How often do endorsements translate into votes?, Bay Area residents prepare for the Super Bowl by renting out their properties, a look into the world of drug gangs.
Behold the awesome power of political endorsements
In the days leading up to the caucuses in Iowa and the New Hampshire primary, some presidential hopefuls are getting an extra boost in the form of endorsements.
Just this week, The Boston Globe and the Des Moines Register recommended voters choose Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Republican front-runner Donald Trump scored backing from evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Junior, as well as controversial anti-immigration sheriff, Joe Arpaio.
But how often do endorsements translate into votes?
Hans Noel is an associate professor of government at Georgetown University. He also helped pen the book, "The Party Decides: Presidential Nominations Before and After Reform."
He explained the role that endorsements have played in past primary elections, and what endorsements could mean to presidential candidates in 2016.
PRESS THE PLAY BUTTON ABOVE TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW.
The shift that is changing the face of immigration and America
Yesterday on the program, Josie Huang, a reporter based at Southern California Public Radio, shared her own report about what immigration from China looks like here in SoCal.
She focused on the waves of teenagers coming from China to the San Gabriel Valley, where they study in school with dreams of attending U.S. colleges.
Today, NPR's Hansi Lo Wong shared his report on north China immigrants coming to New York city. The Big Apple is already home to the largest Chinese community of any city outside of Asia.
For decades, most of those who immigrated came from China's southern provinces, however that majority is shifting.
We want to better understand how that shift, along with what we've just learned in Josie's story, is changing the face of immigration and of America.
Josie Huang and NPR's Hansi Lo Wong joined the show to discuss.
How big theater chains might be trying to put the indy guys out of business
You probably won't have trouble finding showtimes for Kung Fu Panda when it comes out, especially if you have one of those big, sprawling theater chains near you.
What if, though, the only screens around are in a small, independent theater?
Some of these mom and pop movie houses are claiming that the big boys such as Regal and AMC are using their muscle and pressuring studios not to offer their films to the indy theaters.
Now, the little guys are getting together and taking their case to court. They say the big chains are operating as kind of a monopoly.
A Martinez joins
, Senior Editor at The Hollywood Reporter, for a discussion on the topic.
If you'd like to hear the entire segment click on the audio embedded at the top of this post.
Sports roundup: Blake Griffin's fateful punch, Kobe Bryant dishes advice
Los Angeles Clippers' star Blake Griffin was expected to return to action this week, but that was derailed after he broke a bone in his hand punching the team's assistant equipment manager. So where does that leave the team? And Kobe Bryant is in the final months of his stellar NBA career and when he's not in the game, he's dishing advice to the younger players on the struggling team. Are they listening?
We're joined by
.
Rental listings in Santa Clara increase for Super Bowl 50
Super Bowl 50 is set for February seventh at Levi's stadium in Santa Clara. Tickets to see the Broncos and Panthers play for football's top prize are going for an average of $5,000.
If you've already put forward the money for the big event, that leaves one more task: Finding a place to stay before and after the game.
Most of the nearby hotel rooms have already been snatched up. That's left many turning to local renters on Airbnb for temporary housing.
And those looking to rent out their property could stand to collect a tidy profit.
To help us learn more about how to best utilize the renting process, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke to David Ordal, CEO of Everbooked, a company that provides pricing and market analytics for Airbnb.
The latest on the escaped Orange County inmates
In Southern California, $200 thousand dollars is being offered up as a reward for information leading to the capture of three inmates.
The men, considered very dangerous, escaped from Orange county's Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana late last week.
Our Orange County reporter, Erica Aguilar, who has been covering the search for the escapees, and the investigation into their breakout joined the show to give us the latest.
Impatient: Treating postpartum depression in LA
Yesterday the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that pregnant women and new mothers should be screened for depression. In Los Angeles County, some pregnant women are already being screened, and getting the care that they need, through innovative programs at county hospitals.
