Today on the show, we'll chat with Twitter pal Los Angeles Rain. Then, we'll talk sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky. Plus, the clock is ticking for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. What will she decide to do with SB 1062? How could protests affect US-Venezuela relations? Find out why sudden rainstorms are bad for drought-stricken land. This and more on Take Two.
How sudden rainstorms can wreak havoc on drought-stricken land
It would not be an overstatement to say that folks around town are getting pretty anxious about the rain that's expected this week.
Forecasters say the downpour Southern California could get several inches of rain over the next few days, which is great for water levels. But it's been years since the region has had a soaking like this, and a sudden downpour could cause some problems as well.
RELATED: The downside of Southern California's rain: Debris flows
Here to explain is KPCC's Science Reporter Sanden Totten.
Exclusive Interview: @LosAngelesRain on his plans to drench Southern California
(Note: This segment is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but we assure you we did interview the real person behind the Los Angeles Rain Twitter account)
We here in Southern California love our warm weather so much that rain kind of gets a bad rap.
In the midst of a big drought, we beg for him to come, and when he shows up it can cause floods and stirs up all sorts of junk. It ain't easy being wet. Don't believe us? Take it from the man himself.
A few months ago,
started sharing his thoughts and feelings as so many of us do these days, in 140 characters or less on twitter.
I feel like raining today brb going to Portland
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain)
I feel like raining today brb going to Portland
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain) January 29, 2014
A few threats:
swear to god, LA, any punny names like "RAINAGEDDON" or whatever and i'm going to seattle again
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain)
swear to god, LA, any punny names like "RAINAGEDDON" or whatever and i'm going to seattle again
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain) February 25, 2014
And his reactions to various people's weather predictions:
I'm thinking about it, no promises. RT
Cooler Weather Ahead...Maybe Some Drizzle...Here's My Forecast http://t.co/JZgiozbhOM
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain)
I'm thinking about it, no promises. RT @weatherjosh Cooler Weather Ahead...Maybe Some Drizzle...Here's My Forecast http://t.co/JZgiozbhOM
— Los Angeles Rain (@LosAngelesRain) January 29, 2014
Even Mayor Garcetti got in on the action:
does this count? pic.twitter.com/OxUEgh0y9L
— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti)
@LosAngelesRain does this count? pic.twitter.com/OxUEgh0y9L
— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti) January 30, 2014
For more inside the psyche of Los Angeles Rain, we're joined for an exclusive interview with the one-and-only, Los Angeles Rain.
Interview Highlights:
Why Twitter, why now?
"Well, when I first joined I felt like I wanted the city to improve and I thought I was the cloud for the job. And if I ask the city to finally get its act together, get a train going to LAX, get the line to Pink's a little bit shorter and then I would rain, maybe those things would get done. But now, it's really just for me a way to connect to the Los Angeles without actually having to do any work, which is great."
What's your response to the criticisms?
"I say I completely agree, totally, and I should and like you hear from every Angeleno, we should definitely hang out soon and not have it be forever again."
Why can't you come hang out with us?
"Oh, raining over the ocean, I've been hanging out in Seattle. It looks like they need a lot of it, lot of rain. Sometimes, I'll go to some island where there's nobody living on it, it gets rain 300 days a year, but it looks really nice."
You've been making some demands like until we get a football team?
"You don't think we're going to get a football team any time soon? I was kind of hoping that one would work."
You actually got Mayor Eric Garcetti go send you a selfie with a mustache. How'd you do that?'
"Someone on Twitter I think asked Mayor Garcetti if he would do a rain dance for me and a little while later he replied and he said "Totes," which was weird. And somebody else called him LA's hipster mayor so I asked if he would put a mustache on for me and then he did and then I couldn't resist. The next day it rained."
You've also been having conversations with the sun?
"Everyone loves LA, even the sun, he's a total workaholic. We're really good friends and I just say anytime he wants to come over to LA, he can. I'll take the day off, it's no problem at all."
So, are you really coming to LA?
"Last year I really regretted missing the Oscars and I would be crazy if I did that again and plus when the red carpet gets wet, people squish on it when they're walking. That's so much more fun than a normal red carpet."
What can we do to see you around here more often?
"Just be nicer to each other, just drive safe when I'm raining and when I'm not. And if you have to Instagram me please use a flattering filter like Sierra. Hefe is definitely not appropriate."
