California's wildfires inspire improved emergency alerts, a homeless advocate responds to the cause of the Skirball fire, Democrats plot to win back Congressional seats in Orange County and Palmdale
Westside resident worries LA will blame future wildfires on homeless
L.A. Fire Department investigators say the Skirball fire was sparked by an illegal cooking fire at a homeless encampment along Sepulveda Boulevard. Since breaking out in the hillsides along the 405 last week, it's burned more than 400 acres, destroyed six homes and damaged a dozen others.
The cause of the Skirball fire has some people asking how to prevent similar disasters in their own neighborhoods, where someone may have simply been trying to cook a meal or stay warm.
"For us, it's nothing new to have homeless encampments on the hillsides," says Maryam Zar, who lives near where the fire started and is the founding chair of the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness.
Zar spent time reaching out to homeless people in her own westside community, and she worries how the rest of L.A. might blame the homeless for the Skirball fire, as well as future wildfires.
"It's easy to just say, 'Hey, they're bad, it's their fault,'" she says, "but really, unless we find some solutions, this is just a reality that's not going to make us very happy and it will happen over and over again."
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson on the future of CA emergency alert system
The deadly and destructive wildfires that have burned through California these past few months are putting a hyper focus on our emergency alert systems and how quickly officials can notify people of certain dangers.
California Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson represents District 19, an area that straddles Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. She chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management and has been looking at ways to improve the state's emergency alert system.
Senator Jackson joined Take Two to talk about how the state can improve its alert system for residents in time of crisis.
"There are a variety of emergency warning systems in place," Jackson said. "Most of these warning systems are cellphone based, but we also have systems through social media. In the case of the fire in Sonoma, there were public safety officials going door to door alerting people."
Many of the current cellphone-based systems are not accurate.
"There's an issue of panic, obviously," she said. "On the other hand, better to have too many people alerted than not enough people. The goal here is to save lives."
Going forward, the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management plans to make the alert systems more resilient and more redundant.
"We need more vegetation control and fire proofing around cell towers as well as more non-cell-based, outdoor warning systems," Jackson said.
'Feminism' is Merriam-Webster's word of the year. How do people define it?
Merriam-Webster announced its word of the year on Tuesday. It's "feminism," which the dictionary defines as "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes" or "organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests."
Take Two took to the streets of Pasadena to ask people how they interpret the word.
"I don’t think there should be a difference between men and women in terms of rights or responsibility or opportunity," said Wendy Japhet. "I don’t know that feminism has achieved its goal even remotely, but that’s what I think it strives to achieve. "
Feminism as a movement has a long history of radicalism and demonstrations to further the advancement of women.
"In the '60s, women burned their bras," said Charles Minsky. "That was a big thing. And women tried to come out and say we’re equal. And that was a huge women’s movement."
While that movement captured the attention and imagination of many over the decades, others believe that the phrase is better used as an identifier for inclusivity.
"Feminism is just seen as this one aspect: Going against the grain, being radical," said Alexandra Roth.
Roth has often heard that being a feminist meant, "being free to do whatever you want, but you have to do it this way and not my way. I got married at a young age and I had children at a young age. I chose to stay at home with my kids. I feel like that too is feminism. Feminism should just be another word for acceptance."
Others agree that a more flexible application of the ideals of "feminism" has helped them advance the ideals of women in their own lives.
"I am a hairdresser so sometimes women tell me that they don’t feel empowered or they don’t feel important," said Randy Madden. "I become a feminist because I’m sticking up for the women who don’t have a voice and I’m trying to ... tell them that it’s okay to speak out or be themselves. So I think even a man can be a feminist."
No Moore: Alabama loss could be a warning to SoCal's GOP lawmakers
Alabama's newest Democratic senator, Doug Jones, narrowly defeated Republican Roy Moore Tuesday. Moore has been dogged by accusations of sexual misconduct throughout his campaign. Moore's loss came despite a ringing endorsement from President Trump.
A Democratic victory in Alabama was highly improbable. This might lead some to wonder what else could be possible in 2018 — especially in Southern California, where traditionally Republican pockets, like Orange County, have already shown signs of a shift ahead of what's certain to be a contentious election year.
For more on what Jones' Alabama might or might tell us about Southern California's political future, Take Two spoke to Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CSU Los Angeles
K2 Sports: why the Dodgers are pinching pennies and Kobe Bryant's short film, Dear Basketball.
There's a developing story about the Dodgers, but not about acquiring new players or coaches - rather on money that they're not spending. They're one of the premiere teams in Major League Baseball, and this year's World Series battle with the Houston Astros was one of the most thrilling in recent memory, going all the way to a Game seven.
So why is the front office tightening the team's purse strings? We talked about it with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky. And we asked Andy why the Dodgers may be spending less money this season?
Major league baseball doesn't have a salary cap, but they do have a punitive luxury tax which triggers, with payrolls of $197 million or more - the Dodgers currently project to have a payroll of around $205 million next season, and as five time luxury tax offenders, they have to spend 50% on each dollar spent above the threshold and the penalties will increase when you get beyond barriers of $217 million and then $237 million.
And then we talk ab out Kobe Bryant, he's living a post NBA life very different than most. In 2015, Kobe Bryant announced his retirement through a poem he'd written called "Dear Basketball." But now he's behind a new short film that's basically an animated adaptation of that same poem, narrated by Bryant, scored by John Williams and animated by Glen Keane.
Here he is, narrated the poem in front of a live audience at the Hollywood Bowl.
How an activist fights plastic pollution on a raft made from trash
Marcus Eriksen dreamed of rafting across the Pacific Ocean, but the USC grad and Marine Corps veteran didn't get a fancy boat. He went full-on DIY, making a motorless "raft" out of thousands of plastic bottles he found in junkyards.
After shoving off from Long Beach, he floated west for three death-defying months ... and lived to tell the tale. He also wrote a book about it. It's called "Junk Raft: An Ocean Voyage and A Rising Tide of Activism to Fight Plastic Pollution."
Marcus Eriksen recently joined Take Two host A Martinez to talk about it.
Interview Highlights
Why he made a plastic raft
Fifteen years ago, people thought out in the Pacific, there were these islands of trash out there. The truth is something much different. Plastic pollution is a global issue. It was a smog of small particles. My wife Anna Cummins and I started the 5 Gyres Institute, and we thought our first exhibition should be kind of a public stunt.
What the raft is made of
We called it junk because it really was junk: 15,000 plastic bottles. We went to every junkyard in Southern California. My co-navigator Joel Haskel, a sailor, cut off the masts of broken sailboats. Twenty-six masts made this square deck. We gathered all these old fishing nets and filled them with bottles. For our cabin we went to this cool junk yard in Lancaster and got an old aircraft.
How to navigate without a motor
We had an idea that the current sweep by Los Angeles heading South towards Mexico, those currents are taking trash into the North Pacific. They can take our raft as well. To demonstrate that process, the process of taking all the trash and sweeping in the world's center, we did it on a pile of trash.
What the plastic raft says about waste
Actually, I'm not against plastic. We use it in technologies. Half of the space shuttle is made with plastic. But for single-use throwaway stuff, that's what's nonsensical about it. We take plastic, designed to last forever, and use it once and get rid of it. That process is really trashing our planet, our beaches. It's all about prevention now. We have to stop the source.
The junk raft that endured the wrath of the Pacific will be on display at AltaSea, a scientific collaboration space at the port of Los Angeles.