A check in with youth from Boyle Heights following the shooting of a 14-year-old, the psychology behind who we cheer for, rebooting and regendering in Hollywood.
Boyle Heights youth react to deadly shooting: 'I'm really heartbroken'
A deadly police shooting of a 14-year-old in Boyle Heights is focusing attention on the challenges that teens face as police respond to a rise of crime in the city.
"I'm really heartbroken," said 19-year-old Nancy Flores, a student who works with younger teens in an after-school program in Boyle Heights. She said she and her friends are the ones walking to school, going to the parks and dealing directly with crime and the police.
"It's affecting us," she said.
Police said gang enforcement officers went to the corner of Chicago Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue Tuesday evening after getting a call about possible gang-related vandalism. After chasing one of the suspects, police shot and killed the teen, Jesse James Romero. Police said they were returning fire and found a gun at the scene. The incident is under investigation.
"It's hard to think about youth getting pulled over, but that's a real fear that we face when police are in our communities," said Flores, who is part of the L.A. for Youth Campaign and the advocacy group Building Healthy Communities.
She said the solution requires broader improvements to the area, such as more markets with healthy food, safe recreational parks and centers and educational opportunity. All that requires work from many players.
"We should expect more from our communities, from our council members, from the city," she said.
Who you root for in the Olympics this year might reveal a lot about you
For sports fans around the world, the Olympics are a time to watch their favorite athletes at their best. But for the non-sports minded, choosing what to watch and who to root for can be a bit more ambiguous.
This leads one to wonder: why do we root for the people that we do? And what does that tell us about ourselves?
For a look at the psychology behind our cheers, Take Two spoke to Edward Hirt, professor of social psychology at Indiana University Bloomington, specializing in fanship.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
Clinton or Trump: who will be better for SoCal's economy?
There are many issues that could decide whether you vote for presidential front-runners Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
But for decades, Americans have consistently said that their top issue is the economy. It's more important than where candidates stand on terrorism, immigration, Supreme Court appointments, gun control and more.
Which candidate has the better plan for you in Southern California?
Chris Thornberg, founding partner with Beacon Economics, gives his analysis for Take Two.
The DOJ and the consent decree - will it change bad policing?
This week the Department of Justice released a scathing report on the Baltimore police department. The investigation came in the wake of the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, and it found that local law enforcement routinely violated the civil rights of Baltimore residents.
Now officials from the city and the Justice Department are expected to work on a negotiation that will be presented to a judge. The settlement could be what’s known as a consent decree, an agreement that spells out steps that the department would have to meet.
We talked to Samuel Walker, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He's the author of more than 14 books on policing. His most recent one is called "The New World of Police Accountability."
How do consent decrees work?
They were authorized by Congress in the 1994 Violent Crime Act, and the very first one involved Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1997 ... It begins by an investigation of the Special Litigations section ... and then the ones where there are serious problems, they then conduct a full investigation, and that results in a findings letter, which is what the DOJ released yesterday in terms of Baltimore. The findings letter then sets in motion negotiations between the DOJ and the city and police department, the result is what's known as a consent decree: a binding agreement that mandates a usually sweeping set of reforms.
What kinds of reforms are in a normal consent decree?
There will be a need to change the department's formal policy on use of force, and then procedures for officers reporting individual uses of force — such as, the officer has to fill out a report by the end of the shift, particularly important — sergeants will be expected and required to critically review those reports, to look for missing information or things that don't add up.
What's most notable about Los Angeles, and the consent decree entered with the LAPD and the DOJ following the Rampart scandal?
Los Angeles is a really interesting case because its been the most thoroughly evaluated ... There was a team from Harvard ... and they found that the department was better, that uses of force went down and crime went down also ... Public complaints went down, attitudes [toward] the police department went up ... So in most cases, a consent decree has been effective in transforming a police department.
(click on the blue arrow above to hear the entire interview)
Chris Kallmyer explores LA's weather, water relationship through art
Southern California is in the midst of a long dry spell. For years now, politicians, business people and conservationists have been talking about the drought. Now artists are responding to it, too.
A new city wide public cultural event known as Current: LA explores the issue of water through the arts. The program includes art installations throughout Los Angeles featuring artists around from the world, including Chris Kallmyer. He is an artist whose primary medium is sound.
He will be in Baldwin Hills on Thursday night to share a new short film that explores the relationship between weather modification and water in L.A.
Interview Highlights
Why he wanted to be part of Current: LA
"I had been interested in water, drought, it's relationship to our city, really since I moved here. I moved to L.A. like 10 years ago, and I grew to love this city through trying to understand it through our infrastructure, or urban planning, or human geography. And I often feel like if I can find a call for works that matches my own ethos, it's more likely I'll actually apply for it and have more success."
