Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with film and game industries to talk gun violence. Plus, Saturday marks the 3-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. We check in with the ongoing relief effort there. Then, Ventura County strawberry farmers fight frost, Chinese tourism skyrockets in the U.S. and much more.
Joe Biden meets with film, game industries to talk gun violence
Last night, Vice President Joe Biden met with various leaders from the film industry to talk about efforts to curb gun violence. For years politicians have called on the entertainment industry to reduce depictions of violence, but they've been mostly unsuccessful.
For more on whether things might be different this time around, we're joined now by Ted Johnson, who writes about the intersection of Hollywood and DC for Variety.
Three years since Haiti earthquake, there's still work to be done
Saturday marks three years since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the impoverished Caribbean island nation of Haiti. The quake caused tremendous damage in some of the country's major cities, including the capital of Port-Au-Prince.
The Haitian government estimates that more than 300,000 people died, while hundreds of thousands more were left injured and homeless. The tragedy generated a huge humanitarian response from the outside world.
Many countries pledged millions of dollars in aid and dispatched hundreds of rescue and medical teams. Among those who went to help was Dr. Megan Coffee, an infectious disease specialist who left Berkeley, California for Haiti only days after the quake.
She's been working there since, in the State General Hospital in Port-Au-Prince, and joins the show to give us an update on the progress and the work that still needs to be done.
Friday Flashback: Gun-law reform, Obama's cabinet
Now it's time for the Friday Flashback, our weekly wrap-up of the week's big news. Joining us from the offices of The Guardian newspaper in New York, Heidi Moore, U.S. finance and economics editor, and James Rainey, political columnist for the L.A. Times.
As king tides roll into California's coast, surfers and photographers are ready
Along California's coast today, the highest tides of the winter season will batter the shore for the third day in a row.
They're called king tides. In this state, as along other coastal areas, environmental groups are asking amateur photographers to go out and document them. It's part of an international effort to help the public visualize how a warming climate will affect the ocean.
Report: Short sales now outnumber foreclosed homes
The real estate research firm Data Quick reports that for the first time since the housing crash in 2007, short sales now outnumber the sale of foreclosed homes. This is good news, not just for homeowners who find themselves underwater with their loans, but for banks as well.
Here to explain is KPCC's business reporter, Matt DeBord.
Cold temperatures send Ventura County strawberry growers scrambling to protect crop (Photos)
Whenever the temperature drops to 34 degrees in Ventura County, Will Terry gets a call on his cell phone.
"Basically, there’s an automated woman speaking," says the fifth generation farmer. "She says 'Frost, frost' and then 'press 2 to confirm.' I go ahead and press 2 and head on out"
Frost is a real threat to Terry’s strawberries, which his family grows on 240 acres in parts of Ventura County.
If it's 34 degrees or below - and there’s no wind, Will Terry knows he’s gotta make some of his own. So he'll head out to the middle of his 24-acre strawberry field, open the hood on a motor that powers a wind machine - a giant propeller on a rotating head 35 feet high, and crank up the engine.
"The point is to get that thing hummin’ and hopefully get the wind moving," says Terry. "The thought is about one of these machines for every 10 acres will give you the wind movement you need to get the temperature to bounce about 3 or 4 degrees."
On this morning, Terry cranks the engine. It sputters for a second, then the sputter settles into a familiar hum. You'll hear that hum on this farm and dozens more all over Ventura County.
It's January in the strawberry-growing business.
Protecting the cash crop
Will Terry holds a business degree from Loyola Marymount that he's brought back to his family's business, Terry Farms. On top of leasing this land, his family rents each of the three wind machines on it for $3,000 a month during the cold months.
Will’s father Edgar says it’s worth it.
"You can’t sell damaged fruit," says Edgar Terry. "Obviously consumers don’t want to buy fruit that’s burnt. And that’s what frost does. It’s actually almost like a firestorm. It burns the fruit. So like anything else, you’ve gotta come out here and protect your investment. And you’re gonna do everything within your means to do so."
The investment on strawberries, he says, is about $23,000 per acre in Southern California - and that’s before you even start to pick’ em. More than 80 percent of the strawberries grown in the U.S. come from California.
Edgar Terry says while his family has been farming for more than a century, it’s only been growing strawberries for the last decade.
"I thought I would never ever grow strawberries," he says. "I grew up a vegetable farmer. Strawberries to me were the closest thing to communism that you could get to, but after we started growin’ em, they’re exciting, an exciting crop to grow."
Exciting because demand for them continues to grow, as health-conscious consumers discover that despite their sweetness, they’re low in sugar, and high in antioxidants.
But strawberries are a delicate crop with a longer growing cycle that Will Terry says farmers struggle to stay on top of.
"The problem that’s unique with strawberries is, unlike a lemon or an avocado, it makes a big difference whether or not you’re picking on time. The fruit will NOT hold," he says.
Finding farworkers
This time of year, Ventura County growers are harvesting their “winter” strawberries, with pickers going through each acre once, maybe twice a week. But in a couple of months, there will be a lot more strawberries, and the need for a lot more people to pick them three or four times a week.
