Packs of teens go on robbery spree in Hollywood; Santa Monica parters with state to improve work conditions at nail salons; US offers 'athlete' visas to League of Legends video game players; Home Run Derby viewers critical of ESPN reporter's bilingual interviews, plus much more.
Packs of teens go on robbery spree in Hollywood
Last night, packs of young people swept through Hollywood, stealing cell phones and souvenirs from local shops. More than 100 police officers were called in and made several arrest, most under the age of 18.
LAPD Commander Andy Smith joins the show with the latest.
Two Republican Senators sign on to military sexual assault bill
Following reports this spring of sexual assault and misconduct in the military, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand proposed legislation to address the issue.
Specifically, her bill would take the decision of whether to prosecute out of the hands of military commanders and put it in the hands of a new justice system. The proposal needed 51 votes to move out of the Senate Armed Services Committee to the Senate floor.
It failed to pass earlier this year, but it is gaining momentum. Currently, the bill has more than 30 co-sponsors. Yesterday, two rising Republican stars added their names to the list of supporters, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Darren Samuelsohn has been covering the proposed legislation for POLITICO and joins the show with more.
Some students, faculty oppose Napolitano as new UC president
University of California Regents are meeting in San Francisco on Thursday to vote on the appointment of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to be the next UC president — one of the most prestigious jobs in higher education — but some are asking whether she's the right person for the job.
KPCC's Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports.
Home Run Derby viewers critical of ESPN reporter's bilingual interviews (Poll)
Earlier this week, Cuban player Yoenis Cespedes took home the trophy for Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby. But a moment off the field was also in the spotlight.
When ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez interviewed Cespedes after the game, he asked the native Spanish speaker a question in Spanish, then translated the answer in English.
Almost immediately on social media, people went to congratulate Cespedes, but also criticized Gomez for doing the interview in Spanish:
Not sure why we had to hear the Pedro Gomez interviews in Spanish. Put that crap on ESPN Deportes. We speak English in 'Merica.
— Dan Harris (@ItsGucciTime4)
Hey Pedro Gomez you're so cool speaking English and Spanish to Yoenis!!! New HR derby rule: you can't partake if you can't speak English.
— Cary Panichello (@CPanichello)
Some also responded positively to Gomez's grasp of both languages:
Watching
conduct an interview in English and then Spanish simultaneously is incredibly impressive. Trust me. Very difficult.
— Eric SanInocencio (@EricSan)
Watching @pedrogomezESPN conduct an interview in English and then Spanish simultaneously is incredibly impressive. Trust me. Very difficult.
— Eric SanInocencio (he/him) (@EricSan) July 16, 20133
What's wrong with Spanish on the field? Joining us is ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez and Adrian Burgos Jr., professor of history at the University of Illinois and author of, "Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line."
Weigh In:
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
US offers 'athlete' visas to League of Legends video game players
Video gamers don't really come to mind when you hear the term, professional athlete. However, the U.S. government has now decided that some gamers may apply for a P1 visa, which was previously reserved for professional athletes.
Sports Roundup: All-Star game, Tiger Woods and more
Time for a look at sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, brother who have covered sports for the L.A. Times and ESPN.
We are in a odd little scheduling pocket of the sports year. There are no games in any of the four major leagues; the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB are dark. We even half-joke about it in sports media circles, this our Bermuda Triangle. But we still we have a few things to talk about.
The American League beat the National League 3-0 in last night's All Star Game in New York.
Who will be the next face of baseball, kind of like the NBA has with LeBron? It doesn't help when baseball's faces keep getting attached to drug issues.
Last night's All-Star festivities ended highlighting one player that really is above reproach: Mariano Rivera.
From the world of golf, we have the English and the British Open this week. Tiger Woods is seen as the favorite, he's ranked #1 but should he be?
If Tiger retired today there's a good argument for him to remembered as the best, most successful and influential golfer of all time. But why does it feel like this chapter of his career is starting to define him?
Santa Monica partners with state to improve work conditions at nail salons
Santa Monica has become the first southern California community to partner with a statewide program aimed at improving the health of nail salon technicians.
Starting this week, nail salons can work with the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative to figure out how to improve the air quality of the workplace through only using certain nail polishes and installing better ventilation systems.
The hope is that this effort will help with short-term problems such as skin irritation and prevent longer-term respiratory illnesses.
An estimated 60-80 percent of California's 120,000 nail technicians are Vietnamese immigrants that the collaborative says are often putting a paycheck for their family ahead of their health. Workers who speak Vietnamese have been hired to do outreach in the community, and organize events to promote nail salon workers who are often viewed as lower-status in their communities.
Lisa Fu, outreach and program director of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, joins the show to talk about the effort.
Controversy brews over Rolling Stone cover showing Boston bomber
The next issue of Rolling Stone isn't out until Friday, but already, it's stirring a lot of controversy. That's because of the cover story about alleged Boston bomber Dzohkhar Tsarnaev.
For more on this, we're joined by Bob Garfield, cohost of NPR's "On the Media."
Hedge funds are not the sexy investments they used to be
Think of the words "hedge fund" and your mind goes to yachts, summer beach houses and limousines. But here's a dirty little secret: Hedge funds on the whole under-perform far less sexy investments like mutual funds.
