Today, A judge says California death penalty violates U.S. Constitution. Then, A look at how the unrest between Israel and Palestine is playing out on social media. Plus, 'Bosch' writer Eric Overmyer on working during TV's new Golden Age, how elder care changes when more nurses are Latino, Ex-dictator Manuel Noriega sues over 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II," Billboard Latino's Justino Aguila talks Banda music and much more.
Judge says California death penalty violates US Constitution
The 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says punishment for a crime can't be cruel and unusual.
Yesterday, a federal judge in Orange County, California ruled that the state's death penalty violates that protection. For more on the decision we're joined by Laurie Levenson, professor of Law at Loyola Law School.
From U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney's ruling:
"Since 1978, when the current death penalty system was adopted by California voters, over 900 people have been sentenced to death for their crimes. Of them, only 13 have been executed. For the rest, the dysfunctional administration of California's death penalty system has resulted, and will continue to result, in an inordinate and unpredictable period of delay preceding their actual execution. Indeed, for most, the systemic delay has made their execution so unlikely that the death sentence carefully and deliberately imposed by the jury has been quietly transformed into one no rational jury or legislature could ever impose: life in prison, with the remote possibility of death. As for the random few for whom execution does become a reality, they will have languished for so long on Death Row that their execution will serve no retributive or deterrent purpose and will be arbitrary."
How the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is playing out on social media
The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been raging for the past 10 days.
A temporary humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza ended today after only a few hours, and both sides had agreed to hold fire in order to give civilians a chance to buy food and medicines .
But since then, hostilities have resumed and the battle is also taking place in social media. Both sides have taken to Twitter, Facebook and other sites to tell their side of the story.
For more on this, we're joined by Dr. Philip N. Howard, professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington.
Gaza Unrest: Israeli woman translates names of the dead into Hebrew
Four Palestinian boys were killed by an Israeli rocket on a beach in Gaza yesterday. All the boys were identified as cousins in the Bakr family. But not all the names of the more than 220 dead have been as widely reported.
One Israeli woman has been taking those names,translating them into Hebrew and sharing them online. Michal Rotem joins the show from Israel to talk about her efforts.
New study finds sexual harassment of female scientists persists
While we often hear about the results of scientific study, we rarely hear about what life is like day to day for the scientists conducting those studies.
Many researchers are women and they face a lot of challenges working in a male-dominated field.
Over the years, Dr. Kate Clancy, a professor of anthropology at University of Illinois, had been hearing alarming stories from her female colleagues about experiences of sexual harassment, even assault.
Eventually she did what scientists do: she put together a team and conducted a formal study. Their findings were published this week in the journal Plos One. Kate Clancy joins Take Two to talk about their findings.
Food hubs create healthy, affordable options for communities
Communities across the country are trying to offer broader access to healthy foods. From the Fronteras Desk, Mónica Ortiz Uribe tells us about efforts in New Mexico to create a local food distribution center.
Eating healthy can be tough, not to mention expensive. For many, fatty fast foods are more accessible than a nutritious meal. But communities across the country are trying to change that.
In northern New Mexico, locals are working to create a new food distribution center.
Along the main drag in Española, N.M., motorists will drive by a number of fast food restaurants including Sonic, Dandy's Burger, Stop and Eat Drive In, and Home Run Pizza. The list only gets longer the further you go.
Española sits in the shadow of New Mexico's two wealthiest cities, Santa Fe and Los Alamos. But here 26 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and diabetes-related deaths are nearly twice the national average. Ironically, this region is home to a rich agricultural tradition dating back hundreds of years.
At the Sanchez family farm just outside town, a couple of chickens escape their coop. Lucia Sanchez, 34, takes pride in tending the land here as a fifth-generation farmer. But over the decades many family farms like hers have shrunk.
"You know it takes a lot to run a farm and an income outside of the farm is really what has sustained farms in northern New Mexico," Sanchez said.
Sanchez is a prime example. She's the planing and zoning director for Rio Arriba County. She rises with the sun to plant asparagus before leaving for work. Not many young people do that anymore. And the produce that grows here doesn't always stay here.
"We are seeing all of our local produce exported out of our communities and sold down in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, where there's a large demand and a market for it," said Todd Lopez, president of Siete del Norte, a community development group that works in northern New Mexico.
Local produce is more expensive and often people can't afford to buy what their neighbors grow. It's a frustrating reality that Lopez and his team are trying to change. His organization is starting a local food distribution center, or food hub.
The Northern New Mexico Food Hub will be housed in an old Ford dealership in the neglected city center. Organizers have received more than a million dollars in federal and state grant money to start out. The food hub will purchase local fruits and vegetables in bulk and sell it to area restaurants, stores, even hospitals and schools.
"It opens up the door to an entirely new market for our local farmers," Lopez said.
