Steven Mnuchin's track record in tinsel town, the Dakota pipeline debate stretches to California, the state demolishes the Palos Verdes Bay boys clubhouse.
Donald Trump's latest cabinet picks: Steven Mnuchin's connection to Hollywood and what Elaine Chao can mean for California
President-elect Donald Trump continues to pick key members of his Cabinet and one of the latest names to come forward has a lot of connections to Southern California. Steven Mnuchin led Trump's financial operations during the presidential campaign. Now, he's Trump's choice for Treasury Secretary.
While he has no experience in government, he has a lengthy resume on Wall Street...and in Hollywood. Mnuchin is listed as a producer on more than two dozen films, including "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Suicide Squad."
Early Wednesday, at Trump Tower, Mnuchin told reporters that his experience will be a big plus in Washington D.C.:
"What I've really been focused on is being a regional banker for the last eight years and I know what it takes to make sure that we can make loans to small and mid-market companies and that's gonna be our big focus: making sure we scale back regulation so that we make sure the banks are lending."
For more on his track record here in tinsel town, Alex Cohen spoke with Rebecca Keegan who covers Hollywood for Vanity Fair.
And for a look at another cabinet appointment... Elaine Chao, Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Transportation.
Unlike Steven Mnuchin, Chao has plenty of experience in Washington. She was Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush and Deputy Secretary of Transportation when his father was president. Chao is also married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
For more on how Elaine Chao might influence how we come and go here in California if confirmed, Alex Cohen spoke with Jim Moore - he's director of USC's Transportation Engineering Program.
To hear both interviews, click the blue play button above.
Correction: An earlier version of this audio had the guests name wrong. It is Jim Moore. We apologize for the error.
Nancy Pelosi wins another term as House Democratic leader
Nancy Pelosi was re-elected as House Democratic leader on Wednesday.
The 76-year-old Californian lawmaker won approval of her fellow Democrats, despite a challenge from Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan.
Carla Marinucci, Politico's California Playbook reporter, joined Take Two to discuss what Pelosi's win means for Democrats going forward.
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
What could Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan mean for California?
President-Elect Donald Trump says he wants to put a trillion dollars into rebuilding infrastructure in the United States, which is about one third of the entire revenue the federal government is expected to collect this year.
This is how he described the plan during his Election Night acceptance speech: "We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals. We're going to rebuild our infrastructure."
KPCC's Sharon McNary took a look at the plan to see what it could mean for California.
What do we actually know about Trump's plan?
It's a ten-page proposal from Economics professor Peter Navarro of UC Irvine and Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor who is now Trump's choice for Secretary of Commerce. They released the plan in the final days of the campaign.
The main feature is a plan to privately fund construction of big public projects like roads, bridges, ports, digital communication lines, transit and so on.
That means that the for-profit sector's big construction companies would put up most of the money and do the work, receive nice tax incentives, and also collect fees, or tolls or some other revenue from the people who use the projects.
Look at the plan as an opening proposal or framework, with specifics be filled in later as the future president puts his ideas forward to be worked over in Congress.
Where is that trillion dollars to come from? Are the taxpayers going to be footing the bill?
No, the full trillion dollars does not come directly from the taxpayers.
The Trump plan envisions the federal government offering about one-sixth that amount -- $167 billion - as tax incentives that would entice private industry to put up the rest of the money to build one trillion dollars' worth of big construction projects.
The plan is supposed to be what they call, "revenue neutral," that is to say, it won't cost the federal government any money. The plan says the taxes paid by people employed by the plan plus the taxes from the profits made by the investors will end up equaling the amount of the $167 billion tax incentives put up as seed money to get it all rolling.
Are there already local examples of public-private partnerships that inspired this plan?
There are quite a few examples of existing projects and future projects on the books.
The 91 Express Lanes were privately financed. The big new courthouse in downtown Long Beach was built that way. And the Orange County Transportation Authority just entered a $1.2 billion contract with private companies to build new freeway and toll lanes.
Caltrans identifies the 710-North project - filling in the gap between the stub end of the 710 freeway near Cal State L.A. and the 210 Freeway in Pasadena - as one possibility. If Caltrans decides to build a tunnel, at a cost of some $5 billion dollars, it's possible a public-private partnership would do that work and collect the tolls.
The idea behind public private partnerships is that government doesn't need to build and run or even own things the public needs, like courthouses and toll roads. Government just needs to make them available, with the revenues they produce going to pay off the costs of construction maintenance and, of course, a private profit.
