Today on the show, we'll hear about the soil contamination problems plaguing the Jordan Downs housing project. Then, with the new year approaching, we'll get some tax tips from a local CPA. Plus, Beejoli Shah takes us inside Hollywood's diversity hire program, we'll check in with 'Dreamer' Lisbeth Mateo, Tim Hernandez talks about his new book, "Mañana Means Heaven," plus much more.
Jordan Downs housing plan marred by contaminated soil problems
An ambitious redevelopment project in Watts has locals concerned about the environment. The billion dollar project by the L.A. city housing authority would transform the Jordan Downs housing project into an urban village.
The problem is that the soil is contaminated with lead, arsenic, and other industrial chemicals. Community activists say the city's plan to clean it up doesn't go far enough.
Joining us now is one of those activists, Pete White. He's a co-founder of the LA Community Action Network.
Tax Tips: Getting your books in order for the new year
It's almost the end of the calendar year, and after opening all those holidays gifts this season you're probably up today wondering, "What can I do before the end of the year to plan for my taxes?"
OK, so maybe you're not asking that quite yet. That's why we called in our expert to worry about that for you. Selwyn Gerber is a Certified Public Accountant in Century City and he joins us now for some end-of-the-year tax tips.
Check out a list of Gerber's tax planning tips here.
Paisanos returning home checked before leaving US
All across the U.S.-Mexico border, tens of thousands of Mexicans are returning home for Christmas as they do every year. Fronteras correspondent Lorne Matalon traveled to the Presidio border crossing in west Texas and found long delays made longer by security checks before the cars even crossed the border.
2013 Review: 'Dreamer 9' activist Lizbeth Mateo looks back
As we take a look back at 2013, the debate over immigration policy stands out as one of the most contested.
One of the most dramatic events in the immigration debate took place in July, when nine undocumented activists met at the port of entry at Nogales, Arizona at the US-Mexico border.
They were detained and taken to the Eloy Detention Center, and became known as the Dreamer 9. One of those youths, Lizbeth Mateo of Los Angeles, joins the show to talk about that experience and where she is now.
How the hippo almost became the answer to famine in the US
Once upon a time, about 100 years ago, a group of men put forth the idea of ranching hippos on the Gulf Coast. Host Alex Cohen speaks with Jon Mooallem about this bizarre moment in history, which he wrote about in his latest story, "American Hippopotamus."
Inside Hollywood's 'diversity hire' program for TV writers
The Writers Guild did a study earlier this year, confirming that the majority of writers in Hollywood are white men. Studios have tried to address this by hiring "diversity staff writers."
Beejoli Shah recently wrote about her own experience with the world of diversity staff positions for Defamer.com, a site that is part of Gawker Media.
'Mañana Means Heaven' tells the story of Kerouac's mysterious lover
In Jack Kerouac's classic novel, "On The Road", he writes about an affair he has with a young woman named Terry, also known as "the Mexican girl."
The two have a brief, 15-page affair which begins in a bus station in central California and ends when Kerouac returns to the East Coast. Not much was known about this woman, until poet Tim Z Hernandez started looking into it.
He spent two years trying to learn more about this woman. His imagined account of what might have happened between the Mexican girl and a young Jack Kerouac is the basis of his new novel called "Mañana Means Heaven."
Excerpt from "Mañana Means Heaven" by Tim Z Hernandez
Wednesday, October 22, 1947
The workers couldn’t stop talking about it. Especially that whole first day after it happened. According to the paper, a “wetback” was found strung up in a sycamore tree near Raisin City. From his neck dangled a cardboard sign: PARASITE
The Fresno County Coroner confirmed that because nowhere on the body were there bruises or scrapes the only logical explanation was suicide. A common occurrence among braceros. Naturally. They missed their families back home. Depression was inevitable. Fear was constant. The food too bland. A bottle of whiskey was found half emptied nearby. And for Xixto María Martínez, all the signs were there. On this very day his contract was up. As for the brief poem found on his person, the paper offered no explanation, except to say: Mr. Martínez had a way with words. It was imminent now. Xixto dying the way he died was only a suggestion.
