District attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco are suing the ride-sharing service Uber over consumer safety standards, not enough attention is being paid to shooting incidents by hired security guards and ripple effects continue after Sony hack.
Cities sue Uber over safety standards
It's been a bumpy couple of weeks for Uber and, then, on Tuesday, it hit a pothole. District Attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco filed suit against the car sharing service for its business practices.
Meanwhile, the DA's office has settled a similar suit with another leading car service Lyft, and had hoped to reach the same deal with Uber.
New fed rules make mortgages easier for first-time buyers
This week the government released new plans to make buying a home easier.
Now, under the proposal, first-time buyers could get a mortgage plan with as little as three percent down. That could increase home ownership. At least that's what the government is hoping.
But some worry that it could also increase the chances of defaults if the market takes a downturn.
Here to help us break it all down is Chris Thornberg, principal at Beacon Economics.
International reaction to the C.I.A. interrogation report
Yesterday the Senate Intelligence Committee released a partial report on CIA interrogation methods in the wake of 9-11.
These interrogation methods included water boarding and other harsh physical abuses that did NOT lead to actionable intelligence.
The report also found that C.I.A. officials routinely misled the White House and Congress about the information it obtained, and failed to provide basic oversight of the secret prisons it established around the world.
We'll talk about the international response with
, he's the BBC's Middle East reporter
Armed security guards use force with little training, poor oversight
Security guards are a part of everyday life. They're at the mall, the bank, at airports. Like police, they're supposed to protect people and property, often openly carrying guns.
Unlike the police, firearms can be put into the hands of guards without training or detailed background checks.
The results can be deadly, according to an in-depth look at the security industry by the Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN.
For more, we're joined by reporter Shoshana Walter.
Check out the interactive database from CIR and CNN here: https://apps.cironline.org/hired-guns/
Son campaigns to add the names of the 'Lost 74' sailors to the Vietnam Memorial
During the Vietnam War, the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans was struck by an Australian aircraft carrier during a training exercise in the South China Sea. On that day, June 3rd 1969, 74 American sailors lost their lives when the ship was split in half by the impact.
But their names were never included on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
That may soon change, thanks to a campaign to add the names of those lost to the wall of remembrance.
Tim Wendler, the son of Ronald Thibodeau, one of the sailors lost on the Evans, says, "At first we thought it was a mistake. Originally my grandfather, my father’s father, had visited the wall and had expected to find him there, and had not."
Only later did Wendler discover that his father's name— and the names of the 73 other sailors lost on the Evans— had not been included because of what he considers "a technicality."
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who is leading the effort in Congress to add the names to the memorial, explains that the Defense Department has criteria for who they recommend to be placed on the wall.
"Those criteria draw an artificial line in the water," Schiff says. "Literally a line where they demarcate the combat zone from areas outside the combat zone."
Technically, the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans was not within the combat zone at the time of the crash. But the crew had participated in the conflict just days before the crash and was scheduled to go back to combat and artillery support after the training exercise.
"The fortuity that the accident took place outside that zone," Schiff says, "Shouldn't preclude these 74 brave sailors from having their names included and the families [from] having the solace that comes from being able to memorialize them in that way."
There's now a House-approved provision in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act urging the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Hagel to add the names of the 74 sailors to the memorial. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week.
If the provision is approved, Tim Wendler says, "it would really be a sense of closure that our country has remembered the sacrifice that these men gave for all of us. And it would be an opportunity to go to Washington and remember him in that way.”
Eight years on, New Horizons probe almost at Pluto
Nine years ago, when NASA launched its New Horizons probe... the housing bubble hadn't burst, Tiger Woods was still at the top of his game and Pluto had not yet been officially downgraded to a dwarf planet. Regardless, the little probe is FINALLY about to reach the little rock - and some scientists are very excited.
is the Senior Editor at The Planetary Society and she joins A Martinez in studio to chat.
She's also been writing about the probe over at The Planetary Society's website.
'Sleeping Beauty' on stage like you've never seen it
Think you know the story of Sleeping Beauty?
Think again.
Sure, you may have watched the classic Disney film or seen Angelina Jolie's turn as Maleficent.
But chances are you've never seen the story of Aurora and the redeeming powers of true love's kiss told quite like how it'll be told at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Tonight is opening night for "Sleeping Beauty and Her Winter Knight."
It's done in the style of panto, a musical comedy production popular in the UK for Christmas time.
Alex Cohen talked with playwright Kris Lithgow and star Lucy Lawless of making this overseas tradition into a staple in the US.