Sheelah Kolhatkar of Bloomberg wrote the cover story for the current issue of Businessweek. It's called Hedge Funds Are for Suckers. She tells us about how these investment vehicles earned their reputation, and why they are no longer living up to it.
What's hot on TV this summer
Let's take a quick break and zone out. Summer isn't only a great time to lounge around with some popsicles and a stiff drink, it also used to be a great time to catch up on your favorite TV series from the year.
But these days cable channels don't follow the regular fall and spring TV schedule, and now that it's the golden age of cable shows, some of these summer series are pretty good.
Here to talk about what you should and shouldn't be watching during these hot months is Alan Sepinwall, TV critic with Hitfix.com and author of "The Revolution Was Televised."
Some journalists are collectively hate-watching 'The Newsroom'
Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom" is a certifiable hit among viewers, snagging 2.2 million viewers during its season two premiere.
However, not everyone is a fan. The show is especially disliked by journalists. So much so that it's become almost a sport of sorts to trash the show on Twitter.
One of our favorite reporters, Heidi Moore of the Guardian has been taking part in this collective hate-watching and joined TakeTwo to discuss the collective hate-watching.
Doubts cloud Death Valley’s 100-year heat record
One hundred years ago this month, Death Valley was the hottest place on Earth, 134 degrees. The temperature has never been topped but some climate experts doubt it was actually reached.
For the Fronteras Desk, KPBS science and technology reporter David Wagner has the story.
Caltech scientists find evidence of ocean on Mars
Let's turn to Mars, where it's drier than the San Fernando Valley during August. Scientists have yet to discover any standing water on the surface of the red planet, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't there in the distant past.
For a while now, scientists have assumed that it's likely that there were once rivers and lakes on the surface of Mars. Now new research from Caltech has added credence to the idea that there could have been a huge martian ocean as well.
Credit: DiBiase et al./Journal of Geophysical Research/2013 and USGS/NASA Landsat
Martian spring break anyone? Here to talk about the study is Roman DiBiase, a Cal Tech postdoc scholar who worked on the project.
Masumoto Farm family reveals secrets of 'The Perfect Peach'
For the past six decades, the Masumoto family has been growing a wide variety of peaches at their Central Valley farm. Now they've written a new book, "The Perfect Peach," showcasing this delightful summer fruit, including recipes and tips on how to pick the best peaches for baking, cooking and eating straight from the tree.
Run by David Mas Masumoto, his wife Marcy and now their daughter Nikiko, the farm also cultivates nectarines and grapes, but it's clear that their peaches are their star crop.
Marcy Masumoto and her daughter Nikiko joined Take Two to give us tips about how to pick the perfect peach and they explain why growing peaches is like being in a serious relationship.
Interview Highlights:
Nikiko on the ups and downs of growing peaches:
"Every year is a roller coaster of emotions. What my dad has taught me is that farming is something personal. So we care for our peach trees as if we would friends, as if we would people we're dating. We really try to listen to their needs, we get frustrated, heartbroken, even. Just today in the fields I saw a branch that snapped and it just tugged at my heart. I hope that that translates. The personal connection and the effort that we put into the farm translates into the flavor."
Nikiko on the different "body parts" of a peach:
"There's a whole anatomy of the peach. I'm even still learning many of them. One of our varieties, the Suncrest, one of its challenges is that its tip is very pronounced. In the industry it's known as a tuippy peach. These words, the shoulder, the suture, the cheeks, the blush, the background color, they really help us to descrive the peach and how to look for ripeness, specifically, especially with background color."
Marcy on what makes a perfect-tasting peach:
"What we found is its so personal. For me, the perfect peach is one that explodes in your mouth with flavor, just the right combination of sweetness and tartness, together with a peachy flavor, juicy and it just brings you back to someplace, sometime in your memory banks when you celebrated summer and that perfect peach elicits all of that."
Marcy on the versatility of peaches:
Oftentimes people don't think of a fruit in a salad, in an entree, and what we've discovered with peaches is they're so versatile, so fun to incorporate into a variety of dishes. For example, Nikkiko developed a fantastic peach gazpacho, which is a cold peach soup, which is just so fresh and delightful with cucumber and garlic and seasonings that just wake up your palate. It's just beautiful in that way. There's another recipe that I developed, which is an asian-influenced recipe that's called shaking beef with peaches, which is in essence a stor fry beef with peaches over a bed of lettuce with a light lime vinaigrette. i think it's a perfect summertime dinner entree.
Marcy on how to tell whether a peach is ripe or not:
"Some peaches will continue to ripen after they've been picked, as long as they are ripe enough, and that has to do with both feel and color, so what we look for is what we call the background color. So, ignore the red. We're not interested in red, red doesn't make any difference in terms of ripeness. You're looking for the background color, which is usually a yellow color, especially up near the shoulders' the stem end of the peach.
"Fruit that is ready to eat will definitely be more on the golden even amber side of that color spectrum. The second thing is the feel. If the peach is hard, leave it. it needs much more time. if it has a little give, sort of like a tennis ball, that's what you're looking for. if you squeeze it and you've left an indent, that fruit is ready to eat right now."