Calculating the real cost of the government shutdown; End of shutdown brings life and tourism back to National Parks; Keeping the dying art of hand-painted billboards alive in Los Angeles; Director Kimberly Peirce on resurrecting the classic horror film 'Carrie'; Exemption to ACA could leave many Native Americans uninsured; What you need to know about Medicare open enrollment, plus much more.
Calculating the real cost of the government shutdown
The government has finally reopened. Federal workers are heading back to their jobs, and the stock market, while trading modestly lower, avoided a big collapse. All this after a last minute agreement that forestalled a possible default by the government, and restored funding for its operations.
Still, it was an expensive political crisis.
A preliminary analysis by Standard and Poor's pegs the cost of the shutdown at $24 billion. That's just a tiny fraction of the nation's almost $15 trillion economy, but the political standoff had a powerful negative effect on many small businesses.
Bloomberg News reporter Kathleen Miller is part of a team that looked at the nooks and crannies of the economy to find out who was feeling the pain. She joins the show with more.
End of shutdown brings life and tourism back to National Parks
With the shutdown over, National Parks are re-opening in California. Yosemite opened its gates last night after Congress reached a deal. Services will be up and running today, although visitors were able to use roads and other public spaces just before midnight last night.
Dori Jones owns Dori's Tea Cottage in Groveland, California, just outside the park.
We spoke to her on day three of the shutdown, when she was concerned about the effect the park's closure would have on her business. Especially after the Rim Fire hit the area pretty hard.
Now that Yosemite has opened it gates again we decided to check in on Dori again.
What you need to know about Medicare open enrollment
Tis' the season for Medicare open enrollment, that once-a-year opportunity for those 65 and older who are enrolled in Medicare to make changes to next year's plan.
If you're among those who are a little confused right now about whether the Affordable Care Act affects the choices you make this year, KPCC's Stephanie O'Neill says you can relax.
Ask Emily on Take Two: How do you calculate your income for Obamacare?
If you are a careful listener of Take Two, you'll know that every two weeks, we have a chat about questions that crop up in regards to the new healthcare law.
It's a segment we call Ask Emily, featuring Emily Bazar, senior writer for the California Healthcare Foundation Center for Health Reporting.
Last week we talked about what it takes to figure out if you are financially qualified to enroll in the new healthcare exchanges. Turns out Emily has been so bombarded by questions of late, we thought it would be good to squeeze in an additional chat this week.
Exemption to ACA could leave many Native Americans uninsured
Beginning January first, most Americans will be required to have health insurance or pay penalties under the Affordable Care Act. Native Americans are one of just a few groups that won't be fined if they don't buy insurance, but the level of care they receive won't get any better either.
From the Fronteras Desk, Tristan Ahtone reports.
Mexico's basketball team thrives as its soccer team struggles
The Mexican national soccer team El Tri is still alive in their quest to qualify for the World Cup.
A loss Tuesday to Costa Rica would have eliminated Mexico, but a U.S. come-from-behind win over Panama kept Mexico in the running and put them in a do or die against New Zealand next month.
Mexico has made every World Cup since 1990 but right now, the team is a bit of a mess. Their coach was fired in September and now Jorge Vergara, the influential owner of the most popular club team in Mexico, Chivas, came out demanding another coaching change.
If they could only be as successful as the Mexican national basketball team.
The team is coming off an unlikely championship run at the FIBA Americas in Venezuela, beating out traditional regional power houses such as Argentina and Brazil.
The usually unwavering Mexican futbol faith is shaky, and now, of all sports, basketball might be Mexico's best hope for international success.
Marc Stein from ESPN.com has written about this and joins us now.
Director Kimberly Peirce on resurrecting the classic horror film 'Carrie'
She's baaaaack! On Friday the newest remake of the classic horror film, "Carrie," comes out in theaters.
Originally a book by Stephen King, "Carrie" tells the story of a painfully shy girl with telekinetic powers and her overbearing, religious mother. Julianne Moore plays the mom in the latest version and Chloe Grace Moretz takes on the title role.
