Today on the show we start with a look at film production in L.A.: How can the city compete with states that offer big tax breaks? Then, Boeing machinists to vote on a contract that will affect production of the 777x airplane. Also, what's ahead for babies born in 2014, scientists pinpoint what has been killing bald eagles in Utah, do detox cleanses actually rid the body of toxins? Plus much more.
Tax incentives make film financing in LA a tricky business
For a few years now, film production has left Los Angeles and gone to other states and abroad.
Tax incentives have led to the creation of a whole new type of Hollywood financier who helps filmmakers figure out how to navigate state tax codes and take advantage of them. It's a trend Richard Verrier wrote about for the LA Times. Verrier joins the show to explain.
Then LA film czar Tom Sherak joins the show to talk about how he's working to keep film production local.
Boeing machinist union to vote on contract crucial to 777x production
Today, the machinist union at Boeing will have a final vote on an updated proposal that affects workers' benefits for the next eight years. If they vote "no", Boeing would then consider moving production of its new 777x aircraft to another state.
But a yes vote would keep at least some of the production in the Puget Sound area. Carolyn Adolph reports on the economy for KUOW in Seattle and joins us now.
Friday Flashback: Boeing, Olympics in Sochi and more
Today we've made it to the end of the first working week of 2014! In this week's Friday Flashback, we're actually going to Flash Forward, to the biggest stories of this coming year.
To help us gaze into the crystal ball, we're joined in studio by James Rainey of the LA Times, and in Washington D.C., by Nancy Cook of National Journal.
But before we look to the year ahead, let's pick up with a story we just talked about before the break: today's vote for Boeing's machinist union on whether or not they'll accept an updated proposal on workers' benefits.
If they vote "no," Boeing would then consider moving production of its new 777x aircraft to more than 20 other states, many states of which have been ramping up competition for these contracts. Should states in fact stop courting Boeing?
Let's start with the story that's likely to dominate this year as it did for much of 2013 and that's healthcare.gov. At last count, about 2 million people had signed up for healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. They need about 7 million people to sign up by the end of March to declare it a success.
In a few weeks, the members of the White House Review Panel on Data Surveillance will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the activities of the NSA. Do we have any sense yet of what impact these hearings could have?
Let's move on to Russia, where this year all eyes will be on the Olympics in Sochi. There was some controversy about the U.S. attending after Russia passed some anti-gay legislation. But instead of boycotting the event, President Obama is sending two openly gay athletes -- tennis legend Billie Jean King, figure skater Brian Boitano, and ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow -- in his place.
Both with the Snowden incident and then Sochi, there seems to be these grating tête-à-têtes between President Putin and President Obama. What does this bode for diplomatic relations between the our two countries? And for the Olympics?
Since we spoke last Friday, the New York Times released its own report on the raid in Benghazi. It found that these attacks were in fact not carried out by al-Qaida. Remind us of what the controversy was here and does this report change anything?
According to a poll conducted by CNN last week, Congress ended 2013 with two-thirds of Americans saying it is the worst Congress they can remember in their lifetime. What can we expect from Congress this year?
And this is the time we usually pause to ask you about your favorite under-the-radar story of the week, but today, let's hear your what the story is that you're anticipating will be most under-covered in 2014. Jim? Nancy?
What lies ahead for babies born in 2014?
As we look ahead to 2014, we thought we'd ponder the fate of children born in this year. Time Magazine has crunched some statistics and made some proclamations about their futures as adults. For more we turn to the magazine's Alice Park.
Bag-Free LA: A collection of vintage shopping bags from LA's past
With the new plastic bag ban now in effect, Alison Martino of Vintage Los Angeles joins us to bring a big of nostalgia with vintage shopping bags from the past.
Interview Highlights:
On how she acquired these vintage bags:
They're older than me. I think it started when my mother had saved a lot of them...she held onto a lot of the department store bags and some stores that I actually shopped in as a kid.
On Heaven, a popular store in Los Angeles:
You could get gag gifts in there, really great t-shirts. It was very late '70s/early '80s explosion of just funny novelty stuff. Their logo was legendary in LA. I think every kid in Los Angeles had a Heaven t-shirt...It was kind of a cool thing.
On the intersection of retail, film and shopping bags:
Fiorucci was probably put on the map after the movie Xanadu came out. There was a scene in Xanadu where Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton-John are skating up and down the store and this was the bag that they gave out.
On the future of shopping bags:
I live in West Hollywood, so I was the first affected by the no bags. I think what's kind of good about this is now they're going to make bags tailored to your interest. So now you're going to see personalized bags in the markets. They don't represent the market, but the person shopping there.
Will 2014 be a better year for the US economy?
No one knows for certain what 2014 will hold, but there are some indications that, economically speaking, it could be a good year. For a look ahead we turn to Jordan Levine of Beacon Economics.
More homeowners turning to adjustable-rate mortgages
More and more Americans are taking up ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages.
ARMS nearly disappeared after the housing crisis of 2008, in part because they made up a huge bulk of the subprime loans that eventually floundered. But in November, more than a tenth of new mortgages in Southern California had an ARM, double the amount compared to a year earlier.
