Ongoing turmoil in Brazil continues and the Olympics get closer, the micro economy surrounding the sharing economy, winner of Pershing square competition announced.
How could Brazil's political crisis affect the rest of Latin America?
Latin America's largest economy and most populous country reached a new level in its political crisis – and it comes at a critical time, just month's before playing host to the Olympics. Brazil's Congress voted earlier this morning to move forward with the impeachment of its President Dilma Rousseff.
The crisis could have broad implications for the rest of Latin America – and even the US, key trade ally.
"This is happening in the context of a broader [years-long] corruption scandal," said Shannon O'Neil, senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "So it's really hitting the whole elite class in Brazil."
Donald Trump and Paul Ryan meet in Washington
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump have been on icy terms for most of the primary season, but now there are signs that relations may be starting to thaw.
The two met at the Republican Party headquarters Thursday morning in Washington DC. In a joint statement released after the meeting, they said they are "confident" they can unite the party.
For more Take Two spoke to Alex Isenstadt, a reporter for Politico.
Harley-Davidson, Indian Motorcycle battle it out on the street and big screen
When Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow character slices her way through traffic in an early action sequence from Captain America Civil War, she's doing it on a Harley-Davidson Iron 883.
The American motorcycle maker has a longstanding marketing relationship with Marvel comics dating back to the first Captain America movie in 2011 that's continued with the Avengers and Iron Man film franchises.
But Harley has a competitor that isn't about to let the legendary Milwaukee bike builder bask in the limelight by itself. Indian Motorcycle, based in Minnesota, released its new 2016 Chieftain Dark Horse Wednesday and will soon be leveraging its own marketing deal -- with "brand ambassador" Mark Wahlberg.
An Indian Motorcycle was featured in Wahlberg's film, "Daddy's Home," last Christmas. And Wahlberg, who is executive producing the new TV Show, "Shooter," is bringing Indian to the little screen, as well.
The sharing economy has 'sidekick' businesses
Want to drive for Uber or Lyft but don't have a car? No problem!
The sharing economy is spawning several businesses to help people be a driver, an AirBnb host or more.
"It's kind of like we're a sidekick," says Neel Parek, the founder of MaidThis! Cleaning Service based in Orange County. "We're one of the beneficiaries of the sharing economy."
MaidThis! directly markets itself to helping Airbnb hosts with cleanup and turnover of their homes.
It originally started out as a service strictly for normal residential cleaning, but Parek says he kept getting calls from Airbnb hosts.
"It was kind of like an a-ha moment for me. I kept turning down these people, saying it's not what we do," he says. "After trying it out, it turns out the volume is significantly higher that what we get in regular residential cleaning."
For people who want to drive for Uber or Lyft, there's EverCar which sprang up in Marina Del Ray.
"If you don't have access to a new car or if you have a leased car that doesn't have unlimited miles, you're shut out," says EverCar founder Michael Brylawski.
The company offers all-electric or hybrid cars to rent on an hourly basis.
"They are configured for rideshare, so the placards that you need to go on Uber or Lyft are there," he says. It even comes with a dash-mounted holster for a smartphone and, for passengers who drank too much at the bar, sickness bags.
What started out as one lot expanded into 11 lots within the past year.
It's not the first to offer this kind of service, either.
Another SoCal creation is HyreCar. That service connects wannabe drivers with car owners who have a spare vehicle going unused.
The driver comes by to pick up the car to use for an Uber or Lyft shift, and they both win: the driver has a nice car and the owner gets paid for loaning theirs out.
Uber has even launched into a months-old partnership with Enterprise to rent out vehicles for periods of time to drive for the service.
These smaller companies aren't benefitting without some worry, however. Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and others are facing tough regulations where they spring up.
Los Angeles, for example, had been considering one measure to fingerprint Uber and Lyft drivers. Meanwhile another would enact tough new rules for Airbnb hosts.
"It's been a bit scary in a way," says Parek of MaidThis!, "because of legalities."
If large services decide to leave an area rather than face restrictions and oversight, then these smaller companies could go down with them.
But like small pilot fish that form a mutual relationship with big sharks, companies like EverCar and MaidThis! could stand to benefit if they stick around.
"Most of the businesses might be like little fish swimming around the shark," says sharing economy expert Arun Sundarajan from New York University, "but I think there are going to be a few big winners in this space as well."
Lab notes: The daffodil might hold the secrets to building better skyscrapers and more
On this week's segment of Lab Notes:
- Probiotics are found in pill form, in drinks - even in ice cream bars. But a new study found that there's not a lot of evidence showing benefit from probiotic supplements.
- A new study found that how we read something affects what we get out of it. Specifically, if you read something printed out, you absorb more of the big idea than if you read it online.
- The daffodil might hold some secrets to building better skyscrapers
As always, Sanden Totten, KPCC's science reporter, joined the show to break down the latest in science news.
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Instagram's new logo embraces color, ditches polaroid
It's a safe bet that you're probably going to see photos of the Anza trail expedition on Instagram...
