Media watchers concerned over Univision voter initiative, South Dakota's transgender bathroom fight, the challenges NASA faces today.
Univision's plan to register 3 million Latino voters has conservatives concerned
Donald Trump's win in Nevada increases the conservative candidate's momentum, but one Spanish language network could slow him down.
Univision recently unveiled a plan to get more Hispanic voters to the polls — three million of them, to be exact.
The network published an online voter guide, and will partner voter organizations to register eligible voters. It's a move that — if successful — would make Latin American voters an even more formidable force in American politics. The decision is not without controversy, though.
Univision's news programs have been critical of the GOP and stances that several of its presidential candidates have taken on immigration. That has some conservatives worried that Univision's voter education might become partisan and push a group that tends to vote Democratic, even farther to the left.
Ken Oliver-Mendez is the director of the Latino branch of the conservative media organization, Media Research Center.
He shared his concerns with Take Two.
Note: Take Two made several attempts to reach Univision for comment, but calls were not returned.
Update: Univision responded with the following information.
Press the blue play button above to hear the interview.
After Nevada, is Trump the inevitable nominee?
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump prevailed last night in Nevada.
The candidate's commanding victory in the GOP caucus earned him 14 delegates, bringing his current total to 81.
All eyes now are on Super Tuesday, when a big chunk of the delegates necessary to win the nomination will be doled out. So far it's looking pretty good for Trump.
, a chief political correspondent for Morning Consult, writes that "Trump is all but certain to emerge from the delegate-heavy March 1 contests with a huge, perhaps insurmountable lead."
To hear the full interview with Reid Wilson, click the link above.
Sports Roundup: Laker's Jeannie Buss on the fate of the team and the fate of the Dodgers
Every week we get the latest sports news with the dynamically gifted due,
.
Two seasons ago the Lakers had their worst record in franchise history. Last season, it got even worse.
Lakers owner Jeannie Buss came on this show a while back and outlined a timeline for when her brother, Jim, head of basketball operations needed to get things turned around. And she went on USA Today NBA writer Sam Amick's podcast and talked about it.
We'll talk about it, and a lot more.
The cost of an Oscar
It's almost here!
Los Angeles is hosting the 88th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28th.
However, this is probably not news to you, because just about everywhere you go there are billboards begging 'For Your Consideration'.
Ryan Reynolds even got in on the campaigning, tweeting out a joke 'For Your Consideration' poster for Deadpool.
Only a few hours left for Oscar voting. Too late for a write-in campaign for an ineligible movie? pic.twitter.com/kR4nrRrULv
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) February 23, 2016
There are also screenings featuring the big stars and just wait until you hear why nominated actress Brie Larson is afraid of getting pink eye!
Brent Lang joined the show to explain--he's Variety’s Senior film and media reporter and he wrote about it for Variety in his article 'A Breakdown of the ‘Outrageous’ Costs of 2015’s Oscar Campaigns'.
To hear the full interview, press the blue play button above.
South Dakota's transgender bathroom fight, and how it could impact California
A battle is brewing in the America over bathrooms.
For most, using the restroom is pretty straightforward: you see the sign, you know which door to enter. But for some people, the choice between women and men isn't that easy, and using the facilities can become a traumatic experience.
A few years back, California lawmakers approved a bill requiring public K-12 schools to let transgender students choose which restrooms they use based on their gender identity instead of their chromosomes.
Now, South Dakota is considering solidifying rules which would do the opposite.
covers LGBT issues and education for the Associated Press, and explained students would have to use the bathroom based on their sex at birth. The bill was passed last week and now heads to Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who met with some members of the LGBT community on Tuesday.
"One of the interesting things about it is the governor acknowledged, like a lot of people in the country, that they weren't aware that they knew anyone who is transgender," Leff said. "The reports from people who were at that meeting were that he was very open, he was warm, he seemed generally curious, and he said afterwards that it helped him see things through their eyes and understand their perspective."
According to Leff, Daugaard has until March 1 to veto the bill, sign it, or let it take affect without his signature.
But if that happens, what impact could this have on California?
"California's law is quite clear, but I think that we may then have to do a lot more interventions, as we at Lambda Legal do with school administrators, to get them to understand state law and follow state law to understand what state law actually requires," said
, senior council and director of the Law and Policy Project at
, which works for LGBT civil rights. "In places like South Dakota I'm afraid, I mean if the governor does sign it, there's certain to be litigation, and there is a little confusion I think because employment law and on the employment side of things, there's a lot more developed law that discrimination based on identity is a form of sex discrimination. There's been less litigation in the school side of things. The rules should be the same."
Given the very personal nature of bathrooms, however, Pizer said people should understand that it is the transgender people who are at risk.
"Of course many people feel some discomfort in restrooms and locker rooms, and if we think about what it's like to be a kid, and especially a teenager, people feel awkwardness changing clothes and so forth, and at the same time we talk about personal privacy because we don't go inspecting each other's genitals or bodies in those spaces. You go into a restroom to use the facility to pee, and everybody has to pee."
To listen to the interviews with Lisa Leff and Jenny Pizer, click on the audio players above.
The future of space exploration
NASA needs a few good men and women.
Actually, they need exactly 14.
They only have room for that many but it hasn't stopped a record number of over 18,000 people from applying for the job of being an astronaut.
Yep, space is hot right now, however getting there and zipping around the galaxy isn't as easy as Hollywood makes it appear.
Wired's March cover story - "The Next Great Leap" - identifies the 12 biggest challenges of space exploration and the scientific solutions to how we can conquer them.
Editor for the magazine, Adam Rogers joined the show to discuss the space program and the challenges it faces today.
To hear the full interview, press the blue play button above.
The Styled Side: 'Oscars' swag bag makes Academy gag
This Sunday is the biggest night in film the Oscars, but what the losers are walking away with is raising some plucked eyebrows.
"These are the bags that are gifted to the nominees who lose," says Michelle Dalton Tyree from Fashion Trends Daily. "This year's bag is worth over $232,000."
Included are perks like a trip to Lake Como, Italy and various plastic surgery treatments, and they are delivered to stars in the days after the awards ceremony.
But the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not been responsible for these bags since 2006; that year, it voted to end handing them out for worries over paying the taxes on the gifts.
"Enter Distinctive Assets, the company that creates, curates, markets and distributes these bags," says Tyree. "The starting fee to have your product included in these bags is $4,000."
Getting your product in the hands of celebrities can be a great marketing tool, she says.
But in 2015, the Academy warned the company to stop using language like, "Everyone Wins at the Oscars! Nominee Gift Bags," which made it seem the bags came from the organization itself.
Last week, it followed through on that threat by filing a lawsuit against Distinctive Assets.
"The Academy also it said it wasn't happy with the contents, either," says Tyree, "and didn't want to be associated with the bags."
It said in its filings, "Press about the 2016 gift bags has focused on the less-than-wholesome nature of some of the products."
Inside this year's swag bags are items like a pot vaporizer and adult products.
Tyree weighs in on whether this lawsuit could stop this year's bags before they leave the red carpet.