The D.A. will not prosecute officers involved in the shooting death of Ezell Ford, President Trump to reveal more about U.S./Mexico border wall, and a check in on LA's homeless count.
DA Lacey on Ezell Ford: 'Nobody should be celebrating or be happy about what happened here.'
Nearly three years ago, a schizophrenic, young black man named Ezell Ford was killed during a night-time clash with police officers in South Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced that her department would not bring criminal charges against the two officers that shot him, saying Ford posed an immediate threat to their safety.
The decision
"[The] physical evidence, in this case, supported the conclusion that Mr. Ford and Officer Wampler were struggling for possession of his service weapon at the time of the shooting," District Attorney Lacey told Take Two's A Martinez Wednesday.
Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas fired on Ford during the August 2014 incident. Lacey says pictures of Officer Wampler's hand, DNA, and a handgun magazine found on the ground were just some of the evidence examined during the investigation. Together, they painted a picture of a "life and death struggle."
What about the Police Commission?
The decision not to bring criminal charges against the officers comes more than a year after a commission ruling that concluded the pair used improper tactics during the encounter, placing blame on Officer Wampler, and, to a lesser extent, Villegas.
District Attorney Lacey says commission transcripts were used in her report, but their ruling didn't make it easier to bring charges against the officers.
"With us, my goal was, should I charge Wampler and Villegas with committing an unlawful homicide? Did they break the law in what they did? And, could I prove [beyond a reasonable doubt] they were guilty of murder, essentially," Lacey says.
Is the LAPD too close to the DA?
The District Attorney and LAPD have a mutually reliant relationship. The LAPD investigates for the D.A.'s office and advises during trials — it's a relationship that the Police Commission doesn't have. Some observers might use that relationship to explain why the DA hasn't charged an officer since 2000. It's a presumption Lacey denies.
"We currently have two off-duty murder cases against two officers. We are prosecuting a couple of officers for sexual assault..." Lacey says. "[We're] very independent. We have our own mission, our own views. We get about 90 of these cases a year... We have our own investigative unit which has 270 officers which are sworn in-house."
The bottom line
Lacey points to law case Graham v Connor, which empowers officers to defend themselves in dangerous situations — even if improper tactics helped make the interaction perilous.
"We feel that, in this set of circumstances, that the officer then doesn't have to lay there and be killed because the stop is questionable," Lacey says. "He has the right to defend himself."
(Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled the last name of Officer Sharlton Wampler. The mistake has been corrected.)
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue media player above.
What President Trump's executive orders could mean for refugees and visitors to the US
President Trump on Wednesday signed the first in what's expected to be a series of executive orders aimed at beefing up national security and curbing immigration.
According to reports from those who've been briefed on the orders, this week the President will enact a ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries.
To hear how this news is resonating with people from those countries living here in Southern California, we turned to two guests:
Actor Jay Abdo is originally from Syria, where he was one of the country's biggest stars. He left the country back in 2011 to avoid political persecution:
"I fled a country where leaders... worked hard, are still working hard, to divide people. To make them point fingers at each other. To blame each other for their problems, for their fears. And my hope is not to see that again in the United States, this wonderful country."
Mahdis Keshavarz was born in Iran. She and much of her family came to the U.S. in the late 1970s:
"Especially the last 15 plus years, post 9/11, we're constantly reminded that we are not seen as equal citizens. Despite our best efforts, despite how we may view what's happened in our own countries, and what continues to happen. And we have spent 15 plus years continuously telling America, 'We're just like you. We believe in the same things as you,' yet that's fallen on deaf ears. And this latest action by this administration will be yet another reminder that we are not viewed as equal, and that is devastating to many of us."
For more clarification on what authority the President has to issue a ban on refugees or visitors from different countries, we turned to , professor of law and director of the Immigration Clinic at University of Southern California.
Interview highlights:
When it comes to refugees, who creates the laws and policies we have now on who gets in and who doesn't?
Congress in 1980 created the current process that we have, and what Congress did in 1980 is it delegated virtually all of the authority to determine who gets admitted as a refugee and the numbers of people who get admitted as refugees to the President. So the President has pretty much complete control over refugee admissions... the 1980 Refugee Act says that the annual designations in terms of numbers and who is to be admitted, should be done in consultation with Congress, but it is very much a one-way consultation and it's the Executive [Branch] that decides."
