Today we start with analysis and reaction from the Vergara vs. California ruling about teacher protections. Then, House majority leader Eric Cantor is defeated by Tea Party candidate David Brat. Plus, we take a look at some unrest around the beginning of the World Cup, the L.A. Film Fest kicks off today, Journalist Anthony Breznican on his new novel 'Brutal Youth' and much more.
LA teachers react to Vergara v. California ruling
Discussion is still heated over yesterday's ruling by an L.A. Superior Court judge that California's teacher job protections are unconstitutional. Politicians, education reformers, and advocates from all over the country say it's either the worst thing to happen to kids - or the best.
The ruling is under appeal, but teachers are talking about what it could one day mean for them. KPCC's Annie Gilbertson reports.
More states seek to change teacher protection laws
Yesterday's Vergara v. California ruling struck down tenure and other job protections for California's public school teachers, but California isn't the only state working to change its laws on how teachers are hired and fired. Nationwide, many states are doing away with teacher protections.
According to a recent report from the Education Commission of the States, a non-partisan group funded by state governments, an increasing number of states are putting more weight on teacher performance and less on seniority when deciding who gets tenure, who keeps it, and who gets laid off.
Kathy Christie tracks state education policies for the Education Commission of the States and joins Take Two to discuss state trends in teacher tenure laws across the country and what impact Vergara v. California might have in other states.
How the Vergara v. California teacher tenure case came to be
Educators across the country are wondering about the ripple effect over the decision yesterday to strike down tenure and other job protections for California's public school teachers.
RELATED: LA school teachers say Vergara ruling feels like an attack
Teacher unions have vowed to appeal the ruling, which might never have happened were it not for a man named David Welch.
RELATED: Vergara trial: Calif. judge says state teacher protections unconstitutional (updated)
KPCC's education reporter Adolfo Guzman Lopez joins Take Two to talk about the genesis of the lawsuit Vergara versus California.
World Cup 2014: Protests, metro strike hit Sao Paulo as first game near
The World Cup begins tomorrow, but questions over cost overruns and preparation are still issues. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Sao Paulo, host to tomorrow's opening game.
There, traffic has become a major factor, because metro workers have threatened to resume a strike that sent the streets into chaos just days ago. But Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff dismissed concerns, saying in a national address that the country is ready.
"There are people who claim the resources for World Cup should have been directed to health care and education. I hear and respect their opinion but I don't agree with them. It's a false dilemma," said Rousseff Tuesday.
Journalist Mauricio Savarese describes "tension in the air" in Sao Paulo.
"Tomorrow is going to be a very interesting game of wait and see," he tells Take Two. That's when metro workers are scheduled to resume talks with officials.
It's also when host-favorites Brazil takes on Croatia and attempts a run at history: to raise the trophy for the first time on home soil.
Was immigration reform the key to Eric Cantor's loss?
In a surprise upset last night, Tea Party candidate David Brat defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia's primary election.
Cantor raised almost $5 .5 million dollars for the campaign, compared to the $200,000 raised by his competitor, Brat. Some speculators say it was Brat's fierce opposition to immigration reform which clinched his victory, but that might not be an entirely accurate assessment.
Here to explain is Seung Min Kim, who covers immigration and congress for Politico.
LA judge allows jurors to use iPads in court
Some jurors are the first in Los Angeles County to use iPads during a trial. KPCC's Erika Aguilar says it's an attempt to modernize an aging court system.
Gaming giants go to war at E3 in downtown LA
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), in downtown Los Angeles kicked off this week on June 10.
It's the biggest conference of the year for plenty of gaming companies, and a place when they announce new projects, show off cool demos and try to entice hardcore gamers with tons of free swag.
Sony and Microsoft, who both debuted new consoles this year, are going to war over the hardcore gamers. Both consoles are doing well, but Sony has a slight lead. According to Dan Hsu at Gamesbeat.com, Microsoft flubbed by trying to concentrate on their console as an entertainment device for the living room, rather than as just a gaming console.
The problem with this is that it alienates the hardcore gamers, who are the ones that spend all of the initial money on the consoles up front and tell all of their casual gamer friends about what they like.
Sony's done much better, as they've concentrated on appealing to the hardcore crowd from the outset.
Nintendo on the other hand is taking a different tact, according to Hsu. Their Wii U isn't selling well and they're doing scaled back press conferences.
For instance, yesterday they did a webcast to talk about the new games coming out. Can anyone guess what they're going to be? All of the famous franchises of course! Super Smash Brothers, a Mario game, Zelda, etc.
Sports Roundup: World Cup, LA Kings, LeBron James and more
The beautiful game is about to step in to the spotlight, the L.A. Kings might be ready to sweep the streets of New York and USC is free at last (not including the tuition). Sports writers Andy and Brian Kamenetzky join us with more on the wide, wide world of sports.
TOPICS:
The World Cup starts tomorrow in Brazil as the host takes on Croatia, and the U.S. plays Ghana Monday. How much buzz is in there air here leading up to it? Any teams or players worth watching?
The Kings have a chance to close out the NY Rangers tonight in Madison Square Garden. If they do, it'll be their second Cup in three seasons. Is this the zenith of hockey in Los Angeles? How far can its popularity go from here?
The San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat last night to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Final. So far it doesn't seem as if home court advantage means much in this series.
A commercial aired during the game that was paid for by a northern California native american tribe which sent a message to the Washington Redskins. Will this have any impact?
Don't know if many people noticed, but yesterday the USC campus got a lot lighter, as 4-year sanctions came to an end. What does it mean for Trojans football going forward?
