Today, we start with a discussion about the increase in California's minimum wage to $9/hour. Then, California extends paid family leave benefits. Plus, Robert Townsend on his film "Hollywood Shuffle" and the roles black actors are offered today, President Obama plans to sidestep Congress on Immigration, Prescott community still healing from Yarnell Hill Fire tragedy and much more.
Comparing California and Seattle's minimum wage bumps
As California's minimum wage increases to nine dollars an hour and eventually $10 in 2016, it's still under the ambitious minimum wage plans in Seattle, where it will increase to $15/hour in 2017.
To discuss the pros and cons of a faster, larger minimum wage increase versus a smaller, more incremental one, we're joined by Chris Tilly, director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Minimum wage numbers at the city, state and federal level
Seattle
2014 - $9.32/hour (WA state minimum)
2015 - $10-$11/hour*
2016 - $10.50-$13/hour*
2017 - $11-$15/hour*
Washington
2014 - $9.32/hour
2015- $9.54/hour
2016 - $9.77/hour
2017- $10.01/hour
California
2014 - $9/hour (current)
2016 - $10/hour
Federal
1938 - $.25/hour (first minimum wage ever)
2009 - $7.25/hour (current)
*Seattle's minimum wage increase is on a scale based on employer size and benefits.
CA extends paid family leave to in-laws, siblings and others
Another law that kicks into effect today expands the scope California's paid family leave law.
For the past decade, workers have been able to receive paid time off while taking care of a sick child, parent, spouse or domestic partner. Now, the range of people one can care for has expanded to include siblings, grandparents, in-laws and grandchildren.
For more on this Take Two is joined by Julia Parish, attorney with the Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center.
One year not enough time to heal from Yarnell Fire tragedy
On this day year the community of Prescott, Arizona was waking up to the horrific news that 19 of their own had died in the Yarnell Hill Fire. On June 30, 2013 the flames engulfed almost an entire crew in a box canyon. On the anniversary, the town was still healing from the enormous loss. KJZZ's Laurel Morales brings us this story from Prescott.
On the anniversary the town was still healing from the enormous loss.
Dozens of families, friends and firefighters started the day with a hike to the top of Thumb Butte, where the Granite Mountain Hotshots trained.
Duane Steinbrink, the retired chief of Prescott’s wildland division, led the hike.
"They’d pack up full gears, 65 pound backpack carrying chain saws, sig bottles, which is gasoline and oil for the chainsaws," Steinbrink said. "Anyway they’d be carrying 65 pounds plus all their equipment they’d be hiking up to the top of Granite Mountain timed."
Hotshots are often sent to work in rugged remote parts of the country, so they must meet high physical standards. This crew had a former Marine for a captain, so he made their training particularly strenuous.
Todd Rhines also worked closely with the crew as the fuel management supervisor.
He said for the past year he’s felt the presence of the men on many sleepless nights.
"They’re still around," Rhines said. "They visit quite often. I don't know if that’s something I want to go away or not. It’s tough. They were my 19 boys so it’s very tough."
"I can’t sit around and mope forever, my brother probably would’ve punched me for doing that," Bobby Woyjeck said.
He took to the trail in honor of his brother Kevin, who died with the crew.
"Nobody writes a manual for this type of stuff. It’s all about how you turn it around," Woyjeck said.
For Woyjeck that meant becoming an EMT. It would make his brother proud.
Last summer family, friends and community members covered the chain-link fence outside the Granite Mountain Hotshot Station with signs, flags, T-shirts, teddy bears, Matchbox firetrucks, crosses. More than 6,000 items have been catalogued and many are on display at the Saint Michael's hotel downtown.
Katie Cornelius is the volunteer curator for the Prescott Fire Department.
"We have found things that were very special to people that they pulled out of their closet," Cornelius said. "We have a Marine Corps flag attached to a flag with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart attached to it. He gave 'em his Bronze Star and Purple Heart."
At the end of the day, hundreds of people gathered on the Yavapai County Courthouse Square. The afternoon is warm, sunny but windless, unlike last year at this time. Prescott Fire Battalion Chief Don Devendorf spoke to the crowd.
"The absolute worst thing that can happen to a family is to lose a loved one," Devendorf said. "We lost 19 loved ones. And when I say we I mean all of us. So as we move into the future we cannot forget that we overcame together. It was only because we counted on each other, had the strength and endured."
