A roundtable discussion about the drought with three California farmers, how water rights work in the West, the latest news in the film industry.
California's drought -- from a farming perspective
Four years into California's drought, conditions have hit the state's farmers especially hard, prompting a revaluation of farming practices and, at times, innovation.
In April, when California Gov. Jerry Brown called on residents to cut water use by 25 percent, they listened. In May, water use dropped almost 29 percent. The restrictions did not apply to farmers, however.
But the picture is much more complicated.
Host A Martinez sat down with three farmers to talk about how the drought is affecting them, and what they're doing to respond to the current conditions:
- Nikiko Masumoto from Masumoto Farm based in Del Rey, just outside of Fresno.
- Cannon Michael, a 6th generation farmer with Bowles Farming based in Los Banos, Central California.
- Paul Wenger, an almond farmer and president of the California Farm Bureau.
A law professor explains California's 'arcane' water rights system
Last month, California's water resources control board sent notices to so-called "senior water rights holders" ordering them to stop drawing water from rivers and streams.
While that might not sound surprising four years into a drought, to the growers, irrigation districts and communities that have held the rights to that water for more than a century, it's a very big deal.
Some are continuing to pump water, and others have filed lawsuits that challenge the restrictions—welcome to the arcane world of water rights in the West.
Stanford law professor Buzz Thompson, Director of the Woods Institute for the Environment, joined Take Two to explain why California's water rights system built up the way it did and how it's impacting the state's response to the drought.
To hear the full interview, click the link above.
On the Lot: Hello Kitty! On the big screen
Each week, the LA Times' Rebecca Keegan joins us for important news from the film business. Who's big at the box office, what name director turned down a movie, which superhero franchise is getting a reboot.
There's lots of that news this week. But the really, really important news concerns a character that, heretofore, has been ubiquitous on lunch boxes, but absent from the big screen.
Stand by for Hello Kitty, the movie. The 40-year-old feline phenom already has a Facebook page (Kitty lives in London, collects goldfish), so a movie seems the logical next step.
And this is not going to be an indy film, or a low-budget exploitation flick. The Japanese firm that's producing the film, scheduled for release in 2019, says it will have a budget somewhere around $200 million.
That's a lot of kitty litter.
Donald Trump's troubles and Spanish language media
The outcry over Donald Trump's comments that some Mexican immigrants are bringing drugs, or are criminals and rapists has not died down. But it was Spanish language media that first drew much of the attention to the issue and that could be a sign of things to come in next year's presidential election.
Veronica VillaFane, editor and publisher of Media Moves, which covers Latino media, joined the show with more.
'Eating Up the West Coast' captures taste of West Coast road trip favorites
Brigit Binns got to do what many could only dream of: She hopped in her car for a road trip, made her way from San Diego to Seattle, and ate the best of what the West Coast has to offer along the way.
But don't worry, she brought everyone back a souvenir in the form of her latest cook book, in conjunction with Sunset magazine: "Eating Up the West Coast: The best road trips, restaurants, and recipes from California to Washington."
She joined host Tess Vigeland to talk about the book. Hear more from Brigit Binns by clicking the blue audio player above. You can also try your hand at making dungeness crab mac n' cheese by using the recipe below.
NorCal pot growers raided over water waste
Northern California law enforcement recently conducted one of the biggest marijuana raids in years.
Over 100,000 pot plants were uprooted. This wasn’t your ordinary pot bust, however; this sweep took place in the area known as the “Emerald Triangle,” a span of forest dotted with hundreds of illicit pot-farming operations. While the large scale cultivation of cannabis remains illegal under state and federal law, authorities now say that they’re cracking down for another reason: extreme water use.
“They estimate 500,000 gallons of water a day were being sucked down by these marijuana plants,” says reporter Josh Harkinson, who wrote about the raid for Mother Jones. He says growers were diverting so much water to their farms, it was starting to take a toll on wildlife. “That might be okay if you’re a big field in central valley with senior water rights, but if you’re taking that [from] small mountain streams that support salmon and trout, then it can have a pretty big impact.”
Harkinson says pot is a 31-billion dollar a year industry in California. Because illegal pot farming is so prolific, he says it’s unlikely that local law enforcement broke up the encampment simply because it was illegal. He says California’s deepening drought has caused a shift in priorities for local law enforcement, and that there could be more raids in the future. “If they were just going after marijuana, they would have a lot of work to do,” he says. “I think they chose this particularly because it has a huge environmental impact.”
Not everybody agrees with this conclusion, however. Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the Emerald Grower’s Association says this is just business as usual. “Nothing in this raid says anything about environmental impact,” Allen says. “The number of plants they seize is what they put on their funding requests and they’re using the drought and water as political cover to carry on the drug war, just like they have for decades.”
Press the play button above to hear more about the impact that pot farmers are having on the California drought.
Lowrider Magazine's founder remembered for his place in Chicano history
Sonny Madrid, the founder of Lowrider Magazine, died last month after a battle with cancer. He was 70.
The magazine he founded in 1977 was the first publication to chronicle and celebrate lowrider car culture in California. Beyond the tricked-out cars and pin-ups on the covers, the magazine played a role in the Chicano civil rights movement too.
Denise Sandoval, Professor of Chicano Studies at Cal State Northridge, joined Take Two to talk about Lowrider Magazine and Sonny Madrid's legacy.
To hear the full interview with Denise Sandoval, click the link above.