Looking ahead on how Measure M will roll out in 2017 and beyond, your guide to hiking in LA, the social and medical impact of the 'Asian glow' reaction to alcohol.
Reuters: Lead poisoning in thousands of U.S. cities worse than Flint
Flint, Michigan has been without clean water for more than two years.
Cost-cutting measures there led to tainted drinking water that contained lead and other toxins.
But Flint isn't the only town with a lead problem.
The news agency Reuters has discovered that nearly 3,000 areas, including some here in California, have recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those found in Flint.
Reuters data journalist Michael Pell spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen for more.
We found kids in states across the country that had high lead levels. They were in places that you might expect or think about when you think about lead like Cleveland and Baltimore and Philadelphia. But when we took a look at the data on a granular level, even people that work with this problem said, 'Mike we knew that Cleveland had a problem with elevated lead problems in kids, but I didn't realize exactly where it was. And we didn't know how bad it was throughout the state.'"
Are these isolated incidents?
These weren't isolated incidents. What were looking at was the percentage of kids who were tested who had higher lead levels. In some neighborhoods, they were as many 40 percent, or nearly half, the kids tested. We looked at a community in Missouri called St. Joseph and these are communities where one out of every five kids tested had high lead levels.
On the locations in California that have this problem
If you look at the zip code for Fruitvale [in Oakland]... That's 7.5 percent of the kids tested had high lead levels. The data that we got from California was limited. But still what you see is a significant number of kids testing high. It would be nice have data for all of California zip codes. That way we could see precisely what's going on in all neighborhoods.
Answers have been edited for clarity
Audio coming soon
New Rose Parade hosts 'echo success' of predecessors
It's almost that time to watch colorful ornate floral floats make their way along that five and a half mile stretch of Pasadena's Colorado boulevard.
The Rose Parade rolls on Monday... yes, that's January 2nd, not the first. There's a long standing tradition not to hold the parade on a Sunday.
Along with the usual floats, this year's parade will also feature marching bands and equestrian units.
The theme for 2017 is "Echoes of Success."
Hoping to echo the success of their predecessors this year will be two new hosts: Leeza Gibbons and Mark Steines.
They're replacing iconic anchors Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards who've hosted the parade since 1979 and 1982, respectively.
Leeza and Mark joined A Martinez and Alex Cohen in studio for more on how they've prepared, some words of wisdom from the the hosts of Take Two and Leeza detailed what the theme of the parade means to her:
"Echoes of success is really a beautiful theme because it's about the band moms and dads, it's about that teacher who inspired you, it's about that person that said no to you who made you better, it's about the boss that first took a chance on you and I think that's what's cool about the Rose Parade is that it's communities coming together, hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteers who painstakingly put little seeds of grains on every float because they care about pride and they care about showcasing something beautiful and celebrating that we're communities who take care of each other. I think that's really glorious thing– it's TV comfort food."
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
To hear Alex and A's chat with Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards, click here.
The disturbing uptick in child abuse cases within military families
The military is struggling to address the issue of child abuse.
That's the finding of a recent investigation conducted by the L.A. Times.
Previously unreleased reports by the Army, Navy and Air Force reveal numerous cases where military officials knew or suspected child abuse or neglect was happening — but failed to properly respond.
For more on this Alex Cohen spoke with Times' reporter David Cloud, who wrote about this issue.
Cloud spoke about his investigations findings, the programs working to prevent these types of cases and how the military has responded:
"In the military the priority is always on the soldier or the airmen or the sailor, it's not necessarily on the family. As much as as the military likes to portray itself as a family and needs the support of families because it's an all volunteer force, their focus is really on preparing service members to go to combat. So, if service members have health problems, if they have mental problems, if they have a whole array of problems...they get treatment. The questions really becomes whether the military is making it a priority enough to look after the families at the same time they're looking after the service members."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Did you know LA has some of the country's best urban hikes?
Los Angeles may be best known for Hollywood, but the real star of Southern California are the hiking trails.
"L.A., more than any other city I think, is shaped by, surrounded by and bisected by its wilderness," says Casey Schreiner of Modern Hiker and author of the new book, "Day Hiking: Los Angeles."
In Griffith Park, alone, is a network of trails 53 miles long all within city limits – a feat few American cities can match. But then there are also trails to find along mountainsides, overlooking the beach, snaking through the desert and more.
Hiking is actually a key piece of L.A.'s history.
"At one point, it was the reason that people came to L.A." says Schreiner.
Called the Great Hiking Era, it spanned between the late 1800s through the early 1900s.
People from all over the world traveled to Southern California to stay at wilderness resorts like Sturtevant Camp in Santa Anita Canyon, which still exists today.
They could trek through the landscape on trails created over centuries by a combination of Native American tribes and migrating wild animals.
It's surprising to some who only think of L.A. as a dense city with a history of glitz and grime.
"Hiking is not necessarily broadcast as a selling point of the city of Los Angeles," says Schreiner. But it is a way of life, here (and a great way to see celebrities at places like Runyon Canyon!).
It's also very accessible to all levels of hikers compared to other regions.
