Poll: Most Americans confused about the debt ceiling; LA schools and iPads: Big promises but where's the research?; App Chat: Tools to make travel more bearable; Sports Roundup: LA Dodgers, NCAA drama, Frontline doc; 'Justice For My Sister' doc examines femicide in Guatemala, plus much more.
Poll: Most Americans confused about the debt ceiling
Congress will vote next week on whether to raise the debt ceiling, but a new United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll finds that many Americans are confused about this concept. For more, we're joined by Shane Goldmacher of National Journal.
How are furloughed federal workers spending their time?
The furlough is leaving a lot of federal workers around the country with plenty of time on their hands. We expect there's going to be a lot of very clean garages and tidy yards.
We decided to check in with a few of those furloughed workers to see how they're filling their days.
When scrolling around Twitter this morning, we noticed that the furlough was having one very deliberate side effect: extra facial hair.
The Twitter meme #FurloughBeard has been making the rounds. Beards and mustaches are going unshaven until there's an end to the furlough. If you're experimenting with growing a beard or doing anything else with your time off, tweet us
and send us pictures!
LA schools and iPads: Big promises but where's the research?
LA Unified's nascent iPad project has hit several roadblocks.
There was an outcry when the district learned it would have to spend an extra $38-million on keyboards. Then, students quickly bypassed Internet security measures. Administrators decided to pull iPads from several classrooms, and some devices are missing.
Then, there's the bigger debate on whether they will fulfill their main job: actually helping students learn. KPCC's Annie Gilbertson has more on the research.
Sports Roundup: LA Dodgers, NCAA drama, NBA preseason
It's time for sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, who have covered sports for the LA Times and ESPN.
Let's start with the hottest show in L.A., the Dodgers. It looks like the only team that can match them is the Red Sox. Should L.A. get ready for their first World Series in 25 years?
NBA preseason is underway, when teams piece together their rosters for the season. Jason Collins, who came out earlier this year, is still jobless and some are wondering if it's because he's the most famous gay professional athlete right now.
Jadeveon Clowney is a star defensive end on the University of South Carolina football team. He felt he was too injured to play last Saturday and that has opened up a can of worms, ranging from his toughness being questioned to whether he's being smart to protect himself while he's playing in college for free.
A more pressing issue for the NCAA, Brian, involves their president Mark Emmert and the highest paid college football coach in the nation, Alabama's Nick Saban.
USC is looking for a head football coach after firing Lane Kiffin a few weeks ago. I understand USC has reached out to former Trojans linebacker Jack Del Rio and former NFL coach Tony Dungy?
Gov. Brown signs new bills to tackle California's water problems
Yesterday Governor Jerry Brown signed more than a dozen bills to improve access to water in the state. While plans for a sweeping solution to managing water in California have stagnated for years, these small measures aim to address some more immediate problems.
Here to tell us more is Hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, who teaches at UC Irvine and he's the director of the UC Center for Hydrologic Modelling.
Volunteers provide water for migrants crossing the Imperial Valley desert
Every two weeks, a group of volunteers has been going out into the Imperial Valley to leave water for the migrants who try to cross the Mexico border in California's unforgiving desert.
Fronteras reporter Adrian Florido accompanied the volunteers on a recent trip, and brings us their story.
App Chat: Tools to make travel more bearable
Today feels like the first day of fall for us here in Southern California. There's a little rain, temperatures have dropped below 70 degrees, and that feeling of fall reminds us of the upcoming holiday season. Which, for many, inevitably means travel.
This week on App Chat, we'll fill you on the best apps to help you organize, survive and thrive when you travel this holiday season.
App Chat regular Devindra Hardawar, national mobile editor for Venture Beat, joins us this week.
One app that I really enjoy for researching flights, figuring out the best deal. There are plenty of apps and services out there that let you compare price information, but I find Hipmunk to be really easy to use. You just plug in the details of your trip, it finds different prices across different airlines, but it has a really nice interface and its a really nice and simple way to figure out when you should buy a ticket. Sometimes you can actually click through from Hipmunk and buy the ticket right there on your phone.
This one, you just plug in your credit card information, your frequent flier programs and your itinerary and it tells you where the closest VIP lounges next to where you are. Sometimes those are things reserved for premium customers, but LoungeBuddy can tell you if you qualify, because of your frequent flier program or you can just pay a little bit to hang out there for a while.
This is all about last-minute travel. They get some of the best hotel deals you can find because they are rooms that the hotels have not yet filled at the very last minute. So at HotelTonight you can find yourself in a very nice room at a swanky hotel for hundreds of dollars less than you would normally pay. It's a little scary, I don't know if I would plan to travel like this, but if you travel a lot or you end up in a new city at the spur of the moment, you can find some really good deals.
This is a free app for the iPhone and Android. It compresses your mobile data so you're not using as much as you normally would. It's especially good for roaming, because you can end up paying quite a bit just for a couple hundred megs of data, and it's also useful for when you're at home. It can save you hundreds of dollars for just a simple trip.
This is an app that collects all of your travel information, your flight data, your hotel booking, it puts it all in a single place. They also have a premium offering with features like seat alerts, so if you want to see if more seats are available on your flight it can ping you ahead of time so you can swap to a window seat or something.
Chris's Collection: Batmobile toy
Now to another installment in our segment, Chris's Collection.
Chris Nichols is editor at Los Angeles magazine, and he's also quite the collector of things from eras gone by. From time to time, he brings some of his treasures into the studio for a little show and tell.
This week he brings by a Barbie-sized Batmobile from 1974, which used to come with a Barbie-scale Batman and Robin that could fit inside.
Chris is a big fan of car customizer and Batmobile creator, George Barris.
"I collect by artist sometimes. Barris is the greatest fantasy car creator," said Nichols. "He did all these famous movie cars — General Lee, the Munster mobile, The Beverly Hillbillies coach — and he's still out there working and creating cars."
USC chemistry professor Arieh Warshel wins Nobel Prize
One of California's own got a life-changing phone call this morning. USC professor Arieh Warshel was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry today along with two colleagues.
RELATED: USC prof among winners of Nobel Prize in chemistry
KPCC's Corey Moore was at a press conference for Professor Warshel this morning. He joins the show with more.
'Justice For My Sister' doc examines 'femicide' in Guatemala
The 16th annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival kicks off Thursday. Among the many films being screened is a documentary called "Justice For My Sister."
It looks at the life and brutal death of 27-year-old Guatemalan woman named Adela who was beaten to death by an abusive boyfriend named Ricardo. Her older sister Rebecca, takes up her cause and fights tirelessly to bring Adela's killer to justice.
Our next guest, Kimberly Bautista, directed the film. When we spoke earlier she began by telling me about the physical and verbal intimidation Adela endured at the hands of her accused killer, Ricardo.
Justice for my Sister trailer from Kimberly Bautista on Vimeo.