SCOTUS rules against key part of Voting Rights Act; President Obama to reveal plan for climate change; Norovirus outbreaks plague Yellowstone, Grand Teton parks; Competition seeks ideas for extreme weather resistant architecture; The Rainbow Flag at 35: Making of a global symbol of gay rights; Arborists attempt to clone John Muir's dying Giant Sequoia; Remembering 'Twilight Zone' writer Richard Matheson
SCOTUS rules against key part of Voting Rights Act
Today, the Supreme Court ruled 5 -to-4 against a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. That act, originally passed in 1965, outlawed discriminatory voting practices that kept minorities away from the polls.
The justices said that the law Congress most recently renewed in 2006 relies on 40-year-old data that does not reflect racial progress and changes in U.S. society. In California, three counties had to follow special rules under that law.
Justin Levitt, professor at Loyola University Law School, joins the show to explain the implications of the ruling.
Today's decision has sparked a number of responses on both sides of the debate. Civil rights leaders are concerned that striking down this provision will fail to protect minority voters.
But in Kings County in Central California, the decision comes as good news. It's one of the three counties in the state which had to adhere to the rules of the Voting Rights Act.
We're joined now by Larry Spikes, administrative officer for Kings County.
Read the court's ruling:
President Obama to reveal plan for climate change
President Obama is expected to reveal plans for climate change today, but how will his plan get passed, when Congress is preoccupied with immigration? Will environmentalists be disappointed that the plan is coming later than they had hoped?
Jonathan Parfrey, commissioner of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power and executive director of Climate Resolve, joins the show with more.
Competition seeks ideas for extreme weather resistant architecture
Even if President Obama is successful in implemented these proposed steps to limit climate change, certain effects of extreme weather are inevitable. So how do you learn to live with them?
A group of young New York architects created the 3C competition, seeking ideas for the most aesthetic way to protect property from a devastating storm surge. Daniel Horn, who is spearheading the competition, joins the show from New York with more.
Arborists attempt to clone John Muir's dying Giant Sequoia
A giant Sequoia tree planted more than 130 years ago by naturalist John Muir in the orchard of his home in the northern California town of Martinez is in danger.
The tree is now 70 feet tall and has been infected with fatal fungus, so arborists are trying to clone it.
For more on this, we're joined by Keith Park of the John Muir National Historic Site.
Remembering 'Twilight Zone' writer Richard Matheson
A founding father of science fiction has died. Richard Matheson passed away on Sunday in Los Angeles at 87 years of age.
You might not recognize his name, but there's a good chance you've seen his work in film and TV. He was responsible for iconic episodes of the "Twilight Zone," including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," which starred a young William Shatner as a passenger on a terrifying airplane.
He wrote multiple "Star Trek" episodes including, "The Enemy Within."
For more on Richard Matheson's life, we're joined now by book critic David Kipen, the founder of the lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights.
Read Richard Matheson's entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
View Richard Matheson's full bilbiography at iSFDB.
View the full episode of Matheson's 1961 "Twlight Zone" episode "The Invaders" below.
View the full episode of Matheson's 1963 "Twilight Zone" episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" below.
Tuesday Reviewsday: The Stepkids, Johnnyswim, Femi Kuti and more
Now it's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, where we talk about what's new in music. Joining us today is L.A. Times music critic Steve Hochman and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes.
Artist: The Stepkids
Album: Troubador
Release: July 10
Song: "The Lottery"
Artist: Johnnyswim
Album: Heart Beats EP
Release: June 18
Songs: "Heart Beats"
"Don't Let it Get You Down"
Artist: Bells Atlas
Album: Bells Atlas
Release: June 14th
Songs: "Rain"
"Video Star"
Artist: Alela Diane
Album: About Farewell
Release: June 25th
Songs: "About Farewell"
"The Way We Fall"
Artist: Bobby Whitlock
Songs: "Where There's A Will, There's A Way"
"Satisfied"
Artist: Femi Kuti
Album: No Place for my Dream
Release: June 25th
Senate votes in favor of border amendment
Last night, the U.S. Senate voted 67-to-27 in favor of a tough border amendment to a comprehensive immigration bill. The proposal to double the size of the border patrol is designed to attract Republican votes for the larger bill.
KPCC's Washington Correspondent Kitty Felde joins the show to help us get caught up on the immigration debate.
Exploring the burgeoning art scene at the US-Mexico border
The physical U.S.-Mexico border has also become a preoccupation for a lot of artists working in the region. They're using different aspects of the border in very creative ways.
Here to tell us about some of them is Drew Tewksbury, managing editor at Artbound, a multimedia arts program at KCET public television.