Chronicle of New Weather by Southern California Public Radio on Scribd
What his pitch was to Current: LA:
"My pitch was looking at an older work that I had done previously when I was asked to create a piece between the Department of Water and Power and City Hall. Instead of responding with a piece of individuality and being an artists in and amongst governmental buildings, I formed my own fake governmental organization... Well I have a thing for uniforms (laughs). You know, I think there's value in blending in, and taking the vernacular of a site. My agency was called the Los Angeles Department of Weather Modification, and we offered weather modification, perceptual experiments, fog on-demand, scheduled thunderstorms, things like that to people who were putzing between jury duty on lunch or going from City Hall up to the DWP, which is an organization that has practiced weather modification for a long time."
What is the New Weather Station?
"I think coming from a fake governmental group, I wanted to do something more human-centered, and something that could have a shallow use, a medium use and a deeper use on-site. So, in Norman O. Houston Park, which is this beautiful park that overlooks the basin in Baldwin Hills, we put a 20-foot geodesic dome with seating, a shade structure and a small garden that's a kind of botanical solution to weather modification, or botanical solution to making our city cooler. And so, if you stumble across it, people in the neighborhood might use it as a shade structure during the day, a place to hang out and have a conversation. But equally, if we were to look at it in a deeper way, we could see it as a human-powered weather station, a space that tells you nothing specific or helpful about the weather — it won't tell you the temperature, it won't tell you the windspeed, it won't tell you the humidity. But if you sit there, to sit is to become present on-site. So to invite people to sit, hang out, listen, maybe create a perceptually-powered weather station, a botanical weather station, a space lit by the sun, powered by humans, that was the kind of idea. Art can be really, really deep, but I get kind of annoyed by stuff that's only the deep idea. And so I like to offer, in a way, a more medium and shallow engagement as well."
Chronicle of New Weather (Spanish) by Southern California Public Radio on Scribd
About the film he'll be showing Thursday night:
"The New Weather film is a film that features interviews with the president of the North American Weather Modification Association — yeah, it's a real person. He's lovely. His name is Tom, and he works here in Los Angeles for the Water District, but also has been a kind of trade representative for the varying weather modification groups that exist in and around the United States. And so, we did extensive interviews with Tom, and pulled them into kind of a brief informational piece, followed by a collection of images and ambient videos of clouds... You know, it's like spacey, blissful weather music, and also this very informational bit from the king of weather mod."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
The Ride: BMW builds Olympic competition vehicles, not just cars
This year, Rio is home not only to the Olympic games but also the 2016 Paralympics.
Come September, athletes will compete in several track and field events — in wheelchairs. And many of them will do so in chairs manufactured by BMW.
“Built for breaking things — to reimagine, rethink and redefine what it means to be an athlete,” according to a BMW advertisement that is running in heavy rotation during the Olympics on NBC, the performance wheelchair is merely the latest example of BMW’s partnership with Team USA.
In a sponsorship deal that dates back six years, BMW has crafted devices that measure the velocity of long jumpers and software that measures and analyzes a swimmer’s kick, as well as a sleek and super fast two-man bobsled that helped Team USA claim its first Olympic medals in decades at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2012.
“First and foremost, it’s about performance for us,” said Brad Cracchiola, associate director of program management of BMW Group’s Designworks in Newbury Park, which designed the BMW bobsled and performance wheelchair.
“We want to look at projects that align with our brand, and we’re also looking at areas where we can lend our expertise,” he said. “BMW wants to do more than give just financial support. We want to give something more to the team and the sport itself through our own resources of engineering and development.”
What that means for the performance wheelchair that will be used by four Paralympic athletes competing in Rio next month is a chair that borrows many ideas from performance cars.
Its chassis is made of lightweight and rigid carbon fiber. BMW also devoted a lot of attention to the suspension to help it move more efficiently through turns, aerodynamics to cut through the wind and reductions in energy lost between the time the athlete spins the wheel and moves the chair.
Used in various track and field events, from short sprints to full-length marathons, the performance wheel chair can be propelled to speeds up to 60 mph in certain events, Cracchiola said.
Designworks worked on the performance wheelchair for a year and a half. The chairs themselves went through multiple prototypes and are bespoke to each athlete.
To develop the wheelchair, Cracchiola and his design team immersed themselves in the sport. They spent time with coaches and athletes. they went to events, they watched the races and observed all the planing and preparation and training that goes into each event. They examined the details of where races are won and lost.
In the case of the bobsled, the designers even hitched a ride with the U.S. team.
“On TV, it just looks fast,” said Cracchiola, who took a ride in the two-man bobsled in an effort to understand how to improve its dynamics. “In person, it looks fast and terrifying and extremely loud and violent and then when you get in, it feels like 20 car crates inside of a minute. And that’s not an exaggeration at all. That’s exactly what it feels like.”
The performance wheelchair will make its Olympic debut during the Paralympics in Rio in September.
Sue Carpenter is co-host of The Ride, Southern California Public Radio's series on modern mobility.
