New law would track the race of everyone stopped by police, overweight Asian Americans are seen as more 'American' than thinner peers, plans to rebuild on top of the PCH landslide.
What it's like for LAPD cops to wear body cams
Police in California will soon record the race of everyone they stop
Under a state law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015, police in California are supposed to record the race of everyone they stop and enter that information into a statewide database.
The law, which has not yet taken effect, is meant to track the actions of officers and see if they are disproportionately targeting certain racial groups.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra is taking comment until August 16 on how the law could be regulated before it's finally in effect, which could be as early as next summer.
So how would the law work? When police stop you, they will note certain details about you.
"The officers are supposed to only report the perceived race, as well as perceived gender and sexual orientation of the person they've stopped," says Jack Glaser, professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and author of, "Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling."
The officer should not ask you for that information directly, either. That means he or she might be wrong about your identity.
"The most important thing, really from regulatory standpoint, is what is the officer's perception," says Glaser. "It's the perception that drives any biased behavior."
That information in a database could be helpful to researchers like Glaser to find out, for example, if one particular officer in a department keeps targeting people who appear to be black.
It can also be a way to monitor one of the most subtle forms of policing: deciding who to stop and search.
"This is the area where we probably see the greatest degree of racial identity bias occurring," he says.
Glaser adds, though, that this info must be connected with other data on arrest rates to truly be useful in curbing race-based policing in California.
To hear the full interview, click the audio player above.
Tesla Model 3 has lots of cameras, including one inside the car
Since Tesla started handing over keys to its long-awaited Model 3 last week, details about it have continued almost daily. This week, the web site Electrek.com reported the Model 3 includes a driver-facing camera just above the rear-view mirror.
That creeped a lot of people out. So far Tesla hasn't officially commented on the inward-facing cam, or why it's there.
But here's the basic theory:
It's just one of several sensors throughout the car that will enable the Model 3 to drive itself once the software becomes available. And the interior camera is not actually recording anything right now. Rather, it is built in to the car for when Tesla activates it to enable more evolved levels of self-driving.
According to Electrek, once the car is enabled to do most of the driving itself, the camera is likely to be used to monitor the driver's attention levels in case the car needs to the driver to take over.
To hear the full interview with Sue Carpenter, including why automakers may be to blame for falling car sales, click on the blue bar above.
The citrus disease that devastated Florida oranges is now in Riverside
A tree disease that devastated Florida's citrus industry has been spotted in Riverside.
If it reaches a similar level of infection that it did in Florida, it would be bad news for lovers of grapefruit, lemons and oranges, as well as the Californians who grow them.
It's called 'Huanglongbing,' or Citrus Greening Disease.
"This disease is a devastating plant disease that basically starves citrus trees of nutrients and eventually kills the tree," Joyce Jong, agricultural business development coordinator for Riverside, told Take Two's A Martinez.
If California has to deal with a similar infection level as Florida, the results would radically change the state's fresh fruit market. "California grows 80 percent of the fresh fruit citrus in the United States," Jong said. "If HLB is spread into our commercial citrus production in the state, it has the potential to ruin the marketability of California citrus."
But state officials are working to stay on top of the situation. The best way to make sure that Citrus Greening Disease doesn't reach the point of danger is for citrus tree owners to report the disease as soon as they see it.
"[Huanglongbing] is a death sentence for citrus. But, by working together, we can very quickly find and eliminate this disease so it does not spread."
To report Huanglongbing on your trees, contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Heavier Asian Americans seen as more 'American' than thinner peers
A University of Washington-led study recently tried to solve a pretty tough question - What does it mean to 'look American?'
The answer might be tied to weight. The study found that Asian Americans who look heavier are perceived to be "more American" than their thinner peers.
The researchers showed college students photos of Asian, Latino, black and white people of different weights, and then they asked them questions about the subject's nationality and other traits.
Sapna Cheryan is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington and co-authored the study.
She says researchers asked study participants questions about how American the person looked, how likely they are to be a native English speaker, and how likely it is that they were born in the United States. According to Cheryan, the study's results demonstrate a stereotype Americans have about themselves and their weight.
"I think that Americans have stereotypes about other Americans and it might not be necessarily that you think you're overweight, but you might have this stereotype about how Americans are... Americans do tend to be more overweight than people from other countries, especially Asian countries. I think when [participants] saw an Asian American that looked heavier, they probably [thought] this person is probably more likely to be an American and less likely to be living in Asia because of their extra weight."
