Today on the show, U.S. officials announce new rules for H1B visas. Then, Chinese online marketplace, Alibaba, is set to offer its IPO. Then, Stanford announces divestment from coal, the Guardian ranks L.A. as the city with the best urban brand, high-speed rail plan brings up concerns of Valley Fever, the latest in sports and more.
US announces new rules for H1B visas
This week U.S. officials announced news rules for some immigrants who come to the country and attempt to gain citizenship.
The H1B visa is a category allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, typically science, technology and engineering.
The proposed rules would allow the spouse of an H1B immigrant to work while the applicant's citizenship status is under evaluation and it would also give employers more leeway when hiring foreign workers.
We'll talk to Neil Ruiz from the Brookings Institute to find out what impact it may have on the larger debate on immigration and what it means for people hoping to emigrate to the U.S.
Alibaba IPO could mean good news for California-based tech giant
Now to the big news in the tech world, the Alibaba IPO. The Chinese e-commerce company filed the paperwork yesterday. This could be the biggest tech IPO ever. But it's not just the Chinese company that could make tons of money.
There are U.S. companies ready to profit too, including one California-based tech giant. Brian Womack from Bloomberg News joins Take Two for more.
Stanford announces endowment's divestment from coal
Stanford University announced Wednesday that their endowment will no longer invest in coal companies.
The university is the 12th institution to remove direct funding to the coal industry and the largest and most prestigious so far. Stanford has the fourth largest endowment of any U.S. college or university.
Lee Gardner, senior editor for The Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote about Stanford's decision and joins us to talk about what this means for the endowment and the college landscape as a whole.
New Mexico's oil industry transforms local economies
Now to another fossil fuel industry - oil.
Drillers across the country are eager to profit off high oil prices. That's creating a lot of activity in once quiet towns.
In the Southwest, companies are flocking to the Permian Basin, one of the richest oil reserves in the nation. Fronteras reporter Mónica Ortiz Uribe traveled to one hotspot in southeast New Mexico.
In the first of a three part series, Mónica tells us how oil is transforming local economies.
High-speed rail plan brings up concerns of Valley Fever
Talks about the future of California’s high speed rail continue. Yesterday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority board listened to hours of public comments from residents who will be affected by the construction.
Among some of the concerns expressed, many opponents are worried that the construction will stir up dust particles that will increase exposure to Valley fever. Joining Take Two for an update is Tim Sheehan of the Fresno Bee.
Sports Roundup: Ousting Donald Sterling, Kevin Durant MVP and more
The NBA has a plan to oust the Donald, Rapunzel might have a tough time playing for one high school baseball team in Canada, and saying, "I love you Mom" is just not enough anymore. All this means it's time for sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered the sports scene for ESPN and the L.A. Times.
It's been a week since NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought down the hammer on Clippers owner Donald Sterling. They barred him from the team and announced they will force him out. What we didn't know is how the league plans to do it.
Now, assuming the Clippers get a new ownership group, who would make the best fit?
Rules have been a part of sports teams since forever. But one of the few things I've learned in my four decades of life is that rules are made to be broken or at the very least bent. Now there's a story out of Canada that's challenging that assertion.
Finally, back to basketball, as Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant won the NBA MVP award yesterday. With Mother's Day coming up Durant knew exactly who to thank. How high has Kevin Durant now raised the Mother's Day bar?
LA sheriff’s race: Todd Rogers says his insider status is an asset
To another competition of sorts...for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's spot. One of the seven candidates running is currently an assistant sheriff. Todd Rogers says he's frustrated by the problems he sees -- and he's the man to fix them.
KPCC's Frank Stoltze has this profile.
US military: More Russian flights near CA, Asia due to conflict in Ukraine
While we’ve been hearing about the escalating tension in the Ukraine, it turns out the fallout could have effects far beyond Europe -- even to the coast of California.
The US military says they’ve seen “a significant” rise in Russian activity in the Asia Pacific region. That includes flights over California and Guam. And they’re attributing it to conflict over Ukraine.
