Today, we'll talk about a new report that looks at what factors lead to the Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash. Then, A new Pew study says the gender pay gap is falling and that minority women aspire to reach top jobs, MS-13 gang members arrested for meth trade, KPCC's Deepa Fernandes looks at what it's like to be pregnant in prison, plus much more.
Asiana Crash Report: How cultural differences impact leadership practices
Documents were released yesterday by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash at San Francisco International Airport in July.
The report points to two factors that caused the crash: inexperience and Korean culture. The captain flying the plane said that he and the other pilots found it difficult to speak up because of the presence of an instructor pilot he perceived as in charge. He also stated that he was blinded on the runway but would not put on sunglasses because it was perceived to be culturally rude.
But is it really as simple as a difference in cultural practice when it comes to leadership? And how can companies ensure that they are approaching leadership and communication in a global way?
Barry Posner, professor at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, joins the show with more.
Pew Study: Pay gap is closing, minority women aspire to reach top jobs
There's good news for women in the workplace. A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the pay gap is closing between men and women, especially for millennials.
But one specific stat in this research caught our eye. Out of all women, about half of blacks and Latinas say they wanted to be the boss. Meanwhile only 29 percent of white women said the same thing.
Kim Parker, associate director of the Social & Demographic Trends Project at the Pew Research Center, joins the show to explain these results.
FBI arrests MS-13 members for alleged drug trafficking, extortion
On Tuesday, federal authorities announced the arrest of 19 suspects associated with the Mara Salvatrucha-13, or MS-13, the street gang that has roots both in Los Angeles and El Salvador.
The FBI says the arrests are the result of a two-year investigation and included collaboration among ICE, the IRS and Los Angeles police. Suspects are charged with crimes related to methamphetamine distribution throughout the city, including in MacArthur and Lafayette Parks.
For more, we're joined by Robert Clark, FBI assistant special agent in charge of the violent gang task force for the Bureau's Los Angeles office.
Pregnant in Prison: Should newborns live with their incarcerated mothers?
More than 200 inmates gave birth while incarcerated in California’s prison system in 2011 and 2012, according to the most recent data available. Most were back in shackles two days later with their infants off to live with relatives or foster parents.
Prison policy is to transport laboring inmates to a nearby hospital to deliver. The births cost taxpayers between $6,500 for a normal delivery to about $14,000 for a Caesarean section with complications. If labor is so advanced there’s no time to wait, the ward is equipped to deal with the birth of a child, according to Felix Figueroa, a lieutenant officer at the prison.
Pregnant women in prison have posed a thorny question for guards and rights advocates for decades: How do you balance what’s best for the community with what’s best for the babies born to incarcerated felons?
KPCC’s Deepa Fernandes and photographer Mae Ryan visited pregnant women and new mothers housed at two very different prison facilities. For the full story with photos and additional audio, click here.
Let's chat: You can also ask Fernandes questions on Twitter noon Friday, Dec. 13 using the hastag #taketwo. Follow @KPCC and @DeepaKPCC to tune in — we'll also be curating the conversation below.
#TakeTwo Twitter chat with @DeepaKPCC
SoCal high school students make doc to commemorate Sandy Hook
One year ago this weekend, 20 students and six staff members were shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Newtown is thousands of miles away from southern California, but the events of that day hit hard with the students at High Tech High in Chula Vista. A group of 45 students there are holding a Kickstarter campaign to film a documentary about gun violence. They have already raised more than $27,000.
"This project is about empowering kids to voice their opinions," says junior Carlo Gomez. "It's not about adults solving problems. We're trying to go out to places and hear opinions from other kids that don't usually have a voice in such a big topic."
The original goal of $18,000 will go towards basic filmmaking equipment, and Gomez says extra funds will be used to send groups of students to places where gun violence exists, like Chicago, Detroit, and Newtown, Connecticut, itself.
"We are not focusing on gun rights or gun control," Gomez says, "We're trying to find problems that relate to gun violence, so if it has to do with will power or have to do with funding our mental hospitals more."
The students' Kickstarter campaign ends this Saturday, the one year anniversary of the shootings at Newtown. The hope is that their documentary will be finished by the end of the school year or into the start of the next, making this a long-term and personal project for this class.
LA exhibit mixes kids and guns as shock advocacy
Los Angeles fine art photographer Greg Cohen has taken photos ranging from Buddhist monks in Laos, to portraits of dogs lapping at the wind as they ride in their owners' cars. In his latest series, which opens at an LA gallery Thursday, Cohen deals with his heaviest topic to date: violence.
KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports.
'Into the Wild' pilgrims try to conquer Alaska's wilderness
It's been 20 years since the world first read the story of Christopher McCandless, the protagonist of Jon Krakauer's book, “Into the Wild.”
He perished while on a solo journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Now, scores of imitators follow in his footsteps each year, despite the obvious dangers.
Take Two talks to writer Eva Holland, who profiles these so-called McCandless "pilgrims."
State of Affairs: LA Sheriff Lee Baca, Hollywood rezoning and more
It's Thursday and that means it's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California with KPCC political reporter Alice Walton and politics editor Oscar Garza.
