Bernie Sander's has said this summer's convention will be contested, is that likely? A look at voter registration numbers, retail and shopping are changing in LA.
Final voter registration numbers hit record high. What will this mean for the California Primary?
Just one day before the highly anticipated California Primary, polls show Clinton and Sanders in a tight race.
But there was another kind of race in the last few weeks: The dash to become a registered voter.
Registration surged to a record high in the six weeks leading up to the May 23 deadline. That's according to new numbers from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla's office.
Padilla and Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson joined the show for a deeper look at these numbers and what they could signal for the primary.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Bernie Sanders looks to contested convention ahead of final ‘Super Tuesday'
It was a whirlwind weekend for the Democratic presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders crisscrossed the Golden State ahead of Tuesday's primary.
The Puerto Rico primary over the weekend put Clinton just 26 delegates away from the 2,383 delegate threshold. Sanders is about 800 short.
Despite the long odds, Sanders, in a news conference Saturday, sent a clear message to Democrats: even if Clinton gets the delegates she needs, he's not dropping out. Instead, Sanders insists that the Democratic convention in July will be a contested convention.
For more on what this means, Take Two spoke to Dan Schnur. He's the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.
Press the blue button above to hear the interview.
Old Fire stalls opening season at Calabasas summer camp
The Old Fire erupted in the hills of Calabasas on Saturday, scorching 516 acres and forcing thousands of people to evacuate.
The fire was about 80 percent contained by Monday morning, and evacuation orders have been lifted. But major damage is left behind. At least one house was damaged and one commercial building was destroyed. Large swaths of the Calabasas hills are charred.
Shari Davis had hoped to run a summer day camp out of Calabasas. As a matter of fact, it was supposed to be the opening year for Camp Wildcraft. But Davis says the camp site burned.
She joined Take Two to tell more. If you'd like to help, you can donate to a Go Fund Me account here.
On the Lot: Turtles defeat the box office, and how to diversify the Academy
Every week we get the latest news from Hollywood with
, entertainment reporter for the LA Times.
On tap this week ... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows won the weekend box office, but didn't manage to attract the audience its predecessor did, and its just the latest sequel to underperform, causing some in the industry to wonder if franchises are overstaying their welcome:
And the romantic drama 'Me Before You' opened above expectations this weekend, and audiences seemed to like it, but the movie has sparked a controversy for its portrayal of one of its characters.
And this month the Motion Picture Academy will be inviting new members. On the heels is the organization's pledge to diversify, the LA Times came up with a small (ok, pretty big) list of where to start.
Kids or 'monsters?' New doc follows juvenile offenders facing life sentences
A new documentary takes an up-close-and-personal look at some of LA's youngest criminals.
"They Call us Monsters" follows three juvenile offenders: Antonio, Jarad and Juan, each sentenced to a facility known as "The Compound." The Compound is a high-security facility in Sylmar Juvenile Hall that houses LA County's high-risk juvenile offenders. The young people there face decades, if not hundreds of years in adult prison.
Should they ever be able to leave? Do they deserve a second chance?
These were the questions director Ben Lear explored in his documentary, which tells the stories from the perspective of their young men and their victims. He shared his reflections with Take Two's Alex Cohen.
(Responses have been edited for clarity.)
When you decided to make this film, and you first showed up, what did you expect to see? What did you think the kids would be like?
I sat in on a writing class in the juvenile hall, and I was bringing in my lifetime's worth of expectations. I expected to meet these violent-looking, dangerous, intimidating guys. Instead, in walks this group of kids and I was immediately struck by how young they looked and how young they acted. There was this giddiness in the air that was really, really unexpected, and I later realized that it was the giddiness of adolescence, coming of age and self-discovery. They were in the middle of the process of learning about themselves and figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives, all the while not knowing if they would ever get the chance.
After this film, do you like [the decisions they made] were somewhat unavoidable? You grow up in this violent situation and environment, and you're destined to become violent yourself?