Teachers: LA schools' arts education budget 'a step in the wrong direction'
A plan by the Los Angeles Unified School District to cut the time elementary school children are taught orchestra in half is angering teachers, many of whom learned about it only after KPCC reported on the arts budget, which was released unexpectedly at a committee meeting last week.
"I think this is just such a travesty," said Kristin Vanderlip Taylor, a traveling visual arts teacher for elementary students at two schools in the district - Sylmar Leadership Academy and Roscoe Elementary. "I mean, honestly, it's not in the best interest of the students."
Traditionally, schools that get a musical instrument teacher get him or her for the full school year. Now district 0fficials want to cut that to one semester to reach more students. Each of the district's 32 traveling orchestra teachers would serve 10 elementary schools a year starting in the Fall, according to a district report.
KPCC's Mary Plummer has the story.
Religious freedom bills worry gay rights supporters
The clock is ticking for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. A controversial bill, SB 1062, sits on her desk and she has until the end of the day on Saturday to decide what to do with it.
Opponents of the bill say it would allow businesses to deny service to LGBT people on the basis of the owners' religious beliefs. Arizona isn't alone in considering bills like this. Several other states have tried to pass similar measures, all using the argument of "religious freedom."
For more, we're joined by Jaime Fuller, political reporter at the Washington Post.
The Atavist: 'Stray Bullet' tells the story of a man, his crime and his life behind bars
There are currently more than 117,000 men and women living behind bars in California.
Real men and women, like Tony Davis. Tony Davis was 18 years old when he fatally shot a 13-year-old boy in Oakland. How he wound up in prison and how prison changed his life is the subject of a piece journalist Gary Rivlin wrote about for the Atavist, called "Stray Bullet."
Excerpt
The room was the one you’ve seen on television, but dingier and more claustrophobic. It was as small as a prison cell, maybe nine feet by twelve feet—roomy enough for a large metal table, a few battered steel chairs, and little else. The table was scratched with graffiti, and the walls, made of acoustic tiling, were heavily gouged. The metal door looked as if it had been beaten with a sledgehammer. The sweat room, the detectives working the Oakland homicide unit called it.
Brian Thiem looked at the suspect in front of him, an oversize kid with round cheeks and a thick double chin. Tony Davis wore his hair in a scruffy high-top and had gaps notched in his eyebrows. That morning he had been sitting in his ’72 Chevy Impala, letting the old thing warm up, when Detective Thiem had come to arrest him. Thiem had brought four extra cops to help apprehend Tony, but he immediately felt ridiculous for going to the trouble. He could’ve walked up and said, “Tony, I’m the police. You’re under arrest,” and Tony would have gone along.
Now that he had Tony at the station house downtown, Thiem couldn’t believe this 18-year-old was the murderer he’d been looking for. He seemed docile and scared. Thiem had been working homicide for a couple of years—long enough to appreciate that most of the guilty who sat across from him in the sweat room weren’t born killers, just people who’d taken a life in a murderous moment. Even so, he’d later say that Tony might have been the least likely killer he’d ever arrested.
At first, Tony denied everything. Denied knowing about any drive-by shooting, denied owning a gun. But there had been two other kids in the car with him that night in July 1990, nine months earlier, and both had fingered Tony as the shooter. When Thiem confronted him with their stories, Tony changed his, insisting that the shooter had been another kid named Steve.
Thiem left Tony to sweat for a couple of hours, then returned, confronting him with the inconsistencies in his version. “He began crying,” Thiem later wrote in his police log, “asking what was going to happen to him. He then said he would tell [us] the truth.”
Thiem started his tape recorder.
Sports Roundup: Michael Sam, home plate collisions and more
It's time for sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered the sports scene for ESPN and the L.A. Times.
Every year, the NFL's competition committee takes a look at making rule changes. This year the committee is considering something that, while it sounds like it's right thing to do, may be too difficult to enforce and open up a cultural can of worms.
In the wake of Michael Sam coming out and the signing of Jason Collins, the NFL is following a bill in Arizona that would allow business owners to refuse service to gays and lesbians citing religious beliefs. Why is the NFL paying attention?
Speaking of religious beliefs, a pro football prospect made a big decision this past weekend but not without consulting someone with a lot of pull.
From one contact sport to another, sort of. MLB is trying to come up with a compromise on collisions at home plate.