At 4:42 p.m. when 19 bells ring out at the precise time of the firefighters’ death, it was difficult not to imagine what the men went through in their final moments.
As Granite Mountain Hotshot alumnus Pat McCarty read their names, many in the crowd wiped away tears.
The sun sank low in the sky and the ceremony came to a close. Bagpipes played Amazing Grace. The honor guard marched on.
President Obama plans to sidestep Congress on Immigration
President Obama announced he's taking charge in the immigration debate with bold steps on reform through executive order.
"I'm beginning a new effort to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own," he said from the Rose Garden, "Without Congress."
Immigration reform continues to stagnate in Congress while 11 million undocumented immigrants are waiting for some kind of action. With lawmakers out this week for the July 4th holiday, Obama's move puts pressure on Congress to come back either with a plan for reform or a challenge directly to him on the issue.
To look at what kind of orders the President could issue, and the limits to those powers, UCLA law professor Hiroshi Motomura joins Take Two. He's also the author of the new book, "Immigration Outside the Law," and was influential the last time the President issued an order that affected immigration: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
GI Bill funds flow to for-profit colleges that fail state aid standards
The World War II GI Bill sent millions of veterans to school and helped create the American middle class. But what about the new GI Bill for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan?
About two-thirds of the available money in California goes to for-profit schools, and many vets say all they get are worthless degrees and few job prospects. Aaron Glantz with The Center for Investigative Reporting has this report.
The Solar Challenge In Texas: Lessons learned from Arizona & California
Texas is an energy superpower, and not just because of all that oil. Texas produces more natural gas than any other state, and it also leads the nation in wind energy production. But solar? Not so much. From the Fronteras Desk, Lorne Matalon has this look at the economics of solar in the Lone Star State.
Three attempts by the Texas state legislature to give incentives to solar have failed. The economics of solar in Texas stand in contrast to the rest of the southwest. And a prominent Texas regulator says solar should not receive any government assistance to expand its footprint.
The United States Department of Energy says Texas represents 20 per cent of the country’s potential solar output. So why is solar sluggish in Texas? Blame it on mix of policy choices and economics.
“The situation in Texas is quite different,” said Varun Rai, an assistant professor and solar expert at the University of Texas in Austin.
“If you want to compare with with California or Arizona, they have renewable portfolio standards that require a certain amount of electricity to be generated from solar or other renewables.”
That means every year, California and Arizona use more and more solar as demand for electricity rises. But like Rai said, it’s different here.
“In Texas, we do have a renewable portfolio standard. The goal is 10 gigawatts of power by 2025. But that was met in 2010.”
And Rai says little’s taken place since.
"So the overall regulatory context is actually not very strong here," he said.
Although opponents have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review them, Texas and 29 other states have renewable energy mandates.
But the mandate in Texas doesn’t specifically promote solar. The goal is met principally by wind. And developers are far more attracted to wind where startup costs are significantly less.
The Environmental Defense Fund’s Marita Mirzatuny says that lack of a state solar mandate is stunting solar’s development.
“It creates an air of uncertainty in terms of financing," she said.
And unlike California and Arizona, Texas lacks what’s called net-metering. A net meter spins both forward and backward---recording power produced and power used.
Electricity produced by solar is subtracted from the customer’s monthly bill. Net metering has allowed solar to expand in Arizona and California.
And now the head of the Texas Public Utilities Commission is calling for an end to all energy subsidies. If you install solar, you receive a 30 per cent federal tax credit to defray installation costs.
Larry Perea heads a small, 8-person company called Solar Smart Living. Perea serves Texas and New Mexico.
“Solar needs some incentives still. That 30 per cent tax credit is very important,” said Perea.
But he says the industry will one day not need subsidies.
“As equipment cost goes down, installation costs go down, and energy prices go up, it’s likely to sustain itself without that kind of incentive.”
Despite a lack of state incentives, two Texas towns have embraced solar. Municipally-owned utilities in Austin and San Antonio offer customer rebates.
And they’ve signed long-term contracts with solar producers. California’s Recurrent Energy hascommitted to send even more solar to Austin. First Solar of Arizona has broken ground on a utility-grade solar farm in west Texas.
