On Friday, Take Two will discuss what millennials think of Obama, the San Gabriel mountains becoming a national monument, Kim Jong-un not being seen in public for a month, Prop 48 about a proposed Indian casino, Jeremy Renner playing controversial journalist Gary Webb and more.
Obama wants to be BFFs with Millennials, but do they like him back?
While President Obama is in Los Angeles, he has a special message for millennials: I <3 you.
And he hopes they listen: Democrats need their votes in the upcoming mid-term elections.
To that end, he's been promoting his policies that he says have been beneficial to that generation, such as his program for student loans and the Affordable Care Act.
But what do millennials, themselves, think of the President's job performance?
Alex Cohen talks with 25-year-old Danielle Acheampong from Glendale.
Long Beach museum addresses decline in school field trips
Field trips, once a signature of the school experience, are declining in many school districts.
This trend is causing alarm among museum directors.
In Long Beach, one museum is taking an innovative approach to solving the problem as KPCC’s Mary Plummer reports.
Related: Long Beach museum looks to buck trend of declining student field trips
Friday Flashback: Obama in LA, celebrities Rock the Vote
President Obama comes to LA to talk about the economy and to hang with millennials. Why?
Maybe because some of his former allies, like Leon Panetta, are taking pot shots at him.
And Lil John, Lena Dunham and Whoopi Goldberg TURN OUT FOR WHAT?!!
To rock the vote.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijpU5yD55I
Joining the Flashback, Take Two's look at the week in news, is newcomer Dave Shaw from Washington DC. Shaw is a senior editor with the public radio program Marketplace.
And from NPR West, Robin Abcarian, who is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
'Kill the Messenger' author revives story of journalist Gary Webb
The new film "Kill the Messenger" is based on a book of the same name about investigative reporter Gary Webb. In 1996, Webb wrote a series of controversial stories titled "Dark Alliance" for the San Jose Mercury News. In it, he connected the crack epidemic, which swept through Los Angeles in the 1980s, to the CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua.
Related: Jeremy Renner: Gary Webb story 'too important to pass up'
It was the biggest story the newspaper had ever published, but shortly after, several news sources discredited Webb's series and his own newspaper even backed away from him. Webb eventually left the San Jose Mercury News and never worked in daily newspaper again. He later committed suicide.
Journalist Nick Schou delved into Webb's story in his book "Kill the Messenger" and explains how Webb's reporting did eventually yield a federal investigation. In his book he details the CIA's involvement with drug traffickers and how it discouraged the DEA from investigating Contra-cocaine shipments.
Jeremy Renner: Gary Webb story 'too important to pass up'
The new film "Kill the Messenger," based on a book of the same name, tells the true story of investigative reporter Gary Webb. In 1996, Webb wrote a series of controversial stories titled "Dark Alliance" for the San Jose Mercury News. In it, he connected the crack epidemic, which swept through Los Angeles in the 1980s, to the CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua.
But shortly after, several news sources discredited Webb's series and his own newspaper even backed away from him. Webb eventually left the San Jose Mercury News and never worked in daily newspaper again. He later committed suicide.
Actor Jeremy Renner both starred and served as executive producer. Renner was born in Modesto, California, not far from where Gary Webb did most of his groundbreaking work, which turned this project not into something he wanted to do, but something he "had to do creatively."
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
What compelled you most about this story?
The story goes back to why I enjoy my job as an actor. The stories I like to tell are everymen in extraordinary circumstances. And that it was this true story that happened 70 miles near where I grew up and knew nothing about, turned it from a story I wanted to tell creatively to a story I had to tell creatively. It was just too dang important to pass up.
Knowing that I was going to have to jump on as a producer, and what that means is I would have to do it for free, gladly. It was something I knew we would have to get very creative in how to make it and make it for budget and call in some favors from some friends and luckily everything fell into place.
Of all the preparation you did for this role, what helped you the most in terms of unlocking not only what it's like to be a journalist but the kind of journalist Gary Webb was?
For me, where I had to start was with him as a man, as a father, as a husband and a human being outside of journalism. Then that's sort of what bled into him and why he liked his job. I ask a lot of whys. Because why we are what we are in life makes us very specific. Because there's a lot of journalist out there, there's a lot of actors out there. But why we do what we do makes us specific. And I found there was a very courageous, brave man. Kind of rebellious, stubborn, self-righteous. I could come up with a dozen other adjectives that sort of define a leader or a shepherd or a pain in the ass, even. And I think Gary Webb is all of those things and what made him great was also the very thing that brought him down, I think—his pig headedness, which made him great in his search for the truth and his stubbornness to find that also took him down rabbit holes that lead him to his depression, his demise.
In your opinion, why didn't Gary Webb, a husband and father, go a safer course?
It wasn't in his nature. If he felt he could have stopped and did stop, why do something halfway? From where I sit, I honor what he does, I think we need more Gary Webbs in the world.
Gary Webb committed suicide 10 years ago, seven years to the day of when he resigned from the San Jose Mercury News. If you had a chance to talk with him, what would you ask?
If I had a moment to chat with him, I'd want to know what he laughed at. There are a lot of smaller things I'd probably prefer to know as opposed to one big question.
