As the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum prepares itself for a name change, veterans are protesting. Plus, we visit L.A.'s Republique bakery.
Exide Study
The Exide Technologies battery recycling plant just southeast of downtown LA closed in 2015. The company shuttered the facility under pressure from regulators ... who found that it leaked lead, arsenic and other pollutants into the surrounding communities for decades. Locals say it affected their health for generations.
Guest:
- Laura Cortez, a community activist with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Exide Clean-up
For a few years now, the state has been cleaning up the lead and other pollutants that seeped into the soil from the Exide plant. The Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, began to oversee contractors in 2017. And today, it reports that 788 homes in the area have been cleared. Still, there are roughly 17-hundred more home to go - and those are only the ones that have been prioritized. Thousands more have been affected. We check in on how that clean-up is going and when it might all get done.
Guest:
- Grant Cope - the acting deputy director of DTSC's Site Mitigation and Restoration Program
Turbo Tax
Every year, millions of Americans take part in a bittersweet ritual known as tax filing. And chances are, you - or someone you know - paid good money for some sort of software to get the job done. Well, that might not have been necessary. A recent investigation by the news site ProPublica exposed the measures filing services like Turbo Tax and H&R Block appear to have taken to prevent people from filing for free. This, despite an agreement with the IRS to offer versions of it at no cost to people making under $66,000 a year. Now LA's city attorney says he'll take both companies to court.
Guest:
- Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney
Arbitration Clause
200 workers at the LA video game developer, Riot Games, walked off the job Monday. They were protesting a pair of sexual discrimination lawsuits employees had filed against the company that were forced into arbitration instead of going to trial. Take Two finds out more about the increasing use of arbitration clauses in employment contracts.
Guest:
- Katherine Stone, an employment and labor law professor at UCLA
Coliseum Renaming and Veterans
Last year, the University of Southern California struck a deal to sell the name of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to United Airlines. The change is supposed to take effect later this year. But now, veterans are protesting the $69 million arrangement. Why do so many cities have sports complexes named after veterans and military service members, and will they survive a push to make money on naming rights?
Guest:
- Libby Denkmann, KPCC veterans affairs reporter
Senior Pimby
If you've been following California's housing crisis, you've probably heard of NIMBY--not in my backyard. And you might have heard of YIMBY--that's "Yes" in my backyard. Well you can now add "PIMBY" to your housing vocabulary--Parents in My Backyard. More and more California seniors are turning to Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs as they age. As part of our Graying California series, CALMatters' Matt Levin brings us this profile.
Republique
We visit the famed bakery and communal eatery off La Brea to talk to chef Margarita Manzke about why so few people were fond of her restaurant when it first opened.