Non-citizen military vets can face deportation if they run afoul of the law, jails give more thought to how to deal with addicts, how heatwave impacts air quality.
Jails try to bring treatment to opioid-addicted inmates
It's been called a crisis and an epidemic.
There's no doubt that opioid abuse in the U.S. has been on the rise over the last couple of decades.
An estimated 400 people die every year from opioid overdoses in L.A. County alone. And opioid-related hospitalizations have gone up about thirty percent, according to LA's Department of Public Health.
But a lot of opioid users are also getting locked up. And that's forcing the criminal justice system to reconsider how it deals with addicts.
Sam Quinones profiled Kentucky jail, the Kenton County Detention Center, that’s trying to open a path to rehab for its inmates in article for the New York Times.
He's a reporter and the author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic”. He joined Take Two's A Martinez to talk about what he found.
To hear the full interview with Sam Quinones, click on the media player above.
After US military service, these veterans face deportation
SoCal's heat makes air pollution more dangerous
Summer officially begins tomorrow, but the heat is already here. And when temperatures spike, air quality plummets. It doesn't help that five separate brush fires are burning across the region.
Why does smog get worse when the heat goes up? Take Two put that question to Patrick Chandler with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, or AQMD.
The AQMD issued a warning last week about smog. What should we be aware of?
When we have really hot weather like we're having this week, it's expected that the air quality could either be unhealthy to very unhealthy. It covers a very large area from the Santa Clarita Valley to the San Gabriel Mountains, all the way out to southwestern San Bernardino and western Riverside County.
So you can't escape it?
Usually, we'll have a more concentrated unhealthy to very unhealthy area, but because of this heat wave, it's really spreading through a large area in the South Coast Basin.
Why does the smog get worse when the weather heats up?
What we have is an inversion layer. All that ozone higher up in the atmosphere is fine. The ozone that's close to where we are — ground level — gets trapped and heats up. It cooks, basically, and instead of it dispersing out into the atmosphere, it stays close to the ground. It leaves us all with unhealthy to very unhealthy air.
What does smog do and how can people stay safe?
It can irritate the respiratory system. It can reduce lung function. It can inflame and damage cells in the lining of the lung. It can aggravate asthma. Those with chronic diseases or chronic bronchitis, it can irritate their lungs.
During this time it's best to check the air quality before you go out and reduce a lot of outdoor play or vigorous activity.
Press the blue play button above to hear more tips from the AQMD's Patrick Chandler.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
The Slants win right to trademark band name
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that The Slants, an Asian-American band from Portland, has won the right to trademark its name.
When the band members first tried almost eight years ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the application, saying the name was too offensive and disparaging to Asians. Historically, terms like "slantly-eyed" were racial slurs used against Asian-Americans.
But The Slants' founder Simon Tam disagreed with the decision of the U.S. Trademark Office.
"I wanted to pay homage to Asian-American activists who have been using the term 'slant' in this re-appropriated, self-empowering kind of way," he says. "We shouldn't shy away from racial issues."
Tam also took issue with how he claims the band's application was denied.
"The trademark office believed that it was possibly disparaging to Asian-Americans because they found an entry on UrbanDictionary.com," he says, noting that the office didn't consult with its own Asian-American employees, either.
"It became this really long battle over who gets to decide what's right," says Tam. "What [today's win] means is marginalized groups get to decide what's right for ourselves."
Listen to the full interview by clicking the audio player above.
On the Lot: Pixar attempts to shift gears
Pixar's high-octane franchise tries to shift gears, "All Eyez on Me" surprises at the box office and the audacity of the "first R-rated studio comedy directed by a woman in nearly 20 years..."
Vanity Fair's Rebecca Keegan is our guide to this week's business of Hollywood news.
Cars 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LeOH9AGJQM
First up, "Cars 3." The third installment of the Disney Pixar franchise takes first place at the box office this weekend, but it didn't do as well as its Pixar counterparts.
Also, with the franchises' new character, Cruz Ramirez, voiced by Cristela Alonzo, it appears Disney is trying to appeal to girls and Latino audiences. What took the studio so long?
All Eyez on Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njnwYSybwko&t=1s
The Tupac Shakur musical biopic beat analysts' expectations. The movie continues a pattern of box office analysis underestimating films that play to predominantly minority audiences.
Rough Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_B4Jfdp1P8
And finally, the movie that had a rough weekend. "Rough Night" is the first raunchy, R-rated studio comedy directed by a woman in nearly 20 years. Director Lucia Aniello, a veteran of the Comedy Central show "Broad City," was at the helm for this one so what went wrong?
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
During the 'War on Drugs,' a scrappy band of Coronado teens made millions smuggling weed
Coronado Island isn't really an island. At least, not in the traditional sense. It sits at the top of a long and narrow strip that forms the outer edge of San Diego Bay. But just because it isn't an island doesn't mean it didn't feel like one.
Before a connecting bridge was built in 1969, Coronado's isolation in plain sight of San Diego sowed the seeds of a teen drug smuggling ring. Instead of crossing the border by land, they swam marijuana from Mexico in the dead of night.
It all started as a way to pass the time, then quickly developed into a multi-million dollar drug operation. The teens would call themselves the Coronado Company.
Katherine Nichols wrote about the Coronado Company in her new book, "Deep Water: From the Swim Team to Drug Smuggling."
She spoke about it with Take Two's A Martinez.
Highlights
Who were the kids who eventually became the Coronado Company?
They were kids who graduated — actually, one was still in school at the time. They later recruited their high school Spanish teacher, Lou Villar, who had taught at Coronado High School from about '65 to 1970.
They seem like normal, everyday kids who live near a beach.
Absolutely. They were swimmers, they were surfers, water polo players. Eddie was a lifeguard. Bob Lahodny had been class president.
How did they get started?
Lance was one of the first guys to start doing this. It was his idea, along with another person who is Paul Acree.
They just thought, "Oh, we'll sell a little bit, make a little bit of profit, bring it to the party at the bonfire at the beach. No big deal."
In 1971, President Nixon was initiating his campaign, "The War on Drugs." This actually started to change the dynamic of bringing things across the border. I believe this created an opportunity for guys who understood the ocean. They thought, "Hmm. Why not go around?"
Tell us what these guys were facing in the water when they swam pot from Mexico back to Coronado.
That swim is terrifying. Number one, it's at night. That's petrifying. It's filled with great white sharks out there.
They were facing strong currents, huge surf where they came in, sharks, jellyfish — they were very tough.
How far did they take this thing? How big did this thing get?
It got to be $100 million. That's actually a conservative estimate. Some people have said that it could have been a lot more. That's over a period of 10 years.
This activity could never have happened today with the technology and the sophistication of the DEA. But in those days, these guys managed to stay a step ahead of the law ahead of time. After an indictment, they were on the run as fugitives for another four years.
Press the blue play button above to hear how the drug empire came crashing down.
The book: "Deep Water: From the Swim Team to Drug Smuggling"