But could it all be part of the increased saber-rattling between the two world powers?
To help put it in context, we’re joined by Olga Oliker, a policy expert in Russia and the Caucuses at RAND Corporation.
Many with health insurance for the first time don't know how to use it
Some 3 million Californians either have signed up for private health insurance or have been found eligible to get Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act. A number of them are getting coverage for the first time.
KPCC's Adrian Florido discovered that many don't know how to use it.
How to navigate around the huge renovation efforts at LAX
In aviation news a bit closer to home, the Los Angeles International Airport is in the midst of a huge, multi-billion dollar renovation. As we head into summer travel season, that makeover will probably getting to, from and around LAX even more of a challenge.
Here to talk more about this and what you can do to try and make your trip as smooth as can be is Mary Grady. She's the managing director of media and public relations at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX.
App Chat: Mother's Day edition
You didn't forget that mother's day is coming up... did you? Not to fear. You still have time to pull it together. And to help you out we have some app recommendations and gift ideas this week on App Chat.
If you're in a pull the ripcord, emergency, need gifts now situation, remember, there's always Amazon's app. Overnight shipping is doable. There's also still time for flowers with the app from 1-800-Flowers. You won't have to drive to the florist to pick anything up. Win win?
But, what about things that are a bit less traditional?
This is a wrist-based phone for your kid. It's a rubber strap with a giant button in the middle of it and there's no dialing because it's meant to be kid friendly. The child just presses the center button on the strap and speaks the name of someone (mom or dad) who's pre-programmed into the phone and it then dials that person up. You can also call the kid's wrist and talk to them.
It's supposed to be resilient, water resistant and built for kid use. Oh! And if you want to know where your kid is, there's a GPS chip installed too. The problem? It's a Kickstarter campaign and it costs about $150 bucks. The upside? There are some serious people working on the project, including a former Chief Technology Officer from Sony Ericsson. And they have a prototype. It's supposed to come out next year, but you can support them now if you're into the idea.
For the mom in your life who's too busy worrying about keeping track of the kids, to go out and buy her own high quality coffee. It's a subscription based coffee service that delivers coffee to your door. They source and roast their own beans from around the world and they'll tell you all about where each batch that you receive is from. To give you an idea of the price, a standard plan is about $19 bucks for 12 ounces of coffee every other week. It's comparable in price to Intelligentsia beans.
For when your mom gets those beans and wants to brew them. It's a timing app that is supposed to help the brewing process. It lets you input everything from the type of grind that you're using, to the water to coffee ratio, to the volume of your drinking vessel. And it helps figure out how long your supposed to brew something. It'll alert you when to pour, when to stir and when to drink. All of the good stuff. It's really for the coffee obsessive, but if you're paying $19 dollars for 12 ounces of coffee... you're probably already at that level.
For the mother who likes to relax by going to the movies. For $35 dollars a month the app gives her unlimited movie viewings at plenty of theaters around LA. The problem? Lots of theaters aren't included in the list. For example, The Arclight is not, but the theater at the Grove is.
An app created "Because movie theaters don't have pause buttons." So, it's built for you, when you're at the theater with your mom and you don't want to miss a key part of the movie. This app will let you know when you can take a quick break from the movie to use the bathroom. Just pick your movie, set the timer when the title screen pops up and you're ready to go. It'll vibrate when you're at an optimal pee time. Oh and it sums up plot points for chunks of the movie that you've missed while using the restroom.
Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the name of RunPee. KPCC regrets the error.
Are anti-hacking efforts 'doomed to failure'
Think you can keep hackers from worming their way into computers? Symantec, the inventor of commercial antivirus software, says no.
The company announced this week that those security tactics are "doomed to failure," and they're looking instead to minimize damage once a hacker has entered a system.
For more on the brave new world of cybersecurity, we turn to Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal.
Credit card companies hope new chip tech will make hacking harder
Hacking, of course, doesn't just happen online. It also happens in brick an mortar stores.