The workers knew this, and thought hard about it as they bent over their vines that morning in a solemn daze. The fields were gray with dew, and each grape wore a thin veil of film so that its sheen was hidden. So quiet were the rows and the shuffling of feet that swallowtails perched themselves on the branches of the vines and plucked the smaller tart grapes at will. And as if things weren’t bad enough, a cold snap was creeping in over Devil’s Ridge from the north and settling down into the valley, sure to cripple whatever bits of fruit were still unharvested.
That morning, Bea’s hands moved faster than anybody else’s. Box after box was filled and carted off to be weighed and counted, and within seconds she was right back where she’d left off, on the very same tendril, making sure the job was done right and that every last grape was accounted for. She passed other workers as if they were standing still, and for the most part they were. It seemed everyone was busy scratching their heads, worried whether today was the day it would all go down.
They eyed Jack suspiciously, wondering if the rumors were true. A lechuza they called him. A white owl in their midst. For the most part he got good at ignoring their accusatory glares. But off and on he’d feel something, a pebble, smash against his neck. He shrugged it off and kept his hands moving. Meanwhile, Bea kept saying the words, New York, in her mind. And while her feet were sunk firm in the wet soil, the rest of her may as well have been in a subway, barreling down the spine of Manhattan, a purse slung over her shoulder and both kids clinging to her arms. She thought about what her brother had said. “Five days,” she mumbled to herself, “just five more little days.” She passed the time picturing their new life, imagining the big smell of New York City, and watching the kids monkey around the playground of some brick schoolyard tucked between high-rise buildings. She lifted another box of grapes and hauled them off to be counted.
Meanwhile, Jack trailed one row back, cutting away viciously with his curved knife all the knots and tendrils that cradled the grapes deep in their clutches. His gaze was stern and removed, and his pink face glowed in the cold. Little Albert nipped at his heels, raking out whatever clusters went overlooked and plopping them down into Jack’s box like the handy assistant that he was. Each time he did this he looked to Jack for approval, or a smile, anything to erase the worrisome look on his face. Jack watched the way the boy handled his knife and shot around the whole field effortlessly, offering a hand here and there, calling out to the other workers in Spanish, whistling the whole way. He was a little man doing big man’s work, and Jack had taken notice that the fields had an army of these little men workers, boys, whose small hands were crucial to the whole operation. Every last one of them wore a defeated mask. And if you looked at them from a distance, he reasoned, you’d think they were full-grown men by the way they stood, hips squared and shoulders back. The only way you could tell the boys apart from the adults was at lunchtime, when they’d all gather around a hole in the dirt to shoot marbles.
Jack observed this and shook his head, remembering a line from one of the great scribes of this territory, William Saroyan, who said it best about such children of the valley: I was a little afraid of him; not the boy himself, but of what he seemed to be, the victim of the world.
2013 Review: Our State Of Affairs regulars list the year's top political stories
It's Thursday and that means it's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California. This week we have a very special treat for you, our State of Affairs Year-in-Review edition.
Before he left on vacation, A Martinez and I sat down with KPCC political reporters Alice Walton and Frank Stoltze, as we do almost every week, to review 2013's most interesting political stories in the region.
Mexico's cookie-cutter suburban housing model not working
Rising salaries and government aid turned millions of Mexicans into homeowners. That, in turn, has created more suburbs.
But now, many of those neighborhoods are falling into disrepair, and people are leaving. There are about 600,000 abandoned homes across Mexico, 50,000 just across the border in Tijuana.
From the Fronteras Desk, Jill Replogle explores why Mexicans are fleeing the suburbs.
Latino media hits major milestones in 2013
2013 has been a big year in Latino media.
In July, Spanish-Language TV network Univision hit a ratings milestone, topping NBC, ABC and FOX in the number of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. It's also the year media executives began targeting Latino audiences with more programming in English.
KPCC's business reporter Brian Watt joins us to talk about all this.
Death Valley's Badwater 135 race put on hold due to safety concerns
Looking to run off those extra holiday calories?
How about a foot race? A nice long one, say, 135 miles through Death Valley.