How long would it take to implement a new executive order on refugees, immigrants, or visitors to the U.S.? Could it go into effect immediately?
It will depend on what the order says, but it certainly could take effect immediately. And there is some concern because there are refugees, including refugees from Syria, who are 'in the pipeline,' so to speak, who may be in the air, as we speak, flying to the United States. And if this order were to take effect immediately later today, there is real concern about what happens to those individuals when they land at LAX or JFK for example.
This possible ban on refugees is being talked about as a temporary one that would stay in place until more aggressive vetting procedures were implemented. Do you have any sense of what more aggressive vetting would look like?
Given how aggressive the current vetting process is, it's difficult to imagine how the U.S. could scrutinize arriving refugees any more vigorously. So I don't know what more could be done. I mean, we could certainly send out investigators into the field and spend millions of dollars investigating every individual refugee, but those things are just not practical.
What about people just looking to get a visa to visit the U.S.? We're hearing that a separate executive order could block visas being issued to people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Can the President make a broad ban like this on his own?
Yes is the short answer. Congress again has, decades ago, conferred authority on the President the power to suspend issuance of visas when the President determines it is in the U.S.'s best interest to do so. As a practical matter, those countries that are likely to be targeted are not countries whose nationals are receiving lots of visas. There are not a lot of Yemenis or Sudanese, for example, coming to the United States. But there certainly are Iranians who come to the United States as foreign students, for example, so certain of those countries are more likely to be impacted that certain of the others.
Could these executive orders face any sort of legal challenge?
I suspect there will be challenges. Again it's going to depend on the specifics, but the Executive [Branch], the President, has a lot of authority to act on its own in the area of immigration, as we saw the Obama Administration doing with the DACA program. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is one of those programs where the Executive acted without explicit statutory authority from Congress. But in regard to the refugee program and visa denials to certain countries, those are things that Congress has authorized the President to do.
To hear the full interviews, click the blue player above.
K2 Sports: a look at All Star Games after NBA players get to cast their votes
On this week's installment of K2 Sports, Andy and Brian Kamenetzky join Take Two's A Martinez for a deep look into NBA All Star Games.
Why NBA players got a chance to vote on who plays in the All Star Game:
"There's been some controversy over what fans do. A few years ago when voting was opened up to the internet for example, Yao Ming, the great Center for China was by far and away the leading vote-getter which was fine in years when he was playing. But as many people might remember, he had a lot of years where he was hurt with foot problems and all that. And he would still become the leading vote-getter because he was obviously very popular in China where they have a whole lot of people.
And so over the years, there's been— as voting's been opened up to fans on the web— instances of players that become kind of cult heroes and get really close to being voted in to the All Star Game. Last year for example, it was Zaza Pachulia.... He was not a worthy player for the All Star Game. And fans, because his name is Zaza Pachulia and he's kind of fun... was very nearly voted into one of the All Star spots.
And so what happened is, the NBA decided, in an effort to make it a little more fair and to keep people like Zaza Pachulia from earning a spot in the All Star Game , to split it up.... They give fans still half the vote and they'd give players half the vote. The idea being that players would be a little more responsible with their voting than fans would be."
Quotes edited for clarity
To listen to the interview, click on the blue media player above
President Trump says the Mexico border wall is coming
President Donald Trump made a number of announcements Wednesday, including the much discussed, "wall," between Mexico and the United States.
Trump says that construction of the border wall will begin in the coming months.
White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, insists that Mexico will pay for the wall, "one way or another," while the Mexican government insists that it will not.
Since the wall was first suggested, there have been lots of questions about making such a project a reality.
Melissa Del Bosque has been looking into these questions. She covers stories from the U.S.-Mexico border for the Texas Observer. She joined Take Two host A Martinez to talk about what's possible in terms of building a wall - and what's not.
On the substance of the executive order
"We're still waiting to see the substance. I know his press secretary is ... announcing signing the executive order for the wall, but I don't see any talk about how long it will be, how many miles other than president trump's renewed commitment saying that Mexico is definitely going to pay for the wall 100%."