Millions of Americans learned their credit cards and debit accounts were tapped into when hackers worked their way into retailers like Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels. Now, some major credit cards are rolling out new technologies to try and prevent theft.
Here to tell us about them is David Lazarus, business and consumer affairs correspondent for the LA Times.
The Guardian: LA ranks No. 1 in international survey of cities with best urban brands
Talk To Take Two: Any great brand has an equally great tagline. What should the tagline be for Los Angeles? Post your suggestions for L.A.'s tagline in the comments!
Is there any other city in the world as good at branding (i.e. selling) itself as Los Angeles? According to a new survey by The Guardian, the answer is no.
The paper's first Guardian Cities global brand survey ranked L.A. as the city with the best brand, beating out titans like New York, Paris and London. The Guardian employed the expertise of Saffron Consultants, a branding agency with an experience in urban branding, to help them rank 57 cities throughout the world on a scale of 1 to 10, based on two criteria: assets and buzz.
RELATED: What city has the world's top brand? The Guardian says Los Angeles
What do these categories mean exactly? Assets were anything from climate and infrastructure to safety and entertainment/attractions. Buzz is a combination of social media analysis and media mentions. Obviously, as the center of the film and television industries, L.A. has a leg-up in this category.
Though some, such as Curbed LA senior editor Adrian Gluck Kudler, may question the basis of this methodology (does social media buzz really have equal weight as infrastructure?), Mayor Garcetti didn't waste any time celebrating the news:
LA is the world's top urban brand, according to scientific data compiled by the Guardian: http://t.co/XuLLdOzbdR Let's keep the momentum!
— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti)
LA is the world's top urban brand, according to scientific data compiled by the Guardian: http://t.co/XuLLdOzbdR Let's keep the momentum!
— Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti) May 6, 2014
But what weight does "branding" have when it comes to a city? We know branding for a company or product is important, but does it have the same importance when it comes to a city's identity?
Ian Stephens of Saffron Consulting was the lead on the Guardian's brand survey project. He joins the show to explain how they came up with the results and how branding has become important for cities throughout the world.
This chart maps out how each city ranked based on the Guardian's criteria:
Click here for the full-sized image
Getty announces $5M in grants for 'Pacific Standard Time: L.A./L.A.'
The Getty Foundation has just announced the grant recipients for its next "Pacific Standard Time" project, an initiative to recover the historical record of art from across Southern California.
Three years ago, the huge arts collaboration examined the art scene in Los Angeles from 1945 to 1980. This time, the focus is on Latin American and Latino art. It's called "Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA" with $5 million in grant money going toward more than 40 exhibitions and events from San Diego to Santa Barbara.
Chon Noriega is the Director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, which was one of the planning partners of the project and a grant recipient.
Why the focus on Latin American and Latino art?
"As the Getty was looking to continue this as an ongoing series, I think it made sense to really look at the larger region within which L.A. has always been a part, which is Latin America. So it makes a lot of sense then to say well, as we focus on another area of art, this is one in which the city as a whole has some strengths that it can marshal to look comprehensively at something, but it’s also something that it can claim, in some ways, to be a part of."
Beyond art exhibits, what does the project include?
"There will be a number of other related programs that focus on performance, music, and even food.
I think it goes some way towards showing that arts are always integrated within our lives and they’re not just something that sits in a museum gallery protected by temperature and humidity controls.
Once you begin looking at the history of Chicano and Latino art in Los Angeles, you have to take in that concept that the arts are not just something that are part of high culture, they’re very much a part of day to day life, political struggles, and the creation of a sense of community."
What do you think the lasting impact of this project will be?
"To be able to have 40 or more exhibitions cutting across a wide range of approaches, historical time frames, cultural contexts, it's going to put to rest the notion that there's one thing to say about the cultural production of the hemisphere below the United States. Or even within the United States, [that there's] one thing to say about the Latin American-descent artists that are working here."