The latest on the dad who was apprehended while dropping his daughter off at school, impacts of sex-ed funding cuts in SoCal, Rich Harbour on his 60 years making surfboards.
SoCal is facing a new kind of gridlock in the housing market
There's a big log jam in Southern California...and it's not that back up on the freeway.
The new gridlock is in our housing market.
According to Attom Data Solutions, an Irvine-based housing research firm, people are staying in their homes longer than usual before moving up to a new house.
The reasons are varied, but the extended stay can have some major consequences.
Daren Blomquist is the Senior Vice President at Attom Data Solutions, he spoke to A Martinez about the repercussions of this new trend.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Summer and after-school programs may face government funding cuts
Many students across California are officially back at school, although some never left because they attended summer school.
But now, the Trump administration is proposing cuts that put summer school in danger.
"They're interested in de-funding the 21st-century community learning centers," says Deborah La Torre, associate with UCLA’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing. "This program helps to fund both summer schools and after-school programs within the state of California and other states."
All of the federally- and state-funded programs in California are required to have certain components.
"They're required to have homework help. They're required to have academic enrichment," says La Torre. "[Kids are] less likely to drop out of school or have issues in school if they attend after-school programs on a regular basis."
And hundreds of these kinds summer programs in California stand to lose millions of dollars in federal funding.
Listen to the interview with La Torre live on KPCC at 9:20 a.m.
More CA schools offering free college entry exams
Plenty of high school students dread taking college entrance exams, such as the SAT and ACT. But other students avoid taking it altogether, maybe put off by the 60 dollar price tag on those tests.
New research shows that when high schools offer the tests for free, there's significant increase in the number of students that take it and who wind up in enrolled at universities.
Now a growing number of California schools are hoping to do just that. In the 2016-2017 school year, 22 California school districts offered the SAT for free - a big difference from just two years before, when only four districts offered the exam for free.
One of these districts is Covina-Valley Unified District, which started doing this two years ago.
Take Two spoke with Richard Sheehan, superintendent of Covina-Valley Unified School District.
“We are truly trying to create a college and career-going culture, and so this just provides the students another avenue to make the colleges and universities more accessible to them," he said.
Hang 60: Seal Beach's Rich Harbour on almost six decades of making surfboards
Rich Harbour still remembers the first surfboard he made.
“It was terrible,” Rich told Take Two’s A Martinez. “There was no how-to guide at the time. A 16-year-old kid making a board with no instructions. You can imagine.”
This was back in 1959, but Harbour was undeterred. He decided to make himself another surfboard a few months later.
This time, his creation lived up to his already high standards.
“I looked at every professionally-made surfboard I could see to analyze how this thing was made. What steps did they do that I didn’t?” Harbour recalled. “Number two turned out good! Turned out so good that I had kids asking me to make them one.”
And so began a lifelong passion that spans almost 60 years.
Building boards at one place for decades
Harbour started making and selling surfboards out of his parents' garage. Eventually, he expanded his business in 1962 by buying a shop in Seal Beach.
He named it Harbour Surfboards.
“We’ve been making surfboards in this building ever since,” Harbour said. “There is nobody in the world, that I know of, that can say that. That’s the longest in one address.”
When you first walk into Harbour Surfboards, it looks like most other beach shops. There are T-shirts and beach paraphernalia, surfboards along the ceiling – a lot of things that would be expected.
But walk further back and you’ll see a surfboard workshop. Boards sit along the wall in various states of completion.
To the left is the cutting and shaping area; a metal holder sits in the middle of the room where surfboards will lay flat when they're brought in for sanding.
Harbour’s tools sit to the side, waiting to be used on the next board that’ll be brought in.
“We used to do the whole thing here,” Harbour said. That included applying fiber glass to the boards right after the shaping process was done. “The city finally came to me one day in 1992 and said ‘Rich… this stinks too much. You can’t [apply] fiber glass on Main Street in Seal Beach.”
But Harbour wants to work as close to home as possible. He loves making surfboards.
"I got so taken with this process that I loved it more than I did surfing,” he said. “I would love to be, when I’m gone, recognized as one of the better craftsmen that’s ever been in this business.”
Affecting others through his work
As Harbour has gotten older, it has been more difficult to be directly involved in the surfboard creation process.
“I don’t do this every day anymore,” Harbour said as he finished sanding a blank board. “I’m exhausted.”
Arthritis in his hands and shoulders makes it tough to continuously smooth out the boards in his shop. His back does not allow him to stand for as long as his work requires, either.
“I miss it 24 hours a day. I would love to be in here all the time,” he said.
But love of the craft aside, Harbour is grateful for the opportunity to make such an impact on others.
“The reward is making people happy. What greater thing can I do?”
Rich Harbour is the subject of a new exhibit at the Surfing Heritage & Culture Center in San Clemente.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Tyler, The Creator, Sean Price, Gil Scott Heron
If you don't have the time to keep up with all the new music that's available, take heart: we've got the perfect solution.
Every week, our music experts come in to talk about the best new tunes in one short segment. This week, Oliver Wang shares his picks.
Artist: Tyler, The Creator
Album: Flower Boy
Song: November
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaXoDWSQQrk
Oliver's review:
"Tyler, the gives-no-fs, chaos agent we formerly knew with Odd Future has given way to a delightfully and surprisingly introspective artist on this bright, sunny, well-crafted on his latest album."
Artist: Sean Price feat. Prodigy and Styles P
Album: Imperius Rex
Song: The 3 Lyrical Ps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpy9_4Qub8o
Oliver's review:
"There's an obvious, morbid quality to this song. Not only did Sean Price pass a year ago, but Prodigy, of Mobb Deep, just passed away the other month, so this song is really like hearing some voices from the grave, but at least it reminds us of their former greatness."
Artist: Gil Scott Heron
Album: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Song: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGaoXAwl9kw
Oliver's review:
"This deluxe reissue of the late poet's best-known album includes half a dozen bonus tracks, including the original, spoken-word version of the title song. Even though the original album is 40-plus years old, it still sounds prescient. Or perhaps, sadly, still right on time."
Press the blue play button above to hear more of Oliver's reviews.