Sen. Marco Rubio pushes for stronger English requirement for US citizenship; Bill to curb sexual assault in the military dividing Congress; The latest in the Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit; Looking back at the Loving v. Virginia case; The real life story of Dwight 'Doc' Gooden; Sales for George Orwell's '1984' skyrocket amid NSA surveillance scandal, plus much more.
Sen. Marco Rubio pushes for stronger English requirement for US citizenship
Florida Senator Rep. Marco Rubio, announced he'll introduce an amendment to the Senate immigration bill that would require citizens to be proficient in English. That's the latest in a list of amendments that Rubio is now trying to rework into the bill to make it more appealing to Conservative senators.
Rubio is a member of the Senate Gang of Eight who helped craft the original legislation, which got us wondering: What is Rubio thinking?
Congressional reporter Rebecca Kaplan from the National Journal joins the show with more.
Bill to curb sexual assault in the military dividing Congress
A big sticking point in the debate over how to curb sexual assault in the military is who should decide whether alleged crimes go to trial.
A proposal to take the decision out of the hands of military commanders and give it to military prosecutors was approved by the personnel panel of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The legislation was crafted by Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York and co-sponsored by California's Sen. Barbara Boxer.
But the head of the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, said he will take the measure out of the defense spending bill.
Guest: US Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California
Is California's economy looking bright?
If you've read the headlines from the past several weeks, it's been mostly about the IRS's focus on conservative groups, or the NSA's surveillance of Americans.
But the economy? Not so much.
It seems that, minus the monthly jobs report last week, the economy's no longer dominating the front page as often as it used to. But talking to people on the street, it is clear that a lot of people are still struggling.
To get a sense of what is really going on, we gathered a roundtable to give us a snapshot of how the economy is doing on a variety of levels, from unemployment to housing to your own pocketbook.
Guests:
Christopher Thornberg is principal with Beacon Economics.
Raphael Bostic is a professor of public policy at USC, and a former assistant secretary at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Delia Fernandez is a certified financial planner and president of Fernandez Financial Advisory in Los Alamitos
Sports Roundup: NBA Finals blowout, Dwight Howard, Dodgers and more
A historic blowout in the NBA Finals, the most famous back-up of all time finds a job and the Dodgers are fighting mad. We'll get into all that and more with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered sports for the L.A. Times and ESPN.
Game three of the NBA Finals between the Heat and Spurs was last night in San Antonio with the series tied at 1-1. Two teams are supposed to show up and play, but yesterday it seemed as if there was only one out there on the floor: the defending champions The Heat lost by 36 points, 3rd largest margin in NBA Finals history.
Lebron James did not have a good game, and all people have been talking about is that Michael Jordan would have never let his team lose by 36 in the Finals.
No word yet on whether Dwight Howard will come back to play for the Lakers next season. Now one of the biggest criticisms about Howard in his career is that he's too jokey and goofy. Then yesterday Shaquille O'Neal said Howard's problem is: "He's too nice. When I cross that line, I'm ready to tear your face off. I don't care who it is ... He's just too nice. If I was him, I would get into the same mood I was in."
What about the thought that someone like Dwight Howard is not a big city kind of guy and what does it take for a high profile athlete to survive in L.A.?
The Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks last night on what turned out to be an unexpected fireworks night. Four players were beamed — Yasiel Puig in the head — and five ejections and benches cleared.
Sportingintelligence.com put together a list of the best-paying teams in the world. The Manchester City soccer club topped the list, with the Dodgers in second, spending $7.47 million per player.
Fate of voting rights act weighs heavily in Texas
Among the decisions expected from the Supreme Court in June is one that could effectively wipe out the Voting Rights Act. In Texas, minority voters fear a possible loss of legal protection, but some states' rights activists are eager for change. David Martin Davies from the Fronteras Desk reports.
There are several history-making decisions expected to be handed down from the United States Supreme Court in June. One could effectively wipe out theVoting Rights Act. In Texas, minority voters fear a possible loss of legal protection, while states' rights activists are eager for a change.
At a recent San Antonio field hearing on redistricting Texas lawmakers once again got an earful about Congressional District maps that the courts have ruled discriminate against minorities.
Jose Garza testified for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. And he kept bringing up Section Five of the Voting Rights Act.
“The Supreme Court has ruled over and over and over again that the exclusive jurisdiction for making determinations under section five lies at the department of justice and with the district court in the district of Columbia and not with the local Texas court," Garza said.
Another activist testifying against the state’s maps was TC Calvert. And he noticed something when Section Five was mentioned.
"If you noticed the body language of the members of the committee today whenever Section Five of the Voting Rights Act came up, they were kind of squirmish. They don’t like to hear that because they want to do away with it," Calvert said
Section Five is a big part of the Voting Rights Act. It gives the Justice Department the power to protect minority voters in Texas, Arizona and most of the South, as well as some parts of California and other selected parts of the nation.
State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat, says it’s critical.
“Section Five is a very powerful tool, and it says before you can make changes to voting patterns you have to get preclearance. I feel that it’s important and necessary and it allows us to put the brakes on some bad ideas," Martinez Fischer said.