Organizers said that buying large quantities of local food and distributing it nearby will help keep the cost down. It can also give local producers a more reliable source of income. The food hub will also feature an on-site location grocery store, a cafe and an after school arts program for youth.
"This is more than just a food distribution center, this is really a movement," Lopez said. "It's an incentive to bring back prosperity, health, well being to this community."
Food hubs are taking off across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture counts 300 — double the number six years ago. A study by Michigan State University shows that on average food hubs generate $3 million in annual sales and create 20 jobs.
For many in Española, this is welcome news.
At a roadside vegetable stand a farmer scooped a pound of sweet peas into a bag for Trish Trujillo. She's a mother of two who works the night shift cleaning floors at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
"I really can't cook dinner for my family anymore and so they were eating out a lot," Trujillo said. "You see a huge weight difference and a lot of health issues."
When she can afford it, she buys produce from local growers. Trujillo is happy her family is excited about the sweet peas she will bring home.
"My kids they are like, 'Buy me my own bag,'" she said. "I bought a bag for me, a bag for my husband, a bag for the kids."
The food hub in Española won't be up and running until renovations are completed on the main building. Meanwhile organizers at a satellite facility are already moving local food to area stores and markets.
How elder care changes when more nurses are Latino
As we reported yesterday, new Census data shows that the majority of the country's seniors are white. But trawl the malls and schools, and more of the kids are Latino.
The report shows that 79 percent of the country's elderly are non-Hispanic whites, while a fourth of all children younger than 15 are Latino. It illustrates that not only are these groups separated by generations, but culture as well.
One example of when these populations meet face-to-face is in elder care because when those white seniors need help, more of those nurses taking care of them will be Latino. Gloria Blatti, director of the nursing program at Mount St Mary's College, told A Martinez that cultural competency is now a major component of what they teach.
"That's why you have to build it into the curriculum from the very beginning," she said on Take Two. "One of the big components now is cultural understanding. There's total books dedicated to this now."
At her school's program, she estimates that a large number of her students are Latino. That means seniors will have to learn their caretakers will have a completely different background than themselves.
"I think they have to understand the diversity of the student," Blatti said.
But more importantly, she emphasizes to her students that most of the responsibility for understanding should come from them, not their patients.
"They're scared in the beginning," she says, "But once they get over that fright, I think, they are wanting to take care of the whole patient and they realize how important that is."
Blatti shared one example from her own life. After her mother had a stroke, she arrived to the care facility to see her mother crying and sobbing. Her nurse was a man, and initially the other nurses thought that she didn't want a man to help her.
However, once Blatti prodded, her mother said that her late husband would be disappointed that another man had seen her naked.
"All the nurses were crying, they were like, 'We never looked at it that way.' I said, 'Nor did I,'" Blatti said, "I said, 'She's an old Italian woman that has a lot of pride like that, and her culture is that only her husband would see her.'"
It's a learning experience that will become more common as more nurses of color enter the ranks of care facilities, but Blatti says, "It should be something we should all look forward to, because that's our future coming up."
State Of Affairs: New fire chief, Hilda Solis, 6 Californias and more
It's state of affairs, our weekly look at politics throughout the Golden State. Joining us in studio are Southern California Public Radio's political reporters Alice Walton and Frank Stoltze.
Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed a new chief to the Los Angeles Fire Department this week. We'll hear more about Ralph Terrazas. He's the fire department's fourth chief in seven years. Why has this department seen so much turnover? How did the mayor decide on Terrazas?
How has the firefighter's union responded to this choice? If approved, what are likely some of his top priorities?
There has been a lot of complaints about lack of diversity in the L.A. Fire Department. Is this a sign that things might change?
There's a new recording out which purportedly has recently elected LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis asking a subordinate to donate money to President Obama's re-election campaign. Could this be a possible violation of election laws?
What has Solis said in response?
A ballot measure proposed by venture capitalist Tim Draper would divide California into six states. Even though this is a long shot, this sort of thing has been tried before many times.
This week, Tim Draper submitted the first batch of what he said will be 1.3 million petition signatures to election officials. If valid, this would be more than enough for the measure to qualify as a statewide voter initiative. What might be the effect of this? Might the issue drive people to the polls on Election Day? How might the campaign for this play out?
The November ballot will have a measure on it which asks the U.S. Congress to amend the Constitution and overturn the Citizens United court decision. This is just an advisory measure. Will this be enough to motivate voters?
We can't let a week go by without an update on the John Perez recount for state controller. What's the latest on the recount?
Assemblyman Kevin Mullin is now proposing that the state revamp the way the state handles recounts. What sorts of things is he proposing?
Yesterday Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a bold announcement: that he intends to end veteran homelessness in Los Angeles by the end fo next year. Is that possible, Frank?
House votes to allow pot industry access to banks without penalty
On Wednesday, the House voted to keep law enforcement from targeting financial institutions that conduct business with marijuana-related companies, such as growers and dispensaries.
