We'll update you on the latest on the Christopher Dorner incident. Plus, we'll pick apart President Obama's State of the Union address and take a look at how Marco Rubio's bilingual speech marks GOP's new effort to reach out to Latinos. Then, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg donates $1 million to LA school board election, why Sriracha is so popular among Americans and much more.
The latest on the Christopher Dorner incident in Big Bear
Yesterday authorities cornered a man they believed to be Chris Dorner, the ex-LAPD officer accused of murder. A dramatic firefight ensued and the cabin that the suspect was hiding in caught fire. It is believed that Dorner died in the cabin.
We’ll get the latest news from KPCC’s Ben Bergman and Frank Stoltze.
Rubio's SOTU speech marks GOP effort to reach out to Latinos
President Obama covered a lot of ground in his State of the Union speech last night, from cyber security, to early childhood education and gun control. But Marco Rubio was the Republican star of the show at last night's speech, and not just for taking a sip of water.
The young Senator from Florida delivered the first Republican response to the speech that was broadcast in a second language. The Spanish broadcast is part of a wider GOP plan to reach out to Latinos. A new spanish language Twitter feed, "GOP en Espanol" also made its debut during last night.
Here to tells us more is Republican political consultant Mike Madrid.
Adventurers and thrill seekers face health-insurance conundrum
Base jumping is the ultimate thrill-seeker's sport. Not just anyone has the courage to leap off a cliff with only a parachute to prevent a sudden death. But many of these adventurers — including rock climbers, and other extreme athletes — may be jumping without a "figurative"parachute: health insurance.
Insurance companies charge a lot in premiums if you're tempting death on a regular basis, and some refuse to even offer coverage.
Enter the Affordable Care Act. As of next year, everyone is required to have insurance or face a tax penalty. So these athletes are deciding whether to shell out tons of money for insurance that may not even pay off, or opt out and pay the fine?
James Mills writes about this for National Geographic.
In 'I, Rhoda,' actress Valerie Harper traces her iconic role and career
She's Rhoda. She will always and forever be Rhoda. Her gravestone will say Rhoda.
Ok, that will probably say Valerie Harper, but to millions of Americans she is and will remain Rhoda Morgenstern, BFF to Mary Tyler Moore's Mary Richards on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and star of the eponymous spinoff "Rhoda."
Plenty of stars would take pains to point out that they've done other work! Valerie Harper has, but she clearly understands what the iconic role meant to her career and her fans.
Harper joins the show to talk about her new memoir "I, Rhoda."
EVENTS: Valerie Harper is appearing at the Grove on Wednesday, Feb 13 and at Vroman's in Pasadena on Saturday, Feb 16.
Space News: Asteroid 2012 DA14 to pass by Earth, Mars Curiosity update
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you some moderately terrifying news from space. On Friday, a 150-foot wide asteroid known as 2012 DA14 will buzz by Earth.
We're pretty likely to survive the encounter, but just to be sure, we asked Adam Steltzner to calm our fears. He's an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he most recently led the landing team for the Mars Curiosity Rover.
He'll also update us on the latest on Mars.
Just how vulnerable is the US to cyber attack?
In last night's State of the Union address, among the topics covered by President Obama was cyber security, how important it is to our nation, and how ill-equipped we are when it comes to protecting ourselves.
Obama issued an executive order that's intended to increase information sharing about cyber threats between governments and private companies that are involved in critical infrastructure across the country.
Siobhan Gorman, intelligence correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, joins the show.
The history, use and limits of the US President's executive authority
Since the birth of the American nation, Presidents have used their executive authority to put in place policies they've promoted. But the use of the executive order is often controversial, especially when it appears the President is usurping the powers of the Congress.
Here to explain the history, use, and limits of executive authority is Allan Lichtman, presidential historian and professor of history at American Univerisity.
SOTU: Advocates welcome Obama's proposal for universal preschool access
There was a lot of anticipation from early childhood education advocates leading up to the President’s State of the Union address that he would announce a groundbreaking new education initiative for the country’s 3 and 4 year-olds.
He fell short. Or maybe it’s just the nature of the SOTU beast that details are sparse.
What pleased advocates was the President’s unequivocal statement of the need for “high-quality” preschool and a promise to work with the states to make this “available to every child in America.”
California’s State Superintendent at the Department of Education, Tom Torlakson, welcomed the President’s remarks, calling it a “new opportunity to partner with the Administration to give more children the opportunity to benefit from high-quality early education programs.”
California is home to nearly 11 percent of the nation’s preschool age children, and it has been hit hard by budget cuts to early education programs in recent years. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, $1 billion has been cut from California’s early education programs since the 2008-2009 fiscal year. That means about 110,000 children are not being served.
A recent report by the Los Angeles Children’s Data Network found that in L.A. County alone, “between 2008 and 2011, 1,400 (15 percent) licensed homes ceased providing child care and development services resulting in a loss of 11,200 family care spaces throughout the County.“
Yet for the state’s largest preschool advocacy group, Preschool California, President Obama’s mere mention of prioritizing some kind of universal preschool is, according to the group’s president, Catherine Atkin: “a recognition of the importance of getting every child ready for kindergarten.” Atkin said President Obama’s speech “puts wind in our sails in California.”
