Michael Brown & Eric Garner - a tipping point? The Orion spacecraft, and the first openly gay MLS star

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Politicians and protesters call for a change to the justice system, but how to do it? The Orion spacecraft, and Grammy noms for Sam Smith.

Michael Brown & Eric Garner - a tipping point? The Orion spacecraft, and the first openly gay MLS star

Politicians and protesters call for a change to the justice system, but how to do it? The Orion spacecraft, and Grammy noms for Sam Smith.

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Politicians and protesters call for a change to the justice system, but how to do it? The Orion spacecraft, and Grammy noms for Sam Smith.

Martin Luther King Jr's lawyer on the new national debate about race

The deaths of African Americans Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others have sparked a new round of protests and a national debate about race, the criminal justice system and police use of force. 

Politicians are calling for change, but will speeches, marches, or Facebook posts really alter anything within our culture?

Clarence B. Jones, a visiting professor at the University of San Francisco and former political advisor and personal lawyer to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., says he believes the nation has reached a tipping point.

"We are a country, a democracy, where government is based on the consent of the governed," Jones says. "And that consent assumes that people believe that their government is going to [treat them] fairly."

What has happened now, Jones says, is that "whatever confidence the African American community had, as a general proposition, in the possibility that they would be treated fairly by the police in their communities. That confidence and believe has been shaken. It may have been irrevocably shaken."

That, Jones says, leaves America at "an unprecedented crossroads." And in order to move forward, Americans will have to face the issue of race relations head-on. 

"Slogans are not going to do it anymore, placards are not going to do it anymore," Jones says. "We're going to have to say 'We're either going to be in this ship together, or we're going to sink together.'"

The Flashback: demonstrations over the Garner Grand Jury and the DOJ takes a close look at the Cleveland PD

This week on the Flashback we'll talk to Jamelle Bouie from Slate, and here in studio, James Rainey, political reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

We'll talk about Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that the Department of Justice investigation into the Cleveland Police Department, a look into the  disconnect in perception over "black on black" violence and the House fights President Obama's executive order on immigration.
 

LA Galaxy star Robbie Rogers, coming onto the field and out of the closet

When the LA Galaxy takes the field this weekend for US soccer's highest prize, Robbie Rogers will be on the field.

He may be just one of 10 other players for LA's team, but his path to Sunday's match is quite remarkable. He's played professionally in England, representing the US in the Olympics and becoming an MLS all-star. 

But for much of that time, he was hiding what for him was a deep secret: he is gay.

He came out in 2013, in a very public fashion, becoming the first openly gay athlete to play in US pro sports. But before he did so publicly, he came out to  his mother. He wrote her a letter talking about his sexuality, how he felt keeping it a secret and why he had to tell the truth.

He stopped by the studio to talk to host A Martinez about his new book,  "Coming Out To Play."

While he was in studio he read sections of the book, here is his favorite part - his letter to his mother where he told her he was gay. 

Excerpt From Coming Out to Play

NASA's Orion completes first test flight

It was a no go for NASA's Orion spacecraft yesterday thanks to bad weather, but in the early morning hours today there was lift off! The flight kicked off a new era in space exploration, with the Orion spacecraft completing a four and half hour unmanned flight - two orbits around the earth. It splashed down in the Pacific ocean the same day.

Bruce Betts is the Director of Science and Technology for The Planetary Society and he joins A Martinez in the studio to discuss the significance of this event and how it could be related to our future missions to Mars.

2015 Grammy nominations announced: Sam Smith, Megan Trainor and Brandy Clark get nods

It's a big day in the world of music - The Grammy nominations are out today. Contenders for key categories like "Record of the Year" were announced this morning and more nominations will be handed out tonight. 

writes about music for the Associated Press and he joins Alex Cohen on the line to talk about the nominations.

The Washington Post has a breakdown of this year's Grammy noms.:

55 years of East Bay Dragons motorcycle club

California's relationship with motorcycles goes way back. But real-life California is packed with motorcycle clubs, including dozens of African-American groups. Oakland's East Bay Dragons have been revving their engines the longest.  

The California Report's Aaron Mendelson caught up with them as they celebrate their 55th anniversary.

Hear Mendelson’s story: African American Motorcycle Club Celebrates 55th year 

CicLAvia: 4 years in LA, 40 in Bogota

The latest CicLAvia, a serial street festival that features thousands of bike riders, takes place again Sunday, this time in South L.A.  A six-mile stretch of streets including sections of MLK Boulevard and Central Avenue will be closed to traffic, and open for people to ride bikes, stroll or just hang out.

The L.A. organizers of CicLAvia took their inspiration from an event in Bogota.  The name, according to Jaime Ortiz, co-founder of the Bogota event, is a mash-up of a Columbian slang word for bicycle, cicla, and the word via, which means way. "So," says Ortiz, "a way for bicycles."