"People who move here from parts of the country that have a very strong hiking tradition, like the Pacific Northwest, don't see anything that looks what they're used to hiking," he says. "What's great about L.A. is that the hiking here is open to casual, beginning hikers."
So, no, $6,000 worth of gear isn't required. In many cases, sneakers and gym shorts will do.
And he believes that L.A. is on the verge of another great hiking era.
"The people who are hiking here are very diverse and extremely varied," says Schreiner, "and people in L.A. are finally waking up to the idea that L.A. is an amazing outdoor city."
"Day Hiking Los Angeles" is now available in stores and online.
Casey's recommendations for hikes in Los Angeles
For beginners
The Puente and Chino Hills in San Gabriel Valley
The trails are 4 to 5 miles, each, and are rated easy to moderate.
"You don't want to go there during the summer because it gets totally baked and fried by the sun," he says, "but during the winter and spring, it has some of the best views in the whole of L.A. County."
For intermediate hikers
Sandstone Peak in the Santa Monica Mountains
This is a 6-mile trail that loops around the tallest mountain in the range, and it's good anytime of the year.
"This is my favorite hike in the L.A. region.," he says.
You'll be able to see everything great about Southern California's landscape: rock formations for climbers, Channel Islands in the Pacific, oaky woodlands and more.
For expert hikers
Twin Peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains
"It's sort of known as one of the toughest, most remote hikes in the San Gabriels," he says.
Half of it is off-trail, and the elevation gain can be brutal.
"That is a leg-buster that will have you walking funny at the office the next day," says Schreiner.
Things to know if you get the 'Asian glow' this New Year's Eve
This New Year’s Eve, you may want to put on your best, leave Netflix behind and ring-in 2017 with a drink or two.
But for many Asians, that last one may require some planning so you don’t become too flushed after a few cocktails.
If you aren’t familiar with the term, “Asian glow” or “Asian flush,” you’d probably know it if you saw it.
I recently went to a bar with my friend, Michelle Tran. We're both Vietnamese-American and after just half a beer, we both get the “glow.” Not a subtle pinkness of the cheeks that some people get after a few drinks. Both of our entire bodies are bright red. I even get itchy and swollen.
The bar is dark, the music is loud and we sit in a corner, where it’s hard to tell if we’re “glowing.” Tran recalls the first time she felt it.
“I was very young, an 18-year-old in college doing the whole dorm life, and we had a cheap bottle of Kirkland vodka. After that second shot, my friend said, ‘Michelle, you’re really red. You look like a raspberry.’”
And it happens to about 25 to 35 percent of people of East Asian descent. Hence the term, “Asian glow.” Typically, all it takes is one drink.
So why does this happen? Daryl Davies is the director of the Alcohol and Brain Research Laboratory at the University of Southern California. He says “Asian glow” may have occurred centuries ago in China and is the result of a genetic mutation affecting a stomach enzyme.
DARYL DAVIES: So an individual drinks alcohol. That’s converted to acetaldehyde…a very toxic compound. The ‘Asian flush’ is due to a buildup of acetaldehyde because we don’t have the key enzyme, the tool that most people have to rapidly metabolize acetaldehyde, [which clears] it from the body.
This mutation doesn’t just impact how you look. Davies says it can lead to other side effects like nausea and heart palpitations.
And Asians aren’t the only ones who get the “glow,” some Ashkenazi Jews are known to have it too. It can happen to anyone who lacks the kind of enzyme activity that breaks down alcohol.
People go to all kinds of lengths to avoid the glow. Michelle Tran has her own recipe.
“I take Claritin D-12 and then a Zantac [about] 30 minutes before I go out. So that’s been my concoction for the past few years.”
If you look online, there are forums and videos dedicated to “Asian glow” and cocktails to fight that redness.
But is it safe to take these “remedies”?
For people with the “glow,” Daryl Davies from USC says, not really. Remember acetaldehyde, that toxic chemical in alcohol…
“Acetaldehyde will continue to be at high levels in your body and it will take a long, long time for it to be metabolized. You have about a ten-fold increase in esophageal cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancers, etc.,” Davies explains.
While some people who have this reaction to alcohol may not know the risks of drinking, redness is a clear sign that a beer or cocktail may not be the best thing for you.
BUT, it’s the holidays, and explaining that you have an enzyme deficiency isn’t the most exciting small talk. However, turning red could be a topic of conversation.
Oliver Wang is a regular on Take Two’s “Tuesday Reviewsday,” and an associate professor of sociology at Cal State Long Beach specializing in race, ethnicity and pop culture. For him, hearing lighthearted comments about “Asian glow” isn’t a big deal, but it can set you apart.
OLIVER WANG: It would be the cause for some jovial joking if you will. But it never felt mean spirited per se. You would feel self-conscious about it simply because there’d be a lot of people who didn’t have it. And if you were the only Asian person in the mix, then you would stand out because your face looked like you were heavily sunburned.
Davies says that if you have the “glow” and do choose to drink, as with all things, moderation is key.
“The more you hydrate the better…[that’s] spacing out the alcohol, so you’re still socially there, but you’re spreading out the time between drinks.”
In other words, if it’s wine o’clock, that’s O.K. once in awhile, even if it makes you blush.