However, a ruling is expected soon from the U.S. Supreme Court that has the potential to strike down Section Five. High court watchers are waiting for the decision in the case of Shelby County Alabama v. Holder.
Shelby County argued the Voting Rights Act is an infringement on state rights and sovereignty. Conservatives who oppose the act contend that racial discrimination is no longer the massive problem it was in the days of Martin Luther King Jr.
Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation explained to the PBS Newshour the Voting Rights Act has outlived its intended purpose.
“Section Five was an emergency provision, it was supposed to be temporary, only supposed to last five years and it was put in place because of widespread and persistent discrimination. The conditions that justified it in 1965 don’t exist today," von Spakovsky said.
But Henry Flores, a political science professor at San Antonio’s St. Mary’s University, said there’s plenty of documented evidence of continued racial discrimination against minority voters in Texas.
“There are various jurisdictions and sub-jurisdictions in the state of Texas that would put up barriers to Latinos to vote. Our biggest weapon to those barriers has been Section Five of the Voting Rights Act," Flores said.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found the most recent Texas redistricting maps were discriminatory — deliberately drawn to weaken existing minority districts.
Flores said many voting rights advocates are feeling very queasy about this coming Supreme Court decision. One worry is that the court would strike down Section Five, but still keep the rest of the Voting Rights Act. That means the act would lose a big chunk of its enforcement power.
“They are the cops on the beat to make sure that jurisdictions that have been racially discriminatory in the election process mind their p’s and q’s," Flores said.
Activists fear that would allow any state to carry out last minute Election Day shenanigans, like moving polling sites from low income neighborhoods, not printing bilingual ballots, shortening voting hours, voter intimidation and other tricks that were in play before the Voting Rights Act.
And if Section Five is struck down, suddenly drawing election maps in states like Texas could be a whole lot quicker and easier.
“If you didn’t have the Voting Rights Act, you could draw the maps any which way you want to," Flores said.
And in a state like Texas, where minority populations are rapidly increasing, the political implications are huge.
Anaheim City Council votes against adopting district model
In Orange County, there has long been a debate over the structure of Anaheim's City Council.
Unlike most cities its size, the council is not comprised of representatives from each of the city's districts, but rather selected through at large elections. It's a fact that has drawn fire from residents who say the governing body does not reflect the diversity of the population there, half of which is Latino.
There was a vote last night to change this and adopt a district model, but the City Council rejected it 3-to-2.
For more on this we turn to Adam Elmahrek, a reporter for the Voice of OC.
The latest in the Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit
Testimony continues this week in the Michael Jackson wrongful death lawsuit. Jackson's mother and children are suing AEG, the concert promoter responsible for the London leg of the singer's "This is It" tour.
They allege that AEG paid Dr. Conrad Murray, currently serving time for involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death, and that Murray served the best interests of the promoters, not his patient.
AEG says they only paid Murray through advances, and that Jackson was responsible for hiring Murray. LA Times senior writer Jeff Gottlieb has been following this case closely, and he joins the show with more.
Looking back at the Loving v. Virginia case
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Prop 8 case in just a matter of weeks. That decision could determine whether states have the right to ban same-sex marriages. 46 years ago today, the court made another landmark ruling regarding marriage in a case known as Loving v. Virginia
The case was brought by a married couple, appropriately named Richard and Mildred Loving. They were convicted in their home state of Virginia of violating laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
Those laws were determined to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a 1967 decision.
Philip Hirschkop was a young lawyer just a couple years out of law school when he represented the Lovings in this case. He joins the show with more.
Sales for George Orwell's '1984' skyrocket amid NSA surveillance scandal
Since news about the NSA surveillance program broke last week, you may have thought once or twice about George Orwell's classic "1984." Well, so did other people. Sales of the book on Amazon shot up 7,000 percent this week.
Here to talk about the book and its place is history is book critic David Kipen.
Is it possible to disappear in today's digitally connected world?
Maybe the NSA's surveillance program has you feeling like you're living "1984," and you're already figuring out ways to avoid being monitored and tracked. But because our lives our so tied to the Internet and technology, we wondered if that's even possible?
Frank Ahearn, a privacy expert and author of "How To Disappear," says yes.
"The more assets you have, the longer. If you're a 26-year-old waitress with no kids, don't own a house, you can be gone in six weeks' time, no problem," said Ahearn. "You can be put someplace where you can acclimate in and figure out a game plan. That's if you're disappearing from a stalker. It takes longer if you have a home, car and a lot of money. That can take about three months."
Ahearn used to make a living as a skip tracer, extracting phone and bank records for sale to private investigators and lawyers needing to find people. He says once the laws changed he got out of that business. Now he uses his experience with tracking people down to helping people disappear from stalkers or abusive exes.
"I don't really charge the victims of stalkers because they don't have the funds and it's not really expensive to do, but for businesspeople, it starts at like $35,000-$40,000 because it's a time consuming project and I do everything myself," said Ahearn. "That's my ideal of privacy. I have no employees and no other workers. Your secrets live and die with me. It's a strange business, but my whole life, I've been the strange business of finding information, extracting information and finding people for tabloids, so it kind of runs hand in hand with my life."
Interview Highlights:
On the first thing to do if you wanted to disappear tomorrow:
"The first thing to consider is how you're going to make money. You can't be Joe the bus driver in L.A. and then move and become Joe the bus driver in Miami, because there are certain ways of being traced. I assume the person looking for you is going to break the law. Be it having a contact in social security track your contributions or the IRS, so that's the first thing to figure out: what are you going to do and where are you going to go? We have to make sure you can acclimate to that place. Do you have a strange blood disease or some weird medicine that you need? Can you get it there? Can you be traced by that medicine? To a certain degree, disappearing is no different than relocating. You have to have the funds; you have to be able to afford it."
On the stereotypical "tropical beach hideout":
"I call that the 'Palm Tree Lifestyle'. It's like, you look online and say, 'Oh man, I'm going to buy a beachfront property in Belize or Costa Rica for like $10,000.' The only problem is that you can't get water or electricity. The other problem is, when people do disappear in places like that, they make the mistake of hanging out in the ex-pat community. You can be easily found in such locations, so it's a very unrealistic thing to do."
On hiding in plain sight:
"That's what I teach people: if you're going to disappear, you do it in plain sight. You do it in a city, you do it as if you're living normally. The only difference is the apartment you rent is not in your name. It could be in a corporation name. Your utilities may be in a corporation name or a cousin's name. The idea is, you're just taking you and your social security number out of the system, to a degree. You still have to pay your taxes, unfortunately."
Evan Ratliff on how hard it is to disappear
What is it really like to try and disappear off the face of the earth? Writer Evan Ratliff knows all too well.
A few years back, Wired magazine sponsored a contest in which they asked Ratliff to try and disappear for 30 days while still retaining some presence online. Wired offered its readers $5,000 to anyone who found him. That hunt became a nationwide phenomenon.
Evan Ratliff, who is no longer on the lam, joins the show to talk about how hard it is to disappear while maintaining an online presence.
How the film 'Cleopatra' paved the way for LA's Century City
Fifty years ago, an epic film with an even more epic budget over-run opened in theaters:
"Cleopatra" spawned a romance between its stars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but its spiraling costs pushed the studio that produced it, 20th Century Fox, to the edge of bankruptcy.
Originally budgeted at $2 million, the film ended up costing $44 million. Well before it opened, Fox had entered into a deal to sell its 200-plus-acre back lot, where stars from Henry Fonda to Elvis Presley had filmed hundreds of movies.
The result of that land sale was the development of Century City, the largest privately funded urban development of its time. An architect named Welton Beckett designed a master plan, Seattle architect Minoru Yamasaki created the curved design for the Century Plaza Hotel, and the residential towers came from I.M. Pei.
The project's supporters saw Century City as a transformative development, one that would change the tenor of life in Los Angeles from suburban sprawl to a more dense, urban environment:
Century City Today
From a commercial perspective, Century City was and continues to be a success, but its not exactly a hip destination for Angelenos looking to have a good time. Bob Hale hopes to change that.
As principal architect at the firm Rios Clementi Hale, he's been involved in a project called The Greening Century City Plan to make the development more transit and pedestrian-friendly.
"Our plan is to inject more amenity and life into the streetscape: Enhance the physical qualities of the sidewalk experience, adding new tries, adding new paving," said Hale.
Part of the plan is to revive and create a 21st Century identity, all the while increasing and attracting the number of people on the streets in the next five to 10 years.
"As the Metro comes to serve Century City in the next five to ten years, the amount of people who will be on the street is going to increase enormously – we think and hope. And part of the plan is really to prepare Century City to be in a much better place."
Century City was born during a new era of American planning in the 1950s, when fancy automobiles captured the attention of Angelenos. While Century City was essentially planned with automobiles in mind, it missed a crucial element: catering to pedestrians.
"American planning was going through a phase of great love affair with the automobile and thinking that people were always going to get into their cars and drive everywhere, even around the block," said Hale. "Century City was planned for the automobile and it worked really well, but in that, they sort of lost sight of having to also deal with people walking in it.”
Instead of demolishing and tearing down iconic buildings, Hale believes in helping others preserve the identity and history of some of the most iconic buildings like the Century Plaza Hotel. Hale, who is currently involved with the Greening Century City Plan, was one of the many key individuals responsible for persuading others to find a better, long-term and more sustainable perspective on redevelopment.
"We’re involved with the redevelopment of the Century Plaza Hotel which is one of the most iconic buildings in Century City and the owners, they originally wanted to tear the whole thing down," said Hale. "The configuration is going to allow for the adaptation of the existing hotel into the current sort of marketplace and make it much more efficient, current building, but at the same time, preserve what’s really great about it historically."
The real life story of Dwight 'Doc' Gooden
When former baseball great Dwight Gooden was all of 19 years old, he was the most exciting player in baseball. In his first few seasons with the New York Mets he won Rookie of the Year, the Cy Young Award and the World Series. But he was dealing with a whole host of demons that would wreck his career, personal relationships and almost his life. His new book, "Doc: A Memoir," chronicles his rise, fall and eventual redemption.