Republican leaders sign pro-gay marriage brief ahead of Supreme Court vote. Plus, we look back at what we've learned in the year since the Trayvon Martin shooting, copyright laws mean we need a new 'Happy Birthday' song, and much more.
Republican leaders sign pro-gay marriage brief ahead of Supreme Court vote
A civil war is brewing over gay marriage.
At last count, 75 Republicans have signed on to an amicus brief supporting gay marriage. They'll submit that brief to the Supreme Court in support of the suit seeking to strike down Prop 8, California's ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage.
Joining us to explain what’s in the brief and who’s signed it, is New York Times’ Washington Correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
The Trayvon Martin shooting, one year later
It has been exactly one year since the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida.
George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was suspicious of the young, black man he saw walking through his gated community. The two got into a fight and Zimmerman fatally shot Martin.
Zimmerman claims he shot the teen in self-defense, and he's been charged with second degree murder and his trial is set for June.
For more on the case, how it was covered by the media and what's happened in the year since, we're joined now by Eric Deggans, media critic for the Tampa Bay Times and author of the book "Race Baiter."
Survival and Tradition: Why rural Northern Californians want their guns
The gun ownership debate probably won't end anytime soon, and Northern California presents a good example why. As communities in Fresno grapple with keeping gangs and guns off the streets, some residents in the rural, forested ranges of Northern California say guns are a means of survival. The California Report's Mina Kim has the story.
As communities in Fresno grapple with keeping gangs and guns off the streets, some residents in the rural, forested ranges of Northern California say guns are a means of survival. With law enforcement an hour away, guns help them scare off bears and burglars, they say. Reporter: Mina Kim
In the wake of the Newtown shootings, reactions to calls for more gun regulations are taking a different tone from some in urban counties.
In towns like Ukiah, two hours north of San Francisco, talking about guns after gun tragedies is a mistake, according to Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.
"Until we get to the point where we say we've improved mental health services for people who desperately need crisis intervention, then the point of discussing which guns, or which parts of guns would be banned is a conversation that shouldn't be happening," said Allman, who recently published a book about the 2011 murders of two of the region's prominent citizens and the manhunt that ensued.
It's a sentiment echoed by Allman's counterpart to the north, Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey, who is on his way to investigate a site where, days before, authorities had uncovered a stash of more than 100 weapons on the property of a man with a criminal record. But Downey said that's rare here.
"We have a more free spirited, self-reliant type of people here," Downey said. "Many of the people in this county are gun owners and they're responsible gun owners."
Although he doesn't know how many people own guns, he said he has issued 1,500 permits to carry concealed weapons.
Last month, Downey signed a national petition opposing President Obama's gun control measures, and Obama's directive to Congress to pass laws that would ban "military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines." Downey said he's sworn to uphold the Constitution and worries such laws come dangerously close to violating it.
"My concern is, if it's the Second Amendment today, is it the First Amendment tomorrow? Is it the Fourth Amendment after that; where does it stop?" he said.
Downey's stance is at odds with the state's urban police chiefs, but then his jurisdiction is mostly rural. Despite a "criminal element" that comes with the county's infamous marijuana trade, its yearly homicides tend to run in the single digits. About 130,000 people inhabit an area the size of Los Angeles County, an eclectic mix that includes hippies, artists, urban transplants and back-to-the-landers.
GUNS FOR SURVIVAL
News blogger Kym Kemp and her husband Kevin, who live "off the grid" on a parcel of land in Southern Humboldt County that would take a 911 call responder an hour to get to, have two dozen guns on the property.
"If somebody were to try and come into our house we could not depend on anyone but our neighbors, and even those are ten minutes away, so we would have to defend ourselves," Kemp said.
Solar panels and a generator supply their power, they collect their own water, and the last four miles to their home is dirt road. If a deer gets tangled in a fence, they're the ones who have to put it down.
Kevin, who prefers not to use his last name, picks up the shotgun he's just unloaded and points it at himself.
"This end is intimidating, it's big and it looks big and it sounds intimidating. That's a useful thing for home defense as well," he said.
Kevin hasn't had to kill anyone with it, though he has used it to scare off bears. Using guns safely takes constant practice, which is why he and Kemp disagree with the National Rifle Association's call to arm schools after the Newtown massacre. Besides the cost of properly training and equipping armed guards, the two worry it would promote a culture of fear.
"[Gun owners] are willing to make some reasonable accommodations," Kemp said.
