First, California officials like Gov. Jerry Brown are gathering near San Diego to discuss boosting Latino voting. Then, USA faces off against Germany today in the World Cup. Plus, there's an effort underway to bring LGBT centers to more diverse communities, Rio's favela residents protest police action during World Cup, musician Ceci Bastida on starting her career in Mexico's first punk rock band and much more.
California officials gather for Latino voter conference
Officials from across the country will gather in Coronado today, not far from San Diego, to talk about how to boost Latino voting power this fall.
Among those appearing at the convention of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials ... Governor Jerry Brown, state Attorney General Kamala Harris and U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. For more on this summit we're joined by Erica Bernal-Martinez of NALEO.
ACLU report says American police forces increasingly militarized
Drones, armored tanks, bomb detecting robots and kevlar body armor are not only found in a military arsenal, but many modern police departments around the country.
A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union examines the trend of militarization among American police forces, including the increasing use of SWAT raids to do routine operations like serving a warrant or pressing drug charges.
When SWAT teams originated in Los Angeles they were primarily intended to be used in situations in which a crime was actively being committed: active shooting, hostage situations or riots. But they have become an increasing fixture of police operations in many areas around the county.
Radley Balko said it's part of a trend of police departments becoming more militarized. He's an investigative journalist who writes for the Washington Post and author of the book "The Rise of the Warrior Cop."
Anaheim's German community cheers on the homeland team
The big match is finally here for soccer fans, as the U.S. Men's National Team takes on Germany at the World Cup.
KPCC immigration and emerging communities reporter Josie Huang has entered into enemy territory and joins Take Two from the Phoenix Club in Anaheim, the largest German-American club on the West Coast.
Did you know?/Wussten Sie schon?
- Anaheim began as a German colony in the mid-nineteenth century for farmers and winemakers
- Anaheim is German, translating as "Home by the Santa Ana"
- Jürgen Klinsmann, head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team, was not only born in Germany, but was on the German team that won the 1990 World Cup and managed the German national team in 2006 to a third place finish.
After 'I Do': Bringing LGBT centers to more diverse communities
This segment is part one of Take Two's five-part series "After I Do," on the issues and challenges that LGBT people face beyond the gay marriage movement. Hear parts one, two and three.
There was a problem when Patti Loitz's daughter came out.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve got to take her to a place where she can meet other kids who are like her," she recalls thinking at the time.
But living in Pasadena, most resources for LGBT people are concentrated in areas like West Hollywood, about a dozen miles west of where she lives. "Not that it’s not that far, but I was hoping that there would be something that’s more local."
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She's now one of the many people involved in creating a new LGBT center specifically for the San Gabriel Valley.
A community just miles away but vastly different
As the acceptance of LGBT people grows, more are coming out in their own communities without the need to head to the traditional gay enclaves.
However, a place like Hollywood is also home to some of the largest LGBT organizations in the country. For example, the LA LGBT Center alone has five buildings, dozens of programs and hundreds of employees.
That's alluring to the people of the San Gabriel Valley, but getting there is another issue.
Liz Schiller is a lead organizer of the effort to create a new Pasadena Pride Center, and says the goal is to create a place that is accessible while recognizing the area's diversity.
"[There are] a huge number of different languages spoken, different cultures, different demographics," says Schiller.
More than half of the San Gabriel Valley’s residents are immigrants, with a majority coming from Asia. The language barrier is one issue that Asian LGBT teens might face, for example, when trying to explain to his or her parents that they're gay.
That may be because the closest word for it in their native and maybe only language is an insult or slur.
"They just don’t know how to come out to their parents," says resident Andre Ting. "They don’t have the vocabulary to explain to their parents."
A future service of the new center could then be connecting those kids with advisors and mentors who speak the language. There’s also the sheer size of the San Gabriel Valley — about 200 square miles — that's a logistical challenge.
"In L.A., it’s all one city, so if you have to call a service it’s very easy to find," says Aaron Saenz, who’s working on the future center with Liz Schiller. "But with the San Gabriel Valley, it’s individual cities that are separate."
Therefore a service in one city might not work for a resident in another. Compiling this network is another task on their to-do list. Saenz adds that the area suffers when it doesn’t have a central social hub where people can meet in person, and dating and hook-up apps have made that more problematic.
"Grindr, Scruff, GROWLr have really disconnected the LGBT community because it’s easy to find somebody, but it’s also made it harder to connect," he says.
Crowdsourcing what people want
Last January at a hotel conference room in the city of Monrovia, a cross-section of people from the San Gabriel Valley gathered to share their stories and talk about what they want out of a new center.
What was clear is that there’s a much different need for LGBT people who live in the area. For example, Ian Lawrence of Glendora said most doctors he’s found were just clueless about his health care needs.
"It ranges from everything to thinking you’re doing orgies all the time and need to be tested every two months, to just being in La-La Land about what some concerns are."
Meanwhile Aiden Izumi, who’s transgender, says it was hard to find other people like him even at the gay-straight alliance when he was in high school.
"There was maybe three, four people there, and the majority of those four people were straight allies," he said. "When you’re looking for someone who can relate to you and the things that you’re going through, that didn’t really work for me."
Despite these hurdles, there are many other things in the San Gabriel Valley’s favor.
First, it's defined itself as a place for couples who want to settle down, says Chris Ramirez.
“People that live in the San Gabriel Valley look to different sources of entertainment than they do in Boystown," referring to enclaves like West Hollywood.
But he says the San Gabriel Valley's pride is a more chill affair.
“There is no dance tent. Up until last year we had no beer,” he said.
Also, last year "The Advocate" magazine named Pasadena as second gayest city in the country above places like New York and San Francisco. That took center organizers Liz Schiller and Aaron Saenz by surprise, actually, and also The Advocate’s own editor Matthew Breen.
"I did not think of Pasadena as a particularly gay or gay-friendly place," he says.
But the magazine gave more weight in its survey to things like LGBT elected officials and lesbian-coupled households, both of which are prevalent in Pasadena.
"It’s exactly the point," says Breen. "Changing the criteria was meant to look at different factors that would make a place a gay-friendly place."
As more people recognize that communities in the San Gabriel Valley are accepting, Liz Schiller hopes that a future center will have locations all throughout the area, each one tailor to a local community.
"I would love to see a center as large and well-established as the gay and lesbian center in Hollywood," she says, already on her way.
Her group announced that the first brick-and-mortar location of the Pasadena Pride Center will open soon just blocks from Old Town Pasadena.
State Of Affairs: Alarcon in court, Jerry Brown poll, high-speed rail and more
In today's State of Affairs, a former L.A. City Councilman is back in court, Governor Jerry Brown leads in the polls and a push to rethink high speed rail in California. KPCC political reporters Frank Stoltz and Alice Walton join the show with the latest.
California this week became the second state to call for a constitutional convention on the issue of money in politics. What exactly does that mean, and what are the chances of a convention actually happening?
In reforms here in LA, two L.A. City Council members introduced a motion this week to criminalize wage theft. What is wage theft and why are these council members taking this on as an issue?
Staying on the city's economic policy for a moment, the Economic Development Committee met this week to talk about giving tax breaks to hotel developments in the city. Essentially, City Hall is looking at a policy that would allow developers to keep hotel tax revenues owed to the city. Why would the city give up money that could be used for things like police services and pothole repairs?
Mayor Eric Garcetti has launched what he calls the "Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles." He says its a non-profit organization focused on creating partnerships between the City and the private, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. What's this all about?
Former L.A. City Councilman Richard Alarcon is back in court, on trial for voter fraud and perjury. This case stems from allegations that he did not live in the council district he was supposed to be representing. Prosecutors say they may call former city Controller Wendy Greuel as a witness. How does she fit into this case?
This week Sheila Kuehl secured the endorsement of San Fernando Valley Congressman Brad Sherman in her bid to replace L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Why is this important?
State Senator Kevin De Leon wants Governor Jerry Brown to rethink plans to build high-speed rail in the middle of nowhere. Instead, he wants to see the project begin between Los Angeles and San Francisco. What else has he said on the issue?
Now to another one-time state legislator. Its hard to believe, but the political career of former State Assembly Speaker John Perez — cousin of former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — may be in trouble. He ran for State Controller, but as of now is a few hundred votes short of making the runoff. Update us on one of closest state races in decades.
A recount is underway in San Bernardino County as democrats are fighting to hold onto a spot in the November runoff for Congressman Gary Miller's seat. What's at stake here?
Bell city officials have, for the most part, put the city's corrupt past behind them. However, there are still some lingering effects. This week it came to light that city officials are suing a former councilman, a foundation and a construction company for millions of dollars they received from former City Manager Robert Rizzo. How likely is the city to receover this money?
The latest Field Poll shows Governor Jerry Brown leading Republican challenger Neel Kashkari, but not by as much as a lot of people thought. Frank how does this bode for the election?
Some bizarre news out in Riverside County. A Perris city councilman called police this week to report a theft, but when the police arrived, it didn't turn out so well for Julio Rodriguez. What happened?
World Cup 2014: Suarez banned, Mexico faces the Dutch, Costa Rica makes a run
It's the last day of group play at the World Cup in Brazil and there is a lot still left on the line. In addition to the USA and Germany, Algeria, Russia, South Korea and Belgium are all playing.
Uruguay will play Colombia this weekend, but without forward Luis Suarez after FIFA imposed a ban on the star.
Plus, Mexico continues its run against the still-undefeated Netherlands. And finally, the Cinderella story of the World Cup: Costa Rica. How far can the Central American nation go? Steve Crossman of the BBC joins Take Two for an overview of the latest.
Rio's favela residents protest police action during World Cup
As Brazil's World Cup nears the midway point, attention moves to Rio de Janeiro. The city will host the all-important final game on July 13 at the historic Maracana Stadium.
Rio is also home to more than six million residents and some of the country's most densely-crowded favelas. That's the informal housing in Rio where the government has implemented a controversial policing program, called "pacification."
"The policy of pacification actually goes back to the military dictatorship of the 1970s," reporter Andalusia Knoll tells Take Two from Rio. "But more recently [it] was implemented in 2008 when the government decided it wanted to have more regular presence in these favela communities."
Knoll spoke with residents in Rio's Babilonia favela who organized a protest during one of Brazil's early games. One of them, a woman named Arlete Ludovice, criticized the priorities of the World Cup. Ludovice is president of Cahpéu Mangueira, the association of residents in Babilonia.
"Here people are dying in the communities," she said in Portuguese, noting casualties from clashes between police and residents. "The World Cup is not for everyone."
Forced evictions are expected to continue through the year and the police have said they will keep units in at least one favela, Mare, through the end of the World Cup, according to Amnesty International.
Felipe Francisco, a medical student, described what he said was police steering the protesters clear of the view of tourists during a rally last Friday.
"They tried to form a block around us because they didn’t want us to come here because of the tourists," said Francisco. "They were trying to do that -- they didn't want us to get here -- so that the tourists wouldn’t see the protest and what we have to say."
But Brazilian officials call the "pacification" program a necessary response to high crime and violence in the favelas. Rio's Secretary for Security Affairs Jose Mariano Beltrame says the police units are designed to have an ongoing role in the favelas rather than merely take part in periodic raids, reports Knoll.
Four in ten Brazilians say controversy from the World Cup, including police action, could hurt Brazil's image throughout the world, according to a Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month.
With 'Isa,' NBCUniversal hopes to tap into the dual-language film market
Media companies have long tried to tap into the Latino market with varying degrees of success.
It's a tough nut to crack largely because of the wide range of Latino viewing sensibilities. What plays well in one corner may not do as well in another. A new film called “Isa” tries to hit a lot of targets.
It's the first original movie from Fluency Productions, a part of NBC Universal Hispanic Enterprises and Content. It's a sci-fi thriller with a Latina lead, set in the hip Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park with themes of immigration and a billion dollar Wall Street conspiracy.
Writer and director Jose Nestor Marquez joins the show with more.
Ceci Bastida's new solo effort inspired by Murakami, Mexico and motherhood
Singer Ceci Bastida started performing with the Mexican punk/ska band Tijuana No! when she was 15 years old. A little more than a decade later, the band broke up and eventually Ceci decided to pursue her own solo music career.
This week she released another solo effort called "La Edad de la Violencia."
On the album, she sings pieces inspired by the works of Haruki Murakami, violence in her native Mexico and her worries about raising her child in today's world. The work channels a much more indie sound than her fans might have heard in her earlier work.
Ceci Bastida joins Alex Cohen to talk about her influences and what it's like to perform on her own after performing with a band for so long.
On June 26, Ceci will also be performing at the Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles.