On Friday Take Two's show includes Ebola workers in Africa, an investigation into alleged CHP nude picture trading of female arrestees and talking with Jeff Bridges about his latest live album.
Aid organizations step in to boost health systems ravaged by Ebola
As the conversation surrounding Ebola in the U.S. focuses on states' quarantine policies, aid workers in West Africa continue their work to stop the spread of the disease at its source.
National and international staff with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) are based in the region, so the quarantine policies in the U.S. are less of a concern, but significant challenges remain.
CRS's
joins Take Two to discuss the broad impact Ebola is having on health systems, education and the economy in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
At LA's immigration courts, youth face critical steps with or without an attorney
At a recent hearing at L.A.'s busy immigration courts, a group of 10 children faced a federal judge, taking the next step in making the legal case to stay in the US.
One mother, saying she could not find an attorney she could afford, opted to represent her two sons from El Salvador herself. The judge admonished her when it turned out she had filed the paperwork for asylum incorrectly.
A father, who had made the dangerous journey north on the train known as "La Bestia" more than a decade ago, accompanied his teenage son, who he hadn't seen in 14 years, and had taken the same route in July.
These children are some of the first to enter the immigration court system under a new, expedited program that requires them to have a court hearing within 21 days of their initial filing. Their first hearing was in August and this past week was the next step in that long and complex legal process.
It's part of the federal government's response to the surge of unaccompanied minors that peaked over the summer. More than 68,000 were apprehended along the U.S. border in the last fiscal year, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
In the past month, the number of apprehensions has dropped considerably, but the courts are now faced with a massive backlog and long wait times. Nationwide, over 400,000 cases are pending, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). In Los Angeles, there are 7,609 children currently in the courts.
ONE TEEN, FLEEING NORTH
One of them is Juan Carlos Guido's 14-year-old son, who made the two-week trip north from El Salvador over the summer.
Guido says his son fled their home after getting death threats from gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha, a gang with roots in Los Angeles and now powerful in El Salvador.
"They told us if we didn’t give them $200 per month, they were going to kill him," said Guido in Spanish, outside the courtroom. "That’s why I came here to the court. We’ll see what happens."
Guido, like about half of the families in court Thursday, did not have an attorney with him. Unlike criminal trials, the immigration courts are considered an administrative process and those facing deportation are not guaranteed a lawyer. That could be a big factor in the outcome of the case.
In hearings where there is no attorney, nearly 9 out of 10, or 86 percent of children, are ultimately removed from the U.S., says Emily Ryo, a law professor at the University of Southern California. Compare that to 30 percent when the child has legal representation.
"That's a huge disparity between those two types of cases," said Ryo, who said the numbers come from LA court info dating back to 2005.
STRAINING TO RESPOND
The lack of attorneys is the subject of an ongoing class action suit, filed by several groups, including Public Counsel, a group that provides pro bono legal aid for youth.
Law professor Emily Ryo says the case could be a "sea change" for immigration courts. But, she added, the process could take a long time – perhaps years – to work its way through the legal system.
What's being done in the short term?
Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed a law which provides $3 million to fund legal counsel for children. The state will start receiving applications from legal groups starting next week and it expects funding to be released by the end of November, according to Brown's office.
The federal agency that oversees the courts, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, is in the process of hiring up to 32 new immigration judges and has requested funding for 35 more immigration teams to take on some of the casework. But the EOIR hasn't given a timeline for the hiring or said how many judges would be assigned to Los Angeles.
In the meantime, families of the children whose cases are working their way through the courts say they're trying to live normal lives. Many children are attending local schools. Guido says his 14-year-old son is in the 9th grade at a local high school, focusing on his studies and on making new friends.
LAX safety one year after fatal shooting
Saturday marks one year since a gunman opened fire in LAX - killing a TSA agent and wounding several other people.
Southern California Public Radio's Sharon McNary says passengers, and airport police, wonder whether the airport now is any safer.
Friday Flashback: Nurse defies Ebola quarantine, midterm elections, mattresses protest sexual assault
A nurse defies an Ebola quarantine.
The midterm elections are close - and one party appears to be making inroads with younger voters.
And students across the country use mattresses to protest sexual assault on college campuses.
These are just some of the things Take Two is looking at in the Flashback - a look at the week in news.
James Rainey from the LA Times and Emily Schultheis, political reporter for National Journal join the show.
CHP nude photos 'game' may be more widespread
Court records show that California Highway Patrol officers in Northern California have been sharing explicit photos of female suspects they've apprehended.
The practice has been described as "a game" by one officer and it may be more widespread than initial reports indicated.
For more, Take Two is joined by reporter Matthias Gafni of the Contra Costa Times - he's been following this story.
LAUSD's troubled data system: One student's story
Earlier this year the Los Angeles public school system debuted a new electronic records system.
