Today, the Supreme Court ruled that religious institutions do not have to pay for access to birth control. Plus, U.S. border patrol agents turn to webcams to aid in monitoring. Plus, Yosemite turns 150, but preservationists still face challenges, 'Code Black' doc takes us inside the nation's busiest emergency room, fans of the Mexico World Cup team mourn their loss to the Netherlands and much more.
Border patrol turns to webcams to keep up with shift in migration
Patterns of migration can change frequently along the border, which means some agents are overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do while others have time on their hands.
"There's a big mismatch," AP reporter Elliot Spagat tells Take Two. "South Texas has been the big hotspot."
That's where a rise in unaccompanied minors, mostly from Central America, has strained resources in the region.
For example, Texas' Rio Grande Valley has had a surge in arrests — nearly 200,000 since last October — but more border patrol agents are stationed in Arizona, which has had just 72,000 arrests during that same period, said Spagat.
To help balance the work flow, authorities are employing some new techniques, relying on webcams to talk to those apprehended at the border. The technique offers advantages in terms of using limited resources and reducing cost, but could also come with drawbacks.
"There's definitely something lost in not speaking to someone in person," said Spagat, noting that the practice is typically not used in criminal cases.
Obama seeks funds to stop illegal border crossings, expedite deportations
President Obama is asking Congress today for authority to speed up the deportation of thousands of migrant children illegally crossing into the U.S.
The president is also requesting $2 billion in emergency funding to help authorities deal with the the sudden increase. It's predicted up to 60,000 children will enter by the end of this year, many of them fleeing violence in Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras.
DC-based L.A. Times reporter Brian Bennett joins Take Two to explain what the administration is asking for and what could potentially happen to these kids.
The faith and family behind Hobby Lobby
The Supreme Court dealt a blow to the President's Affordable Care Act when it ruled that the craft store chain Hobby Lobby's religious rights outweighed the rights by their female employees to obtain full contraceptive coverage provided by the law.
At heart in that decision was the court's view that the chain's owners, the Green family, had a deeply sincere religious belief against certain contraceptives. However the Green family's work to preserve and promote its own brand of religion extends far beyond just this one case.
Nirvi Shah, deputy managing editor for Politico, explains that the family has spent millions supporting religious curricula in schools, donating to Christian universities and creating a museum dedicated to the Bible in DC.
'Code Black' takes us into America's busiest trauma bay
There's a 20-by-25-foot space in downtown Los Angeles where scores of lives have been lost, but where many lives have also been saved. This space — the legendary trauma bay at L.A. County Hospital — is called C-Booth.
A young doctor gives us an inside view of the trauma and drama that unfolds there in the new film "Code Black."
"Code Black" recently won best documentary at the L.A. Film Festival. Filmmaker and emergency doctor Ryan McGarry joins the show to talk about the film.
Click here to see where "Code Black" is playing near you.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On why he chose, while in residency training, to make “Code Black”:
"I don’t recommend the all-consumptive nature of both filmmaking, directing of course, and then residency training at probably the toughest place to be an ER doctor in the country. That’s not a great idea, but I think it was hard to deny the ingredients of a good film as soon as I arrived."
"When I walked into USC-L.A. medical center for the first time, I saw this place called C-Booth and C-Booth is not very large, it’s about 12-feet long; it’s widescreen in nature; and in that space, you have six beds, and all of the drama, all of the human condition you could possibly imagine is flying in and out of that space almost every other minute at a pace and intensity I’d never seen before."
On the drama that unfolds in C-Booth:
“At first glance…it looks like true chaos, and yet it’s a real testament to teamwork in medicine and what intensity does to a team. You rely on every hand in that room to get the job done.
“It’s a real team effort. If you can’t run that team, you’re going to have a hard time navigating that space, especially as intense as it was there. I found myself, as a filmmaker, starting to ask the question, ‘what is the value of intensity?’ Sure, your heart rate is pounding, this place is making your palms sweat…why does that matter?
“I think what I found is it matters because it makes everything clear. I think that the benefit of that environment over in C-Booth and continuing at L.A. County is that you work so hard and it’s so intense, that decisions are very clear; you know what is priority, you know what you have to do and what you don’t have to do.”
On when a patient is lost in C-Booth:
“We as students come into that environment expecting a moment, a ceremony. ‘Someone died, let’s all pause and recognize that,’ and you know it doesn’t happen. There’s a pace there that has to continue. If you’re going to be a good physician, a good nurse, you know, there’s still people that need you there. There isn’t time to really have that moment.”
On the importance of L.A. County Hospital:
“Here we are post-Obamacare, and yes, more people are getting access, more people are getting health insurance cards, but those cards are not necessarily premium cards. They are often not seen as profitable enough. Which in some ways could encapsulate the entire American health care system: that you, as a person, may not be seen as profitable enough. And that’s scary.
“More access is good, but we still have problems and we still need to value our public health institutions because, really, the buck stops there; [At L.A. County], we say you’re not profitable or profitable enough, you’re just human, and that’s why we’re here.”
On the continued challenges healthcare practitioners face:
“It’s common…to compare the United States to other countries. And you hear, well, ‘Cuba, for example, has better health care than us.’ Well, it’s maybe not that they have better healthcare but, what they have done in Cuba and other countries, is they have effectively defined, as a society, what the lowest level of health care is going to be. They’ve said, ‘Okay. It’s not none.’ And in the United States, it’s still technically none. We still are okay with that and I think that’s a problem.”
“When I think about the U.S., I think we have the best and worst healthcare in the world in one spot. And which of those you get largely depends on what you can afford. Can we possibly fix that? I don’t know.”
On The Lot: 'Transformers 4,' Melissa McCarthy, piracy and more
On today's On The Lot with Rebecca Keegan of the L.A. Times, actress Melissa McCarthy has a new role behind the camera, Hollywood finds a novel weapon to fight pirates and Mookie turns 25.
"Transformers 4" dominated the box office this past weekend, but looking ahead to this week, the new Melissa McCarthy vehicle, "Tammy" comes out.
Melissa McCarthy is best known for her comedic roles in films like "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat." This film isn't too far afield from those, but how is this different? She co-wrote "Tammy" with her husband Ben Falcone, who directed the film. What did making this film together mean to them?
Now some news in Hollywood's battle against piracy. What's the new strategy?
This comes after other attempts to combat piracy through legislation have failed. Why is this such a tricky issue?
271 people were invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week. Sounds like a lot, but is that number usual? Who's included in this list? How does one get invited to become a member?
The L.A. Times has done a lot of reporting on Academy membership. It's quite secretive, but your colleagues were able to put together some statistics. Does it look like this new crop of invitees will change things?
The Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing" turns 25 this year. How is he celebrating? How was this film received when it was released.
Supreme Court rules against unions in Illinois health care case
In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector unions in Illinois can't collect dues from home health workers who choose not to be a part of the union.
The case was brought by eight home health care workers in Illinois workers who take care of Medicaid recipients.
For more on today's decision and what this might mean for organized labor going forward, Take Two is joined by John P. Beck, Associate Professor in the School of Human Resources & Labor Relations at Michigan State University.
The California connection to Mexico's anti-cartel movement
In the western Mexican state of Michoacan, civilian militias have put a powerful drug cartel on the run.
These motley vigilante groups have retaken control of vast tracts of the state, and spurred the deployment of thousands of federal police and army units. Among the militia members are migrants who lived for years in California before returning to Mexico.
As part of a collaboration with The Center for Investigative Reporting, The California Report profiles one man who grew up in Los Angeles, but found a new life fighting the cartel back in his homeland.
150 years on, preservation is still a challenge at Yosemite
Yosemite National Park is celebrating a law signed on this day in 1864. It saved one of the country's most spectacular landscapes, and planted the seed for the national park system.
Sasha Khokha reports that even as Yosemite celebrates, the job of preserving its wonders for the future remains a challenge.
Seattle heads into new frontiers on the minimum wage fight
Last month, Seattle became the first large city in the nation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The new wage rules begin to phase in next April, but that's only if the new law survives several challenges in the courts and at the ballot box. From public station KUOW in Seattle, Deborah Wang has this report.
Seattle’s new $15 an hour minimum wage is scheduled to start phasing in next April. But it first must survive several challenges, both in court and at the ballot box.
Franchisees are challenging the law in court, and two separate groups are collecting signatures to put the law to a popular vote on this November’s ballot.
Forward Seattle, a group mostly made up of owners of small businesses who are unhappy with the new law, has put 80 paid signature gatherers on the streets. They need to collect 16,510 signatures before July 2 to put a referendum on this November’s ballot.
“We don’t have much time, this is our last opportunity to try to do something about this and make sure we are heard,” said Angela Cough, co-owner of the Flying Apron Gluten Free and Vegan Bakery in Fremont and the co-chair of Forward Seattle.
Cough is actually a supporter of raising the minimum wage, but she thinks $12.50 an hour would be a reasonable compromise. The current plan requires small business to reach to $15 an hour by 2021, and $17.25 an hour by 2024.
“We have no idea what is going to happen as a result of the ordinance,” she said. “There has never been a city who has actually gone this aggressive on increasing the minimum wage; any of the prior city examples have spent years increasing to essentially the rate we are at now.”
Washington state currently has the second highest minimum wage in the nation, behind Massachusetts.
Since the Seattle City Council passed the minimum wage plan in record time, many people don’t understand the law or the possible consequences, Cough said. “And when they think about it, they are like, whoa, wait a second, we didn’t think that would go through. That was signed into law?”
