School board races don’t usually garner much attention from the general public, but the races for three seats on LA Unified’s school board are making national headlines. KPCC's Vanessa Romo reports.

This week, David Dreier, the recently retired Republican congressman from the 26th district in the foothills east of LA, announced his next gig. He'll be leading a new commission focused on trade as part of the nonprofit Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands.

We'll talk about the week that was with our regular political roundtables. On tap this week, Sophia Nelson of NBC's The Grio, The Daily Beast and Essence Magazine, and James Rainey of the L.

The very first thing you'll likely hear during the Oscars this Sunday is the Academy orchestra, but who are these musicians and what do they do when it's not awards season? KPCC'S Kevin Ferguson reports.

Another place in the show that we'll hear the orchestra play is before, during and after the winners' speeches. Every year you have a couple of moving speeches, a few awful speeches, but mostly OK speeches that no one remembers.

One thing that will be different about this year's award show is the person handing the Oscar statue to the presenter. The tall model will be replaced by film students.

President Obama has until the end of next week to weigh in on Prop 8, which goes before the Supreme Court next month. Gay rights groups want the administration to file a "friend of the court" brief urging the justices to declare California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional.

Tomorrow, Cardinal Roger Mahony is scheduled to be questioned in a lawsuit about a Mexican priest accused of molesting more than two dozen children in the late 1980s. Reverend Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico after parents complained about him.

About two million Californians live in unincorporated areas, outside the sheltering arms of a city governance plan - and budget. Many of these communities are so poor, they lack basic infrastructure, like sewers or sidewalks. One of these places, a tiny town in Fresno County, has locals expecting the streetlights will be turned off next week. The California Report's Sasha Khokha has the story.

Most members of California's delegation are following the party script, but at least a couple of newcomers are treading carefully.

Joining us to consider that comparison are Judy Muller, a veteran journalist who covered the OJ Simpson trial, and former defense attorney Stan Goldman.

Nearly three years ago an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP is one of the companies being held responsible, and on Monday they head to court as a defendant in what could be one of the biggest civil trials ever.