It was meant to help school officials track each students grades and attendance and make it easier for them to ensure that all students met their requirements to graduate and go to college.
But, things broke down pretty quickly - the system overloaded the districts servers leaving teachers unable to enter grades and attendance.
It was a $130,000 technical disaster that is now having an effect on students.
Southern California Public Radio’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez brings the story of one student that KPCC will follow through the school year. He's been fighting to get his class schedule back on track.
Jeff Bridges returns to his first love (music) with a new live album and tour
Jeff Bridges is a man of many talents. He's won over audiences for years in films like "The Big Lebowksi," "Tron" and "True Grit."
But movies weren't actually his first love. Bridges says that for many years, he thought he might pursue music professionally, instead of acting. But his father, actor Lloyd Bridges, convinced him otherwise.
"He would say, 'Jeff, one of the wonderful things about acting is you play all kinds of characters and you’re gonna be called upon to play a musician for time to time, or be a painter... That’s one of the great things about acting,'" Bridges says. "And he was absolutely right.”
And in 2009, an Oscar-winning role in the film "Crazy Heart" helped Bridges launch a side career in music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5S-mwljgh4&list=RDM5S-mwljgh4
Bridges has a new live album out now with his band "The Abiders" and he's currently on tour, performing tomorrow at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills.
Now Bridges has a daughter who's following in his footsteps, pursuing her own career in music. His daughter, Jessie Bridges, is his opening act.
It's just one of many projects Bridges is working on with his three daughters, who he says he didn't get to spend enough time playing with when they were little.
"I guess as an adult, what you used to call play is now called work," Bridges says. "I’ve invented a couple of words, 'plorking' or 'worlay'... So I try to plork or worlay with my kids and dear friends as much as I can.”
Missing Mexico students: Families give Mexico president list of demands
There's still no sign of 43 students who went missing in the town of Iguala, Mexico after clashing with police last month.
But the search has unveiled deep corruption and high levels of violence in the southwestern state of Guerrero where the incident occurred.
Earlier this week, family members of the missing met with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto and gave him a list of ten demands concerning the search for their loved ones.
For more, Take Two speaks with
in Mexico.
How did miners survive 69 days underground? New book shares true story
The latest mining tragedy in Turkey that has trapped 18 people a thousand feet underground is just the latest reminder of the extreme dangers faced by those who do that work.
And it was four years ago this month that people around the world watched in amazement and relief as 33 Chilean miners were pulled free from beneath 2,000 feet of rock and mineral.
But the story of how those miners survived for 69 days with little food, water or contact with the outside before their rescue has largely been unknown... until now.
The detailed accounts of the miners and their families are the basis of a new book called, "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set them Free."
Héctor Tobar is the author and he joins Take Two for more.
See an excerpt from the book below.
Excerpted from DEEP DOWN DARK: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar, published in October 2014 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 2014 by Héctor Tobar. All rights reserved.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/245122304/Tobar-Chapter-1-Excerpt
Childhood obesity: Danish doctor may have solution
Child obesity is on the rise in this country and many others and it's been a continuing struggle to address the problem.
A Danish pediatrician thinks he might have the answer.
In a trial of his plan, he's treated 1,900 children, and helped 70 percent of them reach and maintain a normal weight.
But there are 20 things the children have to do to make it work. Now the Danes are urging other nations to learn from their experience. The BBC's Malcolm Brabant reports.
Halloween: Advice for when your son wants to dress up in girls' costumes
This year, one of the most popular costumes for kids is Elsa -- the icy queen from "Frozen."
Elsa's flowing blue dress festooned with snowflakes is the outfit of choice not just for many young girls, but also for some boys.
It may irk some parents, yet those same moms and dads may have no problem if their daughter dressed up as a male character like Darth Vader.
Lori Duron, author of the book and blog "Raising My Rainbow" gives advice to families on how to address the situation based on her own experience of raising her young son who likes to dress in girls' clothing.
What makes a horror movie scary?
Halloween is way more than costumes and candy -- scary movies are also a staple of the holiday.
But there are all kinds out there, from brooding thrillers like "Psycho" to bloody gore fests like "Hostel."
USC cultural historian Leo Braudy explains that what scares Americans has changed over time through politics, culture and technology.
Ranker - Top 10 Lists and More
'Low Down' film profiles jazz pianist Joe Albany, features musician Flea
For those who have zero interest in Halloween, here's something they can do this weekend - watch a film.
"Low Down" looks at the life of jazz pianist Joe Albany through the eyes of his young daughter (played by Elle Fanning).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkN2YS-myAg
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea plays Hobbs and he joins Take Two to talk about it.
Weekend Preview: Halloween and beyond on a dime
Southern California Public Radio's social media producer, Kristen Lepore, shares her weekly round up of inexpensive things to do in LA and helps us plan our "scare time" on a dime.
Related: Free weekend? Halloween hikes, a zombie crawl and Día de los Muertos