Southern California Public Radio's health reporter Rebecca Plevin has been talking with local doctors about postpartum depression and how it's being treated in LA. She joins A Martinez for a chat on the topic for our regular consumer health focused segment called "Impatient."
If you'd like to hear the entire interview click on the link embedded at the top of this post. If you'd like to read Rebecca's breakdown of the issue, click here.
Do you need to worry about the Zika virus in Southern California?
In El Salvador, health officials are now warning women not to get pregnant for at least the next two years. This due to concerns about possible birth defects linked to the Zika virus.
Other countries throughout the Americas have issued similar warnings. And yesterday, President Obama made an urgent call for more testing and the development of vaccines as the mosquito-born virus spreads throughout the Americas.
So far, no one is believed to have contracted the Zika virus in the U.S., but a few cases have been confirmed in California, including one girl in L.A. County who got it while traveling in El Salvador.
Do you need to worry about traveling if you're also planning on getting pregnant? What do you need to look out for?
Alex Cohen speaks with Dr. Karin Nielsen, a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
To hear the entire interview click on the link embedded at the top of this post.
A look inside the vast, violent network of Latin America's drug lords
The story of drug gangs in the Americas is one that stretches from the favelas of Brazil to the remote mountains of Mexico to U.S. towns and cities.
And the top shot-callers have taken on the personas of savvy CEO businessmen, mythical folk heroes and brutal crime lords.
"They often have this incredible charisma," said Ioan Grillo, whose new book, Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields and the New Politics of Latin America, chronicles the complex web of narcotraffickers. "To be a leader of many other killers, you have to have a natural leadership."
That leadership often relies on carefully-cultivated reputations made through violence and media – including telenovelas, music, even video games.
"These people have this amazing infamy, this notoriety which turns them into these kinds of rockstars, but at the same time they also have this extremely violent side," said Grillo.
The violence spills into U.S. communities in the form of crime and forced migration and is fed by a multi-billion dollar illicit drug market, said Grillo.
"While right now the violence is being kept outside U.S. borders, that may not always be the case," he said.
What: Author Ioan Grillo discussing his book, Gangster Warlords
When: Wednesday, January 27, 7:00pm
Where: Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101
More: www.vromansbookstore.com
Read an excerpt from Grillo's book, Gangster Warlords.
New series 'Lost LA' explores untold stories of LA history
When you think of Los Angeles, what do you picture?
The towering buildings which dot the downtown skyline? The glamour of Hollywood? The density of all the millions who now call this place home? Well, L.A. didn't always look like this.
A new KCET series called "Lost LA," created in partnership with the USC Libraries explores an era quite different from the city we now know— one filled with grizzly bears, when the L.A. river flowed year round.
Nathan Masters, an L.A. historian with the USC Libraries, hosts the show. He stopped by Take Two to talk about bringing to life some of the surprising stories he's uncovered in the archives.
The first episode of "Lost LA" premieres January 27th at 8:30pm PT on KCET. You can find a sneak peek here.
The Styled Side: the death of Kitson
Now, to a retailer that's added yet another chapter in LA's fashion history: Kitson.
The upscale department store got its start back in 2000. The name comes from the middle name of its founder, Scottish-born and Canadian-raised Fraser Kitson Ross.
But the names most associated with the brand were stars like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, who shopped at the store's flagship location on Robertson Boulevard.
This past weekend, Kitson closed the last of its 17 shops.
What the death of this posh chain means, is what we're talking about on The Styled Side. Michelle Dalton Tyree of Fashion Trends Daily joins the show to discuss.
A brief history of classic Los Angeles Boutiques
Enough of the future, let's delve deep into L.A.'s fashion past for a moment. The closure of Kitson is sad to many who consider Southern California home.
It's just the latest in a long line of clothing stores which have come into this world, flourished and then bit the bullet.
Alison Martino, founder of Vintage Los Angeles, joins the show to look back on some of the other late great retailers.
To hear the full interview, click the play button above.