Several California cities are mulling a so-called “Netflix tax”, a look at the historic U.S. senate debate, if prop 64 passes how do we deal with high drivers?
Are California roadways ready if recreational marijuana is legalized?
Will legal weed create a thicket of problems on the Golden State's roadways?
Next month, Californians will vote on Prop 64 — the statewide measure to legalize recreational marijuana.
Polls show the initiative has the support of some 60 percent of expected voters. But a number of traffic safety groups have raised concerns about the impact of legalizing marijuana, including the Automobile Club of Southern California. It held a summit Wednesday to weigh the impacts and challenges if Prop 64 passes.
"Marijuana use and getting behind the wheel of a car is a growing, contributing factor to highway crashes that kill people," said AAA Director of Traffic Safety, Advocacy and Research, Jake Nelson.
Nelson cited a recent AAA study that found the proportion of fatal crashes involving drivers who had recently used marijuana more than doubled in Washington after the state legalized it in 2012. It rose from 8 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2014.
California is also experiencing an increase in drugged driving, according to the Auto Club, which opposes Prop 64. The 2012 California Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers found that one in five fatal collisions in California involve at least one drugged driver — an upward trend that is mirrored at the national level.
"Marijuana affects reflexes and reaction times and the ability to judge distance," said Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a former senior advisor to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and an opponent of Prop 64.
"We hear a lot about drunk driving, and we have reduced drunk driving fatalities through a massive public awareness campaign driven through all sectors of society, and we have not done the same thing with stoned driving," Sabet said. "A lot of times people don’t think marijuana affects driving."
Drivers' belief that marijuana actually improved their driving surprised Glenn Davis, Highway Safety Manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012.
"The Highway Safety Office has learned that the attitudes of people that use marijuana is very different," Davis said. "We found out that some people weren’t even aware they could get a DUI for marijuana. That told us that we need to do more outreach, more awareness, and we also found it’s best to do it at point of sale."
Created in partnership with the marijuana industry, Colorado's "Drive High, Get a DUI" campaign even extends to rental car agencies, Davis said, and is funded in part with taxes from marijuana sales.
Colorado, like California, does not have a per-se legal limit on THC in the blood to determine driver impairment. It's a Driving Under the Influence law for impairment, regardless of substance.
Should Prop 64 pass in California, Davis — who supports Colorado's legalized marijuana amendment — advises state traffic safety agencies: "Be ready to get new partnerships. Train law enforcement that it's not about a level, a nanogram level, or a device. It's about articulating impairment and detecting impairment.
"Don’t let traffic safety get lost," he added. "When legalized marijuana comes in, a lot of different people get concerned. Can it look like a candy? How much can it weigh? Can it be within 100 feet of a school? That’s fine, but traffic safety has to be considered."
Do you have your voter game plan? Use our Voter's Edge election guide to find your personalized ballot.
US Senate debate, Gov. Brown's bill signings, and Bernie Sanders promotes Prop. 61
On this week's State of Affairs, Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez jab and dab in their first and last debate, what a
Desk is clear for the year:
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 1, 2016
1,059 Bills
*Signed: 898
*Law w/o Signature: 2
*Vetoed: 159 pic.twitter.com/zi8jy2ZoGr
has to do with Governor Jerry Brown's vetoes, and Bernie Sanders makes a California comeback.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- , Capitol Bureau Chief for Capital Public Radio
- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Communication at USC
The Land Art Generator Initiative: Public art to please the eye and the Earth
We hear all the time about the importance of being sustainable, of harnessing energy from natural sources and finding new sources of drinking water.
A new contest seeks to do that while also making the world a more aesthetically pleasing place.
Think art that produces renewable energy. And makes seawater drinkable.
The competition is called the Land Art Generator Initiative, it asked participants to create a work of public art that would be installed in the ocean off Santa Monica. The pieces would also be required to generate renewable power and produce potable water. The goal of the contest is to show the large-scale sustainable energy and water projects can be beautiful too.
Dozens submitted designs and winners were announced Thursday. In first place, was a design called Regatta H2O (pictured above) which generates electricity from wind hitting a taut membrane that vibrates. It also produces roughly 30 million gallons of drinking water through fog harvesting.
Renderings of the second and third place winners are featured in the slideshow above.
The contest ran in conjunction with the international Greenbuild Conference and Expo, which is taking place this week in Los Angeles. The annual event draws thousands of architects, designers and contractors to show off the latest techniques for designing buildings to be more water- and energy-efficient. It is organized by U.S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles Chapter
Earlier, Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with the LAGI contest organizers Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian.
