Denver's Phil Washington takes over MTA in L.A., after the latest round of violence in Ferguson, what's next for the community? Robert Williams' 20 years of art.
Exide is shut down in Vernon. Now, how to clean it up?
Exide Technologies closes its battery plant near downtown LA. Take Two talks to UCLA environmental law professor Sean Hecht about what's next for the site.
New LA Metro boss brings lessons from Denver
L.A.'s Metro system has a new boss.
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Thursday that Phil Washington will take over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Washington is currently the head of Denver's Regional Transportation District. He'll replace Art Leahy who will start his new role as CEO of Metrolink in April.
For more on Phil Washington, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with Monte Whaley, transport reporter with the Denver Post.
After the shooting of 2 officers, where does Ferguson go from here?
Residents of Ferguson, Missouri gathered last night for a vigil, praying for peace in the midst of a very turbulent week.
Two officers were shot early Thursday during demonstrations outside the Ferguson Police Department following the resignation of that city's chief Thomas Jackson.
Jackson's resignation, along with the firings or resignations of other city officials, came on the heels of a scathing Justice Department investigation which found police abuse and racial bias.
So where does Ferguson go from here?
Michelle Higgins, who heads up "Faith for Justice St. Louis" and organizes regular open discussion forums at South City Church in St. Louis, joined Take Two to discuss.
Oregon bill would allow bicyclists to run red lights
If you've been to Portland you know it's a place that is serious about bikes. Cyclists may soon have even more rights - thanks to a bill just passed the state senate that would allow people riding bikes to run red lights, under certain conditions.
How Robert Williams of Juxtapoz went from outlaw artist to mainstream
"Once you take the sophistication out of art you have a much larger and imaginative playing field... A cartoon has a far far larger vocabulary than any other form of art," said Robert Williams, the 72 year old artist and creator of Juxtapoz Magazine, to Take Two's Alex Cohen
The artist, best known for his founding of the lowbrow art movement, is the focus of an exhibit at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at at Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles that honors 20 years of Juxtapoz and new works by Williams.
Robert started what became the Lowbrow art movement in the 1970s. At the time, he said, "I was getting a lot of write ups in tattoo magazines, car magazines, biker magazines and rock and roll magazines... but the art magazines wouldn't touch me."
In 1994 he started Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine to showcase his work and the work of his friends because, he said, the traditional art world turned up their noses at his cartoonish paintings.
But 20 years on the underground comic scene has become more mainstream, and Williams says that Juxtapoz has aged the same way. "It got so big that it has to cater to a much larger group of people, so that outlaw world is no longer there." Which is ironic, considering that it was originally built for the outlaw artists like Robert
"...I belong to that outlaw world... so I'm an old man here, see? So, this [exhibit] is in respect to an old man that started it."
Robert Williams's work will be on display at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park until April 19.
If you want to check out our other interview with Robert where he goes deeper into his history as an artist. Click through here.
In midst of drought, water bottler pumping resource with little scrutiny
As California enters its fourth year of extreme drought, water is becoming an ever more precious commodity. But according to a new investigation from the Desert Sun newspaper - Nestle - the biggest water bottler in the US, has been pumping this resource on National Forest lands in San Bernardino with little oversight from the government.
Reporter Ian James joins the show to talk more about his investigation.
Stone tool found in Oregon could be evidence of earliest known humans in west
A stone tool found in a dig site in southeastern Oregon, the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter, could point to an earlier presence of human settlement in the western US than was previously thought.
The tool is made of orange agate and was found in a deposit of volcanic ash that dates back about 16,000 years. Archaeologists working at the site posit that if the layers of deposit were undisturbed that would make the tool older than the volcanic ash, one of the oldest artifacts ever found in North America.
Patrick O'Grady, archaeologist with the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultureal History, joins the show.
'Farewell to Hollywood' documents Long Beach teen's final years
A 17-year-old girl, a love for film, and a fight with cancer.
"Farewell to Hollywood" documents the final two years of life for Regina "Reggie" Nicholson, a teenager from Long Beach.
In the film, Nicholson is suffering from stage four cancer, but there is one thing that always brings her great joy: Movies. When she was 17, Nicholson teamed up with documentarian Henry Corra.
Corra's specialty is films about real people - a skill he learned while working with famed documentarians Albert and David Maysles.
Together, Corra and Nicholson made "Farewell to Hollywood" after meeting at the AFI Silver Doc Film Festival in Washington, D.C., in 2010. Corra said he approached Nicholson and her mom with his producer, and the two were blown away by her story.
"I just knew that I had this amazing, compelling, and in some ways heartbreaking character, and that we were going to take the journey of a lifetime together that was going to be completely transformative," he said.
The movie paces back and forth between Nicholson's joy with the filmmaking process, and the harsh realities of her cancer. It also highlights an eventual rift between making the film and Nicholson's family. Nicholson's mother at one point asks Corra to leave the family alone. But the teen ultimately decides to stick with making the filmmaking process.
"Reggie's illness was a huge tragedy, and I had enormous compassion for her parents -- who were terrified," Corra said. "Like with any non-fiction film where you end up embedding yourself into the lives of people for years at a time, there were times when it was correct to step back and take time off, and there were times when you're invited back in again."
In honor of Regina Nicholson's birthday, "Farewell to Hollywood" screened on Feb. 25 at the Lammle Music Hall in L.A. and Cinema Village in New York City. The film comes to Laemmle Pasadena this weekend, and will also screen at Laemmle NoHo from March 13 - 19.
Weekend on the cheap: LA Marathon, Friday the 13th, and Coachella Trunk Show
It's going to be a hot one, Angelenos. Slap on your sunscreen and let's hit the town.
Southern California Public Radio's social media producer Kristen Lepore shares some cool things to do on the cheap.