She would support a federal law limiting the number of bullets in a clip. What's more, most of the gun owners she knows would support beefed-up background checks and closing the loophole on private sales by unlicensed dealers at gun shows.
"But when they see people demonize them and gun owners become demons, then in turn, in reaction, they get more, 'I got to get my guns; I got to get my ammunition because I won't be able to get them tomorrow,'" Kemp said.
Kemp has seen gun owners get cast as stupid, ignorant, mean people.
"It is really hard for me to watch a part of the culture that I grew up with and a part of the culture that many people still feel gives them a lot of joy, being reviled," she said.
But for Barbara Kennedy, who moved to Humboldt 10 years ago from the San Francisco Bay Area, privately-owned firearms are unsettling. Kennedy is on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee based in Eureka, which just passed a resolution in support of President Obama's call for bans on assault weapons and high capacity clips.
"Law enforcement and our army and our armed forces are the ones that are entitled to own guns and that's it as far as I'm concerned," Kennedy said. "But of course, that's a very far out opinion."
BaoHaus chef Eddie Huang on how to make it as a restaurateur
Eddie Huang can tell you how to make it in America's food industry. First, suffer a miserable childhood at the hands of bullies, get a law degree, start a side business selling sneakers on the black market, and make a foray into stand up comedy. Then, open a restaurant. That's how he did it. Huang now runs the successful NY eatery BaoHaus.
You can also see him on Vice TV and the Cooking channel. His new book, "Fresh Off the Boat," chronicles his unconventional career path.
Interview Highlights:
On the story behind the cover image of his book:
"My brother was born and they wanted a nice family photo, and they couldn't get me to look at the camera. So they gave me this toy car and that's what's in my hand, and I held the toy car, then when they went to take the photo I pretended like I was eating the car. This is exactly how I was all the time and that's why they picked the photo. It's very telling. You have the grandparents from Taiwan and the parents from China and us in America. So it's 100 years of Chinese migration on one cover with all of these colors that are very Harlem."
On why his family came to America:
"A lot of people that come to America, they don't even think about it. My parent's generation, it was like, you want to go to America. Wherever you are, that's the place you want to go. It's the land of opportunity. I think my story is one about how the American Dream did not always deliver, and I didn't accept that. My family came here for a reason, I'm going to find that America that people are talking about, and in a lot of ways I found it in New York."
On what makes Taiwanese cuisine unique:
"Every cuisine has its characteristics that differentiate it from the other countries in the region. I think what distinguishes Taiwanese from, say Chinese food, is this use of funk, which comes from preserved bamboo. Or cured stinky tofu...In its region its use of dried shrimp, dried fish, stinky tofu, everything has a smell and tannins to it. The other thing is there's a sweetness to the food that distinguishes it. Much like Cuban food in its region is sweeter than, say, Puerto Rican or Dominican. Cubans have the sweet tooth, I think Taiwanese have the sweet tooth in East Asia."
On experiencing American food as a young boy:
"I wanted readers to get into the mind of an 11-year-old Chinese kid growing up in Orlando and how strange America was to him, because everyone always saw me and my food and my family as foreign and exotic. but in a lot of ways we exoticized weird things in America like macaroni and cheese or tuna fish. My family, we may be weird in America, but America is just as weird to us. I think I really benefitted from having that duality."
Race for LA mayor: Candidates try to turn around low voter turnout
Los Angeles municipal elections are known for having low voter turnout. This year's crop of mayoral candidates is hoping that an increase in participation will lead them to victory. KPCC's Alice Walton has the story. 
Los Angeles municipal elections are known for low voter turnout, but this year’s mayoral candidates are hoping that a small increase in participation will lead them to victory.
The city’s last competitive mayor’s race — between Antonio Villaraigosa and Jim Hahn in 2005 — saw 34 percent voter turnout in the general election. Four years prior to that, turnout was at 38 percent, and the 1993 race between Richard Riordan and Mike Woo drew 45 percent of voters to the polls.
Eric Garcetti is taking a page from President Barack Obama’s playbook and appealing to voters ages 18 to 29. In both the 2001 and 2005 mayoral races, just 9 percent of those voters completed a ballot, according to exit polls from the Los Angeles Times. The Garcetti campaign hopes to increase that turnout to 12 percent with celebrity endorsements and fundraisers that feel more like social events.
The strategy may be working. The Los Angeles County Young Democrats endorsed Garcetti, 42, in part because he was a young Democrat – just 29 – when he first ran for the Los Angeles City Council.