At this past weekend’s Fremont Festival, Cough and Forward Seattle co-chair Kathrina Tugadi set up a table and collected signatures in front of Cough’s café.
Several blocks away, West Seattle resident Craig Keller mounted his own separate signature drive. His table featured a large sign that read “Stop Force Wage Increases.” His petition references the Declaration of Independence and refers to the new law as "tyranny."
Festival-goer Larry Seto stopped with his daughter to sign the petition. He didn't know that anybody was challenging the new law. “I was actually surprised to see this, but I’m pleasantly surprised,” he said.
Court Challenge
The new law is also being challenged in court. On June 11, the International Franchise Association, along with five local business owners, filed suit claiming the law discriminates against franchisees. Those are local small businesses that operate chains such as Subway and McDonald’s, as well as a host of other less well-known brands.
The new law regards all franchisees as big businesses because of their connection to a larger corporate parent. That requires them to phase in the $15 an hour minimum wage faster than other small businesses. Franchisees claim that puts their businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
“To put us on a different level of playing field, to be able to compete, it’s just not just,” said Kathy Lyons, co-owner of BrightStar Care in North Seattle and a plaintiff in the suit. “My term is ‘un-American.’”
The lawsuit filed in US District Court seeks an injunction to stop the law from going into effect next year.
Seattle’s Mayor Ed Murray calls the IFA lawsuit a “distraction.” He believes the city is on solid legal footing in terms of how it regards franchisees.
As for the ballot challenges? Murray says he finds them "disappointing."
“I worry that this is going to poison the atmosphere between business and employees in this city. I thought we had a way to come together. No one was happy, but no one is ever happy when you work on a compromise,” Murray said.
If the minimum wage law qualifies for the ballot, Murray believes it will be approved by voters.
And supporters of the law say they are prepared to fight for it.
“I don’t think there is any standing still. It’s still up in the air,” said Philip Locker, one of the founders of 15 Now, the group that had been advocating for an even more aggressive minimum wage plan.
Locker said the only way to preserve the $15 an hour wage is to ensure that it spreads beyond Seattle.
“Either we succeed in spreading $15 throughout King County and Washington state and nationwide, or Seattle is going to be under enormous pressure from business to undermine, water down further and eventually overturn the $15 that was passed here,” Locker said. “It’s not secure, it’s not stable.”
The fight over the minimum wage is likely to be a long one. Whatever happens in the courts or on this November’s ballot, other groups have announced their intention to challenge the wage next November as well.
World Cup 2014: Fans in downtown LA mourn Mexico's loss to the Netherlands
Even if you're not a soccer fan, you've surely heard by now that Mexico was eliminated from the World Cup yesterday.
The team, nicknamed El Tri was leading for most of the second half, but the Netherlands came back to tie and then win 2-1 on a penalty kick in stoppage time. Needless to say it was a devastating loss for Mexico fans.
KPCC's Adrian Florido watched the game with fans in downtown L.A.
Facebook manipulated users emotions for research
We've heard before about people becoming envious of others after looking at their posts on Facebook, but as it turns out, the green-eyed monster is not the only emotion social networking inspires.
According to a study conducted by Facebook in 2012, the social network can also make people feel happier or sadder.
When Facebook conducted the study, along with Cornell University, they looked at the profiles of nearly 700,000 users. During a one-week period, they manipulated peoples posts to be more positive, or more negative, to see what users reactions would be.
It's a lot like yawning, because instead of feeling left out and envious, if people saw happy posts, they were more likely to feel happy. If they saw sad posts, people made more depressed posts.
But when the study recently came out, folks were angry at the social networking giant for doing the experiment without their knowledge. We asked Susan Fiske, a psychology professor at Princeton University who edited the study, what she had to say about the privacy issue.
"Usually people have to give informed consent to being in research, but not always," said Fiske. "Under some circumstances if your behavior is in a public place for example, somebody can stand on a street corner with a recording device and pay attention to what you're doing if what you're doing is in a public place. In some ways a lot of our online behavior has become public."
Facebook is also covered legally, because this sort of thing is covered in their terms of service.
, who's been writing about this issue, also joined Alex Cohen to talk about Facebook's response to the outrage and how they've been manipulating users news feeds for a while now.
How the '80s helped shape the Los Angeles we know today
Los Angeles in the 1980s was a lot of things: Koala blue boutique, Aron's Records on Melrose, Giorgia Beverly Hills, Wolfgang Puck's smoked salmon pizza and Belinda Carlisle driving a white Cadillac through Hollywood.
The current issue of Los Angeles Magazine takes us on a tour of that '80s scene and shows how the city and the decade shaped each other.
Editor Nancy Miller joins the show to discuss the decade when Los Angeles had "a moment."
Contributors include the Go Go's Belinda Carlisle, Ice Cube on his memories of the Raiders, and filmmaker Robert Townsend, who directed "Hollywood Shuffle" in 1987.