But before you go looking for them, you should know that Instagram has a new look - or a new logo, to be precise
It's still camera inspired, albeit, heavy on the rainbow
There are some new upgrades on the inside visuals of the app as well.
Instagram hugely popular, but it's far from the only app-based company that's sprung an aesthetic change on its users.
Earlier Take Two's Josie Huang spoke with Khoi Vinh over skype.
He's a graphic designer and director of product design at Adobe.
Griffith park brings the Anza trail expedition to 2016
This Saturday, for the first time ever, there will be an Anza Trail reenactment in Griffith Park.
Horses and volunteer reenactors will engage in a variety of activities and crafts to commemorate the 240th anniversary of the expedition.
The Vice President of Friends of Griffith Park and the lead for this project, Marian Dodge, joined the show to discuss the significance of the expedition and the event commemorating it.
Interview Highlights:
What is the significance of the Anza trail expedition?
The Anza expedition was very important to the United States we all heard about 1776 on the east coast...that's the famous one. But over here in California things were happening as well...Anza was told to go across Arizona and go up north to San Francisco and establish a city in San Francisco because the Russians were coming down from the north and Spain wanted to make sure that they controlled California. So if Anza had not made that expedition, you and I might be speaking Russian..Juan Batista de Anza was the colonel who was assigned--he's a soldier but it was a colonization expedition not a military expedition."
Why is this significant to Los Angeles?
"For us here, it's really significant because one of the perfectly ordinary soldiers who made the expedition was Jose Vicente Feliz...he was reassigned to Los Angeles to come back and work in El Pueblo de Los Angeles, he became Comisionado which would be like a city manager. He was here for a long time, he did such a nice job that he was granted Rancho Los Feliz...it is the present day Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Griffith Park."
This is the first time the Anza Trail reenactment is in Griffith park, what will visitors see and experience?
"We are going to have 15 riders in period costume ride in on horseback. Four of them have authentic 18th-century saddles. Colonel Anza himself will speak to the crowd, as will Father Serra. They also have reenactors who will show what kind of food they ate on the trail, how they traveled...there'll be dance music...your kids can earn a junior ranger badge...the kids can go explore friends of LA river's river rover..."
The event will take place at Griffith Park on Saturday, May 14th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. See address below:
Crystal Springs Picnic Area
4730 Crystal Springs Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90027
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Agence Ter picked to redesign Pershing Square
An international design team led by the Paris-based Agence Ter has been selected to redesign the five-acre Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.
The announcement Thursday followed an eight-month competition that began with 80 design teams and ultimately narrowed to four finalists.
Agence Ter’s proposal drew the highest scores from more than 1,300 members of the public who weighed in on finalists, according to the city. Among the jury who had the final say, the choice was unanimous.
“Thank you very much for your support and confidence. We will make sure that Pershing Square will become, once again, the dynamic heart of Los Angeles,” said Henri Bava, founder and director of Agence Ter, speaking at the press conference Thursday.
One of the most notable elements of Agence Ter’s park-plaza hybrid design is its “radical flatness,” according to a statement from the office of City Councilman Jose Huizar, whose district includes the square and who has helped to spearhead its revitalization.
The plaza is built over a parking garage and sits above street level. The new design will bring it back to the ground, lowering the top level of the parking structure, opening up the view and creating paths for pedestrians.
“By radically flattening the lifted surface, it will reach out to the neighborhood again, establishing a real dialogue with the city,” Bava said in a prepared statement.
The design also includes a reflecting pool, a “smart canopy” that will light up at night and provide shade during the day, water cycling, alternative energy systems, and landscaping that includes gardens, grasses and lawns.
“Our goal was to get rid of the trendy design approaches and propose a timeless design, able to grow with a changing community and city,” Bava said.
The three other finalists competing for the redesign project included SWA and Morphosis, both based in downtown L.A.; James Corner Field Operations, which designed Manhattan’s High Line and Tongva Park in Santa Monica; and wHY and Civitas, a team based in Culver City.
The winning design “spoke to people across different demographics and really exemplified what we’re trying to do here in downtown L.A.,” Huizar said.
The aim of the competition was to generate designs that would cost in the neighborhood of $50 million, the final price tag could vary, Huizar said.
The park could see an unveiling in 2019, but for the next seven or eight months, the proposal will go through a refinement process and the city will seek public input, Huizar said.
So far, the city has $1 million banked for the project and another $250,000 in commitments. In the coming weeks, the city plans to announce other sources of revenue, according to Huizar.
The full design team includes:
- SALT Landscape Architects
- Deborah Murphy Urban Design + Planning
- Kelly Shannon - RUA, Landscape Urbanism
- Community Arts Resources LA, Urban Programming
- Rachel Allen Architecture
- Pentagram, Branding
- Still Room, Wayfinding and Graphic Design
- Leo Villareal, Light Artist
- Fehr & Peers, Transportation Consultants
- KPFF, Structural / Civil Engineers
- M-E Engineering, Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing Engineers
- Lighting Design Alliance, Architectural Lighting Design
LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne was at the announcement and joins the show to discuss the winner.