“I think a lot of young voters are turned off because most of the politicians are above 50 or even above 60, so I think it’s having a new wave of new leaders and a new wave of elected officials,” said Daniel Lopez, president of the L.A. County Young Democrats.
Pleitez tries something else
Mayoral candidate Emanuel Pleitez is trying a different approach. Without the same kind of money or big name endorsements as his rivals, Pleitiez has taken to canvassing neighborhoods. He often sprints from door to door to meet voters who may have shown up for a presidential race, but who are unlikely to turn out for a local election.
“Voters need to take their own responsibility and go out there and vote,” Pleitez said. “But it’s also the elected officials’ fault. Elected officials need to engage voters and actually get them excited about something and inspired, and that’s what’s been missing for a long time here in the city.”
Former Controller Laura Chick hit on just that point in a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. One reason for the low turnout is that Los Angeles municipal elections are held on off years, so just months after Angelenos vote for federal and state offices, they have to return to the polls to vote for local leaders. In her piece, Chick wrote that special interests benefit from low turnout elections. The folks behind campaigns may benefit, too.
“Lobbyists, campaign managers, people in the business of buying time for campaign ads and anything that goes into an election, want L.A. to have its own, separate election cycle because it means business – it means money to them,” Chick said.
One way to cut down on the number of elections would be to implement instant runoff voting, something that San Francisco currently uses, according to David Holtzman with the League of Women Voters. Instant runoff voting allows voters to rank their choices. That means if their first choice doesn’t win, their vote can count toward another candidate.
“You’d only need to have one round of voting. That actually makes the elections more fair and would give you more of a chance to freely express your preferences. You wouldn’t be wasting your vote or letting a spoiler effect occur if your first choice candidate didn’t make it to the final round,” Holtzman said.
On March 5, assuming no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to the May runoff.
KPCC's Voter Guide
View your March 5 ballot, research & choose your candidates. Save, print, email, &/or text yourself your choices!
Why is horsemeat so taboo in the U.S.?
The European horse meat scandal continues to widen. The equine ingredient was most recently found in the Swedish meatballs sold by furniture giant IKEA in at least two dozen European countries.
While horse meat has yet to be found in the U.S., Americans have reacted to the possibility with revulsion. But people in other countries regularly eat horse meat. So why is it such a taboo here?
Marion Nestle is a professor of nutrition at New York University who blogs about food in politics and culture.
Giant goldfish found by researchers in Lake Tahoe
Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno found a four-pound whopper of a goldfish, measuring in at a foot-and-a-half. And it wasn't alone, all told they found 15 other goldfish, which suggests that there are a lot more swimming around.
For more we're joined by Dr. Sudeep Chandra, Associate Professor of Conservation Ecology at the University.
Why we need a new 'Happy Birthday' song
Today is the 85th birthday of Antoine Dominique, the great R & B singer better known as Fats Domino. We wish him the best, but we won't be playing "happy birthday to you" in his honor.
That's because the classic birthday ditty is copyrighted, which is why you'll rarely, if ever, hear anyone sing it during a birthday scene in a TV show or movie. The song has almost been put into the public domain a few times, but copyright term extenstion have pushed that date back until at least 2030.
The folks at the Free Music Archives thought it was time to come up with a new, copyright free birthday song, so they partnered with New York radio station WFMU and organized a contest.
Ken Freedman, program director of WFMU, helped organize the new happy birthday song contest, to come up with a less restrictive way to wish someone well on his or her day of birth.
Hear the winners of the contest below:
Dept. of Homeland Security to release immigrant detainees
The Department of Homeland Security announced this morning that it is releasing illegal immigrants held in jails across the country. This after DHS secretary Janet Napolitano announced yesterday that sequestration related cuts to the department would affect core operations, from border patrols to airport security.
DHS is mandated by congress to keep 34,000 jail beds available for immigrant detainees, but Napolitano said yesterday the department may not be able to afford those after the across the board cuts.
Here with more on this breaking news is Alvaro Huerta with the National Immigration Law Center.
New Music Tuesday: The Slide Brothers, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and more
Today is Tuesday, that day of the week when new albums drop. Here to share some of his personal faves is LA-based music critic Steve Hochman.
The Slide Brothers — Praise You (Cover of Fatboy Slim song)
Rudresh Mahanthappa — "Abhogi"
Nataly Dawn — "Long Running Joke"