There are so many factors, in terms of their environment and the way that they grew up that would throw them into that life. That's a key element to the debate that surrounds the film. Because of a recent group of Supreme Court rulings that are declaring that children should be treated differently from adults, it has mandated the states to legislate along those lines, and that has created a rise in conversation around this issue. If legislative halls are debating how we should treat these kids, they should know who they're talking about; allow me to introduce you to these kids. You can make up your own mind about who they are and what they deserve.
There is another perspective and one that you include in this documentary which is that of the victims. Where do they fit in all of this?
Something that was very important to me was never shying away, or getting too far from the reality of what these kids were accused of. We spoke with the victim of Jarad's crime; he was accused of four attempted murders, and it was a drive-by shooting situation. It was four young girls in the car, one of whom ended up becoming paralyzed from the waist down. It was this young woman's opportunity to tell her side of the story and what that experience was like. She says one of the most profound things in the film; she says, 'I'm normal. I'm just like everybody else; only I can't walk.' It's not directly about Jarad or his crime, it's just about the reality of her life now because of some horrible decisions.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
#CACounts: Coverage for the rest of the presidential election
In the lead-up to the primary, we at Southern California Public Radio have been collaborating with three other stations in the state: KPBS in San Diego, KQED in San Francisco and Capitol Public Radio in Sacramento on a project called California Counts.
Our reporters have traveled all over the state in recent months talking to potential voters. Kristen Lepore helped coordinate a lot of that coverage on the air, on the web, and on social media and she joined the show to review what we've learned so far from the project and to talk about what the California Counts team plans to do next, leading up to the general election in November.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
We want our audience's thoughts to shape our coverage. So please, send your questions and feedback to us on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #CAcounts.
A primary party: KPCC's #WhyIVoted election day celebration
To celebrate the June 7th primary - we've got a party going on downtown. Yes, that is right, a party:
What: Celebrate Election Day with KPCC’s #WhyIVoted party
When: Tuesday, June 7, 7am - 8pm
Where: La Plaza de Cultura y Artes
501 N. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
To tell us all about it are the party planners, Jon Cohn, managing producer of the KPCC live events team InPerson and Ashley Alvarado, our engagement editor here.
For more details about this party tomorrow at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, click here. You can also RSVP there for free.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Special interest groups spend record amount in legislative race
If you feel you've been bombarded lately with election mailers and ads either propping up or tearing down candidates, you're right, you have been.
According to the Associated Press, special interest groups have spent a record $24 million dollars on legislative races. That's a lot of green flowing in the Golden State.
Don Thompson with the Associated Press, joined the show to discuss more.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
The future of LA's retail scene: The traditional makeover or the highly curated shopping experience?
Malls are a changing landscape in L.A. Several of the major ones are undergoing massive and expensive renovations and there are some new concepts in town.
We look at two approaches to the "future" of retail spaces and malls in Los Angeles. First, the traditional makeover: the Beverly Center is getting a $500 million revamp, the Macy's plaza downtown is about to reopen as "The Bloc", etc.
Second, there's a new retail hotspot in Culver City called Platform, which is next-level in-person shopping—the hook is that the brands there are highly curated, by admission only, etc. What does this say about shopping and retail in L.A., especially given that these malls are landmarks, hangouts, and major attractions?
For more on these and what they say about the future of shopping in L.A., Michelle Dalton Tyree, editor of Fashion Trends Daily, joined the show to discuss.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.
South LA designated a 'Promise Zone', what that means for residents
Two years ago, the Obama administration released a list of communities throughout the U.S. granting a 'Promise Zone' designation, which would push these neighborhoods to the top of the list when applying for competitive federal city grants.
South L.A. was conspicuously absent from that first list and it was met with a fair amount of outrage at the time.
However, this morning, a third and final group of promise zones was released and South L.A. has made the cut.
The new South L.A. promise zone "includes portions of the neighborhoods of Vernon-Central, South Park, Florence, Exposition Park, Vermont Square, Leimert Park and a small portion of Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw."
For more on the designation and what it can mean for residents, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents that area, joined the show to discuss.
To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.