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above.
Drought's not over folks! State officials worry about drop in water savings
As California looks towards another year of drought, it seems that some parts of the state may be prematurely easing off their water conservation efforts.
State regulators at the Water Resources Control Board report that Californians saved less than 18 percent of water in August. The drop-off has raised concerns that municipalities may not be doing enough to conserve.
For more on the state of water conservation in California, Take Two’s A Martinez spoke with Max Gomberg, a senior climate scientist at the State Water Resources Control Board.
To hear the full interview, click on the Blue Arrow above.
Asians furious at the stereotypes lobbed in a Fox News segment
Jesse Watters is a Fox News correspondent whose recent segment has put him in hot water with Asian-Americans.
The idea was pretty innocuous: Donald Trump has said many disparaging things about China, and Watters went to New York's Chinatown to find out what people thought about the presidential candidate.
From the first riff of "Kung Fu Fighting," the segment was rife with Asian stereotypes from beginning to end.
He asked people if he was supposed to bow to say hello or if they knew karate.
"Do they call Chinese food in China just food?" he asked of one person.
Almost immediately, Asian-Americans rushed to denounce Fox News and Jesse Watters.
In response to the criticism, Jesse Watters wrote on Twitter:
"My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and I regret if anyone found offense."
, social commentator and writer for the CNN Opinion section, joined Take Two to talk more.
4 things you need to know about the 'Netflix tax'
Chill with a little Netflix, hang out watching Hulu, groove to some Spotify...
And pay a tax for it.
A tax on your favorite streaming services could become real. Some U.S. cities already levy the tax and, now, several California towns, including Pasadena, are mulling it over.
Henry Grabar has been writing about this for Slate and he joined A Martinez for a little explainer.
1. It's a pioneering effort
"What's going to be covered, probably is going to be a variety of digital streaming services depending on what kind of law it is, but that could include anything from Hulu and Netflix to Spotify to various video game services and so forth."
But when it comes to services like iTunes, it's a little more complicated...
"It depends...are you purchasing an actual object in the sense of a digital album download? If that's the case then that's probably covered by a sales tax. But if what you're purchasing is a streaming service...that's the sweet spot that they're trying to get at now."
2. Blame the potential tax on the decline of cable and telecom
"Cities have long made a good chunk of municipal revenue from telecom taxes and cable taxes. Telecom taxes have really fallen off as people switch to wireless accounts and switch to broadband and there is also a concern that that could be about to happen to cable taxes as well. Many young people don't have cable services and just choose to get their entertainment media from streaming services on the internet, so for cities, they're seeing this big hole appear on their budgets and they're wondering, how can we plug this hole?"
3. The Internet Tax Freedom Act is making it tough
"The Internet Tax Freedom Act which was enacted about 10 years ago and that says that broadband is immune from state and local taxation. So, people who have been working on telecom taxes and cable taxes, they see that source of revenue going away and they look to the internet but you can't just tax a broadband connection, it's not legal. So, that's where you see them focusing instead on how to tax various services and products that are being sold through the internet..."
4. What does this mean for California consumers?
"What's particular about the Pasadena situation...is that this company called MuniServices, which is the tax collector for those municipalities, thinks that this kind of tax is already permitted under existing law. So in this case, it's going to be a utility user tax because the law says the gaming and streaming services may be taxed, regardless of the technology used to deliver such services. So right now the technology has been a cable connection but if the technology switches to being a broadband connection, the theory is you can still tax the gaming and streaming services so that's the utility user tax..."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Kitchen diplomacy: How Persian flavors are shifting attitudes towards Iran
Pomegranates. Ruby colored and a little tough to crack open, but a staple of Persian cooking. The super fruit is also much loved by Yasmin Khan, author of The Saffron Tales: Recipes from the Persian Kitchen.
"In Iran, you have this incredible scarlet, ethereal fruit that appears in the midst of winter and we use them in all kinds of ways in Iranian cooking. Whether we cook the pomegranate molasses or whether we throw them on to salads. I've come up with many ways to use them!"
Part memoir, part Iranian history and part introduction to Persian cuisine, The Saffron Tales is inspired by the many meals Khan has eaten during her travels to Iran to visit family and friends. Speaking with Take Two's A Martinez, she said the book is also designed to break down barriers:
" As someone who grew up in the West but well aware of the normal stereotypes that Iran is normally associated with, I wanted to write a book that really celebrated the best of Persian culture, and food is a wonderful way to get a window in to a country."
Click on the blue button to listen to the interview