Tesla unveils new electric S model: What are the perks?
It was not the self-driving car some had been hoping for, but Thursday night Tesla introduced a new model of its electric S with some pretty amazing capabilities.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased an upcoming Tesla reveal Oct. 1 on twitter:
About time to unveil the D and something else pic.twitter.com/qp23yi59i6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 2, 2014
OC Register auto critic Susan Carpenter was at the unveiling.
Tesla's "D” stands for a dual motor Model S that can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 3.2 seconds, while simultaneously improving handling with a digital all-wheel drive system, Carpenter reports.
RELATED: Slideshow: Tesla's 'D' adds all-wheel drive, safety features
"It's like taking off from a carrier deck, it's just bananas," Musk told the crowd at the unveiling. "It's like having your own personal roller coaster that you can use at anytime."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ6lZJWL_Xk
The addition of auto pilot enables the new S to self-park in a garage, plug itself into a charger, keep a car in a lane, emergency stop and be summoned by its driver.
Four parts comprise the auto pilot feature, Musk explained: A forward looking radar; camera with image recognition that can detect traffic lights and pedestrians; long-range ultrasonic sonar; and a combination navigation, GPS and real-time traffic.
Musk pointed out that auto pilot has limitations, however, Carpenter reported:
At this stage, [it is] auto pilot as opposed to autonomous. It’s capable of sort of being autonomous, but the level of safety and redundancy isn’t there. You can’t fall asleep and safely arrive at your destination.
The new Tesla S also has three driving modes: normal, sport and insane.
Kim Jong Un's absence from public view fuels speculation
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not been seen in public for more than a month, sparking rumors that he's ill or may have even been deposed.
The chatter only grew louder Friday when he failed to show up for a ceremony marking the founding of the Korean Workers' party. It's an event he's never missed before.
The BBC's correspondent in South Korea Stephen Evans says he thinks Kim is probably ill, but still in power. No one really knows for sure, but Evans says, "He's clearly out of it in some shape or form. Something's happened. But the question is what."
As to the theory that a coup might have occurred and that Kim has been deposed, Evans says the South Korean government doesn't think that's the case.
The reason for that, he says, is that "if you have a coup, you need the military to move around and secure radio stations and palaces... and that hasn't happened."
Prop 48: Could proposed Indian casino create statewide precedent?
California voters have weighed the pros and cons of Indian casinos in three separate statewide elections over the years.
Next month, they will do it again: a ballot referendum - Proposition 48 - to approve, or reject, a proposed Indian casino in the heart of the Central Valley.
The California Report's John Myers looks at the key question: will the project create a statewide Indian gaming precedent?
What the new San Gabriel mountains national monument means for Southern California
The San Gabriel mountains provide an impressive backdrop to parts of L.A.'s skyline. And as of Friday, the range is now a national monument.
More than half of the San Gabriel acreage will be protected, thanks to an order directly from President Obama.
The move is not without controversy, though. Some local residents and officials have raised concern about private property rights and fire safety protocol.
But the designation will help with much needed conservation efforts, said Bill Possiel, president of the National Forest Foundation. His organization has set aside some $3 million to focus on youth involvement in the new monument and to help the area recover from past wildfires, among other things.
"With the designation, we hope that people will begin to understand and appreciate the importance of this place," said Possiel.
In a statement on the new designation, the White House called L.A. "one of the most disadvantaged counties in the country when it comes to access to parks and open space for minorities and children." From the statement:
More than 15 million people live within 90 minutes of the San Gabriel Mountains, which provides 70 percent of the open space for Angeleños and 30 percent of their drinking water. The 346,177 acre site contains high-quality wilderness areas, habitat for rare and endangered animals like the California condor, and a rich array of cultural and historical features.
Weekend on the cheap: ArtNight, 7 days of garbage, Hollywood costumes
TGIF, but when there's so much going on this weekend (and it's not even Halloween, yet), how do you decide?
KPCC’s social media producer, Kristen Lepore, is here to help. She writes a weekly column on cheap things to do in L.A. and she joins Take Two to help us plan our weekend.
For details on these events and more, see her full weekend guide here.
Director Miguel Arteta, known for dark comedies, takes on a Disney family film
The new Disney film "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" is based on the beloved 1972 children's book of the same name.
The film's director, Miguel Arteta, hadn't read the book when the opportunity to direct the film came along. But he says what drew him to it was that he'd grown up watching classic live-action Disney movies like "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "That Darn Cat," and "Freaky Friday."
That is, after Arteta (who's known for directing dark, independent comedies like "The Good Girl" and "Cedar Rapids") had gotten over the surprise of being offered the film in the first place.
"What surprised me even more," he says, "is how I responded to the story."
"It ended up being a movie that really represented the mayhem and the messiness of being in a family. And having grown up in a Latin American family of six, I really was like, 'Wow, this really gets the feeling of how messy it is to be in a family.'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_dideF5qvk
And Arteta was happy to find that Disney "was game to push the boundaries a little more," he says. One example? A surprise appearance from "The Thunder from Down Under."
"To end a Disney movie with Australian strippers," Arteta says, "is definitely a little bit forward-thinking from Disney."