It might be a long shot for Barry Bonds, baseball's all-time home run leader, to get in the Hall of Fame but putting on a Giants uniform again seems to be no problem.
I've always felt that while sports leagues are forever trying to keep PED's out, players will always find a way to keep them in.
Being a Hall of Famer apparently is not as noteworthy to the younger generation as it used to be.
CDC data shows 43 percent drop in obesity rates for kids 2 to 5
According to new information by the CDC, there's been a dramatic drop in obesity rates of children.
The study reported that 8 percent of children aged two to five were obese in 2011 to 2012. From 2003 - 2004 that number was 14 percent.
Although the study had good news for toddlers, obesity rates for the broad population remained about the same, and women 60 years an older had an actual 21 percent increase. With more is Dr. George Flores, program manager at the California Endowment.
Behind the Venezuela protests: oil, crime and challenges to the Chavez legacy
Unrest continues in Venezuela, where protesters have clashed with government forces over the past several weeks.
It’s the biggest challenge to the presidency of Nicolás Maduro since he was elected just over a year ago, taking over for long-time leader, Hugo Chavez. At least a dozen people have died and nearly 50 have been detained, according to Venezuela's attorney general.
For more we go to Caracas to speak with Miguel Tinker Salas, professor of Latin American History at Pomona College and the author of "The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela."
Boat stashed with 540 pounds of meth seized off California coast
Earlier this week, authorities seized a 30-foot boat just north of San Diego, 540 pounds of methamphetamine was stashed inside. Officials say the boat came from Mexico.
Security has tightened at the U.S. border which means drug smugglers are turning to the high seas. But, as AP's Julie Watson reports, they're doing so at a time when those patrolling the waters have been hit by budget cuts.
California couple finds gold coins on their property worth $10 million
People dream of winning the lottery or digging up treasure in their own backyard. That's exactly happened to one Sierra Nevada couple.
They wish to remain anonymous but we were able to reach their coin dealer, Don Kagin. He joins us from an airport in New Orleans.
App Chat: Retro gaming on your phone
Thief - a popular video game series from the early two thousands is being rebooted, with the newest version coming out for Playstation Four and Xbox One this Friday.
It's got fancy graphics and life like missions that you can play through for hours, and it's right at home on a next generation console. But what if you want something simpler? Maybe something a little retro?
Well, today on App Chat we have retro gaming apps for your phone. Dan Hsu, Editor-in-Chief of Games Beat, joins us to run down some of your options:
- Namco Arcade has a collection of classic arcade games in their original forms like Pac-Man, Galaga, Xevious, Starblade, Rolling Thunder
- Atari has a collection of classic arcade games including Pong, Centipede, Tempest, Missile Command, Asteroids and Super Breakout, as well as games from the Atari 2600 including Combat, Boxing, Adventure, Black Jack... all in their original forms.
- Pac-Man Championship Edition is a fast, frenetic and modernized version of the classic arcade game.
- Space Invaders Infinity Gene is a super modernized, stylized Space Invaders with Tron-like aesthetics.
- Galaga 30th Collection is a collection of Galaga games that have been slightly updated.
Study shows playing Tetris can help cure cravings
If you've spent hours playing games like Tetris, you might have felt that bit of guilt for having played so long. It might seem like a total waste of time, but as it turns out there may be some concrete benefits to playing the game.
That's the result of a new study in the journal Appetite. It found that playing the video game can reduce our urges to eat, smoke and drink. We're joined by Plymouth University researcher Jackie Andrade, who was one of the authors on the study.
Concerns over cyber security grow, experts gather in San Francisco
Leading cyber experts from around the world take on cyber crime at the annual RSA Conference in San Francisco this week. They're discussing underlying causes of that crime and one word keeps coming up -- outsourcing.
For the California Report, Aarti Shahani has the story.
Louise Fitzhugh's children's favorite 'Harriet the Spy' turns 50
Harriet M. Welsch turns 50 this year, but she doesn't look a day over 11.
Louise Fitzhugh's award-winning children's book "Harriet the Spy" about the young tomato sandwich-eating sleuth has been translated into several languages, turned into a movie and continued to captivate the imaginations of children for decades.
Author and editor Leila Sales wrote about Harriet the Spy for Al-Jazeera America and joined us to share her memories of the beloved book.