This reboot of "Carrie" was directed by Kimberly Peirce, who also directed the 1999 hit "Boys Don't Cry." Peirce joins Take Two to talk about "Carrie" and how she studied the original source material very carefully.
Keeping the dying art of hand-painted billboards alive in Los Angeles (photos)
When billboards do their job right, they get your attention. Rarely do they inspire you to say, "wow!" In downtown Los Angeles, though, there’s a great reason to look up.
Just weeks ago I was harnessed to 3-foot wide metal platform called a stage that’s hugging the outside of downtown’s Figueroa Hotel, conquering my fear of heights to watch actress Chloe Grace Moretz get a bloody nose.
Or at least a picture of her face in a huge billboard ad for her new movie, "Carrie." From far away, it looks just like any other ad, but get up close and you’d be surprised to learn it’s all painted by hand.
The man behind it all is Riley Forsythe, owner of Walldogs. He's been in the industry for more than 35 years, specializing in hand-painted ads that are on the outside of buildings like the Figueroa Hotel in downtown L.A.
It’s not something that just anyone can do.
"If I were going to hire you," says Forsythe, "I would look at some of the paintings you’ve done and see how accurate you paint. Let’s say you paint from photography, I want to see how accurately you can make a painting look like a photograph."
Painting billboards is a dying art in America. Nearly all the ads you’d see on your commute are either printed on paper and slathered on with glue, or screened onto a vinyl canvas and stretched taut across the billboard’s frame.
Walldogs is a relic from the time when most ads were made this way – handpainted.
How It's Done
First Forsythe takes an image from client, and makes a huge paper stencil of it. Then that stencil will make guide marks on the building. Then comes the next step.
"Now we’re coming up to 'Carrie''s nostrils. You can crawl in her nostril," said Forsythe as we dangle under a stencil of Moretz, 10 stories above ground.
Forsyth is assisted by one of his veteran painters, Esteban Sanchez. He brought with him a movie poster of Carrie’s face for reference.
"See this red color that is there, this blood? We prepare a color like that," said Sanchez.
Then, with a brush in his right hand, he outstretches his whole arm and makes huge circles on the wall, painting Carrie’s left nostril dark red.
While it may be tough for an amateur to figure out how he take details from a small picture and translate it into a nine-story painting, it’s second nature to him.
"I guess it comes with the practice and what it looks from a distance. I don’t know, it’s like painting with your mind," said Sanchez.
These two "Walldogs" are just a handful of people in the country who still make billboards this way. But once upon a time, there were thousands more like them.
A Dying Art
UC Riverside history professor Cathy Gudis, who has authored a book about billboards, cars, and the outdoor landscape, says there were once companies in L.A. that had staffs of about 30-40 people working on wall ads like this one. These companies were pioneers in the field of billboard design, mainly due to the city's car culture.
"The ones in the '20s and '30s, that were my particular fascination for years, were really figuring out how logos worked for people who were moving at a faster and faster pace," said Gudis.
So the best sign painters in the country would work in Los Angeles, but with the best in L.A. came a problem.
"You’d go to other cities, and you’d see some really horrible paintings," said Forsythe. "I think that’s why they perfected vinyl printing because they wanted advertising to be uniform nationwide."
That happened in the early 1990s. Vinyl ads stretched onto billboard frames were easier to reproduce, maintain, and keep consistent throughout the country, putting most of America’s billboard painters out of work. Except on walls like the outside of the Figueroa Hotel.
Forsythe says because the building is so huge and can’t accommodate a frame, so the logistics keep his business alive.
"If the agencies could put vinyl up here, they probably would. So my days may be numbered, I don’t know," said Forsythe. But Forsythe and a handful of other veteran sign painters are trying to keep the art alive, even if they’re all in their 50s and 60s now.
"Just personally I think it’s more interesting to look at when it’s hand painted because it’s not exactly perfect," said Forsythe.
So next time you’re around places like L.A. Live or at Wilshire and Western, look up and you might see a work of art.
