Debunking the Gaetan Dugas 'Patient Zero' theory, California Democrats eye a supermajority, how LA has been an inspiration for sci-fi stories.
California spent nearly $21 billion on incarceration and crime in 2015
California has made several reforms to its criminal justice system over the past two decades. Programs like realignment in 2011 made lower-level felons eligible for parole.
The ultimate goal was simple: cut crime rates and reduce the number of people in the state's correctional facilities.
But a new report out from the California Budget and Policy Center says that, despite those efforts, the state spent nearly $21 billion dollars on crime last year.
That's billion with a B.
Scott Graves is director of research at the Center. He helped analyze the money for Take Two.
Click the blue audio player above to hear the full interview.
CA National Guard veteran: Recoupment notice was 'disturbing'
An LA Times story revealed that thousands of men and women who had been paid bonuses to re-enlist were being asked to give the money back. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon to suspend efforts to claw back these funds. Carter also called for an expedited review and hopes to resolve all outstanding claims by July 1.
Bryan Strother, who served in the California National Guard for almost 20 years, told Alex Cohen he was paid a bonus after re-enlisting in March 2007. He said he received $15,000 with a contractual promise for student loan repayment—at the time he had more than $12,000 in student loans from his law school tuition.
But in 2012, he said he received a recoupment notice and last year, they actually began recouping the money.
"It was disturbing. I only found out when they stopped paying the student loan repayments," Strother said.
Strother said he has since received relief from the recoupment.
"This is affecting people's families. If I have PTSD from anything, it's from this hanging over my head now for ten years," Strother said.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with Strother about his experience.
Click the blue audio player to hear the full interview.
Patient Zero and the true origins of AIDS in the US
For decades, there was a belief about HIV/AIDS and how it spread to the United States. The common theory was that one man, Canadian-born flight attendant Gaetan Dugas, was responsible, almost like a modern version of "Typhoid Mary."
He was often referred to as Patient Zero. But new evidence has emerged that seems to have debunked this story.
We talk to Professor Michael Worobey, the Department Head of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He led a team of researchers that published their study this week in the scientific journal, Nature.
Click the blue audio player above to hear the full interview.
Distracted walking is one reason teen pedestrian traffic fatalities are on the rise
Here in the US, more than 5,000 pedestrians are killed each year. And deaths among teenage pedestrians in particular are on the rise, according to a new study released Thursday by the non-profit, Safe Kids Worldwide.
According to an observational study of 39,000 walkers and 56,000 drivers in school zones, both drivers and walkers engaged in risky behaviors. About 80 percent of students crossed the street in an unsafe manner, the report found.
While students were often observed using their cell phones while crossing the street, drivers were likewise distracted during school dropoffs and also driving at unsafe speeds, the study found.
Pedestrian-vehicle fatalities are the fifth leading cause of death for children age 5 to 19, according to Safe Kids. In the last two years, pedestrian deaths among 12- to 19-year-olds have increased 13 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Part of the reason: Distracted walking. Safe Kids reports that distracted walking increased from 1 in 5 to more than 1 in 4 among high schoolers and from 1 in 8 to 1 in 6 for middle school students.
State of Affairs: GOP dead zones, dueling ballot props, and ballot selfies
On this week's State of Affairs, what's behind GOP dead zones in LA County, voter confusion over ballot props on the death penalty and plastic bags, and Justin Timberlake's ballot selfie controversy.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Communication at USC
- Jack Pitney, Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College
California Democrats eye a possible supermajority in the state legislature
Democratic lawmakers in California are hoping to regain a supermajority in the capitol this November.
While Republicans, once the dominant party in the Golden State, are now struggling to hold on to what remaining influence they have.
What would a Democratic supermajority in the state legislature mean for California?
CALmatters reporter Laurel Rosenhall explains that a 2/3 majority for Democrats would mean that they'd be able to raise taxes, change ethics laws, and put constitutional amendments on the ballot without the need to compromise with Republicans.
Democrats have held a supermajority in the legislature before, though. So what would be different this time around?
Rosenhall explains that because of a change to term limits, a supermajority this time around would have the potential to alter the balance of power in the legislature for several years to come.
To hear the full interview with Laurel Rosenhall, click the blue player above.
How LA neighborhoods got their names, and what happens if they change
Is an L.A. neighborhood still the same if you change its name?
In a report on ballot measure JJJ, Koreatown resident Alexandra Suh worried about how gentrification was changing her neighborhood.
"I think some real estate people refer to this as 'Wilshire Center,'" she told KPCC. "They don't want to call it Koreatown."
(For what it's worth, Wilshire Center is an official designation for the wide area that also encompasses Koreatown)
Angelenos of a certain age will also remember when South L.A. was known as South Central until the city changed it in 2003 to get away from the stigma of the old name.
Take Two looks at the history of how L.A. neighborhoods were named (and who chose them), and what happens when residents want to call it something different, with LA Magazine's Chris Nichols.
How did parts of L.A. get their names?
When you go back to thinking of [L.A.'s beginning] as agricultural land, rolling hills and open spaces, whoever bought that parcel decided whatever they wanted to name it.
For example in Beverly Hills, the original buyer had property in Beverly, Massachusetts, so they called it "Beverly."
It was all completely arbitrary and ridiculous. People would come up with these names based on their families or their hobbies.
Are these official names, too?
They are, and they're designated. But each one has a long and complicated paper trail at the city archives, and they're not really put together.
When you want to dig deep into it, you have to call back the original city document that made that neighborhood official.
Also, the ones that are officially designated have a strong written border, but there are some that just come back casually through realtors and neighborhood people.
Why does it make a difference?
People have such ownership of their neighborhood.
Then there are these honorific titles like Koreatown, for example, where you go to your council person and you say, "I think we should name our neighborhood 'this.'"
In Koreatown, for example, there was a conflict with Little Bangladesh. Little Bangladesh wanted to slice part of Koreatown and call it that, and so they had kind of a "walk off" with the Councilman Tom LaBonge.
He told me the story of walking through and pointing out, "There's a Bangladesh business, and there's a Korean business."
So four blocks got named Little Bangladesh and 40 blocks named Koreatown.
History and culture matters, but what about real estate prices?
A lot of it is driven by real estate.
There are neighborhoods that might go back to a historic name that they think is charming and cute and will separate them from the larger neighborhood.
Wilshire Highlands is one that came from an old real estate brochure that came back.
But whenever you can make up a story about a place, it's easier to sell – it's got a name, it's got an identity, it's got character, it's got this great background and people love it, so therefore it's worth X percent more.
"It's not 'down near USC.' It's 'University Park.'"
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Is SoCal the capital of science fiction?
With Halloween coming up, there is no shortage of scary activities to partake in over the weekend. But what if you are more of a sci-fi fan than a horror nut? Well, you're in luck.
There's a two-day conference kicking off Friday titled Science Fiction Los Angeles: Words and World Building in the City of Angels.
One of the event's organizers, David Ulin of USC's Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, spoke to Alex Cohen about the event.
Ulin outlined the panels and discussions featured at the event, "Blade Runner" and why SoCal is the sci-fi capital of the world.
The Science Fiction Los Angeles event will take place Friday, October 28th and Saturday, October 29th at the Linwood Dunn Theater and USC Doheny Library. For tickets and panel information, click here.
Click the blue audio player above to hear the full interview.