What are specific parts of California that need fixing when it comes to our infrastructure?
Mostly roads. Our highway system was mostly built between the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. It's taken a beating from our ever-growing car-centric population and needs about $57 billion dollars' worth of repairs.
The state needs another $20 billion dollars' worth of other maintenance that should have been done but wasn't. That total includes levees, state buildings, universities, courthouses, community colleges.
The state budget that was approved earlier this year addresses just one percent of that deferred maintenance. So that list of projects are public assets that have deteriorated, and it doesn't include new initiatives.
What about projects like fixing pot holes or renovating previously built buildings or bridges that are crumbling? Where's the money for those projects going to come from?
That's one of the shortcomings critics point to with the plan for public private partnerships. These projects tend to build new things like roads, and not maintain old things like filling potholes.
Say a municipal water system is looking for millions of dollars to replace aging pipes. Under this kind of a deal, a private company would offer to do the work in exchange, perhaps, for new fees tacked onto customers' water bills. But cities already do this when they increase water rates to pay for upgrades to the water system.
Some other objections to the plan are that the private companies will be motivated by the money they can make from the projects' eventual revenue streams. Critics argue that will focus thees projects more in affluent areas - like building new toll roads - than in poor areas - like fixing old roads. So the geography of where stuff gets built will be a big equity question.
Also, the idea that these projects will create new jobs generating new tax revenues is hotly debated. Some critics say the plan would result in shifting employees from private industry jobs over to public-private partnership jobs without a substantial increase in new positions or taxable wages.
Do we know when this plan could be implemented? Is it actually going to go through?
What needs to happen is for the president to put forward a plan and a budget, that Congress would then argue about and pass funding bills. Would they put $167 billion into a tax incentive pot for private builders to draw on for as-yet unknown construction projects?
Democrats say they were repeatedly blocked during the Obama years when trying to spend more on infrastructure, and the bulk of Republicans in Congress are not likely to suddenly turn into free-spending public construction mavens.
Could surfing in Lunada Bay become more friendly to outsiders?
Surfers love the sport because it allows them the chance to feel a thrill, to be at one with the ocean, but that's a bit trickier to do when you're getting pelted with rocks, or a surfboard shoved in your ribs.
Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes Estates is a spot that's given new meaning to the phrase locals only, because for years a group known as the Bay Boys has used intimidation tactics, including violence, to keep people away from riding one of the best surf breaks in Southern California.
Now, the city has moved to demolish a structure on the beach, illegally built by locals there, but will that actually change anything?
Sam George is a former professional surfer and a former editor at Surfer Magazine. He talks to Alex Cohen about what it's like surfing at Lunada Bay and whether there's any hope for outsiders to go and enjoy it without getting harassed.
SoCal Native community on ND protests: 'Enough is enough — these are our tribal lands'
Native American students and activists from Southern California are pointing to the ongoing protests over a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota as a way to highlight sovereignty issues on and near tribal lands in the West.
"At the end of the day, we are all human beings and we are dependent on water, there is no substitute for water," said Joely Proudfit, director of the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center at CSU - San Marcos, who has had students, alumni and staff participate in supporting the demonstration at Standing Rock.
"All Native peoples – regardless of age, gender or location – have come together to say enough is enough: these are our tribal lands, these are our ancestors whose bones will be disturbed," said Proudfit.
Controversies over military construction near San Diego and a wind project in Ocotillo show that these issues also play out close to home, she added.
Since last summer, protesters from across the nation have been traveling to North Dakota to join Native Americans who are trying to prevent the pipeline, which they say will desecrate ancient burial sites and threaten their water supply.
The 1,100-mile long project, called the Dakota Access Pipeline, is designed to carry more than half a million barrels of crude oil per day from oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois. It's planned path runs near Sioux tribal land and beneath the Missouri River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has authority to assess part of the project, has said it "has worked diligently to meet its obligations" to consult with Native American Tribes and has consulted more than 250 times with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
The protesters call themselves "water protectors" and many have camped out a the site for months. Over the past months, they've clashed frequently with law enforcement officials.
On Monday, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple issued an immediate evacuation order, citing the dangers of sub-freezing weather. That follows an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deadline set for December 5 for all protesters to leave or face prosecution.
The potential showdown prompted Anderson Gould, a military veteran and Navajo based in San Diego, to shift his work schedule so he could make a trip to Standing Rock this weekend.
"I just felt that a strong veteran presence would be powerful and it would send a message not just to the law enforcement there, but across the country," said Gould, who is also an alumni of the CSU-San Marcos program.
