Roundtable of political analysts on Super Tuesday results, USC student calls for the removal of OJ's Heisman trophy, tackling social issues with television.
Take Two roundtable: Scrutinizing Super Tuesday
The Super Tuesday dust is settling and two faces came out on top.
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump picked up seven states. Ted Cruz three, Marco Rubio only one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSHN8vnTBsA
Democrat Bernie Sanders took four states, including his home of Vermont; Hillary Clinton swept the rest, claiming victory over the night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvaflqusdQ
What does this tell us about the presidential race going forward?
This morning, Take Two puts that question to three guests in a live roundtable discussion:
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Lisa Garcia Bedolla, Chancellor's Professor of Education, Political Science and Latino/a studies at UC Berkeley
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Jessica Yellin, former chief political correspondent for CNN
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Mark Sawyer, professor of political science and African American Studies at UCLA
Press the blue play button above to hear the discussion.
You can weigh in on Twitter using hashtag: https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&q=%23supertaketwosday&src=typd
Is there hope for civility in the 2016 election?
Pick out a word to describe the tone of this election season. Any word.
Maybe you might say "angry" Bernie Sanders-style.
Or perhaps "cut-throat," when Donald Trump made fun of Marco Rubio's response to the 2012 State of the Union, where he infamously took an awkward drink of water.
But out of any word that came to mind, you probably didn't think of "civil."
Elections are meant to be competitive and contentious, but this election season has been peppered with insults and frustration. And we're not past the primaries yet.
Is this the future of American politics?
Larry Rosenthal, director of the Center on Civility and Democratic Engagement at UC-Berkeley, joins Take Two.
Number of mentally ill shot by LAPD rose in 2015
New data reveals almost 40 percent of the people shot by officers in 2015 had an indication of a mental illness. That's according to a report released by the Los Angeles Police Commission, yesterday.
The LAPD has invested in training for officers who encounter the mentally ill in the field, yet these new numbers are the highest they've been in 5 years.
KPCC's Annie Gilbertson joins A Martinez in studio to talk about the news.
For more information, click on the above links and listen to the audio embedded at the top of this post.
Sports roundup: discipline policies for athletes, unusual questions that NFL players face
What's the right way to discipline pro athletes for on and off-the-job infractions? And when does the NFL interview for prospects stray into inappropriate questions?
We're joined by
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Debate rages: Should USC remove OJ's Heisman from Heritage Hall?
The University of Southern California's Heritage Hall displays six Heisman trophies. If senior Darian Nourian had his way, there would only be five.
In a column published last week on the Daily Trojan, Nourian urged the university to remove O.J. Simspon's trophy from the hall. After all, he argues, the school returned Reggie Bush's Heisman after the National Collegiate Athletic Association imposed sanctions on USC upon learning he had received improper benefits.
Many readers expressed strong disagreement with the opinion piece, with some chalking it up as typical of the millennial generation. That flabbergasted Nourian.
"That people would defend O.J., yeah it was very surprising to me," he told Take Two.
Nourian said that he understood why USC fans wouldn't want another Heisman Trophy gone.
"I'm not trying to advocate the Heisman Trophy trust to take away O.J. Simpson's Heisman Trophy. They had their chance back in the 1990s," he said. "But it is hard to swallow the fact that you can walk into Heritage Hall and see O.J. Simpson, a convicted felon, an incarcerated felon, be celebrated."
Listen to the full conversation above.
As Supreme Court considers pivotal abortion case, clinics close at record pace
A case before the Supreme Court today could vastly cut access to abortion clinics in Texas and have wider implications across the country.
The case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, brought by several Texas abortion clinics, challenges a restrictive law that they say could reduce the number of clinics in the nation's largest southern state to just 10.
But it's not just Texas that is affected.
Abortion providers across the nation are closing at a record pace, according to Bloomberg News, which found that at no time since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 has access depended more on a woman's zip code.
For more, we're joined by Bloomberg reporter Esmé Deprez.
Amazon takes on the fashion industry
What can't you buy on Amazon these days? Seriously!
What started off as a digital retailer solely for books has developed into an online one stop shop for EVERYTHING.... caffeinated soap, live ladybugs, an Irish gag gift -- canned Unicorn meat!
Clothing has long been a staple of the site, but now Amazon is taking it up a notch.
For more on what they're up to, we're joined by Women's Wear Daily contributor Maghan McDowell.
Audio coming soon.
'Black-ish' tackles police violence in a 'very special episode'
Last week, the ABC sitcom Black-ish did something pretty unusual in today's broadcast TV.
It had a "very special episode."
Parents Dre and Bow wrestled with what to tell their young black kids about the protests surrounding race and police use of force.
The episode's been hailed by critics as thoughtful and eloquent in examining the issue from all sides (and sharp-eared listeners will notice that the show referenced KPCC's own investigation on police involved shootings)
But "very special episodes" are pretty rare on broadcast networks nowadays. The episodes – more common in sitcoms of the 70s and 80s – would break format and present the characters gripping with a specific social issue in a very serious way.
"Those very special episodes started out in a good place," says
, "but once the practice got abused it got to the point where it was more a signal to fans of the show, 'Hey here's something really clunky and awkward that you're probably going to think you've wasted your time watching."
Their appearance dropped off throughout the 90s and 00s – or worse, they were parodied.
Some current cable and online shows like Louie and Transparent may tackle social issues, too, but it's rare when a broadcast sitcom will do the same.
However, Deggans says he believes the episode of Black-ish, entitled "Hope," worked so well is because of the acting strength of the whole cast
"They have really figured out a way to talk about serious issues that involve race and culture and generations in a way that still remains entertaining," he says.
Listen to more of Deggans – and how a generation of children learned to stay away from caffeine pills because of Saved by the Bell – by clicking the blue audio player.