Lorenzo Pastrana supervises one of Terry Farms’ top picking crews. He expects a worker shortage this year, just like last year.
"The problem is it’s getting harder for people to cross the Mexican border," he says in his native Spanish..
Edgar Terry is frustrated by current immigration policy and says the Terry farm will be competing for workers with just about every grower in the state.
"Strawberries aren’t conducive to mechanical harvesting. And there’s a very real concern when we hit our peak in the end of March/first of April that there’s not going to be enough workers here to harvest what’s available here to harvest," he says.
Easter also comes at that time: March 31st - eight days earlier this year than last. Edgar Terry says the demand for strawberries usually jumps in the two weeks BEFORE Easter.
"After Easter, you’re gonna have a natural slough-off of people going to the store because they’re burned out of going to store to buy food, sort of like after a Christmas holiday," he says. "And that’s when the peak will hit. So you still gotta keep harvesting your crop to keep it healthy."
This year is already tricky in the strawberry fields, so the Terrys are hoping for very few frosty nights.
It's not just Chinatown, baby; Chinese visitors top LA tourism numbers (Photos)
Universal Studios put on a three-day celebration of Chinese art and culture last week, "Glamorous Beijing: World City," complete with a traditional lion and dragon dance. Against that backdrop, officials with the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention board signed an agreement with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism to promote tourism between the two cities.
It's a sign of the non-stop growth of Chinese tourism to Southern California since 2008, when the government of China began allowing tourists to come to the United States. This year, China became the top source of international tourism for the county.
“When you look at what’s happening with the Chinese traveler, the numbers are literally exponentially exploding," said Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Association. "We estimate there are upwards of 250-300 million people in China that could come to the United States tomorrow.”
To prepare for all those visitors, local hotels, theme parks and restaurants have something to learn from 1970s and 80s, he said, when the Japanese began to travel to the United States in large numbers.
“The organizations that got the most business from them were those that began putting in Japanese breakfasts, putting slippers in the rooms, various tea services, having people who spoke the language, changing menu items, having television stations," Dow said. "And the chains that do that the best are going to get a greater share of the Chinese traveler than those that just say, well, it’s just another international traveler."
Some theme parks and hotels across Southern California are already responding to the growth of Chinese tourists. Universal Studios, for instance, offers its backlot tour in Mandarin.
Carl Bolte, general manager of the Hilton Los Angeles/San Gabriel, volunteered his hotel as a Beta test for the chain's Hwan-ying program, which means ‘welcome’ in Chinese.
He placed slippers in each room, added Chinese television stations, and added Chinese food items -- such as dumplings and a rice porridge called congee -- to the hotel menu.
“We have tea kettles that are available upon request," Bolte said. "Every hotel will have a coffee maker. Well, they don’t drink coffee."
He has a Chinese kitchen. He’s even hired a Chinese purchasing agent who knows where in L.A. to buy authentic Chinese ingredients -- and a chef to cook and prepare traditional dishes.
Most importantly, he hired Mandarin-speaking employees -- which is key because the vast majority of Chinese tourists do not speak English.
“English and Chinese are so different," said Qin Xiaolu, who was visiting the U.S. for the first time from Beijing last week. "If you are American, you can go to England, you can go to France.
"But Chinese is so different," she added, " without a guide, we come here, many things we can’t understand.”
Bolte and the U.S. are investing so much in the Chinese tourist because they spend more than any other international tourist to the U.S.
“They want to go down to Rodeo drive, they want to go down to Beverly Hills, “ Bolte said. “A lot of it is made in China, but they can’t purchase it in China. They have to come here to purchase it, and then take it back to China. I always found that to be a little ironic.”
Dow and the U.S. Travel Association, which refers to Chinese tourists as “walking stimulus packages,” say the average Chinese tourist spends about $7,200 per trip.
“The Chinese traveler ends up going back home with suitcases full of American products,” Dow said.
And they stay a long time.
“They work through tour operators, they’ll plan a trip where they’ll be 20 or 30 Chinese travelers will come to the United States, their typical visit will be upwards of two weeks and more,” Dow said.
China is the only inbound travel market projected to see double-digit, year-over-year growth over the next four years. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, tighter security, coupled with international competition have cut the U.S. global share of the tourism industry by 30 percent.
On January 19, 2011, speaking from Disney World in Florida, President Obama announced the National Tourism Strategy, a program aimed at making it easier for Chinese tourists to come to the United States.
“I confess, I am excited to see Mickey...it’s always nice to meet a world leader who has bigger ears than me,” Obama joked with a crowd of business leaders.
“More money spent by more tourists means more businesses can hire more workers. It’s a pretty simple formula,” he said. “And that’s why we’re all here today to tell the world that America is open for business, we want to welcome you.”
The Obama administration meant business. Since his speech last year, the waiting time at a Chinese consulate for an American leisure visa has fallen from over 100 days, to under five.