Ortiz is in Los Angeles for Sunday's event, and he says the two CicLAvias are similar, in that they are both driven from the bottom up.  

"It is the people who make the event," he says.  

But unlike the Bogota festival, which happens every week along a fixed route, each one of L.A.'s CicLAvias takes place in a different neighborhood, shining light on parts of the city that may be unfamiliar, even to life-long residents.

Organizers here expect at least 50,000 people to turn up on Sunday, and they stress that CicLAvia isn't just a bike event. As co-founder Aaron Paley notes, people cruise around on skateboards, scooters and wheelchairs, and others just sit on the curbs and watch the event roll by.

To hear this segment, click on "Listen Now" above.

Weekend on the cheap: sand snowman contest, Hot Wheels garage and sriracha beer

We hope you've perked back up after your rainy day soup and sweatpants, because we've got some fun ideas on how to enjoy your time off.

Southern California Public Radio's social media producer, Kristen Lepore, writes a weekly column on cheap things to do in LA.

Among the highlights: a sand snowman contest in Hermosa Beach, life-sized Hot Wheels in El Segundo and a holiday pop-up at downtown LA's Grand Central Market.

Weekend Preview: 'Home Alone,' Hot Wheels, sand snowmen and CicLAvia

Saving Starry Kitchen's balls

Crispy tofu balls that is. The restaurant business is a brutal one - especially in LA. Overhead is expensive, customers can be fickle, new eateries open all the time, only to fold in a matter of months. And Nguyen Tran, knows this all too well.  For the past five and a half years, he and his wife have operated a highly-rated restaurant called Starry Kitchen. But now they've reached a crucial moment where they've decided to go big... or go home.

They're tired of doing popups around Los Angeles and they want a permanent restaurant space to call their own. So, they're turning to Kickstarter and the community with the hope of raising $700k so that they can launch their own restaurant, and so that they can keep serving their famous crispy tofu balls.

Check out the website SaveOurBalls.Org for more information about how you can help Starry Kitchen survive.

You can also call the hotline at 518-417-Ball.

Nguyen sent over some holiday dessert recipes, which we've included below.

Pandan Chocolate Chip Cookie
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp of pandan extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Line an ungreased cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat. Set aside.

In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in eggs and extracts.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  On low speed, mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Dough will be thick and sticky. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Drop 1 Tbsp balls of dough onto cookie sheet OR used a standard-sized cookie scoop. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  Do NOT cook them longer than 10 minutes.  

Remove and let cool for 3 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Transfer to cooling rack.
 

Pumpkin Panna Cotta with Apple Crumble
Makes about 9-10 of the 4 oz foil ramekins

1 ½ cup of packed pumpkin puree
2 ¾ tsp of gelatin powder
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of whole milk
¾ cup of packed brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Add gelatin powder to ½ cup of cold water and let it bloom

Combine cream, milk, ½ cup of water, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract & pumpkin puree and heat up. Once it gets to 125 F, add the bloomed gelatin.

Oil ramekins and pour liquid in and keep in fridge to set for 4 hours or overnight.

Apple Crumble

1 ½ cup of AP Flour
¾ cup of white sugar
¾ cup of brown sugar, packed
½ tsp salt
½ cold unsalted diced butter
5# of green apples
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp of the freshly squeeze orange juice
2 tbsp of the freshly squeeze lemon juice
½ cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp of ground nutmeg

Directions:  
Preheat oven 350 F

Peel, core & cut apples into cubes.

Combine applies with zest, juices, sugar & spices and pour into a sheet tray line with parchment paper and oil spray.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, & cold butter in a bowl of an electric mixer with fitted paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until mixture is crumbly & butter is size of peas.  Scatter evenly over the apples.

Bake 45-1 hour until top is brown & apples are bubbly.

Reading by Moonlight: 'Earthquakes! Mudslides! Fires! and Riots,' CA portraits, LA's on the map

David Kipen, book critic and founder of lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights, shares his monthly wrap up of California-inspired literary news. This month, great gifts for bibliophiles:

A book that explores The Golden State, not through words, but in graphics."Earthquakes! Mudslides! Fires! and Riots!: California Graphic Design, 1936-1986," by designer Louise Sandhaus. It isn't just a coffee table book -- it's a 'lap' book -- you can't leave it on the coffee table no matter how hard you try.

Another special item is "The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles" that includes real and fictional LA  locations as described by the one of the city's favorite authors in his many books. 

Also, new book of portraits by California artist Don Bachardy who happened to draw Governor Jerry Brown's official portrait.

See Bachardy's portrait of David Kipen above and listen to a panel Kipen moderated with the artist for Zocalo Public Square: