Today on the show, we'll start with a look at the FTC investigation into Herbalife. Then, is El Mayo the likely successor of the Sinaloa Cartel in El Chapo's absence? Plus, the Las Fotos Project teaches girls to document their lives through photography, Chilean-French rapper Ana Tijoux joins us from SXSW, the popularity of Pope Francis spurs increased interest in St. Francis, and much more.
Federal Trade Commission investigating Herbalife
The Federal Trade Commission is officially investigating Herbalife. This is the latest twist in the long and interesting drama swirling around the L.A.-based nutritional supplement company.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, has accused Herbalife of being a pyramid scheme, and has been betting on the company's failure. For more on this we're joined by Duane Stanford with Bloomberg News. Duane, welcome to the program.
In El Chapo's absence, is El Mayo the likely successor of the Sinaloa Cartel?
We've talked about the capture of one of Mexico's most powerful drug bosses, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but a lot of people are wondering who will take his place in the Sinaloa cartel.
For more on the possible heir to El Chapo's throne, we're joined by Richard Fausset, a reporter for the L.A. Times based in Mexico.
Complicated relationship: Asian Americans and affirmative action
A proposal to reinstate affirmative action at California's public universities has created an uproar among some Asian-American political action committees.
They worry Asian-Americans will lose college spots to minorities like African-Americans and Latinos, who have far less representation on campus. But how do Asian-American students feel?
KPCC's Josie Huang spoke with some at UCLA, and found out it's complicated.
SXSW Crash: 2 dead, 23 injured, but the show will go on
A car plowed into a group of people gathered outside nightclubs at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, early Thursday morning, killing two people and injuring 23, with several described as being in critical condition.
The suspect, identified by police as 21-year-old Rashad Charjuan Owens, is believed to have been intoxicated at the time and allegedly fled a DUI checkpoint. Owens faces two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle, according to Austin police.
Owens was first identified by the Austin-based American-Statesman newspaper.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a 2:30 a.m. Thursday news conference that the dead were a woman from Austin and a man from the Netherlands. He did not give the names of the two victims, nor the 23 people who were injured.
Dr. Christopher Ziebell of University Medical Center-Brackenridge told the Associaated Press that two people are in critical condition, and three others are in serious condition.
"We had a large crowd," Acevedo said at the news conference. "I just thank God that a lot of the folks had already been pushed on the sidewalk, or this could have been a lot worse."
Acevedo said it was an "intentional act" and that formal charges will be filed Thursday afternoon.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said one of two people killed early Thursday was a Dutch citizen riding a bicycle.
Massive Music, a company with offices in Amsterdam, New York and London, told the AP that one of its employees was killed in the crash in Austin and identified him as 35-year-old Steven Craenmehr.
"It looked like a war zone, there were seven bodies in that intersection, the next one had four more bodies in it...blood everywhere," facilities manager James Bradford of the Mohawk Bar, where the accident took place, told KPCC.
L.A. hip-hop artist Tyler the Creator was set to perform Wednesday night but canceled his show after the accident. Other artists who are expected to play Thursday told KPCC that they are shaken up from the event.
"Everyone's just been tweeting they're OK," said Nathan Michel, drummer of the band Hospitality. "I know that everyone is just really down about it, and it's just putting a damper on the feel of the festival. And it should."
Festival managing director Roland Swenson said that, despite the horrific event, the festival will continue as planned.
"As much as we'd like to go home and spend time absorbing the shock of this horrific event, we feel our best use is continuing to operate today," he said.
Musician Eleni Mandell is planning to perform. Based on past experience, and as hard as it might be, she says the shows must go on.
"I actually went on tour two weeks after September 11th, and I remembered in NY, people just thanking me so much for not canceling because people needed to feel uplifted," said Mandell.
With reporting by Jacob Margolis in Austin and the Associated Press.
Picture This: Las Fotos project trains girls to document LA through photography
When 18-year-old Brenda Magallanes set out to document her family in East L.A., she began by taking photographs of her young cousin who has Down syndrome.
"When the time came to choosing a topic," she said to Take Two. "I wanted to speak to my community through my work and let them know that being different is okay and it's something that should be accepted into our community."
Brenda is part of a program called Las Fotos Project that trains and mentors girls to document their lives through photography. The young students have produced some striking images that show their lives through their own eyes. And they've taken on some interesting topics.
The program's founder Eric Ibarra joins the show to discuss the program.
South African artist promotes peace on the US-Mexico border
A 23-year-old graffiti artist from South Africa is visiting the United States-Mexico border to do a mural project promoting peace. His goal is to inspire young people. From the Fronteras Desk, Mónica Ortiz Uribe has the story.
Anthony Kirkwood, whose artistic name is Gasak, started painting in high-crime neighborhoods in his native South Africa. There he saw how poverty and drugs wreaked havoc on young people. He himself was beaten and robbed while working outside a nightclub in Durban.
For his latest project, Gasak decided to come to the U.S.-Mexico border, where drug violence has taken thousands of lives in the last five years.
"I wanted to go where the heart of the drug war is," he said. "And I did a lot of research and I came up with Juárez and El Paso."
Outside the Juárez city hall on a recent afternoon, Gasak tested a bottle of gold spray paint. Not far from there he's painting the face of Nelson Mandela on a concrete culvert that separates the United States and Mexico. He plans to portray seven more inspirational leaders, including Pope Francis and Martin Luther King, in El Paso and Juárez.
"I wanna bring peace and awareness to this drug war," he said. "And the best way that I can do that is through my art."
The geographic location of the murals will form a heart across both cities. Gasak is collaborating with other young artists, including a local filmmaker.
Carolina Frederick is a Juárez city councilwoman who's supporting the project.
"It's really nice to see someone fighting for all the young kids and encourage them to be away from organized crime," she said.
Drug trafficking organizations in Juárez recruit young people to work as drug mules or hit men. The majority of those killed by drug violence here are younger than age 35.
Popularity of Pope Francis revives interest in his saintly namesake
It's been a year since Pope Francis took leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, and in the year since, he's won over Catholics and non-Catholics alike with his down-to-earth demeanor.
KPCC's Leslie Berestein Rojas takes stock of the "Pope Francis effect" during a visit to a local store that sells Catholic religious supplies.
SXSW: A conversation with French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux
Back now to Austin, where we're going to get some more music from South by Southwest.
You might recognize French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux's song "1977," which was featured in the AMC series "Breaking Bad."
After it aired, the buzz about her music started to spread, but Ana's been around for a while. Now she has a new album coming out called "Vengo." Tonight she's performing in Austin at South By Southwest, which is where we caught up with her.
Interview Highlights:
How does your family history influence you, if at all?
"I think that we need to have roots, any kind of roots, whatever you come from, whatever is the history of your parents or your family. I think when you understand that your identity, the history of your family or your parents, you understand who you are and more than that you understand where you want to go and how you want to go in this life. So in my case, of course, like my parents leave a dictatorship and as a lot of people, they leave the country and I was born in France and the story of my country and the story of almost all the countries in South America, all the dictatorships and coup d'etat so that's an obvious way in how you write your lyric and because it's your vision about the world, also."
You moved to Chile just to pursue music?
"Of course, yes. Of course is because I was born in France and I used to listen, of course, to French hip hop and a lot of Arabian music from my friends and African music so when I arrived to Chile I had to learn all this new country that was my country, but at this moment it was a new country for me and tried to understand that the culture and the vision of this Chile that was going through after a dictatorship and trying to rebuild from a war, basically. So that was one of the more tough stuff that happened to me, but also I think I never grow up so much during that time."
What's the rap scene in Chile?
"I don't believe in nationalities so I will not say that, 'Oh, this is an amazing scene.' But there is a lot of quality in the scene of Chile and I would say why, because our identity has been so killed, no? So we are good rappers because I think we have been trying to find our identity also in this language."
Is the singing in your new album a departure or a tough stretch for you?
"I think it was natural to sing. I always have been singing, but I never thought that I had a great voice to be honest, but I think it has been natural like it was just a necessity."
In this album you reflect a little more. What drove you to change up your style in this album?
"My idea, it was to make an album that my kids could understand also. So 'Mi verdad' talk basically about a kid that has been rejected from everywhere because of skin color and that had to take the role of the father at home and basically I'm talking like if I was him, no? And he's saying like, 'So yes, I don't need your authority because I've got my own, and we don't have your houses, but we have community, we don't have your mansions, but we have solidarity.' So I always said that it's political, but I really wanted to make songs that my mother, my grandmother could understand at the same time, you know. Because sometimes when you make hardcore hip hop, it's like those kind of styles that my grandmother support me, but she doesn't understand nothing of what I'm singing, but with this kind of song she understand and at the end, the message is the same, I think."
Why do you decide to use some of those indigenous sounds?
"For the exact story that you're telling me. I mean, this necessity of using Latino American music, it was something that I had in my head since a long time ago. I was taking guitar classes with an amazing friend of mine in Chile and we was playing guitar and then he begin to play charango, which is Chilean instrument that they use also in Peru and Bolivia and I don't know if I was super emotional, I don't know, but I begin almost crying like, 'Oh this is so beautiful.'
"What is crazy is that any person in Chile or whatever in Latino America when we listen to this music and it doesn't matter if you listen to rock or indie or hip hop, you begin to be super, over emotional and that's because it told me something that I think is the best explanation that, like what you were telling me about Ecuador. That has got to do with the music of your grandfather and your grandmother. It's almost like the music of the land and your land and you can't even explain it, coming through like your skin and you feel it immediately no? And I said yes. You know what? We've got to put a little quenas and charangos and a lot of percussion in this album."
How did you feel after hearing your music in "Breaking Bad"?
"Amazing because everybody was telling me this series is amazing. And to be honest, I'm not so crazy about series but then I saw breaking bad and I say, 'Wow, I love this guy. This guy is the most bizarre guy.' Everything was fitting in the anti hero, which I like it and I begin to be super fan of 'Breaking Bad' after."
State Of Affairs: Sheriff's race, Eric Garcetti, city pension system and more
It's Thursday and that means it's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California. To help us with that we're joined in studio, not by drones, but by KPCC political reporters Alice Walton and Frank Stoltze.
Last night there was a debate between the candidates running for sheriff. It's a crowded field. How did they distinguish themselves?
More than half of the Los Angeles City Council has been D.C. this week for the National League of Cities conference. What have they been up to?
A candidate for L.A. County supervisor made news this week when he said he would not follow campaign spending limits in his race. That means spending caps are lifted for all candidates. What's behind Bobby Shriver's decision?
It's the season for political conventions here in California. Let's start with the Democrats. Last weekend, the party met in downtown Los Angeles to make endorsements and approve a party platform. What was the takeaway from that?
The Republicans will be in San Francisco this weekend. That party has two candidates running for governor. What can we expect from Tim Donnelly and Neel Kashkari this weekend?
Tim Donnelly's campaign made some news this week when his campaign manager quit. What happened there?
Mayor Eric Garcetti visited KPCC this week for a sit-down with our political team. What did he have to say?
Finally today, voters might not pay a whole lot of attention to a candidate's ballot title but political reporters do.Our political reporters noticed something a little funny about Wendy Greuel's title in the Westside congressional race.
L.A. City Controller Ron Galperin released audit reports that show that during the pension system for public employees remains in trouble. What the his reports say?
Correction: In a conversation about candidates for the California governor's race, our political correspondent mentioned how voters might lean in the Republican primary. However, under California's nonpartisan blanket primary law, all candidates now appear on the same ballot, regardless of party - there is no Republican gubernatorial primary.
In quest to transform Compton, Mayor Aja Brown looks to Brooklyn for inspiration
Last year the city of Compton elected a new mayor – urban planner Aja Brown.
She is the city's first new mayor in more than 10 years, she won by a landslide and, at only 34, she is Compton's youngest mayor ever to be elected. Shortly after taking office, she pointed to Brooklyn as a model for how a city that was once plagued with problems can find success and growth.
"Ten years ago people thought that Brooklyn was one of the worst cities on the east coast, but now its considered a hip attractive city for young people to live and to start their roots and to enjoy arts and different things and culture," said Brown on Take Two. "It was really a metaphor for transcending a negative brand and I think that's Compton's challenge right now."
Recently Take Two host A Martinez visited her office to talk to her about her time in office so far, and what are her plans for the future.
Interview Highlights:
On how she plans to overcome Compton's negative reputation:
"With every opportunity to tell our own story, fiction will always exist and the media will always exist. The average person will not take the time to see if crime is really going down in Compton, or is it the same Compton that it was 20 years ago. It’s my responsibility to tell our story and to let people know that Compton is safer now than it's been in 20 years. We’re still experiencing a reduction in our crime and that we’re still moving forward and we have a lot of great things in place and we have a lot of great institutions."