State of Affairs: A look at California Gov. Jerry Brown's third term
It's Thursday, and that means it's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California. This week, we bring you a special edition, a look at the third term of Gov. Jerry Brown.
When Brown returned to the governor's office in 2011, California was said to be ungovernable: The state faced a $28 billion deficit; a federal court had ordered a reduction in its prison population; and public schools continued sinking in national rankings.
A lot has changed in three years.
RELATED: Check out KPCC's timeline of Gov. Brown's term in office
To help us assess the state of California in 2013 and Brown's performance, KPCC politics editor Oscar Garza, KPCC politics reporter Frank Stoltze and Sacramento Bee political columnist Dan Walters spoke to Take Two.
In January 2011, Jerry Brown offered this assessment in his first State of State address:
"California faces a crisis that is real and unprecedented. Each of us will have to struggle with our conscience and our constituencies as we hammer out a sensible plan to put our state on a sound fiscal footing, honestly balance our budget, and position California to regain its historic momentum."
Three years ago, would anyone have said that the state could recover from the condition it was in? What moves did Brown make that helped things along?
Of course it helps that the legislature is overwhelmingly Democratic, but Brown has never been particularly cozy with lawmakers. In this past session he even vetoed a gun control bill that Democratic Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg had made a priority. How has Brown managed his relationship with the legislature?
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state's latest effort to delay a federal court order to reduce its prison population by the end of the year and the state has said it might be forced to release dangerous criminals. Is there a chance that might really happen?
California has far from recovered from its financial woes and one glaring example is the state's Geologic office that is way behind in mapping the state's earthquake faults, which came to light when a couple of major real estate developments in L.A. were found to be dangerously close to active faults. Is the state systematically rebuilding its own infrastructure or is Brown keeping a clamp on spending? What other major challenges does the state face?
At 76, there's no indication that he's slowing down and he's running again next year without any major Republican opposition. But what are the implications for other Democrats who have their eye on the governor's office and now have to wait until 2018?
Were prehistoric cave paintings actually drawn by women?
Academics have long agreed that the detailed paintings of epic hunts and battles found on the inside of caves were mostly created by men. But a new analysis of the hand prints found on the paintings is raising some questions about the gender of the artists.
Dean Snow, a Penn State archaeologist, suggests that ancient cave painting was actually a woman's job.
For many, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a place called home
This is part IV in a 5-part piece series by Amy Quinton at Capital Public Radio. Read/hear part I, part II and part III of the series here.
Before I set out to do this story, I’d only been to the Delta a few times. And when I had, it was just a scenic drive from Sacramento down Highway 160, which parallels the Sacramento River. Turns out, that’s not the ideal way to get to know the Delta.
Giusti's is a restaurant you won’t find if you drive down 160. It’s cleverly tucked away on the northfork of the Mokelumne River in Walnut Grove, which is like Mayberry if you’ve never been. Giusti's has been here since 1910.
“This is the oldest continuous family run business within about 150 miles and we have the oldest liquor license in Sacramento County," says Mark Morais, 3rd generation owner. "It’s kind of a destination point if you’re coming to the Delta.”
Behind the bar is Mark Rogerson. He introduced himself as Mark 2, as in also. He’s been working here for 38 years.
“Oh the Delta is a great place," says Rogerson. "It’s kind of a secret, I don’t know if I should tell you this. You can leave your car unlocked, you can walk around the block without locking your house.”
Also at the bar is Jeff Silveira. He comes here at least twice a week for lunch.
“You drive by people in the morning whether you know them or not you wave 'good morning.' That’s how it is in the Delta,” says Silveira.
But Silveira, like most people who live or work in the Delta, fear their way of life would change for the worse because of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan.
“It will put me directly out of business,” says Silveira who farms along the river from West Sacramento to Rio Vista.
The plan proposes three intakes along the Sacramento River. Building the two 30-mile long 40 foot diameter tunnels would affect 81 structures and temporarily or permanently affect more than 5500 acres of private land. And it will take years.