For a look at whether that's a troubling sign is Raphael Bostic, professor of public policy at USC and a former assistant secretary at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Memo raises questions about MWD headquarters' seismic fitness
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California delivers drinking water to nearly 19 million people in six counties. The agency's nerve center is its headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
But as KPCC's Frank Stoltze reports, there could be earthquake safety problems at the facility.
Snapchat Hacking: How tech startups should react to security breaches
Earlier this week, the popular photo-messaging app Snapchat was hacked. A reported 4.6 million user names and phone numbers were leaked, though according to the company, no photographs went out to the public.
What does this mean for the southern California based startup? Joining us is Burghardt Tenderich, associate professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Utah bald eagle deaths linked to West Nile Virus
Since December 1, 27 bald eagles have died in northern and central Utah. The birds all had similar symptoms: head tremors, signs of seizures, weakness in the legs and feet and paralysis of the wings.
Post by Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.
For weeks, scientists weren't able to figure out what was killing the raptors, but now lab results have turned up some answers.
"It was West Nile Virus," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife disease coordinator with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "We believe we had another bird that started dying a little sooner than December, it's called an eared grebes...we believe that the eagles are feeding on these birds after they've died or as they're dying and that they're becoming infected with West Nile."
Scientists notices the symptoms as being similar to West Nile, but the lack of mosquitos in the area delayed the diagnosis. The deaths don't post a threat to human populations.
"Typically you have mosquitos that have to be the one to pass West Nile Virus from animal to animal or animal to people," said McFarlane. "We're freezing here, so we don't have a lot of mosquito activity so that's why we took a really hard look at this."
Preventing the spread of the illness is difficult, because some birds can act as carriers of the virus. When the infected grebes die, bald eagles — who tend to be prolific scavengers — will eat the birds and become infected. MacFarlane says her team will continue to monitor the birds and treat those they find ailing from the illness.
Why we let some animals go extinct
We have saved the Gray Wolf and the California Condor from extinction, and now there numbers are plenty. But there are still thousands of other species that are in danger of extinction.
Historically, choosing which animals and plants we help has been decided mostly by whether we like them or not. A new series from National Geographic, the Last of the Last, looks at our relationship to endangered animals, and how we help them.
We’ll talk to Christine Dell’Amore, an editor with National Geographic.com.
Comment Box: Sergio Garcia, end-of-life decisions, 'Khaleesi' slug
It's time now for the Comment Box, when we get to hear what you have to say about the work we're doing on Take Two.
One of the biggest stories of the week was that of Sergio Garcia. Though an undocumented immigrant who came to this country as a small child, Garcia was given permission to practice law in the state.
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court handed down its decision during our program, and a number of you took the KPCC comment section with your views on the news.
Most were not pleased with the court's decision:
"It is merely a slap in the face to the laws of this country. This man has proven he cares nothing for ALL laws, just the one (s) that suit him."
And Caitlin posts: "This is a loss for America and every citizen in its borders"
To which Anthony -- with the opposite view -- replied: "If there is a loss here the loss is your inability to think with an open mind."
Moving on to our conversation with philosopher and bioethicist Margaret Pabst Battin about preparing yourself and your family for the end-of-life decisions. Decisions that all of us will inevitably have to make.
Battin explained how her own values about end-of-life decisions evolved when her own husband was left paralyzed after a bike accident:
"It's when you are so much closer to reality, it is so much much more full of small detail that makes a difference."
Listener James Leonard Park was moved by what he heard and wrote us to say that: "This story of one life coming to a reasonable end should inspire all of us to think as deeply as we can about our end-of-life plans."
Lastly, something on the lighter side.
Last week we talked about the discovery of a new species of sea slug named named Tritonia khaleesi. Khaleesi is the Dothraki word for queen in the popular HBO show "Game Of Thrones".
Marine Biologist Ryan Ellinson wrote in to tell us about another species of sea slug whose name was influence by pop culture: the Alderia willowi.
Named by local boy and marine biologist Patrick Krug of California State University, Los Angeles, the sea slug was named after his grandmother and the fictional character Willow Rosenberg from the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
We always love to hear from you so please drop us a line at TakeTwoShow@KPCC.org. You can find us on Twitter
and on Facebook at TakeTwoShow.
Do detox cleanses live up to the hype?
It's the new year, so people are getting back on the treadmill and cutting back on food to recover from holiday eating.
Body cleanses that claim to rid the body of toxins through juice fasting and diet restrictions are considered a popular fad to some, but a way of life for others. But do the benefits actually live up to the hype?
For more on the effectiveness of these cleanses, we turn to Liz Applegate, director of sports nutrition at U.C. Davis.
Inside Denver's Starkey International Institute, a 'bootcamp for butlers'
It's finally time to catch up on all the tragedies and trifles of some of Britain's most lovable characters when the TV show "Downton Abbey" returns to PBS this Sunday night.
There's poor Lady Mary to the noble Mr. Bates and of course, the trusty butler Carson. Back then, young servants relied on their elders for a proper education, but where do you learn to be a butler these days?
John P. Davidson visited a school for servants and wrote about it for the current issue of Harpers magazine. We spoke with him about his experience at the Starkey International Institute, what he calls a "bootcamp for butlers."