On Wednesday Take Two covers the State of the State address live. We'll also talk about the latest in the tour bus investigations following a series of crashes. Then we'll find out about the issue of cleaning up outer space junk, or debris left behind.
Governor Jerry Brown delivers 2014 California State of the State address
Wednesday morning Gov. Jerry Brown delivered his annual State of the State address.
While Brown touted "a million new jobs since 2010, a budgetary surplus in the billions and a minimum wage rising to $10 an hour," he was also cautious about what lies ahead.
RELATED: State of the State: Calif. comes back but challenged by drought, Brown says
"We are not out of the woods and we certainly are not out of the drought, said Brown. "Life is uncertainty, the climate is changing – not for the better – and the business cycle and the stock market are historically volatile, with good years followed by bad, with painful regularity."
Brown stressed the importance of a solid rainy day fund to address "longterm liabilities" such as over $100 billion for pensions owed to state workers, teachers and judges; tens of billions needed to cover retiree health care; and $65 billion needed to maintain and keep roads, buildings and other infrastructure in sound repair.
Future risks that could negatively affect state budgets include congressional decisions, natural disasters and the uncertain costs of the Affordable Care Act, Brown said.
KPCC and Take Two carried the address live and followed with analysis with hosts A Martinez and Tess Vigeland, as well as KPCC’s Frank Stoltze, Molly Peterson and Zocolo's Joe Mathews.
HIGHLIGHTS
On the "rainy day" fund:
Joe Matthews: "He’s proposing a very small rainy day fund. Less than two billion dollars in a budget of more than 100 billion. That’s nothing. A real rainy day fund to make a difference in the next recession or big decline in revenues probably has to be something more like 20 percent, so you’re talking about 20 billion dollars.
On the drought:
Frank Stoltze: "It could have a big economic impact on the state. It could be hard times for ag (agriculture) and other industries and therefore state (tax) revenues could go down."
On what was missing:
Molly Peterson: "The water bond we’ve been talking about since 2009 … a lot of people say that’s the way we’re going to get through some major issues to our water infrastructure and he’s proposing nothing about it."
Neel Kashkari to run for California governor
Earlier in this morning, we heard from Governor Jerry Brown as he gave his annual State of the State Address.
Brown still hasn't said whether he'll run for another term this year, but one guy who is interested in the job is Republican Neel Kashkari.
You may remember the former U.S. Treasury Department official as the guy behind the bank bailout known as TARP, the troubled asset relief program.
After a lot of hinting he announced yesterday that he's making a run for governor of California.
And he joins us now. Welcome Neel Kashkari.
Earthquakes: Several concrete buildings in LA at risk of collapse
Researchers at UC Berkeley Tuesday presented the city of LA with a list of older concrete buildings that could be at risk of collapse during a major earthquake.
KPCC's Frank Stoltze says it'll help determine which structures may need seismic retrofitting and prevent a lot of deaths.
RELATED: Researchers give LA addresses for concrete buildings that could be at risk in a quake
HIGHLIGHTS:
For months researchers delayed releasing the list. They said their work was preliminary and they worried about legal liability.
Now, after discussions with city officials, UC researchers have delivered the addresses of nearly 15,000 hundred buildings constructed before 1976 and made of stiff concrete frames, which wouldn't bend easily during an earthquake.
But researchers say the list doesn't identify buildings that are specifically at risk of collapse, but rather the types of buildings that could be vulnerable. Mayor Eric Garcetti echoed that point Tuesday.
"The list is going to have some buildings that they said they're not sure, but they think may be more vulnerable in an earthquake."
The list includes more than 200 schools and hospitals, for example, many of which have been required by law to be retrofitted. City officials declined to release the addresses to KPCC, but a publicly available version shows the bulk of the structures--more than 700--are industrial, commercial or office buildings. There are 65 parking structure and 47 hotels.
The mayor said the city intends to review the list closely as part of efforts to improve earthquake safety and he's brought on Dr. Lucy Jones to look at precisely that as part of a one-year process.
Jones of the United States Geological Survey is perhaps the preeminent expert on Southern California earthquakes, and Garcetti's new earthquake czar. Jones said it's likely that only a fraction of structures on the list would collapse during an earthquake.
"I think need to not make too much of the list."
Jones says engineers have estimated that around 10 percent of these types of buildings could crumble during an earthquake. The next task for the city is to ask property owners if they've upgraded their buildings or know of structural features that make them safe.
"Any of the buildings at risk are from a time before digital databases so we're talking about paper records and how (to) sift through all that and understand it is a big issue."
And city resources are scarce. Luke Zamperini, Chief Inspector for the LA City Department of Building and Safety, says his agency has no funding for the inspection of these buildings. Many, perhaps hundreds will require physical inspection, Jones says.
The mere release of the list is an important step toward making the city safer during earthquakes, says John Wallace, a professor at UCLA's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Significant not just because of the list, but because there's 20 years of research in how to make concrete buildings safer at lower cost.
Tour bus companies loosely regulated in California
In the past year, at least 10 people were killed -- and nearly 200 injured in tour bus crashes in Southern California.