In the lead up to the State of the Union, there was much speculation that the White House was working on a plan similar to the one released in previous days by the liberal think tank, The Center for American Progress. It proposes the federal government match state spending up to $10,000 per child for full-day preschool, as well as increasing the child care subsidy to $7200 per child and doubling the amount of children with access to Early Head Start. However none of this detail was in the State of the Union speech.
Here's what the President did say with regards to Early Childhood Education:
"Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can't afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives."
"Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let's do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let's give our kids that chance."
NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg donates $1 million to LA school board election
President Obama used his State of the Union address to call for more investment in early education, but it seems he's not the only one interested in investing in schools. Yesterday, the Los Angeles school board candidates received the largest donation-to-date for a school board contest.
But it didn't come from anyone in L.A., and it didn't even come from anyone in California. It came from billionaire businessman and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Here to explain why the mayor of New York City would care about a school board election more than 3,000 miles away is Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson.
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's Tijuana office still not open
San Diego's Mayor Bob Filner is promising his new Tijuana office will open soon, but there have been a couple hiccups so far. KPBS Metro reporter Katie Orr checks in on the status of the office and why the mayor thinks they need one.
Throughout his campaign, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner championed his plan to improve relations with Mexico. He touted his experience working on border issues while in Congress and the relationships he’s built with Mexican leaders.
At campaign rallies, people would chant "Bob, si puede!" And the momentum culminated at his State of the City address, when Filner announced when his Tijuana office would open.
"You know, the opening of a border affairs office in Tijuana is going to be just the first step in building a partnership to coordinate border infrastructure improvements, and to market our bi-national region to international investments," he said. "In fact today we secured an office that will open on February 1."
That date has come and gone, and no ribbon has yet been cut. In fact, a visit to the Tijuana highrise on February 1 revealed few people there even knew who Filner was, much less that he was supposed to have an office in the building.
Eventually we were told Filner would have access to the building, but wouldn’t have a physical office there. Filner insists the office will open soon. KPBS is currently waiting for a copy of the lease.
The fact that Filner’s attempt to open an office in Tijuana hasn’t gone smoothly could serve as a metaphor for the relationship between San Diego and Tijuana: many good intentions, with uncertain results.
But entrepreneur Jordi Muñoz said an office could be beneficial to the business relationship between the cities. He’s president of 3D Robotics, which designs and manufactures drones for personal use.
"We just opened a new maquiladora," he said. "That’s a Mexican factory in Tijuana."
Muñoz employs 25 people in that factory and 30 people at his research and design facility in San Diego. He said right now all of the company’s resources are going into the Tijuana plant. He had an advantage in setting up his factory because he grew up in Tijuana and knows how the city works. He said a San Diego office in Tijuana could help people who may need a bit more guidance.
"Because of the language, the people, the connections, you don’t know anything," he said. "And when you think about Tijuana, you probably have the wrong perception."
Fixing those perceptions could be another benefit of an office. It’s something the Tijuana government has already been attempting to do. The city has had an office in San Diego for years. Alfonso Bustamante, brother of the Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante, serves as the city’s director of bi-national affairs. He said the office has tried to repair Tijuana’s image following years of violence in the city.
"In the past years we’ve needed, somehow, to let people know exactly what Tijuana was, not what was being said. That is was not as bad as they were saying," he said.
The office also acts as a liaison between San Diego and Tijuana officials and helps Mexicans who want to do business north of the border.
But perhaps the biggest obstacle to improving the relationship between the cities is the physical barrier you must pass through to travel between them. Wait times coming into the U.S. are a major issue for border-crossers, sometimes turning a quick trip into an hours-long ordeal if you don’t have a special pass. Filner knows this and said he and the Tijuana mayor will do what they can to tackle what’s primarily a federal issue.
As many before him have, Filner has visions of marketing San Diego and Tijuana as a mega region with easy travel between the two and a collaborative relationship. But first, he has to open the office.
Why are Americans so smitten with Sriracha?
Americans. Love. Sriracha. If you needed any more evidence of that, just find a bag of Lays potato chips.
The hot sauce is one of three new flavors the chip-maker is trying out in grocery stores, along with chicken and waffles and cheesy garlic bread. Consumers can vote on which flavor they like the most.
The American brand is so popular, you can get homemade onesies, iPhone cases, and high-heeled shoes, all covered with the product's iconic red rooster.
That brand, Huy Fong, is headquartered in Rosemead in the San Gabriel Valley. In case Sriracha isn't on your list of favorite things yet, Randy Clemens, author of "The Sriracha Cookbook," and the forthcoming, "The Veggie Lover's Sriracha Cookbook" is here to give us some tips on how to use the spicy sauce and fill us in on a little about its history.
Report: Polar bears doomed without human intervention
Leading polar bear researchers have just published a paper outlining possible solutions for preserving the world's declining polar bear population.
Warming temperatures are rapidly melting the arctic ice the bears use as a hunting platform. Dire projections warn that up to two-thirds of polar bears could disappear by mid-century if nothing is done. Scientists have proposed some drastic measures to save them.
Everything from relocating entire bear populations to colder regions, feeding hungry bears in captivity, and even flying in loads of seal meat to their habitats on a regular basis.
While these ideas might sound extreme, the paper's author, Andrew Derocher from the University Alberta says this kind of planning is necessary if we want to avoid a real crisis.