Researchers went into the study assuming that weight would make a difference in if someone was perceived to be American, but expected to see it across various groups, not just Asian Americans.
"We thought that anybody that was heavier would be seen as more American just because of this general stereotype that Americans have that we're all overweight. But, we found that it was only true for Asian Americans."
Cheryan explained that participants assumed white and black subjects were American regardless of weight, and viewed Latino subjects differently than Asian Americans.
"We found that with Latinos, people did what they did with Asian Americans, and wondered if they were American or not, but they also would assume that these people were from countries that were also overweight, so that extra weight didn't really give them any clues or additional information about being from America or not."
Researchers hope the study encourages people to rethink how they judge if someone is 'American' or not.
"What we're hoping is that this study calls for expanding the way we think about whose American, and making that umbrella bigger, so that we don't start excluding people who are actually American from that umbrella," said Cheryan.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Staying safe on summer hikes
Rescuers are still searching for two hikers who went missing last week in Joshua Tree National Park, a popular hiking spot for many of us here.
Elsewhere in the state, all the snow from last winter has been melting. It's created fast-moving and dangerous rivers, and those waters have claimed the lives of several people in California.
Whether you're on the trail for the first time, or you've been on hundreds of hikes, there are always precautions to take.
Jeff Hester is founder and editor of the website SoCalHiker.net, which shares guides to Southern California trails. He shared some tips with us for staying safe on the trail.
- If you're new to hiking or going somewhere for the first time, don't go alone.
- Tell someone else who is not on the trip what your plans are.
- Carry the ten essentials - a map, compass, sunglasses, sunscreen, extra food and water, extra clothes, flashlight, first aid kit, fire starter, matches and a knife.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
At Big Sur, Caltrans repairs Highway 1 the best way it can — by following the coast
Been itching to travel to the Big Sur? Good news — Caltrans has announced its plans to repair the stretch of road along the coast that's been buried under a massive landslide since May
The road closure has caused three-hour detours for travelers, it's costing Big Sur businesses a lot of money, and making life difficult for residents.
For folks at Caltrans, this may be the biggest landslide at Big Sur, but environmental damage like landslides and erosion are pretty normal.
"I can talk to you for hours about the flooding and issues we've had," said Colin Jones, Caltrans Public Affairs manager for the central coast. "And that's just part of dealing with, you know, a road that's on the last twenty feet of the continent.
You're always going to have problems. And that's that's the deal.
Jones spoke with Take Two host A Martinez; to hear the rest of their interview, click play on the blue media player above.
No bones about it: Californians prefer cremation
In many cities in California, space is at a premium. It's often hard to find an affordable place to live. So it should come as little surprise that cost is also a major factor when Californians consider their final resting place — and the data shows it.
A report from the National Funeral Directors Association or NFDA examined state-by-state trends when it comes to end-of-life planning. Here in California, cremation is king, making up 63.4 percent of funerals in 2015 — and that number isn't expected to go down anytime soon.
Cost is one consideration, but there are more, says the NFDA's Stephen Kemp.
"Cremation rates are high in California because families are moving around a lot more," Kemp says. "California has a large population of people who come from other states, so there's a lot of movement to that area."
Kemp says these factors have led Californians to look for more portable options. Cremated remains or "cremains" are easier to transport.
The future of cremation?
For those looking for something that's both portable and environmentally friendly, there could be a new option coming to market soon. It's called alkaline hydrolysis, and it uses water and potassium hydroxide to break down tissue.
"It dissolves the body over a period of time leaving the bone," explains Dean Fisher, director of the donated body program at UCLA.
Fisher is the only person in California to possess the technology. The device itself comes from Europe.
Fisher says alkaline hydrolysis reduces a body's carbon footprint. Also, mercury fillings, pacemakers, implants won't be burnt up and sent into the atmosphere.
"Everything with the process is recyclable," Fisher says. "The water is recyclable, prosthetics are recyclable and the ash goes back to the family."
In the end, all that's left are amino acids and water — about 270 gallons of it. Every trace of DNA is removed. The byproduct is treated with acid and then released.
Fisher says 14 states already allow alkaline hydrolysis. California's lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would legalize the process here too.
Press the blue play button above to hear more.