“I won’t be able to move machinery up and down the river any longer. All the hay we do on that side of the river will be gone,” says Silveira.
Down the road from Giusti's in the middle of downtown Walnut Grove, Joe Enos sells real estate. When asked about the tunnels, he puts it pretty bluntly.
”They scare the hell out of people," he says. "It effects the real estate market. I can’t sell anything with land, no one wants to buy.”
You don’t have to go very far or stay very long in the Delta to hear similar sentiment.
Ron Grimes has lived in the Delta for more than 10 years.
"I’m absolutely opposed to the tunnels,” he says. Grimes sits on a friend’s houseboat at the Spindrift Marina in Isleton. He lives on a boat and restores old ones.
“The waterways are beautiful, this stretch of the river here, of the San Joaquin is beautiful," says Grimes. "Living on the river and being able to get in your little boat and go putting around, knocking around. It’s great recreation. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a great way to be retired.”
He and friend Jackie Kalmar fear the tunnels would take too much water out of the Sacramento River.
“We haven’t seen any specific figures," says Kalmar. She has a lot of questions. "How much water is it going to take out of the Delta? What kind of effect is that going to have on all these animals and birds that live here? What is it going to do to the fishing industry? And it is an industry, it brings lots of business,” says Kalmar.
Standing in the way of the huge tunnel project is Doug Hemly. Actually, his house stands in the way.
"The preliminary final map... has the south end of the southern outtake ending between here and our packing facility. So it will take the house," says Hemly.
The Courtland pear and apple farmer stands in the front yard of his house, built by his great great grandfather, well over 100 years ago. California's Department of Water Resources has maps showing his house is not in danger, but his property would be affected. Hemly talked for more than an hour about the project, and how it would affect orchards they’ve farmed for 40 years.
“Who’s going to drive down into a construction zone and have to fight all the trucks moving around? Why are my customers going to reroute their trucks when they have alternatives if they can’t get in and out?”
People who live here have questions that they say the California Department of Water Resources is not answering. Hemly suggests that maybe it can’t.
"I think one of the pristine iconic historic California regions and communities have a grave threat hanging over our heads," says Hemly. "What the consequences and ultimate end of this, I don’t think anybody can see.
The rivers, waterways, and farms may define the Delta. But so do its people. No one – not even supporters of the tunnels – deny that they’ll be affected the most.
Asian-American Christians see insensitivity in Saddleback Church Facebook post
Racial tensions flared between some Asian-American Christians and the evangelical community recently in the wake of a pair of incidents involving the influential Southern California pastor Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church in Lake Forest.
Gary Eaton sings shutdown songs from the Tea Party's POV
The partial government shutdown has now come to an end, but it has left behind some rather negative sentiment toward the Tea Party.
The group was very much at the center of the shutdown with most tea party members in Congress seeking to defund, or least change, the President's Affordable Care Act before negotiating on a budget or raising the country's borrowing capacity.
Gary Eaton is a singer-songwriter here in Los Angeles. He identifies with many of the Tea Party's ideals and has appeared on the show before to talk, and sing, about it. We wanted to get his thoughts on recent developments in Washington so we reached out to him again.
Rare Stejneger's beaked whale found in Venice Beach
A rare whale called the Stejneger's beaked whale was found in Venice beach on Tuesday. It's identified by saber-like teeth. Nick Fash, education specialist for Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, saw the whale yesterday and joins us to talk more about it.
Dinner Party Download: Wine for cats, lost words, beer flood
Every week we get your weekend conversation starters with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party Download podcast and radio show.
Yes, there is now wine for cats
A Japanese pet supplement company created a wine exclusively for cats!
Top 10 lost words that will come in handy
For the Guardian, a wordsmith and author just highlighted its 10 favorite lost words. We’ll try not to be ultracrepidarians about it.
Today in history: "London Beer Flood"
This week back in 1814 a tidal wave of beer swept through London. We’ll give you the surprising story of the “London Beer Flood.”