I spoke with Raymond Rapisand, head of business development at the University of Texas, El Paso’s,Regional Cyber and Energy Security Center. He says several southwest towns aren't waiting for government incentives to forge ahead.
“I’ve seen it happening from El Paso to California where that’s happening now,” he said brimming with enthusiasm.
Rapisand says there are other hopeful signs. In the last legislative session in Texas, businesses were granted the option of paying for solar equipment installation through their property tax. There’s no upfront cost and like a mortgage, it’s paid out over decades.
“Once more people in the business community are aware that, ‘hey I can put solar on my business and put it on my property taxes and I don’t tie up my cash flow, I could get solar,’ “ he concluded.
But the reality is that solar is hampered by deep reserves of cheap natural gas. Oil and gas might give Texas a sense of complacency.
Other states, notably Arizona and California, don’t have that option.
Endangered orcas still struggle to survive despite protection
The coastal waters from Washington to California are home to a community of killer whales known as the southern resident orcas.
In 2005, after their population precipitously declined, they wound up on the federal endangered species list. The orcas' food sources and habitat have been threatened by pollution and traffic from busy shipping lanes.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been studying these massive mammals all this time, and their newly released research shows this community is still struggling to survive.
Brad Hanson, a biologist with NOAA's fishery center said the whales are threatened by a complex set of factors, from diminishing food sources, to contaminants and complications from living in congested waters, that seem to be affecting their reproductive success and overall health.
The southern resident orcas preferred food source, chinook salmon, has been increasingly threatened by environmental factors leading to a likely calorie reduction in the orcas' diet. That coupled with the extra energy expended to avoid ships and communicate in noisy waters could be imperiling the orcas.
Hanson said NOAA will continue to focus on improving watersheds where chinook salmon live and trying to control for contaminants, such as agricultural waste that affects salmon swimming in waters in California's Central Valley, which are an increasing food source for these whales.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Big Freedia, Iman Omari, Miles Tackett, Vacationer and more
Music supervisor Morgan Rhodes and Oliver Wang from Soul-Sides.com bring us new music by Iman Omari, Miles Tackett, Vacationer and more.
Morgan's Picks
Artist: Iman Omari
Album: Samadhi EP
Songs: "Wait A Minute (feat Tiffany Gouche)" "Take You There"
Iman Omari is the son of a one of the founding members of a popular '80s group. Have a dozen releases in the last couple of years, he is a rising star in the future soul genre and an expert in marrying samples, loops, beats and vocals.
Artist: Vacationer
Album: Relief
Songs: "Fresh" "Go Anywhere"
Vacationer is considered Nu-Hula...think tropical dream pop. This is the second full length album from these indie darlings from Philadelphia.
Artist: Purple Ferdinand
Album: Dragonfly EP
Songs: "Birds" "Wasn't Taught To"
Last year, East London's Purple Ferdinand got a nice shout from BBC 1, a place on their hot in 2013 list. This off the strength of an unreleased EP called Beautiful Anomaly. Organic, acoustic soul with a side of sultry.
Oliver's Picks
Artist: Miles Tackett
Album: The Fool Who Wanders
Songs: "Come Away" "Just What I Need"
Miles Tackett formed Breakestra back in the mid 1990s and they've been a stalwart retro-soul/funk band in L.A. Tackett also runs the long running Funky Sole party in Echo Park. Though Breakestra has put out a slew of recordings, this is Miles's first solo effort and it definitely has a different sound from Breakestra: less frenetic, more mellow, and Miles feeling out his vocal oats in a way that we didn't hear often with Breakestra.
Artist: Big Freedia
Album: Just Be Free
Songs: "Explode"
Big Freedia is a New Orleans sissy bounce artist by way of Jamaica, knowing for super high energy dance tracks. This is his fourth studio album, "Explode" was the lead single.
Artist: Sam Smith
Song: "How Will I Know"
This is a one-off cover he did for SiriusXM radio and he takes one of Whitney's best known dance tunes and flipped into a mega-croony ballad. Surprisingly good!
State Of Affairs: A look at Mayor Garcetti's first 365 days in office
It's been a year since Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti took office. Southern California Public Radio political reporters Alice Walton and Frank Stoltze join Take Two for a look at what he's accomplished in these 365 days.
If we were in fact grading the mayor, what letter grade would you give him and why?
Back when he was candidate Garcetti, he promised to create 20,000 new jobs in the green sector. Where is he on that promise?
