Cal Exit part two, air regulators cite companies for chromium 6 emissions, saying good-bye to Coke Zero
By Take Two Staff
Published Jul 28, 2017 9:00 AM
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will monitor hexavalent chromium emissions from two chromium plating and anodizing plants in Compton, E.M.E. Inc. and Morrell's Electro Plating, Inc.
A new effort to secede from the union is advancing, a multi-year initiative to monitor the over 100 metal processors in SoCal, a change to Coke Zero's formula.
A new effort to secede from the union is advancing, a multi-year initiative to monitor the over 100 metal processors in SoCal, a change to Coke Zero's formula.
A new effort to secede from the union is advancing, a multi-year initiative to monitor the over 100 metal processors in SoCal, a change to Coke Zero's formula.
State of Affairs: Gov. Brown's bullet-train dream deferred? GOP targets House Dems, Calexit 2.0
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12:32
State of Affairs: Gov. Brown's bullet-train dream deferred? GOP targets House Dems, Calexit 2.0
Today, on State of Affairs:
The Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, joined Governor Jerry Brown Tuesday as he extended the state's cap and trade program — but could the bi-partisan deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cost Brown one of his pet projects?
Remember Cal Exit? Well, meet Cal Exit 2.0. A new effort to secede California from the union is advancing.
Democrats aren't the only ones hoping to flip some seats this midterm. The GOP's setting its sights on a few purple districts.
Left to right: Carla Marnucci, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, A Martinez
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Julian Burrell
)
Guests:
Carla Marinucci, senior editor for Politico's California Playbook
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of public policy at USC
Press the blue play button above to hear the full segment.
Homeless advocacy groups set up tent city at The Grove
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4:38
Homeless advocacy groups set up tent city at The Grove
Homeless advocacy groups are setting up a tent city at The Grove in West Los Angeles today.
"When you go down to City Hall, you see tents and people are kind of immune to it. What we're doing with showing tents in front of The Grove is we want to show people the real statistic," said Mel Tillekeratne, head of Monday Night Mission.
Tillekeratne spoke with Take Two's A Martinez from The Grove before the protest began.
"This is how fast homelessness is growing and this is what Los Angeles will look like in 2020. It's not going to be limited to downtown; it's going to be all over L.A. and our beloved places like The Grove are going to have tent encampments in front of them unless Mayor Garcetti and the City Council take action right now."
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Soda fans have 'Zero' chill about Coke product rebranding
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7:06
Soda fans have 'Zero' chill about Coke product rebranding
Coca-Cola announced this week that it's changing Coke Zero to something called Coke Zero Sugar.
And fans are pretty upset. Next month, Coke Zero will be gone from U.S. shelves.
We spoke with a few KPCC staff members about their love (and hate) for the soda.
"I get it because it is calorie-free, but tastes better to me than Diet Coke, it tastes a little more like Cola to me than Diet Coke," said health reporter Rebecca Plevin.
On the other side of the debate was All Things Considered host Nick Roman, who said "[Coke Zero] is a horrible product and I'm glad they're getting rid of it... it doesn't taste like anything worth drinking. I'm a big fan of Diet Coke. Coke Zero is a middling product with no fan base."
Duane Stanford serves as Executive Editor of Beverage Digest. We spoke to him about Coca-Cola's reasoning behind the rebrand, and why people are so passionate about their soda.
Why are people so angry over this?
"We see it all the time, people have very particular affinities to Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero... The brand for a very long time inspired a lot of passionate outpouring, and people are attached to it, it is part of their routine, so anytime that Coke talks about changing about a formula its going to get people's attention, and they're going to talk about it."
Why is Coca-Cola rebranding Coke Zero?
"Coke Zero has actually been bucking the trend of diet soft drinks in general struggling in recent years, and Coke Zero has been one that's actually been able to show some decent growth. And so one of the things that Coke Zero has found is that there's still some confusion over whether there's sugar in it or not, just a plain Coke Zero label isn't necessarily enough, so what they want to do is really hit people over the head with the fact that there is no sugar in this product, you can drink it calorie-free."
Have you tried the new Coke Zero Sugar? What does it taste like?
"I couldn't tell a significant difference. When I drink soft drinks, Coke Zero is usually my drink of choice so I do have some experience with it. I couldn't tell a big difference, but some of the people I've talked noted that the forward flavor of it is pretty similar, but it is the backend, the aftertaste that they seem to feel like is better."
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
Parents and schools join struggle over Inland Empire air quality
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Parents and schools join struggle over Inland Empire air quality
The construction of a massive warehouse near an elementary school in San Bernardino County has mobilized both activists and parents, who are upset over the potential health risk to their children. They’re concerned that the area around the school will become a trucking corridor, which could bring a lot of potentially harmful diesel emissions.
Activists, parents and area residents presented their case to the local school board Thursday, hoping to convince the board to draft a resolution against the warehouse project.
Take Two host A Martínez checked in with Ericka Flores, who attended the meeting as a community organizer. Flores, who works for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, was optimistic.
“We requested a resolution letter to go into a vote during the next Board of Education meeting,” said Flores, “so thankfully that got approved. Not the resolution letter, but for it to go into a vote during the next meeting.”
For Flores, this is only the beginning. She wants to see better zoning in the entirety of Inland Empire to prevent massive warehouses near schools.
"If you're going to rezone, bring us affordable housing. Bring us a grocery store. We want green spaces, we want a community center," Flores said. "We want things that are going to help our community thrive."
To hear the entire interview, click play on the blue media player above.
Get in touch with your inner kid at the Autry's ‘Play!’ exhibit
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6:19
Get in touch with your inner kid at the Autry's ‘Play!’ exhibit
For kids and adults, the act of play isn't just about having fun. It's also an important developmental part of learning and understanding the world around you. The "Play!" exhibit at the Autry Museum of the American West is exploring this concept and uncovering the west's pivotal role in shaping how the world plays.
"Play" exhibit
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Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West
)
Take Two's A Martinez and Lori Galarreta bring us this virtual tour. Their guide is Carolyn Brucken, a senior curator at the Autry.
When you walk into the "Play!" exhibit, you're immediately greeted by the sounds of children playing with tricycles, trains, and even light sabers.
The first thing you see is a giant astro-turf covered wall with the letters, "Go Outside" scrawled across it.
"Play" exhibit outside area
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Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West
)
Play is both a verb and a noun, so we wanted to talk about the history and the types of play but also let people play in the space.
We wanted to start with the idea of outdoor being an important place to play. You don't need much. Sometimes it's just a sibling, a stick or a ball. So we wanted to get that sense of improvisation, of freedom that comes with outdoor play.
Toy companies that got their start in Southern California shaped the way children play both inside the house and outside of it.
So, Wham-o, Disney, Mattel – they're all Southern California stories – and skateboarding as well – that have shaped and transformed how we play today. And really, adapting play to suburbs, backyards to urban spaces, but also taking advantage of TV and film, and just kind of this entrepreneurial spirit.
As you make your way across the indoor "outside play area," which features a bear cave complete with stuffed winged bats and giant teddy bear, there's also a tree made up of all kinds of musical instruments and a set of indoor kites you can fly.
Then, you come upon the second part of the exhibit: a life-sized playhouse. On the inside, it looks like a stylish modern-day home, except for one thing. All the furniture and decorations are small and the perfect size for kids who want to "play house."
Play has a psychological function as well as a emotional function. And part of play allows kids to try out different roles. That's an important reason why we do it as well. So here, kids can play act in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the dining room, the living room.
"Play" exhibit living room
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Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West
)
As Carolyn Brucken explained, toys haven't always had the same function across time and cultures.
The toys adults give kids did have gender biases and dolls are a perfect example of that. Especially the giving of baby dolls in American culture. But dolls that are thousands of years old, in Native American cultures, they might be more teaching tools. In America, they might be more about learning a role as a mother.
As you exit the playhouse, you pass by a Lego section that features old-school erector sets, complete with interactive cranks and building stations.
"Play" exhibit erector set
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Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West
)
It's hard for your eye not be drawn to the toy commercial wall as it lights up with the sights and sounds of advertisements from an older time.
"Play" exhibit commercial wall
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Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West
)
This is the start of our "make believe" section. We start it with this commercial wall that shows eight different screens showing different commercials from one of the first children's toy commercials, Mr. Potato Head, up to Star Wars and Transformers.
There was actually a court case about whether the Transformers television show was a commercial or a TV show. So we wanted to kind of show the development of how toy companies started marketing to kids. Especially, using video, to TV, and then to movies. Now, you have movies that are based on toy lines, versus toy lines that come out to reflect a movie.
Originally, in the 1950s, toy companies spent very little on advertising, where now, it's a huge portion of their budget.
But how are toys a story for the Autry? According to Carolyn Brucken, the history of toys is another one of those "hidden western stories."
We really wanted to look at toys as props for imagination. Especially in the 20th century, fantasy and character toys have really come to dominate 20th century play. California companies are at the heart of that. It starts with Disney through Mattel.
Candy Land is actually a western story. The inventor was a woman names Eleanor Abbott who was a San Diego school teacher. She had polio and in 1948 was in a polio ward in a San Diego hospital. She saw all of these children who were sick and bored so she invented Candy Land as a game for them to play. And then she sold it to Milton Bradley who then marketed it as this kind of children's-first-game because you didn't have to read. But that came out of a specific San Diego moment.
The yo-yo itself is ancient. It goes back to China. But the yo-yo that we think of that has a thread around the axle that you can spin, was actually invented by a Filipino immigrant to Santa Barbara named Pedro Flores who basically opened up a factory – first in Santa Barbara, then in LA, where he was producing 30,000 yo-yos by 1929. He was bought out by Duncan who helped spur this craze across the country and in Mexico too. You start to have all these yo-yo competitions and fads.
So, why would a museum choose to feature a history on toys?
I think we really wanted an empathetic and emotional connection so they would start talking with whoever they were with about why their toys or their play matters to them, and as a way to bridge time and space. We were hoping that a kid that had never seen a Tinkertoy, or never seen Pong, or whatever it might be, can start to connect to something that was different from what they knew. I think that's a building block for what museums can do. We're just doing it at a really fundamental level through play.
"Play" exhibit stage
Quotes edited for clarity and brevity.
To hear the full audio postcard, click the media player above.
AQMD cites another metal plant amid new chromium 6 spikes in Paramount
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0:54
AQMD cites another metal plant amid new chromium 6 spikes in Paramount
"Play" exhibit living room(Courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West)
"Play" exhibit stage