The Supreme Court sides with states over cost of regulating emissions, how children helped shape attitudes toward same-sex unions, and the Grateful Dead together, again.
Supreme Court says EPA's power plant regulations go too far
In recent years, the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed strict anti-pollution rules on the nation's coal powered utility plants, limiting the amount of mercury and other toxic emissions allowed. These were challenged by 20 states and major power companies in the courts.
The Supreme Court has now sided with the challengers, ruling that the cost of adapting to these regulations should be taken into account.
Ethan Zindler, an analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, told Take Two that most of the country's power plants had already complied with the regulations but the few that haven't will now be rethinking their plans going forward.
"While the deadline to reduce mercury levels has been in place for decades, some companies haven't already put them in place, and the implication is interesting for those who haven't already complied. Some of the old coal plants are having trouble competing with natural gas (which has half the amount of emission that coal plants have)."
The Obama administration has followed a strong environmental agenda, and the new ruling means new proposed regulations will have to be re-examined.
Click on the blue player above to hear the entire story.
The role of children in the conversation about marriage equality
Marriage is now legal for same sex couples in the wake of last week's historic Supreme Court decision.
But how did we get here?
Looking back at the battle over the right to marry, the welfare of children has played an important role, on both sides of the debate.
The Washington Post's Sandhya Someshekhar covers social change for the paper and recently wrote about the role of kids in the marriage debate.
Click on the blue player above to hear the story.
How should journalists report on the issue of gay marriage?
In reporting on the Supreme Court's historic decision on same sex marriage, the media has taken a mostly positive view. But has it been striking the right tone?
Historically, journalists are taught to keep their personal and political opinions under wraps. Others argue that line of thinking is dishonest and outdated.
So, is it OK for a radio show host to tweet about his excitement over #lovewins? Or when newspaper reporter puts a rainbow filter on her Facebook profile photo?
How about bold headlines, such as this example from the Montgomery Advertiser?
Elizabeth Spayd is the editor and publisher at the Columbia Journalism Review, and helps us navigate some of these questions.
On the Lot: Moviegoers may have soured on raunchy summer comedies
The profane and perfectly politically incorrect teddy bear came back, but he lost a lot of fans along the way.
Ted 2's box office was about $32 million on its opening weekend. The original Ted opened somewhere north of $50 million. Other salty, R-rated comedies have not done well this summer. Spy, despite great reviews, disappointed, and Entourage underperformed as well.
Contrast that with R-rated comedies from earlier summers, such as Bridesmaids! or The Hangover, and some critics are saying Americans are sated on gross jokes and streams of language most foul.
Still, our On the Lot maven, Rebecca Keegan of the LA Times, giggled and roared all the way through Ted 2, even if she reveals a little guilt in her review.
The Grateful Dead wrap up their first weekend of reunion shows
This weekend, the Grateful Dead played their first performance together in 20 years. The band played two warm up shows in Northern California over the weekend, this in advance of a massive 50th anniversary celebration coming up in Chicago.
Billboard Music Director and Take Two contributor
is going to be traveling with the band and joins Alex Cohen to talk about the weekend shows.
Rocket failure proves 'Space is hard,' delivers setback to SpaceX
A SpaceX rocket loaded with much-needed supplies exploded just minutes after its launch on Sunday. Just after, American astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted from the International Space Station, "Sadly failed Space is hard."
Watched
launch from
Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly)
Watched #Dragon launch from @space_station Sadly failed Space is hard Teams assess below @NASAKennedy #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/myi3col5Ix
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 28, 2015
As the third mission to the space station to be lost in recent months, the failure raises questions about the future of commercial spaceflight and the next step for SpaceX, Elon Musk's California-based aerospace company.
Greg Autry is an assistant professor of clinical entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business. He's been researching commercial spaceflight firms for more than a decade, and he told Take Two that the failure will likely not be so much of a technical setback for SpaceX, but could prove to be a political one.
"I'm sure there will be opponents of commercial space, people who want to stick with the old-school, government-run rocket programs, who will use this as an opportunity to try to say that we need to stick with our traditional ways of contracting doing things," Autry said. "But, frankly, that's ironic because we all know that the space shuttle was not the safest transportation system in the world, having [had] two failures."
To hear more, click on the audio player above.
Actor Bryce Ryness takes on the role of the terrifying Miss Trunchbull in 'Matilda'
The musical "Matilda," based on the Roald Dahl novel of the same name, is about a very bright young girl with very crude parents.
Matilda is sent to a school led by an incredibly strict and overbearing headmistress named Miss Trunchbull.
In the book, Miss Trunchbull is described as "more like an eccentric and rather bloodthirsty follower of the stag-hounds than the headmistress of a nice school for children."
On stage, the role of Miss Trunchbull is often played by a man, as it is in its current iteration at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Actor Bryce Ryness sat down with Take Two host Alex Cohen to talk about taking on the role of Miss Trunchbull.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On how he transforms for the role:
At this point, it's a bit like, 'Alright I'm getting ready for work now!' Which is, putting on foundation, and then drawing in age lines, darkening around the eyes. There's a stippling sponge, which I can put broken capillaries on my cheekbones. Oh yeah, it's gross. There are nicotine stains that I put on my teeth. No one sees it like, through a microscope, but the eye does catch it. And when I go to smile, and you don't see white teeth, you're like, 'Something's untrustworthy about that person.'
On whether he plays the character as a woman or as a guy playing a woman:
I had a few different conversations with Matthew Warchus, the director, about this. And Matthew's hope and thrust with the character was that I'm not a man trying to play a woman, that I'm just me. And then the costume and the wig and the fact that everyone refers to her as a 'miss' the audience gets to fill in the blanks on that... I like to try to hit exactly in the center between the male and the female.
On how his kids have responded to seeing him in the role:
They're hip to the jive now that dad puts on funny costumes and goes to work. One of the last gigs that I did was 'Peter Pan Live' on NBC and so I was dressed as a pirate and 'Dad's a pirate today!' And a few months later he's a headmistress of a school! So they're still of the age where they can see dad going to work and regard it as silliness... So they weren't particularly scarred for life by my performance. (laughs) The youngest one, Cora, hasn't seen it yet. She's a little young, and a little squirmy for a two hour and 35 minute show.
"Matilda The Musical" is playing through July 12th at the Centre Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre.