Today we start with an update on the Jahi McMath story. Then, a look at how the Sacramento economy is faring at the end of 2013. Then, a review of the year's best music, our regular sports contributors give us a rundown of all the bowl games coming up. Also, we learn some quirky facts about the Rose Bowl and we find out why Glendale is featuring meatball the bear on its Rose Parade Float. Finally, Patt Morrison explains what she won't miss about 2013, plus much more.
Court blocks removal of life support for 13-year-old Jahi McMath
A 13-year-old girl Jahi McMath was declared brain-dead earlier in the month following surgery to remove her tonsils. Jahi was due to be taken off a ventilator last night, but her family was able to stop that from happening.
Now they have another week to try to find a long-term care facility who might take her.
For more on her story we turn to Natalie Alund, who has been covering the story for the Oakland Tribune.
Poor in Sacramento struggle even as economy gains
The end of the year is a good time to take stock of how far you've come over the past 12 months. In places like Sacramento, the local economy has improved. But the poorest of the region's population seem to be faring worse. And many middle-class jobs are vanishing. It's a situation Phillip Reese wrote about for the Sacramento Bee and he joins us to discuss his findings.
Tuesday Reviewsday: The best music of 2013, part 2
In this edition of Tuesday Reviewsday, we're going to take a look back at the best of 2013 with Oliver Wang from Soul-Side.com and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes. If you missed part 1 with critics Chris Martins and Shirley Halperin, you can find that here.
Morgan's Picks:
Best Album: "Sing To The Moon" by Laura Mvula
Best Artist: Valerie June
Best Song: "Our Love Comes Back" from the album "Overgrown" by James Blake
Best Trend: Ladi6 as part of New Zealand Represents
Oliver's Picks:
Best Album: "Sing To The Moon" by Laura Mvula
Best Artist: Pharrell Williams
Best Song: "Royals" from "Pure Heroine" by Lorde
Best Trend: Kendrick Lamar as the cameo king
Sports Roundup: Gearing up for bowl game madness
It's New Year's Eve which also means we're on the eve of a January 1st chock full of college football bowl games. To help sort them all out we turn to Andy and Brian Kamenetsky, who have covered sports for ESPN and the L.A. Times.
When Florida State and Auburn wrap up the BCS championship this coming Monday, we'll have have had 34 bowl games. Who has time to watch all 34? Do we really need that many?
USC already won their bowl game a blowout over Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl, but UCLA is about to kickoff the Sun Bowl vs Virginia Tech. If the Bruins beat the Hokies, they'll join the Trojans by having a 10 win season. What would that mean for the locals?
Tomorrow there will be six bowl games highlighted by the one right down the street from us Stanford vs. Michigan State in the Rose Bowl. This game has been going on for a century but Andy but unless it's for the national championship does it get lost in the 34-bowl game madness?
Now in addition to seeing a lot of Stanford and Michigan State fans around town, there are also oodles of Florida State and Auburn fans. Why are they here as well?
Many love to bet on the bowl games, but it seems as if someone want to get a sure thing all they have to do is go to the Phoenix Zoo? So the tiger picked the Cougars over the Wolverines and has picked the Knights over the Bears. Any chance the striped cat has some kind of prejudice against non-feline animals?
In 2014, we've got the Super Bowl, the Lakers and Clippers, Dodgers and Angels. What are you looking forward to the most next year?
2013 Review: The status of California's prison realignment plan
Prison overcrowding has been a persistent problem in California. In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled the state's prisons couldn't humanely accommodate the number of inmates in the system
To deal with the problem, the state implemented AB109, also known as prison realignment. That controversial policy has been in place for just over two years now. KPCC crime reporter Rina Palta joins the show to talk about where it stands as we head into 2014.
Patt Morrison on what she won't miss about 2013
2013 has been quite a year, with events like the appointment of Pope Francis, Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, the death of Nelson Mandela.
There are plenty of stories that will be hard to forget, and then there are those stories you just can't forget fast enough. Patt Morrison wrote a column for the LA Times about the things she won't miss from 2013.
Morrison joins the show to take us through her list:
Lance Armstrong
Hundreds of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Shark Fin Soup
The Filibuster
Green Paint in the Spring Street Bike Lane
Bob Filner
The Ban on Women in Combat
The Facebook IPO
Proposition 8
Mayor Villaraigosa's Farewell Tour
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Fangirls
Plastic Bags
Good Alec Baldwin
LA's best new restaurants of 2013
Before the year ends, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the best new restaurants to open up in L.A. this year. Host A Martinez talks with Los Angeles magazine's restaurant critic Patric Kuh.
5 of Kuh's Best New Restaurants:
1.) Trois Mec
Mec means "guy" in French, so it's essentially Three Guys. It's Ludovic Lefebvre, who has had a 10-year run being a pop up chef and may have even invented the LA version. John Shook and Vinny Dotolo, the Animal guys. The idea was fairly wild, a takeover of Raffalo's Pizza behind the Unical station on Melrose and Highland.
To call it French is to oversimplify it, because the cooking is sort of open to every kind of cuisine. There may be Korean fermented black walnuts on a dish, there may be bonito flakes on a dish with potatoes. If you thought about it you'd say they can't do it, and yet it's a fantastic experience. You have to buy your ticket in advance.
2.) Bestia
It's a huge warehouse that has been taken over by a restaurant one block over from the LA River. Ori Menashe and his wife Genevieve Gergis and restauranteur Bill Chait, it could have very easily seemed themed. Like, OK, here's a country Italian cooking in a post-industrial setting, and what I'm always looking for is what's a chef trying to communicate through their food, and we're all sort of tired of themed dining.
Ultimately I find the most exciting restaurants communicate something about the individuals behind it and their vision. Yes, it's very masculine, the beef heart tartare sharpened with some champagne vinegar is just fantastic. Then, lots of people just go for a pizza, so its not like, oh my goodness I have to be a foodie and know everything about Italian food before I can appreciate that. It's actually quite approachable.
3.) Bar Ama
Joseph Centeno, he's originally from San Antonio, texas. In LA he's made his reputation with a place called Baco Mercat, but with his second restaurant he's done something very tricky. In a way returned to his roots and that's a nice warm, wonderful thing to do, but in food that doesn't always translate. I'm always a little wary when chefs get nostalgic because I want it to be fantastic, but it isn't always. In this case it is fantastic, it's a vision of tex-mex cuisine through the eyes of a really gifted cook.
4.) Hinoki & the Bird
Hinoki is a type of Japanese wood, it's rare and it's highly respected. David Myers, who is a French-trained chef, it's wonderful to watch because he's relaxed and embraced a kind of izakaya mentality, a type of Japanese pub where you'd find people drinking beers and having a few skewers of grilled meats. This place is very relaxed, the baquetes upholstered in denim, as you know the Japanese have this kind of fascination with American denim, great Japanese scotches and great beers on tap. It shows a real evolution.
5.) Bucato
This is a place in the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City. It's again this idea of the chef has to really pull it off. He makes the most pure version of pasta without even using a roller machine. He mixes it by hand and he won't even roll it with the machines that 99 our of 100 restaurants use. Everything has to be rolled by hand, cut by hand, he's a real purist, Evan Funke.
Rose Bowl at 100: Quirky things you didn't know, plus archival photos
Tomorrow in Pasadena, Michigan State and Stanford face off in the 100th Rose Bowl.
There are 35 college football bowl games this season, but in 1902, the Rose Bowl was the first. The second Rose Bowl didn't happen until more than a decade later. That's only one of the many quirks and highlights in the game's storied history. Reporter Doug Tribou has more.
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Doug Tribou is a reporter for NPR’s sport show "Only A Game."
Do you have a particular Rose Bowl or Rose Parade memory? Share it with us in the comments below or on KPCC's Facebook page. And post a photo there as well!
Rose Parade 2014: Why Glendale's float features Meatball, and where he is now
Remember Meatball the bear? He's the 400-pound black bear that gained fame last year after repeatedly raiding trash cans around Glendale. Well, tomorrow he's being honored in Glendale's float in the Rose Parade.
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KPCC's Jed Kim wondered what the real Meatball will be doing while his likeness is paraded down Colorado Boulevard.