How the President could get Mexico to pay and the likelihood of it happening
"What I suspect he's going to do in his threats over renegotiating NAFTA he's going to try and strong arm them through some kind of renegotiation and NAFTA making them pay for the wall as a concession to some sort of trade deal or something. That would be my guess. I know President Peña Nieto is scheduled to be meeting with [Trump] next week. I'm sure we're going to hear much more about it in the coming days.
"Already political leaders in Mexico are telling him not to even go to the United States because it's such an insult, this announcement from Trump. I'm sure there will be some sort of negotiation, some sort of talk, it's going to be a long and grinding process. "
On how expensive this would be
In Texas, they've talked about between $7 and $9 million a mile. We've already spent $2.4 billion on 650 miles of fence that we already have built. I've seen projections anywhere from $8 billion to $25 billion or more. This is the thing: All of this is done by private defense contractors and developers. This is a huge stimulus for them. So it all depends on the deal they negotiate with the government. It's a massive infrastructure deal.
To hear the full audio click the blue player above.
What's the goal of SoCal's homeless count?
Homeless counts have started throughout Southern California to tally up the number of people without a roof over their heads.
KPCC correspondent Rina Palta shadowed some volunteers in Van Nuys for the first night of L.A. County's three-day census.
They walked around with sheets and tallied every person they came across. That's added to information about how many people are currently living in shelters.
Last year's count found more than 47,000 people are without a home.
What she saw
There were lot of encampments, many of them filled with very young people – 18- to 27-year-olds – living side by side in little structures they'd built along the sidewalk.
Some of readily said they were drug addicts or struggled with mental illness.
A couple of young men I spoke with said they'd moved to Van Nuys from South Central L.A. because they felt safe there.
"People in society kind of look down upon us," said Frank Taylor, 18, "but like us, out here, we're more civilized than people think."
How this information will be used
It's for federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They base their allocations partly on the level of need, and obviously the level of need in L.A. is quite high.
This is also for local officials figuring how to allocate local resources.
Should L.A. County's measure H pass in the upcoming March election – which is a 1/4 cent sales tax for homeless services – where and how that money gets spent will at least partially be determined by the results of this count.
Officials are looking for special information
Really, what they're looking for is more specific demographic information.
The homeless count is really an opportunity not just to see how many people are out there, but who's out there and why.
"There's more females, more and more," LAPD Officer Saul Guardado told me.
He says that's important to know because women on the streets generally have it tougher.
Being able to count that there are more women on the street now, and then tailor the demographic survey to really get a sense of why they're out there, is really helpful in figuring out what resources are needed and where they are needed.
Some counts are using technology to get more accurate numbers
It can be particularly hard because this count is at night and it's difficult to see and find people during that time. But more and more you see counties doing advance work.
Some will try to scour the streets during the day and prior nights and then make sure counters hit those spots.
Orange County uses thermal imaging devices from helicopters to find hidden areas where people might be living in, and then will send census takers to those areas.
If numbers tick up, is that because the homeless population's increasing or these counting strategies are more effective?
That's a good question.
There's so much attention to the numbers in these counts as a barometer of how well L.A. is doing on tackling homelessness.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was out counting last night and he told me, "There's probably a huge margin of error in these counts. Five or ten percent up or down may actually be the margin of error. But when there's a 75 percent increase on the streets, it's undeniable and that's what we see with tents everywhere."
There are also a few weird elements to the count this year, too.
It's obviously been raining a ton and it's cold. Some of the riverbeds, where some homeless usually live, have been flooded.
So it's possible we'll see more people in shelters this year than in the past simply because of the circumstances of this point in time count.
L.A.'s count was one every two years, but will probably be an annual event now
Local officials know that this is people's number one issue.
They're also investing huge sums of taxpayer dollars into trying to house the homeless and get them off the streets.
So they're going to want this annual count to basically get a sense of how they're doing.
The Brood: Why the modern concept of 'parenting' may be deeply flawed
When we raise our kids, we try our best to make sure they turn out happy and healthy.