Fandango Fronteriza
Native American vets struggle with VA system
Veterans all over the country are waiting months — and sometimes years — before they get a response to their disability claims. Native American veterans have had an especially difficult time navigating the federal claim system.
From the Fronteras Desk in Flagstaff, Laurel Morales reports on a recent Veterans Summit on the Hopi Reservation.
Inmates at risk for Valley Fever ordered removed from prisons
Now to update on a issue we've been reporting on: Valley Fever.
It's an airborne, fungal disease which can be fatal and it's been causing big problems at some California prisons. Yesterday a judge ordered the state to move inmates at risk of contracting Valley Fever out of two of these facilities.
For more on this, we're joined by Paige St. John of the Los Angeles Times.
Norovirus outbreaks plague Yellowstone, Grand Teton parks
A very contagious, gastrointestinal Norovirus bug often found on cruise ships has been plaguing our national parks. So far this year, it's sickened 200 people in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
For more, we're joined by Al Nash, public affairs officer from Yellowstone National Park.
Meet John Moe, host of the new public radio show 'Wits'
Starting July 1st KPCC will be introducing some new programming. We'll be airing another block of Take Two at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but the biggest changes will come on Saturday.
You'll be able to hear the Ted Radio Hour at 2 p.m., NPR's trivia show Ask Me Another at 9 p.m. and a new variety show called Wits at 8 p.m.
Wits host John Moe joins the show to talk about what listeners can expect from this new show.
Chris's Collection: Pig 'N Whistle restaurant ceramic figure
Chris Nichols is an editor at LA Magazine, but he's also a walking encyclopedia when it comes to southern California's history. Today he brings in an old ceramic figure from the famous Pig 'N Whistle restaurant.
The Rainbow Flag at 35: Making of a global symbol of gay rights
On June 25, 1978, the rainbow flag symbolizing gay pride first flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Soon after Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person elected to public office in California, was assassinated.
The outpouring of grief created a demand for the flag, and it went into mass production.
Gilbert Baker was asked personally by Milk to create the flag. Now, there are millions of rainbow flags in existence. The rainbow design has become a global symbol for gay rights and freedoms, achieving the goals Baker held when he dyed and stitched the original copy 35 years ago.
"Flags are about proclaiming power. They're visual, they're useful, they're ancient," said Baker. "We are a global tribe, that we should have our own flag to proclaim our own power and our own place. The reason it functions is that it's necessary. The rainbow fits us a people. It fits the idea that our sexuality is a human right in all its colors and the great diversity of our community."
Baker joins the show to talk about how he developed the flag and how he feels about creating such an iconic symbol.
Interview Highlights
Why did you choose to go with the striped, rainbow-colored flag design?
"The reason we picked the rainbow was that it just fit us. It's so beautiful, and then it's a natural flag. The rainbow is from the sky, so it really fits there as a flag. The reason the rainbow flag endures is because people own it. It means something to them. A real flag is not something that's designed. It's torn from the soul of the people. It belongs to people. They own it."
The first version had eight colors, so why did you have to cut it down to six?
"In 1978, the first flag was organic everything. It did have eight colors: the six colors of the rainbow we see today plus hot pink and turquoise. But pretty quickly on I realized that I would never be able to satisfy the demand for them by hand-dying fabric and these colors. In the world of vexillography [flag-making], there's a palette of colors that are what flags are made of, and there's a very limited number of colors."
Did you ever expect it would become this universal of a symbol?
"Did I know it was going to become the international symbol for the movement? That became clear later, but not right in that moment. In the moment, what struck me was the astonishing beauty of it. The way that people around it found it. You could see it in their eyes: it was also theirs. And every single person has a different idea, and their soul connects in a different way, a different color, if you will, to the flag. And that's what makes it special. It's imbued with this incredible power."
You said it yourself that the flag is unfinished. How so?
"It's like the movement is unfinished. It's kind of a metaphor. Our movement is evolving. The movement to liberate our sexuality as a human right, that's an ongoing struggle. It's not so easy to be gay or even a women in some places in the world, and in many countries it's illegal to be gay. You can be put to death. It's a global struggle. A human rights struggle on a global scale."
If the movement was finished in your lifetime, would you add anything to the flag to finish it?
"I don't think it needs anything. I think it's perfect. I think it's celebratory. I think that even if we were 'finished', the rainbow is from god. It's in the sky. It's an incredibly wonderful piece of nature that we have interpreted to represent ourselves in an incredibly powerful and beautiful way. It doesn't need fixing. The rainbow is an idea. It's something we hold close to our hearts, and that's why it works."
With contributions from Kyler Jae and Jacob Freedman.