Congressman Adam Schiff on the California National Guard re-enlistment bonuses, how to prepare for heavy rain, the newly uncovered Trump tapes and celebrity culture.
Pentagon ordered to stop taking back National Guard signing bonuses
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday ordered the Pentagon to stop its efforts to collect repayment from members of the California National Guard who had received enlistment bonuses for signing during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There is no more important responsibility for the Department of Defense than keeping faith with our people,” Carter wrote in a statement on the Defense Department’s website. “That means treating them fairly and equitably, honoring their service and sacrifice, and keeping our word.”
Here’s more background on the issue from NPR:
Carter’s move comes after thousands of guard members were told they needed to repay large re-enlistment signing bonuses and tuition aid — money that was offered as an incentive to stay in a U.S. military that was fighting two wars.
The Pentagon says thousands of soldiers received re-enlistment money who weren’t eligible for the program — and years after paying out the money, it wants it back. Some veterans have been sending hundreds of dollars a month to repay their bonuses; others have faced wage garnishment, interest accrual and a long appeals process.
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was among the members of Congress calling for a halt to the Pentagon program.
In a letter addressed to Adjutant General of the California National Guard David Baldwin on Monday, Schiff wrote that “seeking reimbursement for these funds when they were accepted in good faith imposes a substantial financial hardship on those who have served our nation and their families.”
Carter said he has asked for a special team to establish a more streamlined approach to resolving service members’ cases, aiming to have something in place by July 2017.
Rep. Shiff shared his reaction to Secretary Carter's order on Take Two.
Highlights
You sent this letter on Monday; the news came this morning that Defense Secretary Ash Carter is ordering the Pentagon to stop asking members of the National Guard to pay back these bonuses. We saw the news just a little while ago on the wires. Did you know that this was coming?
I did not know it was coming, but you could see the momentum building as this story spread like wildfire. You had, initially, members like myself raising it and you had leadership on both sides of the aisle raising it, then you had the administration responding, the presidential candidates weighing in. I'd never seen a newspaper article generate such a quick reaction. I wish things always worked that fast. It's good news that we put a halt to it. I don't think that's enough because it sounds like the Pentagon is still determined to go forward with the appeals process. It's just going to put a halt on collection efforts for now.
There are still people who have paid this money. The LA Times wrote about a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran who says he refinanced his home mortgage to repay his $25 thousand dollars worth of re-enlistment bonuses and another $21 thousand dollars in student loan repayments. What happens to that guy? Does he get the money back?
Well, if I get my way, he'll get his money back with interest. I think this is just horrifying. And you think about what that soldier's view of the military is going to be like for the rest of his life if this is how it's left; you think about the impact that it's going to have on the recruitment of others.
You know what this reminds me of? Years ago, we learned that soldiers and Marines and sailors who were injured and recovering at Walter Reed Hospital were being charged for the food they were being served in the hospital. These were the kind of things that make no sense whatsoever. I don't think anyone would think that they're equitable. Sometimes they carry forward because of the blunt force of regulation that no thought is put into and they just have to be fixed. Here I don't think the fix is very difficult, but of course, we have a Congress where even the simple is difficult.
How's the military going to pay for all of this?
What we're talking about —because it involved potentially 10 thousand people — is a substantial amount of money, but by Pentagon standards this is still a rounding error on the overall Pentagon budget. I don't think this is an issue of the amount of money involved. We did recruit these people, they did serve, so the government got its money worth, it got its value for those bonuses whether they, in fact, had been authorized at the time or not, so the government can forgive that obligation. If it's debt held by the Guard, the Guard can be compensated for it.
Whatever is required can be done. It's as simple a matter as writing it into a bill, if that's even necessary. If the Pentagon says they don't have the authority without congressional action, we will act. If they can take care of it on their own, they should do so.
But, as you mentioned a few moments ago, this had floated to the surface before we were aware of this or Congress was aware of this, there was an attempt to try to claw back re-enlistment bonuses from thousands of soldiers, and it seems like it kind of fell apart in Congress. How do we make sure that that sort of situation doesn't happen again?
This is one of the responsibilities of the Veteran's Committee and the Armed Services Committee to oversee what happened here, and I'm confident they're going to have hearings and figure out 'OK, how did this happen?' Because it doesn't sound like it was restricted to the California Guard.
Click the blue audio player above to hear the full interview.
How to prep yourself ahead of this week's SoCal storm
Brace yourself and have an umbrella handy: a strong storm is moving toward Southern California and could dump as much as 6 inches of rain in some parts of Los Angeles County.
The National Weather Service says a large plume of subtropical moisture will be rolling ashore Tuesday, heading first to Santa Barbara County before bringing heavy rain to Los Angeles County Wednesday.
For coastal and valley regions, 2 to 5 inches of rain is expected, while the foothills and mountains could see 5 to 10 inches. Peak rainfall could reach 0.50 to 0.75 inches of rain per hour.
The rain is expected to linger into Friday and carries the potential for snarled roads, flash floods and debris flows. But there are things you can do today to help you prepare for the rain.
Tips on how to protect your car, home and more, from Jon Myers with Red Cross Los Angeles
- Take care of your car's tires, and pay special attention to the condition of your treads. The better they are, the more control you'll have on slippery roads.
- Don't underestimate the depth of pooled water or flooded roads. It only takes two feet of rushing water to sweep away a car.
- If you live in a hilly area prone to wildfires, you are also more likely to face mudslides and landslides. Head to higher ground.
- Remember to prep a safety kit for yourself and your pets.
- If your home is uninhabitable, go to RedCross.org for information about shelters you can head to.
Your guide to flood insurance if water damages your home, from Beth Beagle at Arrowpoint Insurance Center in Burbank.
- Insurance will cover up to $250,000 for home or dwelling damage, and $100,000 for replacing personal property.
- The premiums range depending on your placement within a flood zone, as determined by the federal government. The price of coverage is also locked: the government sets your price, not individual insurance agents.
- Insurance will cover flood damage, but also damage caused by mudslides and rising river levels. However, it will not cover damage from a sewer back-up in your home.
- It takes up to 30 days for flood insurance coverage to kick in, so if you apply today you will not by covered by tomorrow.
- Up to 20 percent of flood insurance claims in the country come from not flood-prone areas like Los Angeles.
- Flood insurance in California is only mandatory if your mortgage lender requires it. You can see if you're in a flood zone using KPCC's map.
Sports roundup: The World Series is on, basketball season begins, Sparks are WNBA champions
The Dodgers are out, but the World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs is underway. The Lakers and Clippers play their first games of the season this week. The LA Sparks take the WNBA championship title in five exciting games. Andy and Brian Kamenetzky join the show for the weekly update from the world of sports.
What does it mean to crave fame?
On Tuesday, The New York Times published a piece titled "What Drives Donald Trump? Fear of Losing Status, Tapes Show."
The tapes referenced there were recorded interviews the Republican nominee gave in 2014 to a reporter working on a biography titled "The Truth about Trump."
The Times noted that these recordings reveal a man who is "fixated on his own celebrity, anxious about losing his status and contemptuous of those who fall from grace."
Alex Cohen spoke with Donna Rockwell about what drives a craving to be in the limelight. Rockwell is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in celebrity mental health.
Click on the blue player above to hear the full interview.
Why is homelessness among women in LA on the rise?
Among the many many issues on the ballot in Los Angeles this November is the thorny problem of homelessness.
Proposition HHH is a 1.2 billion dollar housing bond aimed at building 8,000 to 10,000 permanent units to house L.A.'s homeless.
It's a demographic that is swiftly growing, thanks, in part, to more women without a place to live.
A new report out Wednesday from the Downtown Women's Action Coalition finds a 55 percent increase in the number of women experiencing homelessness in the city since 2013.
Anne Miskey, CEO of the Downtown Women's Center, says the increasing cost of housing in Los Angeles is one big factor contributing to the rise in the population of homeless women.
"The economic conditions are affecting women more than anyone else," Miskey says. "We know that women make less wages than men to begin with, so when the economy turns down, when housing prices go up, they're often the first that are being hit.
Another major factor contributing to homelessness among women, Miskey says, is domestic violence and sexual assault "that causes women to experience extreme trauma and is sending them to the streets."
To hear the full interview with Anne Miskey and community advocate Silvia Hernandez, click the blue player above.
FDA investigates problems with device that powers artificial hearts
The last mile to public transit is often the most challenging
A lot of Angelenos have a deep, personal connection to whatever sort of vehicle they use to get around. They identify as car drivers or bicyclists or motorcyclists.
But these entrenched constituencies are a big part of what’s making it so difficult for L.A. to transform from an increasingly gridlocked city of cars to the future most transportation and urban planners say is necessary.
"Without question, one of the key components that we know is part of the success of our overall transportation system is to have a multimodal system," said Pauletta Tonilas, chief communications officer for Metro.
So a car driver isn’t always a car driver and a bicyclist isn’t only a bicyclist. She may use a car to get to a train and complete the journey to home or work with a bicycle or some other so-called last mile solution.
How long it takes to get to a train station or bus stop impacts how likely a person is to use public transit. Metro estimates that ten minutes is the amount of time most people are willing to spend. And the faster a vehicle can go, the more quickly it can get there.
Thus the onslaught of compact, electrified gizmos coming into the market to help traverse that first and last mile.
"People are looking for a solution to get around cities more efficiently," said Peter Lee, CEO of a company that makes the Urb-E — a lightweight, foldable electric vehicle designed and built in Pasadena.
Weighing 35 pounds and capable of folding in less than one second, the Urb-E has a seat and two wheels and foot pegs, and it fits in spaces most bicycles don’t — like the trunk of a car or under the seat on a bus or train.
With a range of 20 miles, it travels at speeds up to 15 mph, allowing it to cover 2-1/2 miles in that crucial ten minutes.
"When we were assessing the pain points in cities, we found that transportation — specifically parking and traffic and city congestion — is a huge pain point," Lee said. "People hate dealing with it, wasting time and also paying for excessive parking. They just want to have more freedom."