"We need to go there and make a stand for them," he said.
New book 'Game Changers' showcases history's great woman athletes
Most professional sports are dominated by men but that doesn't mean there haven't been plenty of amazing female athletes over the years. All over the world, women have overcome tremendous challenges to play sports. The trouble is, few of us know anything about them.
That was deeply troubling to Los Angeles based filmmaker, Molly Schiot. Her research in the subject led to the creation of an instragram account as a way to share their stories. This became the impetus for her new coffee table book, "Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History."
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with Molly Schiot about the book's backstory. They were joined by one of the remarkable athletes featured in the book, legendary skateboarder, Laura Thornhill Caswell.
To hear the interview, click on the Blue Arrow above.
Trump's immigration plan could vastly expand CA's private detention
More than 70 percent of immigrants held in U.S. detention centers are in facilities run by private, for-profit companies. Here in California there are 10 detention centers – four of which are privately-run.
The largest is just northeast of L.A., in Adelanto, and holds about 1,900 adult detainees. It's run by a corporation called Geo Group, one of the largest in the country. After Donald Trump was named president-elect, the Geo Group's shares jumped 21 percent. Another big private prison company, CoreCivic Co., which used to be known as Corrections Corporation of America, had shares rise 43 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
And that was the day after the election.
Investors are seeing the writing on the wall, said Charis Kubrin, professor at the University of California, Irvine's Department of Criminology, Law and Society. If Trump follows through with his pledges on immigration – such as his goal to detain and deport some 2-3 million people after taking office – companies see plenty of profit to be made.
"There's no way the existing structures would be able to handle that volume [of detainees]," said Kubrin. The logical next step would be to build more detention centers or find other ways to monitor immigrants facing deportation.
But that could pose challenges for a system that has already been criticized for providing inadequate health care and legal access to detainees held at some of the sites. A KPCC investigation in October found lapses of care at the Adelanto facility during a period where at least three detainees died.
"The existing problems could be very strongly exacerbated," said Kubrin.
Department of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson directed a review of the privatized system of immigrant detention to look at some of these issues. Back in August, he called on a Department subcommittee to assess the current detention policy at privately-run centers and determine whether they should be eliminated. The deadline for that review to be completed and submitted to his office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is today.
Hollywood High hopes a billboard can help pay the bills
Like many in public education, the LA Unified School District is dealing with a strained budget. But now one school has a plan to kickstart the bottom line.
Earlier this month, Hollywood High Principal Alejandra M. Sanchez proposed that a digital bill board be built on school property, specifically at the corner of Sunset boulevard and Highland. When we reached out to her team, Principal Sanchez declined to join us, but said they are "in the preliminary stages of researching this possibility."
Digital billboards are banned in most parts of LA and even standard billboards remain a point of contention.
To tell us more about the situation, I spoke earlier with Howard Blume, reporter from the LA Times.
To hear the conversation
The Styled Side: does your Christmas tree have a stylist?
Have you got a Christmas tree stylist, yet? Yes, that's a thing.
"You are hiring someone to 'dress' your tree," says Michelle Dalton Tyree of Fashion Trends Daily. "They will also decorate other areas of your house for the holidays – the mantle, staircase and more."
Top florists and event planners offer this service.
How it works is that they will go over whether you will provide the tree, lighting and ornaments and have them do the decorating, or if you'd like the full-service treatment where they bring it all in for you, too (at an extra cost, of course),
This type of business has been around since the late 1980s.
Companies like Dr. Christmas, run by Debi Staron and Bob Pranga who bill themselves as "tree stylists to the stars," expects to decorate over 250 trees for private and corporate clients this year.
Also, The Hidden Garden does all of the holiday décor for both Hotel Bel Air and Beverly Hills Hotel, among others.
"They actually start confirming bookings in June and July," says Tyree.
But turning your tree into the best-dressed one on the block doesn't come cheap.
The Hidden Garden estimates charging about $150 per foot of a tree, and $2,500 is the average starting price for the services offered by Dr. Christmas.
For people who fall into the more affordable DIY camp still have options, however.
Sunny Ravenbach of the event-planning firm White Lilac launched this week a holiday store at South Coast Plaza for people to buy ornaments and holiday décor to get the look that she is known for: richly layered, vintage influences.
"It's this opulent wonderland of white and pastels," says Tyree. "She opened just so people who couldn't afford to hire her can still put the look together."
Ravenbach advises people to layer, layer, layer, as well as use things that aren't meant to be ornaments such as cards.