Currently, these businesses are forced to deal in cash, which leaves them vulnerable to robbery and makes common transactions like paying employees and taxes significantly more difficult and inefficient.
Chris Walsh is the editor of Marijuana Business Daily and joins the show to talk about the potential impact of this vote should it become law.
Ex-dictator Manuel Noriega sues over 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II'
In 1989, Manuel Noriega, then military dictator of Panama, was ousted during a U.S.-led invasion. He's currently in prison in Panama for money laundering.
In the virtual world, the video game "Call of Duty: Black Ops II," Noriega still reigns in Panama. The game is set in Latin America and features scenes in which the ex-dictator aids CIA operatives before betraying them.
The real Noriega isn't too happy about it. This week, he filed a lawsuit against video game developer, Activision Blizzard, seeking lost profits and damages. Jennifer Rothman, law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, joins us to talk about the case and recent ones like it.
Lab Notes: Sleep and a full moon, the best way to motivate yourself and more
Looking for new ways to motivate yourself? Want to know about the REAL paleo diet? And might you be part werewolf? These are some of the questions we hope to answer in our new regular segment, Lab Notes.
Sanden Totten, Southern California Public Radio's science reporter, joins Alex Cohen to talk about some fun new scientific studies.
In today's installment of Lab Notes with Southern California Public Radio's science reporter Sanden Totten, we look at our diets, our sleep habits and our self esteem.
Real Paleo diet included carbs and plants
Researchers studying a prehistoric burial site in Central Sudan recenlty found skeletons of prehistoric humans from as far back as 6,700 B.C., before farming was established.
The scientists analyzed the fossilized dental plaque on these skulls of these early humans and found traces of a plant called purple nut sedge (Cyperus rotundas). Today, this plant is considered a weed in many parts, but it seems to have medicinal properties. It's also a good source of carbohydrates, contradicting the image of our early ancestors as knuckle dragging, meat eating hunters. It turns out they also ate plants and carbs.
Full moons are bad for sleep
A recent study out of Sweden found that people slept on average 20 to 25 minutes less during full moon nights as compared to quarter moon nights. These people also seemed to have more trouble falling asleep during a full moon. Why would this be? Researchers aren't certain, but they suggest perhaps we evolved to be more alert on nights when there is plenty of moon light since predators could use that light to hunt us in the dark.
When giving yourself a pep talk, use the second person
If you are trying to pump yourself up for a big meeting or test, you'd do better to say "You can do it!" rather than "I can do it!" At least that's what researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discovered, after having research subjects write themselves notes of encouragement before taking a series of tests. Maybe using the second person helps people imagine someone other than themselves is rooting for them. Or maybe they just like imagining Rob Schneider's character from the "Waterboy" yelling at "you can do it!" to them.
Banda music thriving in both the US and Mexico
While Banda music has been around for more than a century, it's had a particularly big month in both the United States and Mexico.
Songs from two U.S. born artists broke into the top 10 on the charts in both countries. One of them, being Quien Se Anima by Gerardo Ortiz.
Ortiz was actually born in Pasadena, but has managed to make a career for himself both in the U.S. an Mexico. Justino Aguila, associate editor of Latin at Billboard joins Take Two to talk about the rise of Banda on both sides of the border, and where it originated.
Social media afterlife: What happens to all those tweets after you die?
Think for a moment about how many emails, digital photos, Facebook or Twitter postings you create in a week, a year...a lifetime?
What happens to that trove of material when you're gone -- or when a friend or loved one dies? The law isn't clear on who has control over these so-called "digital assets." Now a group of state-appointed lawyers is pushing legislation that would give families access to the material.
But there are still user agreements at places like Facebook or Picasa, and privacy concerns.
Suzanne Brown Walsh, an attorney who led the effort and a Connecticut Uniform Law Commissioner, joins Take Two with more.
'Bosch' writer Eric Overmyer on working during TV's new Golden Age
For the past few years, fans and critics alike have had a lot to be thankful for when the talk about television. What was once a dreary landscape of silly sitcoms and cookie cutter cop shows has now become a medium filled with fabulous programs.
Some are going so far as to call this period a Golden Age of TV.
But what is it like to work in this Golden Age? Veteran writer Eric Overmyer would be a good person to ask. He has worked on shows like "St. Elsewhere" and "Hill Street Blues," but is now known for his work on such modern classics like HBO's "The Wire" and "Treme."
His latest show, "Bosch ," about an embattled L.A. police detective name Harry Bosch, who's trying to solve a mysterious crime all while defending himself from an officer involved shooting:
But Bosch is a bit of a departure because its not set to broadcast on network TV, or even cable, but on Amazon.
Overmyer stopped by the Take Two studio to talk about the writing process and what it was like to work on TV in its first Golden Age and now.
If you're interested in hearing more from Eric Overmyer, in person, he's speaking at the Los Angeles Central Library's Mark Taper Forum for their new series, The Writers Cut. Details here.