While 80 percent of Metro users walk to the train station or bus stop and another 5 percent bicycle, 10 percent drive or are driven. Half of those who drive are close enough they don't need to. That’s about 44,000 Metro riders each day that could instead be getting there on an entirely new category of “electric innovations,” as Metro calls them.
Things like the Tokyo startup Walk Car — which just starting taking pre-orders last week. About the size and shape of a laptop computer, it’s electrified and ridden like a skateboard — with four small wheels attached to its underbelly, allowing it to glide over bumps and uneven sidewalks. Things like the Solowheel — a self-balancing electric unicycle.
There’s no shortage of last-mile mobility solutions, which, like everything else, will need to share the road or sidewalk with other vehicles. And they too need improved infrastructure to entice people to use them.
Two years ago, Metro developed a First Last Mile Strategic Plan to figure out ways to integrate these mobility solutions in a multimodal future. And two percent of Measure M’s funding is dedicated to making that happen.
"Some of it is building new sidewalks, building new bike paths, but even taking what is existing and enhancing it through its attractiveness, its signage," said Metro's Pauletta Tonilas.
"It’s showing people pathways of how to get from one point to another in a pleasant environment. So it’s really enhancing the environment and the pathway for how you move people through an area."
Oftentimes that’s walking and cycling, but in the future it will also involve scooting, rollerblading, skateboarding, unicycling or using some other form of mobility.
Hemingway's rocky relationship with Hollywood
It's pretty common for writers of all stripes to see their books, novels, even magazine articles adapted into movies.
Back in the day, it was a bit less common, but Hollywood did dote on certain writers, including Ernest Hemingway.
Hemingway, though, wasn't really amused—in fact, the film treatment of his works inspired some choice language from him.
"He liked to sum up his relationship [with Hollywood] by saying 'you just cash the checks at the border and run away,'" said Robert K. Elder, one of the authors of the book Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park.
Hemingway had even more colorful things to say about the producers, directors and actors who worked on his films—even those he befriended.
"It was problematic because he was a difficult personality and he was very protective of his work, and he was also very difficult to adapt because so much of his novels were internal," Elder said.
But there is an allure for filmmakers in Hemingway's works.
"Even in his lifetime, his name on a movie poster...brought people to theaters," Elder said. "So that's part of it. It's the cache of experiencing a Hemingway story in a dark room. I think people continue to try to adapt him simply because—it's like Mount Everest: it's there."
Hemingway's tenuous relationship with Hollywood and more interesting treasures and history from his life are detailed in the book Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park. Robert Elder will be appearing Thursday for a discussion and signing at Book Soup in West Hollywood.
Click the blue audio player to hear the full interview.
The Styled Side: Out of Halloween costume ideas? D.I.Y.!
There are only a few days left before Halloween, but you still don't have a costume, don't be frightened.
Turn that R.I.P. into D.I.Y.
On The Styled Side, Fashion Trends Daily's Michelle Dalton Tyree has advice on how create your costume and where to get your supplies.
What if I'm nervous about my creative skills?
Don't worry just about only sewing your costume together. You can get creative by mixing in some great signature pieces you already have, like costume jewelry or maybe old suits, and then add in things you find at the costume shop.
If you do nothing else, go for great hair and makeup, and that's advice for both men and women. Make-up and wigs are your friend. Once you have that, everything falls into place.
And if you're worried about that, too, you can book makeup stores and counters such as MAC cosmetics to do amazing Halloween makeup for you.
What are the best places in LA to find the right materials, jewelry, masks and more?
There are ways to do this right, kids. So for this, I went straight to the source: Rita D'Albert, co-founder of Lucha VaVoom, LA's long-running, wildly colorful burlesque show that combines burlesque acts with Mexican wrestling.
D'Albert has been a costume collector since she was young and used to go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market with her parents, and she spilled some of her favorite Halloween shopping haunts.
- Ozzie Dots in Los Feliz is great for their mix of costumes and vintage clothing, hats, wigs and more
- Naimie's Beauty Center in Valley Village is a favorite of makeup artists and hair professionals
- If you're on a budget, Santee Alley in downtown L.A. is for you. It's a wonderland for cheap lipsticks, fishnet stocking, wigs and more. Plus, there are tons of $1 jewelry stores in the area.
What if I still think DIY'ing a costume is not right from me?
I got some fabulous advice from drag performer Violet Chachki, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race season 7 and one of the headline performers at this week's Lucha VaVoom Halloween performance.
She's not a fan of store-bought costumes, and told me, "If you're going to get dressed up for Halloween then you should really commit."
Her advice is to commission someone else to make a costume for you. Obviously, that's better advice for next year since it will be difficult to get someone to make a costume with just a few days' time.
But Chachki said she loves getting stuff made, and that there are a lot of drag artists as well as art design students that would be happy to make costumes.
She also recommends buying a store-bought costume and customizing it, yourself, with weird trims, appliqués and plenty of rhinestones.
Click the blue audio player above to hear the full interview.