The Dinner Party: Texting prayers, Bernie Madoff, and Texas oil
Every week we get your weekend conversation starters with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party podcast and radio show. On tap this week, texting prayers, Bernie Madoff's reading materials and the birth of the Texas oil business.
LA's crime capital reputation starting to wane
On a ridealong in Compton a few days before Christmas, L.A. Sheriff's Lt. Josh Stahl picked up speed and swung his patrol car around the corner. Stahl unbuckled his seat belt along the way and prepared to make a quick exit.
We were chasing another patrol car that Stahl had just seen pull over a motorist in the distance. The car, a rundown brown sedan, had tinted windows and a broken tail light.
"Make sure you always know where you are," Stahl cautioned, pointing out the intersection before he jumped out of the car. "You can step out, but stand behind the car door," he said.
The scene was over before it had started: the sedan pulled away from the curb and Stahl jogged back to the car.
"It was a little old lady," he said. "The guys gave her a warning, told her to get the tail light fixed."
And so went my Compton ridealong: a probable asthma attack at a gas station, a gunshots call that turned out to be nothing, and an unruly, drunk man at a house who suddenly got cooperative when we showed up. There was a moment when it seemed the night might offer a taste of Compton's fabled mean streets: Stahl spotted a flotilla of California Highway Patrol cars hogging the roadway in what looked like a low-speed chase. Nope: at the center of the gaggle was a large sleigh carrying a giant St. Nick, destined for a parade the next day.
"This is a slow night," Stahl admitted. "But the 'bad streets of Compton' is not real."
At least not anymore. For instance, since 2000, the homicide rate in the city of Compton is down by half; now it's at its second lowest point since the 1960s. That's why L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, in his Wednesday press conference discussing 2012 crime stats in the department's patrol areas, chose to highlight Compton and its neighboring areas. These areas mirror a trend in the city of L.A.: massively declining crime rates.
The figures released Wednesday say the sheriff's 42 contract cities and 130 unincorporated communities saw a 4.2 percent uptick in Part I crimes (the ones most people have heard of, like burglary, robbery, rape, and murder). That bump emerges in a wider context: a 16 percent decrease in such crimes over the last 5 years.
More important, Baca said, is the actual crime rate in the sheriff's patrol area. At 246.15 crimes per 10,000 people, it's the second lowest in 42 years.
"This is very, very astonishingly important," Baca said. "The quality of the neighborhood when it's under 300 Part I crimes per 10,000, people start walking the streets again. People start participating in parks. People can walk to the store."
Still, some places, like Compton at 379.57 crimes per 10,000, remain below that magic number (though it's down 15 percent from five years ago). The glowing statistics also followed a frightening incident Tuesday night not far from Compton, in neighboring Lynwood, which has also seen a major crime drop.
Two sheriff's deputies, Laura Perales and Chris Gomez, were on patrol when they heard gunfire. Finding a man shot on the ground, and a car speeding away, the deputies chased the vehicle.
"When the rifle was pointed at us and we saw muzzle flashes," Gomez said, the two realized that someone in the car was firing an AK-47 at them. The deputies weren't hit, and others took the suspects into custody later in the night after crashing the car - and in the case of one suspect, who ran away, a foot search.
Perales and Gomez said nobody had ever shot at them with an assault rifle before, but they'd heard from colleagues who'd dodged those weapons.
"On a daily basis, any deputy that's in our area runs a risk of running into something like this," Gomez said.
Other bad news: a jump in deputy-involved shootings. There were 49 last year, compared to 37 in 2011 (the shootings that involved "hits" are similar: 35 in 2012; 32 in 2011).
Baca said the AK-47 shooting the department maintains was gang-related shows that L.A. is still a gang violence capital. But it's come a long way, mostly because of the successful community policing, Baca said.
In Compton, station Captain Diane Walker remembered a change in the atmosphere while she worked in neighboring Lynwood. In the late 1990's, Walker said, Compton seemed to come closer to that tipping point the sheriff talked about, where people felt safe to move around and go about their daily lives without fear.
"And not just only with the people, the asthetics," Walker said. " The city has put a lot of resources into beautification, and cleanup, and graffiti removal."
As for Compton's mean reputation that gained steam early in the hip hop era, Walker said, the people who live there don't perpetuate it. "If they visited Compton, they'd see that it's a wonderful place to be."
City Hall Pass: A look ahead to the LA mayoral race
In just a few months the city of Los Angeles will choose a new mayor, so today we're kicking off the first in a regular series we're calling: City Hall Pass. Think of it as your ticket to all the latest political news coming out of downtown
The big story now is the mayor's race, and here to break it down for us is KPCC's political team Frank Stoltze and Alice Walton.
Zombie titles plague foreclosure victims after banks walk away
In other housing news, the curious phenomena of zombie titles. Thousands of homeowners are finding themselves legally liable for houses they didn't know they still owned after banks walk away from foreclosed homes before they're final.
Here to explain how this is happening, we're joined by Reuters reporter Michelle Conlin.