Unfortunately, you'll be running it all by yourself. The official race, known as the Badwater 135, sent runners from Badwater Basin to near the top of Mount Whitney.
It's now been postponed indefinitely, along with most other foot and cycling races in Death Valley National Park. For more on why, we're joined by our in-house marathon expert, KPCC's Sharon McNary.
2013 Review: Looking back at the year in sports
For a look back at the year in sports we're joined by by Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered sports for ESPN and Los Angeles Times.
The Boston Marathon bombing was a crossover from sports to what some might call real life. It was one of those moments that just cried out for why. Marathon day in Boston is like the happiest day of the year there.
Red Sox win the World Series in a year that was supposed to be about rebuilding, and also on the heels of the Boson Marathon bombing. When the Sox first played at Fenway after that incident, David Ortiz addressed the crowd pre-game and said "This is our f***ing city!," a moment that was considered a rally cry for Boston.
Big social change that made headlines far outside the sports world. Journeyman NBA big man Jason Collins comes out as gay, making him the first to do so as an active member of the big four American sports. As of now, he's yet to get a contract offer, but that could be just as much a matter of his age and limited skill set as anything to do with either homophobia or concerns about locker room culture. Either way, it was a big event, and he received a lot of public support from big names (Kobe, LeBron, Kevin Durant, etc.)
Kobe blows out his Achilles to cap the season from hell for the Lakers. His effectiveness moving forward in the twilight of his career remain in question (which in turn creates question marks about the Lakers), but that didn't stop the team from giving him a $48.5 million extension last November, essentially sight unseen. He's since fractured his knee cap.
Speaking of the Lakers, Dwight Howard did what was considered the unthinkable last summer, which was leave the Lakers to play in a smaller market for less money. The circumstances and specifics make the decision completely reasonable for Dwight, but it's nonetheless pretty unheard of in the organization's history. Along similar lines, the Yankees let a high end player and career Yankee (Robinson Cano) leave for the Mariners over money. Granted, it was absolutely the right decision, but nonetheless pretty eyeopening for this franchise. Are we seeing a shift in culture for two of the biggest brands in sports?
We can't talk about LA sports without referring to Puig-Mania. The Dodgers have a rookie for the ages and his call up coincides with the team turning around their season and finally playing like the All-Star, high salaried team they are, despite often competing without some of the key names. They eventually win the NL West and make it to the NLCS before losing to the Cardinals.
The Lane Kiffin era ends at USC, with Steve Sarkisian (ironically, a very close friend of Kiffin's) tapped to replace him, despite what many felt was momentum building for popular interim head coach and longtime 'SC fixture Ed Orgeron.
Jonathan Martin-Richie Incognito mess, and the Riley Cooper incident with the Eagles. The former deals with bullying in the NFL (and sports in general) and both (along with a Tweeting incident with Matt Barnes of the Clippers) deals with the N-Word, its presence in locker room culture, who can get away with using it, who can't. Should anybody use it at all?
Rutgers, with basketball coach Mike Rice who was dismissed after video of him verbally and physically abusing players surfaced. So that turned out to be a theme on both the collegiate and pro levels.
Drugs never far from any discussion of sports. The Biogenesis scandal and A-Rod, which has created a mess still going on as we speak. Also Lance Armstrong finally admits.
The Heat go back to back to defend their title. If there are any criticisms left about LeBron at this point, they can officially be described as "petty."
Aaron Hernandez arraigned on murder charges.
Mariano Rivera retires after a legendary career entirely with the Yankees.
The Ravens win the Super Bowl, capping a game where the lights went out, brothers John and Jim Harbaugh coached against each other and quarterback Joe Flacco enjoyed a huge postseason after refusing Baltimore's original contract extension offer. He opted instead to bet on himself, and came up huge, landing a much pricier deal. Also, first ballot Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis retired after this game, a fantastic end for the career-Raven.
Johnny Manziel, and how his offseason drama and NCAA issues became the flashpoint for a discussion about college athletes getting paid, and the increasingly pro-attitudes towards compensation.
PBS's League of Denial documentary comes out, but not before ESPN, who'd been a partner in its creation, formally distances itself from the project. It's widely reported as a reaction to pressure from the NFL.