hotter and hotter, and threatening lives," he said.
Humans can also get involved, Lipkis said, with the Tree Map LA app. It allows people to give the exact location of a tree, and document details about it.
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Elusive wolverine makes another appearance in the Sierra Nevadas
A lone wolverine was captured on video early last month, scaling some trees, scampering in the snow and chewing on some bait in the Sierra Nevadas. It's believed that this may be the same critter that was spotted in 2008, and the first wolverine seen in the area since the 1920s.
They call him Buddy, and his movements have been carefully tracked since he made his big appearance eight years ago.
For more on the sighting and its importance we turn to Christ Stermer, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
Oregon State Fair hosts first ever marijuana exhibition
This year the Oregon State Fair will play host to an exhibit featuring prize-winning marijuana plants. The show will be the first of its kind in the nation. Cannabis Business Council chair Don Morse orchestrated the event, which has been years in the making. He says the main reason for the exhibit is to reduce the stigma that currently surrounds marijuana.
It's not as free flowing as it sounds. For one, smoking marijuana is not allowed at the fair. The crops exhibited are required to be in a vegetative state, which means they will have not yet developed the flowers, or "buds"-- the part of the plant that is smoked for medicinal and recreational use. And all plants will be in a greenhouse closed off to the public, with only visitors age 21 and up allowed admittance by a security officer. What fair-goers will see are the plants judged at the Oregon Cannabis Grower's Fair a few weeks prior. So, if the marijuana can't be consumed, what's the point?
"We're trying to de-stigmatize marijuana," Morse told Take Two. "In Oregon it's classified as a farm crop. We want to tell people, 'Don't be afraid if your neighbor is growing.' People need to be educated about this."
Ed Rosenthal, self-proclaimed "Guru of ganja" will be a judge in attendance at the competition. Author of the Marijuana Grower's Handbook, Rosenthal knows that, marijuana may be casually referred to as herb, but there's a lot more that goes into it than growing an herb garden. Pests, the color of the plant, genetics, and leaf spacing all factor into judging a quality grow.
California and Nevada have legalization bills for recreational use on the ballots this fall. They are two of eight states that have similar bills up for a vote. With legalization of marijuana for recreational use on the rise nationwide, perhaps next year the Oregon State Fair will feature the fruits of the labor of these fine farm crops.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
'Bad Moms,' good moms and everything in between
This weekend the new film "Bad Moms" opened... the movie stars actress Mila Kunis as a working mom at the end of the rope.
"Bad Moms" earned more than 23 million dollars on this opening weekend. My bet is that many of those going to see the film are mothers who could relate to that story line.
Moms who were very relieved to a more nuanced representation of parenthood.
Moms like our two guests - critics and parents Claudia Puig and Christy Lemire.
"They seem to fall into two camps," Puig says "They're either saintly or they're terrible."
According to Lemire, that saintly image on filmis problematic in more ways than one.
"First of all it's boring," she says. "No complexity, no flaws. Flaws are what make us interesting. But also it's kind of alienating and... unrelatable. Who is like that [saint]?"
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.