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Podcasts Take Two
Federal Judge Sets Order to Move Homeless from Freeways, Hollywood Bowl Closure Will Silence a Saxophone Player, KROQ Is Reinventing Itself
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May 21, 2020
Listen • 52:14
Federal Judge Sets Order to Move Homeless from Freeways, Hollywood Bowl Closure Will Silence a Saxophone Player, KROQ Is Reinventing Itself

Homeless people living underneath LA freeways are about to be relocated, the story of a sax player at the Hollywood Bowl and how KROQ is changing.
Tents and belongings of the homeless line a street in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 25, 2018, as a United Nations report on poverty and inequality says 185 million Americans are living in extreme poverty. - And in Los Angeles, which has one of the nation's largest homeless populations, the mayor said last week people may start getting arrested again for sleeping on the sidewalk now that the city feels it has enough new housing to meet settlement requirements. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
Tents and belongings of the homeless line a street in downtown Los Angeles, California on June 25, 2018, as a United Nations report on poverty and inequality says 185 million Americans are living in extreme poverty. - And in Los Angeles, which has one of the nation's largest homeless populations, the mayor said last week people may start getting arrested again for sleeping on the sidewalk now that the city feels it has enough new housing to meet settlement requirements. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)
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FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
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Federal Judge Sets Order to Move Homeless from Freeways

We start today with an eye on COVID-19 and homelessness. You've probably seen the large number of homeless camps that have sprung up around and under LA's freeway overpasses - not a great place to be living, with fumes and cars all around. Well, last week a federal judge ordered that people living there be relocated - the injunction will go into effect tomorrow.

Guest: 

  • Matt Tinoco, KPCC's homelessness reporter

Southern California Sheriffs on Releasing Inmates Early to Fight COVID-19

Southern California's sheriffs have had differing responses to the idea that they release some jail inmates early as a way to fight COVID-19. The LA and OC sheriffs generally embraced the idea, while the Riverside and San Bernardino sheriffs rejected it. KPCC's Frank Stoltze found that sheriffs in different parts of southern California are taking very different approaches to that issue.

L.A. County Sheriff Villanueva Will Defy Subpoena to Testify on Jails

Sheriff Villanueva's running dispute with the Civilian Oversight Commission has deepened, with him defying a subpoena to testify about the fight against COVID-19 in the jails.

Guest: 

  • Frank Stoltze, KPCC's Public Safety Correspondent 

Coronavirus: Buena Ventura Nursing Home

More than half of the COVID-19 deaths in L.A. County have been at institutions, mainly nursing homes – and a new analysis by The New York Times and KPCC found that there's one thing that distinguishes the nursing homes with the highest number of cases and deaths: It's not their low quality, or even their size. It's that their residents are mostly black and Latino. KPCC's Jackie Fortier looked into how the disease spread through one L.A. nursing home.

American Homefront Project: PTSD and Coronavirus

Among the many things that have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic is the treatment regimen for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The VA and other providers are trying to move the therapy online. Stephanie Colombini of the American Homefront Project reports from Tampa.

Hollywood Bowl Closure Will Silence a Saxophone Player

The Hollywood Bowl is going dark this summer for the first time in almost 100 years. Besides affecting all of the musicians and audiences—as well as the paid staff—the closure will silence a saxophone that has been resounding from the tunnel underneath Highland Avenue for 36 years.  Contributor Tim Greiving has the story.

TBT: LA Plague

Before there was a virus that was known for originating from China, there was a illness identified as the "Mexican disease" here in LA. So, in light of the circumstances, we're revisiting a Throwback Thursday from a few months ago, about the time an outbreak of the pneumonic plague struck Los Angeles, almost a century ago and we'll warn you, this history gets a little graphic.

Guest:

  • Julia Bricklin, Author Blonde RattleSnake  

KROQ Is Reinventing Itself

In the world of LA music radio, KROQ held a particular place. It was THE place to go to hear the next big thing in alternative rock. And usually the up and coming artists were all playing somewhere in Hollywood waiting to be discovered or on the brink of breaking out. KROQ was that wide platform that took their music out of the clubs and into your ears, bands like The Bangles, Guns N Roses, Sublime and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. But now that model is a thing of the past. Artists use social media to promote themselves and build a big audience and a station like KROQ just doesn't carry anywhere near the same weight it once had, in fact, it's trying to stay alive by re-inventing itself.

Guest:

  • Shirley Halperin, Executive Editor of Music at Variety