LA Film Fest turns 20 with a tribute to local films
The Los Angeles Film Festival kicks off today. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the festival and will feature a special crop of movies where the city of Angels plays a starring role.
Here to preview the festival for us is Stephanie Allain, director of the LA Film Festival.
Recent school shootings share common trends in perpetrators, settings
Tuesday's school shooting in Portland, Oregon marks the 74th school shooting in less than two years.
It's yet another example of the prevalence of violence in and around school campuses following other shooting incidents over the past couple of weeks in Seattle, Washington at Seattle Pacific University and Isla Vista, California near UC Santa Barbara.
Dr. Katherine Newman is the dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the book "Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings."
She joins Take Two to talk about the tragic trend of school shootings at the K-12 and college level and what these tragedies have in common.
Has Donald Sterling's reputation as a landlord improved?
If the NBA has its way, Donald Sterling's days as the owner of the Clippers are numbered.
But, no matter what happens to the team, he will remain one of the city's most high-profile landlords. Several years ago, he and his wife settled two lawsuits that claimed they were discriminating against blacks and Latinos in some of the apartment buildings they own. They also agreed not to violate federal housing laws and to pay for special monitoring.
KPCC's Brian Watt looks into what kind of landlord Sterling is today.
KPCC's Sharon McNary helped report this story.
FAQ: Scientists highlight 44 prevalent toxic chemicals in Los Angeles
Air regulators here in Southern California have been tracking the chemicals companies use in oil and gas exploration around Los Angeles.
In a new report, four environmental groups crunched this data to find that 44 toxic chemicals have been used in dozens of instances, often near homes, schools, and hospitals.
RELATED: Report lists toxic chemicals used in local oil and gas operations
KPCC's environment correspondent Molly Peterson joins Take Two with an explainer.
Who made this report, and why?
"A year ago, the South Coast Air Quality Management District required companies to tell regulators when they were going to look for oil and gas using very specific methods in urban areas. After the fact, the companies were supposed to report what chemicals they used to get the oil and gas out. These four enviro groups — Physicians for Social Responsibility, Center for Biological Diversity and others — found more than 15,000 instances where companies disclosed chemicals used in their activities. More than 30 percent of those chemicals are regulated air toxics."
What are these chemicals and how are they being used?
"Crystalline silica, which is a naturally occurring dust they call "frac sand, and they use it in fracking and other operations. But when its airborne it's very fine and it can get into your lungs and it can create silicosis, which is a preventable, but incurable lung disease. The kinds of operations we're talking about are not just fracking, but its the thing that people think about first.
"We're talking about shooting stuff into the ground to make the oil and gas come out more easily. So that includes fracking, a process called acidization and another one called gravel packing. Just about 14 of these incidents were fracking as people know it from the movies and all the discussion about it. Mostly what we see in Southern California is acidizing, where something like a hydrochloric acid is part of the mix and it helps break down the softer pieces of the rock creating channels for the oil and gas to come out.
What do we know about people's actual exposure to these chemicals?
"Not much. For one thing, nobody's monitoring specifically for these chemicals at these sites, and there are no documented human health impacts. In fact, there's a lot about what these companies do that we don't know a lot about. I mentioned those 15,000 instances where they reported what chemicals were used...on top of that there was another 5,000 instances of these kinds of activities where these companies refuse to identify the chemical used on the grounds that they were trade secrets. But up to a third of those secret chemicals were air toxics."
Can they refuse to identify those chemicals?
"Maybe. It's in dispute. The idea of these disclosure rules on a state and local level is to make this all more clear for people. It's kind of confusing though, the state rule SB4, which requires some disclosure of this stuff, operates a little bit differently than this, which is just a lot of information gathering right now for the AQMD."
What do regulators or the oil and gas industry say about this?
"The first phase of this rule, which is called 1148, is to gather data for two years before decided whether and how to regulate and where there are problems. I also talked to somebody, Collin Maynard, at the Western States Petroleum Association, and he says oil and gas exploration has been here for a century, and it takes place day in and day out in the most heavily regulated environment in the world and it takes place without harm to the environment and communities.
"These groups aren't so sure that they agree with that. Obviously they raise questions about how we think about these chemicals in our communities, not just in these operations in this limited way, but these chemicals come into the oil and gas operations in these urban areas as well that we're not tracking at all and these chemicals are in trucks, on our roads on the way to these facilities. Should we be concerned about that? They're just trying to raise some questions about it."
Pod of rare pilot whales spotted off California coast
Pilot whales haven't been seen off the coast of Southern California since 1996, but they're back. This past weekend, a pod of 50 pilot whales were spotted off the coast of Dana Point in Orange County.
For more we are joined by Alisa Schulman-Janiger, who researches killer and gray whales and is the director of the gray whale census.
Checking in with LA Kings fans at Legends Sports Bar in Long Beach
Many of those who definitely know a thing or two about the Kings will be heading to Legends Sports Bar in Long Beach. For more on how Legends is preparing for the big night, we are joined on the line by Legends' co-owner Matt Peterson.
How a glowing hockey puck transformed the way we watch sports
Back in 1996, a small innovation tried to transform the way people watched hockey. Fox Sports debuted its new FoxTrax technology during the broadcast of the NHL All-Star game.
On screen, a colorful glow would hover above the small, black puck, making it easier for viewers at home to see. It was reviled by lots of viewers at the time, but they couldn't deny one thing: it did make the game easier to follow.
It only lasted a few seasons, but it ushered in a series of technological feats that have improved how we watch all kinds of sports.
Hank Adams, CEO of Sportvision,a company formed by the creators of the "glow puck," explains how the puck led to other innovations in sports watching including the televised yellow first down line used by the NFL.