Asexuality and the internet's key role in the Ace community
The internet has often served as a refuge for marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ and Trans communities. But it's connection to Asexuality and the "Ace" community, as members call themselves, is a little more unique.
While the concept of Asexuality has been around for a long time, the internet gave it a name and space in the world.
For more, Take Two's Libby Denkmann spoke to Naomi Gettman, she's a Southern California native who identifies as Asexual.
Interview Highlights
Define Asexuality.
"It exists on a spectrum. So you have, people over here who have a libido or sexual desires but they still aren't necessarily attracted to people. And then you have over here, where it's definitely not 'no way' and then a gray area in between. So, in the loosest terms, Asexuality just means not feeling sexual attraction to anybody, to any gender."
When and how did you come to the realization that you were Asexual?
"Oh man, probably my senior year of high school. So, I was about 17, it was never something that I thought about because Asexuality is a lack of something so how are you supposed to know if you're missing something if it's not there...
I just figured, everybody was like this. People would talk about crushes and I don't know...I just never took them seriously or maybe they're just joking around or like...it was always something in the future. Like, 'Oh, when you grow up you'll feel this way.' I'm 17, I'm older...when's this going to happen?'
...You know people online that I've met and talked to, we go to a chatroom or Tumblr and that's a very common narrative, where people feel broken and alone because, yeah...everyone's like this and maybe they're a little more self-aware than I am and that's what's so important about representation and getting out there. Because, Asexuality is something that you have to Google...you have to pull down the powerpoint and explain to people, it's not out there yet."
There has been instances where Asexuality has been questioned or different questions have come up about whether there's a place for Asexuals in the LGBT community. Have you ever felt that when you're going online or talking to your friends?
"I think there's a disconnect in that a lot LGBT spaces, they try to relate to Pride or love is love where it's always focusing on the relationship. Like, 'Oh, I'm just like you but I'm a girl that loves a girl and you're a guy that loves a girl so actually, we have a lot in common'. So, if there's a focus on sexuality and love interests and stuff like that, you always see it as couples and pairings but not everybody is necessarily like that.
And you go to Pride and it's very sexually open and sexually expressive and that's great, because people aren't always allowed to show that in their day to day and that's why Pride is around but for a lot of Aces, which is slang for Asexual, will go and they feel uncomfortable because they're not sexual, that's like the opposite of them."
Answers have been edited for clarity.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Hollywood and gender-bending, is it here to stay?
Gender-bending in Hollywood. There's a whole lot of that going on these days, especially when it comes to rebooting beloved properties.
There's the recent Ghostbusters movie, look out for a new version of "Splash" with Channing Tatum as the mermaid, or more appropriately, merman. Come this fall, shooting starts in New York for Ocean's Ocho- this latest chapter in the caper franchise will star Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, and Rihanna, among others.
What's behind this trend and what it might mean for Hollywood? For that, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with Claudia Puig, President of LA Film Critics Association .
To hear the full conversation, click the blue play button above.
Brothers fight Soberanes Fire to save family ranch
The Soberanes Fire has destroyed thousands of acres in the Big Sur area. One beloved vacation enclave, San Clemente Rancho is safe from fire and back open for business, thanks to the brothers who run it.
Bruce, Hank and Eric Dormody rolled up their sleeves and took action into their own hands. Together, and later on with the help of firefighters the Dormody brothers fought back the impending flames.
Take Two’s Alex Cohen spoke with Bruce Dormody, owner of the San Clemente Rancho to hear what it was like to personally face down the still raging Soberanes Fire.
We saw it right off the bat. My brothers saw the smoke plume probably hours after it started and it was coming from a direction that normally fires don’t come towards us. We adjoin the Los Padres National Forest in the Ventana Wilderness and we are on its northern border. Normally, fires start in the forest from a lightening strike or something and they burn up to us and there’s very well established fire breaks that would stop it eventually..... And we pretty much immediately knew, we had to start doing something because it might be a week but its going to get here.
We have these bulldozers on property because it’s a big ranch...and we just started making our own firebreaks on the ridge tops which we thought were most conducive to fight the fire if and when it would get to us.
To finish our lines, we needed some hand breaks done when it was just too steep of country through a ravine - a gorge in this creek area and once we kind of told them [CalFire] what we were doing and once they bought off on it, they were in. Within minutes, jumped in with full hand crews and were working away with it.
It was just kind of marching slowly us so you cold kind of fight it with a little more confidence up until the last few minutes when they started doing back fires to really contain it and stop it on our line. We stepped away back, let the firefighters do their job and they did it terrifically but the whole time it was getting closer, the worst effect was the smoke. It was just choking smoke for weeks.
I was just protecting my home too, so its just something I think anybody would do and they just are so grateful and so appreciative it kind of makes you cry. Now people are coming back up and we expect a pretty good weekend.