Another promise was to make all of the city's general managers reapply for their jobs. Why did Garcetti say it was important to do this? Did he follow through on the promise?
The Mayor has supported phasing out the gross receipts tax. Remind us what this tax is and why Eric Garcetti wants to get rid of it? How's that goal coming along?
City Hall's relationship with the Department of Water and Power has received so much attention this year. The mayor said he would reform the utility by bringing more transparency and accountability. Is the DWP of 2014 any different than the DWP of 2013?
Garcetti has repeatedly said he wants to make City Hall more transparent and more accessible. His staff now posts metrics about city services online. The Mayor himself is all over social media of all kinds. Have those efforts translated into more transparency?
Looking back at his first year, what do you see as his biggest accomplishment and his biggest misstep?
Growing Latino, Asian communities in Orange County drive political, economic changes
Orange County has a reputation as a place of affluence and conservatism. It’s the home of Richard Nixon and the John Birch Society, and the setting for the teen drama, "The OC," in the mid 2000s, which portrayed an affluent, mostly-white cast in beach side towns.
But the reality on the ground is much different, according to a new report from the UCLA Labor Center and the UC Irvine Community Project. It finds that Orange County is home to fast-growing Latino and Asian communities and a changing economy.
Communities of color now make up nearly 60 percent of Orange County residents, says Saba Waheed, research director with the UCLA Labor Center. And that's coming as economic growth is shaping how and where people live.
"Orange County's economy is growing but it's growing in largely low-wage work and a lot of those jobs are getting filled by the Latino communities and to some degree also the Asian communities," said Waheed on Take Two. "When you have such high cost of living, when you have such unaffordability in housing, it just doesn't make it a sustainable place for workers to live there."
But the political landscape is also changing.
"There actually is a potential for building a new Orange County," says Waheed.
Full report: Orange County on the Cusp of Change, a joint report from the UC Irvine Community and Labor Project and the UCLA Labor Center.
World Cup 2014: US to play Belgium, Argentina faces Switzerland
At the World Cup in Brazil, six teams have qualified for the quarterfinals with two spots left. Today, Argentina faces Switzerland and the U.S. takes on Belgium. We're joined by the BBC's Steve Crossman for the latest.
Will rat poison ban do enough to protect pets, wildlife?
Starting today, consumers in California no longer will be able to buy a potent and popular form of rat poison, because the compound has been getting into the food chain of wild animals.
But as KPCC's Jed Kim reports, some question whether the ban will do much to change that.
Study: Fish-eating spiders found all over the world
A lot of people are afraid of spiders, our creepy, crawly, eight-legged friends.
One thing you might guess about spiders is that they only feed on insects, but you'd be wrong. Scientists have discovered that many spider species actually feed on fish by pulling them right out of the water.
The findings are included in a new report out this week in the journal Plos One, co-authorers by arachnologist Martin Nyffeler at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Nyffeler joins the show with more.
Robert Townsend on 'Hollywood Shuffle' and roles for black actors today
More than 25 years ago, a small, low budget movie caught the fascination of movie viewers across the country.
"Hollywood Shuffle" was the story of a young African-American actor struggling to break into the film business. His troubles lie not with his talent, but the stereotypical roles that he’s asked to play.
Robert Townsend wrote, directed and starred in the movie, and its being celebrated as part of L.A. Magazine’s look at the '80s. He stopped by the studio to talk to host Alex Cohen and she asked him about one of the legendary back stories of the movie and how he produced the film:
His motivation for producing the film stemmed from his experience as a black actor in Hollywood. Although he was educated and trained as an actor, most of the parts offered black actors at the time were for stereotypical parts like pimps, crooks or hoods:
One of the funniest and most talked about parts of the movie was a "ad" for a Black Acting School:
We asked him what he thought about acting opportunities for actors of color these days, especially given the fact that two high profile films in the past year were "The Butler" and "12 Years a Slave." Here's what he had to say:
If you want to see the film for yourself tonight, click this link.
Fashionistas forecast: The jumpsuit is back
Is the jumpsuit the new dress? Is the '70s staple making a leap beyond hipster-wear and into the mainstream? Fashion Trends Daily's Michelle Dalton Tyree joins Take Two to talk about how this versatile, yet "tricky" garment may or may not be fashion's next big cash cow.