We want them to be smart, ethical, kind people. Because, after all, their future is a reflection of how well we've raised them, right?
Maybe not.
What if we've been going about this whole "parenting" business the wrong way?
It's a fascinating idea explored in a book called "The Gardener and the Carpenter," by Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Interview highlights:
On the current dominant picture of relations between parents and children in the U.S.— the 'carpenter model'
The picture is that being a parent is a kind of work. So the idea is that you have some kind of goals or plans or outcomes. You want your children to grow up to be a happy, healthy, smart adult. And if you just get the right techniques, if you just read the right books and do the right things, you can get the skill to make your children come out the way that you want, in the same way that a carpenter becomes skilled and then can take a bunch of pieces of wood and then make a chair as a result.
Why the 'carpenter model' of parenting is flawed
If you actually look at the science of relations between parents and children... there's not much evidence that the kinds of small differences in parenting techniques that parents obsess about make very much difference in the long run. Even though there's lots of evidence that being a parent, caring for a child, providing a safe, protected environment, is important in the long run. But it's important in a different way. So the picture that comes out of the science is that what being a parent is all about is providing a protected, safe, rich environment in which many different kinds of children can flourish and many different kinds of children can do many different kinds of unexpected things.
On the idea behind the 'gardening model' of parenting
What you really want to do when you create a garden is to create a flexible, varied, dynamic ecosystem that can respond to changing conditions. So just as in the case of being a parent, even if you could shape your garden so that every single flower looked exactly the way that you wanted to, you would have defeated the whole purpose of having a garden. And in fact, one of the things we've discovered in biology is that monocultures, when we really do just say we're going to have one kind of plant and we're going to feed it and fertilize it and put pesticides on it until it comes out to be the best possible plant that it can, one of things we know is that those systems are very fragile... and you're much better off having a system that's unpredictable, that's complex, that's varied. That's a much more robust, flexible system than I think the monoculture that goes with the parenting system.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue media player above.
On Thursday January 26th, Alison Gopnik will be appearing in conversation with Alex Cohen at the Central LA Public Library for their series ALOUD. Click here to find out more.
The Styled Side: You, too, can have a stylist
Oscar nominations are out and that means the nominees will need to prepare themselves for red-carpet glamour.
Those stars don't do it on their own, however. They have help – a lot of help – from stylists.
You can, too.
"In places such as Los Angeles there are many stylists who cater to celebrities," says Michelle Dalton Tyree of Fashion Trends Daily, "but there are also many who only want to work with 'regular' clients and are strictly personal stylists."
Everyone wants to be like superstar stylist Rachel Zoe, but she had a lot of dues to pay before she became her own brand.
"Being a well-paid, celebrity stylist that always has work is definitely an elite status," says Tyree, "but it's become such a sought-after profession here in LA that it can seem as if everyone's a stylist."
So many like Alison Deyette made a name for themselves by catering to non-celebs, and finds it enjoyable to help with their transformations.
"They were raising kids, maybe they're single moms, maybe they got a frustrating job and I was part of that process that gave them enlightenment to make changes in their lives," says Deyette. "It doesn't get the limelight, it doesn't get cameras, there's no red carpet. But I find it's far more lasting than just choosing a dress that goes down the red carpet."
San Diego-based stylist Mahjuba adds that when she started out in 2002, most of her clients were rich housewives. Now, it's mostly professionals who often struggle with time management. Mahjuba helping them put together a wardrobe means one last thing her clients have to do.
These services don't come cheap, however.
An average rate for a personal stylist is between $150 to $200 an hour
"Then, of course, you are purchasing the clothes," adds Tyree. "Expect that you're at least going to shell out $2,500 on clothes alone. And that's the low end."
There are some compelling reasons not to go the cheap route and have a friend help you for free, though, like competition.
"Stylists warned to exercise extreme caution when using friends because they felt that they often do not have your best interest at heart," says Tyree, "and do not want you to look better than they do. Or they also may not be willing to give you hard truths, either."
But there are still some inexpensive ways to get style help, like through books such as, "Where Stylists Shop," and subscribing to a monthly clothing service like StitchFix.
Not to mention department stores often have salespeople earn commission for acting as personal shoppers.