We start with a story we’ve been talking about all week: the turmoil at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Eighteen current and former sheriff’s deputies were indicted by federal authorities for allegedly abusing jail inmates. These arrests come as Sheriff Lee Baca is looking to run for a fifth term of office.
But Sheriff Lee Baca hasn’t officially declared his candidacy. Similarly, Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t filed his paperwork, even though he’s been raising money and is widely considered the leading candidate for the 2014 race.
Speaking of elections, the Daily News had a tip this week that Mayor Eric Garcetti’s chief of staff, Ana Guerrero, may run for the Los Angeles City Council. It is extremely rare that an incumbent council member is voted out of office so What are her chances?
The Los Angeles City Council approved a $5.9 million settlement this week for LAPD officers who said they were given ticket quotas, which are illegal. What kind of damage do settlements and stories like this do to the LAPD?
A judge Thursday dealt a major blow to the city of L.A. by declaring its Hollywood rezoning plan "fatally flawed." The judge found the city failed to comply with the state’s environmental laws when it approved the Hollywood Community Plan. What does this mean for development in that part of town?
Earlier this week a jury found former Bell city official Angela Spaccia guilty of 11 felonies, including misappropriation of public funds. Is this something of closure for the city of Bell? How are city leaders there trying to move forward?
Another woman came forward this week to accuse former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment. What do we know about this claim?
California’s northernmost counties want to break away from the state but a new Field Poll finds that’s not picking up a lot of support from the state’s other residents. Are we all just going to remain one big happy family for now?
Update: Annenberg Foundation buys Hopi masks from French auction house, returns to tribe
UPDATE Dec. 12:
The Hopi tribe had argued these ceremonial masks were sacred and should be returned to the tribe, not left to a French auction house to sell. A judge ruled private collectors could buy the ceremonial items, and the Annenberg Foundation paid more than a $500,000 24 of the masks.
In a surprising twist, the Foundation will be returning the auction items to the tribe. The Fronteras Desk's Laurel Morales has been following the story and joins the show with more.
UPDATE: Judge approves sale of Hopi sacred items
The question "What is Art?" can have an open-ended answer. But what if that art is a really important part of your own culture?
In France, a judge will decide on Friday whether 32 Hopi artifacts can go up for sale at an art auction. However, the Hopi tribe say those objects contain the spirits of their ancestors, and selling them as commercial art is illegal.
Laurel Morales is a reporter for Fronteras based in Flagstaff, and she explains the details of the case and whether this case may end different than a similar suit earlier this year.
Strange airborne yeast threatens human health in US and Canada
Canadian scientists were baffled when in 2001, dead porpoises began washing up on the southeastern shore of Vancouver Island. Autopsies of the animals revealed their lungs were packed with flower-like tumors that left barely enough room for air.
Soon cats and dogs on the island started having trouble breathing, and people began coming to doctors with strange symptoms. They coughed constantly, had headaches and night sweats. X-rays showed lung and brain nodules, but the culprit wasn't cancer. When doctors biopsied the tissue, they discovered an alien strain of yeast.
Cryptococcus gattii as it was named, was once limited to the tropics and sub-tropics, but it suddenly jumped ship around 2000 and started appearing in a new and deadly form. Since then it's spread to mainland British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, and it shows no sign of stopping.
For more on this outbreak, we're joined by Jennifer Frazer, a freelance writer and blogger for Scientific American and the author of a piece about the fungus in this month's issue of the magazine.
SoCal water agencies press ambitious plan to remake Sacramento Delta
The state begins taking public comments tomorrow on plans for its most ambitious water project ever. The California Department of Water Resources wants to restore the ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, while replumbing how Southern California gets much of its water.
KPCC's Molly Peterson says ratepayers here could foot much of the project's $25-billion tab.
You Snooze You Lose: The trouble with modern sleep habits
Every morning, many of us hear our alarm clock blaring and hit the snooze button for that extra five minutes of rest. It never seems like enough, and there's a reason for that.
The New Yorker's Maria Konnikova wrote about how some of our habits surrounding sleep affect us during the day, and she joins the show to discuss.
Dinner Party Download: Facebook's 'sympathize' button, rude customers and more
Every week we get your weekend conversation starters with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party Download podcast and radio show.
Facebook is considering a 'sympathize' button
Ever see a friend post some bad news on Facebook? It's always awkward to 'like' depressing posts, and engineers at Facebook know this. That's why they have developed a 'sympathize' button to avoid 'liking' bad news. Although the button has been developed, the social network giant is holding off in releasing the alternative to the "Like" button.
Expensive coffee for rude customers
The Petite Syrah café in Nice has implemented a payment policy where customers will pay more for a cup of joe if they are impolite. Just asking for a cup of coffee will run you €7 ($9.65) , add a "please" and the price drops to €4.25 ($5.85), add a "hello and a please" and your coffee will only cost €1.40 ($1.95). Looks like it pays off to be polite.
History: 'Missing link' between man and ape a hoax
In 1912, English fossil collector Charles Dawson claimed to have found evidence of the ‘missing link’ between apes and humans — people called it “Piltdown Man.” This week in 1953, news broke that the only thing “missing” from Dawson’s discovery was a single grain of truth. It’s a historic hoax, about prehistoric man.