Many of those accidents involved so-called casino buses.
The buses -- and their operators -- are loosely regulated.
This morning, in the first of two stories, KPCC's Ben Bergman reports on the casino bus boom.
California cattle ranchers deal with drought
Water shortages and a lack of rain in the state have affected so many industries in California, including farmers and ranchers who struggle to get enough water to crops and cattle and now find other necessary resources more scarce.
Julie Morris is the co-founder of Morris Grassfed Beef and joined us to share how her family's ranch has dealt with the drought so far.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On the type of cattle she raises:
Preferred angus and our cattle are certified grass fed by the American Grassfed Association, which means they eat only grass.
On reaction to Brown’s drought declaration:
I’m glad that he’s acknowledging the hardship this drought is causing for farmers and ranchers throughout the state. I think it is important to recognize that drought affects everyone, not just growers but people who eat and depend on water sheds.
On the effects on her business:
We have had to haul water to some of our drier pastures, which means we literally put water in tanks and put them in trailers and haul them up hills to fill troughs. We’re also looking into irrigated pasture outside of this area so we can ship our cattle to places where there is grass.
On the long-term ramifications of drought:
For our company in particular we won’t have product to sell next year. We depend on rain to finish our cattle, which we normally start harvesting in spring and begin distributing to customers throughout the summer and fall.
On a possible grass alternative:
We are considering an alfalfa supplement, which would need to be according to the standards of the Grassfed Association, which we are certified by.
On the emotional effects of the drought:
There’s a lot of sleepless nights and our friends joke that they’re all doing rain dances for us, which we all appreciate. Yes, Mother Nature is a fickle business partner.
On a possible rise in prices:
We try to keep it affordable for everybody but at this point we are not taking anything off the table. So we may indeed need to raise prices.
App Chat: Dr. Dre launches new music streaming service
You would think that music streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes Radio would provide enough listening choices to sate the average consumer.
But a new player is on the scene.
This week Dr. Dre, longtime record producer and rap impresario, launched Beats Music.
If the Beats brand sounds familiar, it's because a couple of years ago, Dre entered the saturated headphone market - and took it over with Beats-branded accessories.
He effectively turned headphones into high fashion.
The question now is whether Beats Music will be able to thrive in the saturated music streaming market.
Joining us to discuss Dre's new venture is Joanna Stern - personal technology columnist with the Wall Street Journal.
Sports Roundup: Richard Sherman, NFL rule change and more
It's time for sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, they've covered sports for ESPN and the L.A. Times.
The rant heard round the world.
On Sunday the NFC Championship game between the 49ers and Seahawks came down to the final play in the end zone when Seattle defensive back Richard Sherman deflected a pass intended for Niners wideout Michael Crabtree.
This led to an interception and punched the Seahawks ticket to the Super Bowl.
Moments after the play Fox reporter Erin Andrews approached Sherman and got a pretty epic interview.
Sherman has since dialed things back. He wishes he hadn't attacked Crabtree and regrets that it took away from his team's win.
The reaction though was strong as some called Sherman a thug and some went racial calling him a monkey.
We'll also be talking about the NFL considering a new change in the rules.
And we check in with what's the latest on the Alex Rodriguez lawsuit against the MLB and his union.
Could space debris pose a problem in the future?
Space junk.
That's the debris left over from malfunctioning satellites, rocket stages and even lost equipment from space walks.
It continues to float in orbit, littering space with debris.
And it's a growing concern.
Brian Bremner wrote about this in an article for Bloomberg Businessweek and he joins us now.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On how the film “Gravity” portrays space junk:
"'Gravity'’s commercial success has brought to light a problem that’s been around for a few decades and that’s the accumulation of space debris in low orbit and the dangers that it poses to existing satellites and manned missions."
On how much junk is in space:
"A lot. If you consider that the space age really began in 1957 when the Russians launched Sputnick, since then mankind has put up roughly 7000 different space craft of all sorts and satellites up into low orbit, medium orbit, space. Along the way there have been collisions and rocket motor [parts] and metal fragments have collected and we’ve reached a critical mass where it’s posing some dangers."
On why space junk is a concern now:
"We are now getting to the point where there’s so much stuff up there that debris is colliding against other debris and forming even more debris, this kind of cascading effect, that scientists at NASA are getting concerned about and we may be getting to the point, although there’s disagreement among engineers about this, we could see more collisions up in space that could be a problem."
On possible solutions for space junk:
"The Europeans are coming up with an approach and may try it later in the decade and put a robot on top of an airbus … and it would have a robotic claw that would go and catch big pieces of debris.
Space is a common resource but no one is ultimately responsible for cleaning it up."
On the danger space junk could pose to people on the ground:
There was a case in November, a European science satellite—it was a monster it was 1.2 tons … and ran out of fuel in low orbit and then came back into the atmosphere—it was tracked—it didn’t pose any immediate danger and kind of disintegrated over the southern pacific. That was a good scenario; they knew about it and tracked it.