On working with Compton's growing Latino community:
"I haven’t had any challenges, I have great relationships with a lot of the Latino leaders here, my only challenge is my Spanish, but I’m working on that! I’m enrolling in another conversational Spanish class, I’m looking forward to being able to communicate with all of my constituents, so that’s my personal commitment."
On how long she expects her plans to produce results:
"I think that the implementation is definitely happening right now, but I think that the measurable impacts like reduction in crime, maybe the improvement in our unemployment rate … those things will take several years, and I’m just being realistic. I think to have transformative systematic change that’s a five to 10 year process.
Even when I ran for office my commitment to the citizens was to serve at least a term and a half, two terms so I’m not trying to just come and leave. My goal is to have a firm foundation, and I want it to be something that’s in place, so regardless of who’s mayor after me they can continue to serve the citizens in the same method and manner that they desire. When you have a healthy system, growth is a natural byproduct."
Youth in Stockton correctional facility learn a business, repay victims in unique program
Many teens in California's juvenile justice system are incarcerated for breaking the law. But one correctional facility in Stockton is also letting kids plan for their futures, and encouraging them to help their victims. For the California Report, Alice Daniel has this story.
Michael Casaglio introduces himself and some of his colleagues at Merit Partners, an environmentally certified electronic recycling business that’s located within the walls of the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility. There’s floor leader Terrance Turner, upcoming floor leader Jordan Rutkes and IT tech Chandler Luce.
“Cables, wires, computers, laptops, computer chips, motherboards,” says Casaglio, as he reels off the types of electronic equipment they resell and recycle.
Merit Partners is the only operation of its kind in a California correctional facility. The incarcerated youth do most of the work; a small support staff trains them. The job pays $8 an hour and teaches valuable skills, Casaglio says.
It’s a far cry from his drug-dealing past. He spent his youth in and out of foster care; his own parents were addicts, he says. He smoked pot at age 9, used hard drugs at 11 and, at 15, held his gun to another dealer.
“And during the course of the robbery, somebody tried to prevent us from getting away, so I shot him five times,” says Casaglio, who has been at Chad five years.
The murder haunts him. “I took somebody’s grandparent away,” he says. “I took somebody’s husband, I took somebody’s dad, and there’s nothing I can do to repay or replace that.”
But he is giving back. Twenty percent of the money he and his peers earn goes directly to victims. The youth contribute to a local victims fund every year, and also compensate the people harmed by their crimes by paying restitution fines.
The compensation is mandatory, but 18-year-old Chandler Luce says he would donate some of his earnings to make up for his past, even if it were optional.
“You look in here, and this is a place full of people who caused harm to the world. And I was part of that,” he says.
He says he rebelled against a strict upbringing that sometimes felt verbally abusive. One night he was at a wild party; police showed up and barged into a room where Luce was having sex with an underage girl. They were both drunk, he says, but he was drunker and he was charged with rape. He says counselors at Chad helped him get on the right track. They made him think about his actions in a whole new light.
“Was I using that alcohol as an excuse to take advantage of what I wanted, you know, and really it opened my eyes, you know?” he says. “A lot of people think, you know, what their crime did wasn’t really that bad, but once you go and you look at the reasons behind (why) you committed that crime, it was a mindset. You know, using the alcohol to get what I wanted.”
Tom Gammon worked for years as a consultant in Silicon Valley before retiring to run Merit Partners. The young men he hires go through an intensive interview and resume screening process. They’re the only kids in the facility who pay part of their room and board. One of the goals of the program is to teach them about budgeting. They even pay into a savings account so that they have some money when they get out of Chad.
“This is a very humbling experience,” says Gammon. “These kids -- when you can hear them and see where they make a change in their life. How difficult that is. I mean a major deal. These kids, you hear some of their lives. It really just pains you. And you can’t go back and you can’t do anything and they’ve done wrong.”
Merit doesn’t track individual employees after they leave the facility. But Gammon says the low recidivism rate, about 10 percent -- far below the historical 55 percent in juvenile justice -- is one indicator the program is working.
Another positive sign: Employees like Terrance Turner want to go to college and be techies. Today Turner is cleaning up a computer for resale, a job that has nothing in common with his rough past, he says. His mother was an addict; his father was in and out of jail. Turner joined a gang so he could belong, and his life got worse. He was involved in the murder of a rival gang member, a 15-year-old boy. Initially he says he wanted a job with Merit only because it paid good money. But then he came to appreciate it on a different level.
“After awhile, you’re in here, you start to understand the value of a dollar, where our money goes,” he says. “And that is a strong thing that you learn here, about giving back to your victim.”
In 2013, Merit employees gave about $8,000 to the San Joaquin County Victim Witness emergency fund. Program Coordinator Gabriela Jaurequi says the fund helps people like 38-year-old ranch hand Mario Dominguez.
Dominquez was hit head-on by a drunken driver who was trying to pass a semi truck. Today Dominguez sits in a hospital bed in a two-room apartment he shares with his wife and 18-month-old daughter, Julie. He lost a leg in the accident, his arm was broken, and his other leg was shattered.
One arm is in a brace. But with the other, he beckons for his daughter. Jaurequi says the emergency fund helped him with the $60 transportation cost for each doctor’s appointment before he was signed up with a ride service. The fund can be a lifesaver, Jaurequi says -- something she’s told the youth at Merit. In fact, she’s visited these kids several times and believes they are sincere about their desire to change.
“Sometimes meeting them, in my mind it’s hard to connect what they’ve done and who this person is that I meet,” she says. “It just doesn’t seem possible.”
Their crimes have hurt many people, Juarequi says, but that doesn’t mean they can’t change – and from what she’s seen, she has hope the change will last.
Data shows decline in California foreclosures
Earlier we talked about the real-estate market coming back in Southern California neighborhoods like Compton. Now there's good news across the state in terms of foreclosures.
New RealtyTrac data show that the number of foreclosures declined again in February, after rising during the previous month. From Capitol Public Radio, Steve Milne has the latest numbers.
Could drones be used for reporting the news?
There's been a lot of talk around the use of drones, especially here in the U.S.
Just last year, Amazon unveiled its plan to use drones to deliver packages. Now, the Fresno Bee is testing out a small drone that could be possibly used for news reporting. Jim Boren is the executive editor of the Fresno Bee and he joins us to discuss.
'Veronica Mars' movie: Creator Rob Thomas aims film at newbies and fans alike
Rob Thomas — the creator of the cult TV series "Veronica Mars," which debuts as a feature film on Friday — told Take Two that the movie is aimed squarely at the Kickstarter fans who donated $5.7 million to get the movie made.
"My belief was that the fans are funding the movie," Thomas said in an interview with Take Two's Alex Cohen. "I really wrote that first draft of that script trying to make the fans of the movie happy."
But as the buzz of the film increased, the pressure mounted to make a film that could appeal to people who haven't seen the original series. Thomas said that perhaps they didn't think of those "newbies" enough, and altered a few things — including adding a "recap" at the start of the film — to get them up to speed.
"My hope now is that 'Veronica Mars' fans can bring their boyfriends, girlfriends, friends. It'll be a good ride for everyone, and that people who've just sort of heard about Veronica Mars might be curious enough to go check it out," he said.
"Veronica Mars" has her fans on Kickstarter to thank for existing at all. The original TV series, starring Kristen Bell, was a critical and cult favorite about a teenaged detective in the fictional, seedy seaside town of Neptune, Calif.
But after its cancellation in 2007, fans were left in the lurch about what happened to Mars and her friends and family.
RELATED: Kristen Bell on 'Veronica Mars,' the 'pederazzi' and the Oscars
A year ago this week, however, Bell and Thomas started a campaign on Kickstarter: If they get people to donate at least $2 million, they will make a movie to document the next chapter in Veronica's life.
It only took 10 hours to reach that goal, and by the end they raised more than $5 million.
Thomas admits that, in a world where shows like "True Detective" are being heralded as the new Golden Age of Television, "Veronica Mars" was ahead of her time and wouldn't have been canceled in the first place.
"I do think we would've done better now," said Thomas. "It feels like now how much people care about the show starts to factor in a little bit more."
Also, fun fact: Several KPCC staffers are huge fans of the show, like reporter Molly Peterson, web producer Mike Roe and Take Two producer/reporter Leo Duran.
When they heard part of the movie was filmed right here at KPCC, they went crazy. So Bell was game for recreating her KPCC scenes right here with Mike Roe and Off-Ramp's John Rabe.
You can get your "Veronica Mars" fix early with a special reunion of the cast Thursday night at PaleyFest at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, which will also be live-streamed on KPCC.org, starting at 8 p.m. More info and tickets here.