The Eastern Sierra's snowy summer brings floods, CAA study reveals diverse casts earn more at the box office, Yoshi app delivers gas directly to your car.
California's investment in underprivileged students has yet to pay off
Tens of BILLIONS of extra dollars, and nothing to show for it?
For the past five years, California has poured money into public schools, trying to improve education for under-priviledged students.
But there's not much evidence to suggest it's working.
A report from Calmatters shows the so-called achievement gap is only getting wider.
Jessica Calefati is the education reporter with Calmatters. She spoke with Take Two's A Martinez for more.
Early analysis: The Senate health care bill and California
Senate Republicans unveiled their health care bill early Thursday. For many, it was their first look. Most of the bill was written behind closed doors.
Take Two got an early look at what's in the bill with KPCC health care reporter Michelle Faust.
Looking it over in the short amount of time you've had, what stands out to you?
It's allowing for states to apply for waivers to make many changes to insurance regulations. It's phasing out that expansion we had of Medicaid that added so many people to Medicaid rolls. (In California, Medicaid is called Medi-Cal.) One in three Californians is in that. The phase out is over three years and that would be completed by 2024, so there's a little bit of time for California to make a plan for that.
How does that affect us here?
That expansion basically came to the states to pay for putting more people on the Medi-Cal rolls here in California. Now, how will California take care of that deficit? It's not clear yet.
What are some ways that this bill could change Obamacare as we know it?
It's going to make some major changes to Planned Parenthood in terms of funding.
It will also repeal all of the ACA taxes that went to funding some of the provisions in the ACA. The only change that it wouldn't make would be to that Cadillac tax — that's for the people who have the very best healthcare. Those would continue to be taxed the way that they are.
There's been a lot of talk here in California about single-payer health care. If the Senate bill becomes law, does it make that route look more attractive?
We will see. Everyone involved in the single-payer movement here in California has said over and over again that California wants to go toward single payer because they can't count on what's going on on the federal level.
For the most part, they like what's happening with Covered California, but if Covered California funding goes away, California would have to come up with a new way. Many people who support single payer say that would be the way to go. Governor Brown does not support it yet, however. It would have to pass, and the governor would have to sign it into law.
Post-analysis note: California's single-payer health proposal might become harder to implement if this bill were to pass as-is. Cost projections for the single-payer plan that have been done do not factor in a cut to federal payments.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
The Ride: Yoshi app gasses up cars without the gas station
These days, it seems like anything can be delivered to your doorstep. Groceries, pets — you name it. And now, there's a new app that will deliver … gasoline. Right to your car.
For a fee, of course.
It's called Yoshi, and it went live in L.A. Wednesday. "Never stop for gas again" is the slogan for a company that is essentially a gas delivery service.
Users download the app and sign up, listing the make and model of their vehicles along with the type of preferred fuel. Fuel is delivered between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. for users who agree to a $20 monthly fee and who have also gathered up three worker friends who can also use the service. The app’s artificial intelligence predicts when cars need refueling. All the driver needs to do is leave the key so the gas truck operator can refill the user's tank.
Yoshi claims members can save up to ten hours per year that they’d otherwise spend looking around for fuel and also save as much as $150 per year in gas costs.
Launched in San Francisco last year, Yoshi has also been operating in Nashville, Atlanta and Austin.
Summer skiers suit up in swimsuits and hit the snowy slopes
Summer is officially here. And while it's hard to imagine given the latest heat wave, if you make the trip to up to the Mammoth Lakes area, you'll still see snow piled pretty high.
So, what happens when you combine sunshine AND snow? You get swimsuits and skis, making for a confusing visual, but good fun for summer snow bunnies.
But let's not forget that with warming temperatures comes melting snow. And that means that backcountry skiers need to use extra caution as the snow loosens, and swimmers need to take care near streams and creeks overflowing as the snowpack melts.
To boot, hikers trekking along the Pacific Crest Trail are encountering just too much snow to pass.
For more on how the heat is affecting snow conditions in the Eastern Sierra, Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Mono County Sheriff Ingrid Braun.
To hear the full interview with Sheriff Braun, click on the media player above.
With all this heat, how are solar panels faring?
Down here in Southern California, the worst of the heat wave is behind us. But don't break out your sweaters — there's plenty of balmy weather ahead.
With all that sun, you'd think all of those solar panels out there would be lapping it up. But it turns out, they don't work that well when it gets really hot.
Nate Lewis has studied solar energy for over 40 years. He's a professor at Caltech and he spoke with A Martinez via Skype about Solar panel mechanics and why they're not as efficient in high temperatures.
To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.
It pays to have a diverse cast in Hollywood
If filmmakers are looking to make more green, it pays to have more diversity on the silver screen.
That's the finding from a new report by the talent agency CAA that shows movies with diverse casts tend to perform better at the box office.
"The non-white audience represents a remarkably avid movie-going group," says Christy Haubegger, leader of CAA’s multicultural development group. "People of color, just like everybody else on the planet, like to see themselves represented on screen."
Nearly half of tickets sold in the U.S. were to non-white people, she adds, so films with diverse casts have a greater potential to draw in those moviegoers.
To do the study, CAA looked back three years for films where at least 30 percent of the lead 10 characters were non-white.
It found that big movies, on average, made $67 million on opening weekend if it had a diverse cast. That's compared to $60 million for movies without one.
That same trend was across the board, regardless of budget.
Haubegger adds that minority moviegoers represented big chunks of the audience for some of the top movies of the past few years – like "Finding Dory" and "Deadpool" – and are responsible for their success.
"Being able to show a diverse cast member actually expands the potential audience for the film," she says.
For CAA, this report is also a call to action for Hollywood – one that their own clients can benefit from.
"We're trying to change the motion picture landscape so that all kinds of artists have opportunities," says Haubegger.
Listen to the full interview by clicking the audio player above.
Cal State looks to revamp remedial education
The California State University system recently announced plans to overhaul its remedial education system by 2018.
Part of it involves changes to their remedial placement tests and changing some of their classes to something known as co-requisite or hybrid classes.
We talk about it with KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez.