On Monday, Take Two will discuss Obama postponing executive action on immigration, the decrease in apprehensions of Mexico migrants at the border, a photographer capturing the deadly Ebola outbreak, Amazon developing refrigerated grocery delivery options and the latest in the entertainment industry with On the Lot.
Obama's decision to postpone action on immigration draws criticism
In postponing action on immigration, President Obama said Saturday that he wanted to take the time to make sure the public understood the situation and that he had support for executive action. In the midst of congressional deadlock on immigration reform, Obama pledged in June to act before the end of the summer.
Related: Obama will put off executive actions on immigration
But the delay could have more to do with politics, said Washington Post congressional reporter Ed O'Keefe.
"To do anything at this point likely would spoil the chances of a handful of incumbent Democratic senators who are running for reelection in states where the president isn't very popular," O'Keefe told Take Two. Those states include Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from some immigrant rights groups, who have grown frustrated with inaction on immigration reform.
Related: Activists regroup after Obama postpones immigration action
"After six years of having a guy that continued to promise that he's going to do something as president on immigration, they are sick and tired of his broken promises," said O'Keefe.
With the control of Congress at stake in November's election, what kind of action Obama will take, and what kind of political climate he will be faced with, is still up in the air, said O'Keefe.
Reduction on border crossings from Central America to Mexico
The number of families and unaccompanied minors crossing the US border has dropped in recent months, down from a record high earlier this summer.
Part of that could be due to action the Mexican government has taken to stem migration from Central America--action that also raises questions about long term solutions.
NPR correspondent in Mexico City, shares more.
'Frontera' film addresses immigration in Arizona from both sides
A new film about immigration in Arizona opens Monday night in Scottsdale.
The film, titled "Frontera," stars Ed Harris, Eva Longoria and Michael Pena and was made by two Arizona natives.
“We wanted to put some faces to it and to really humanize the situation and remind people these are human beings, co-writer and director Michael Berry told Fronteras Desk. "The Mexicans are human beings who are coming across here, they have a strong desire for something else. And the Americans this is happening to, this is affecting them and they are human beings."
KJZZ's Jude Joffe-Block reported on the film and shares more.
Immigration reform: Deferred deportation echoes John Lennon proceedings
With no congressional action on immigration reform, many are looking to the president to take executive action. The president's authority to defer deportation goes back to the immigration proceedings over John Lennon in the 1970s.
Related: Obama will put off executive actions on immigration
Lennon was living in New York back then, had been convicted for possession of cannabis resin and the Nixon administration was all too eager to get him out of the United States.
Fortunately for him, Lennon teamed up with an immigration lawyer who really knew his stuff.
Take Two speaks to Lennon's lawyer, Leon Wildes.
Picture This: Battling the Ebola outbreak in Liberia
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,900 people and infected thousands more across West Africa, making it the longest and deadliest outbreak in history. It's been a pretty chaotic time for these countries, which are among the world's poorest.
Related: FAQ: What you should know about the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history
Health officials continue to struggle to contain the epidemic as resources run low and health workers become infected. In this edition of Picture This we check in with John Moore, Getty Images photographer. He recently visited Liberia and photographed some of the scenes taking place.
On the Lot: Quentin Tarantino destroys things and Reese Witherspoon steps out of her element
For a fourth week in a row, "I am Groot" means "Guardians of the Galaxy" continues to smash expectations at the box office. On top of that, Jon Stewart and Reese Witherspoon are premiering a couple of films this week at the Toronto Film Festival, and Bill Murray participated in his first ever "Bill Murray Day" during the festival.
Quentin Tarantino is taking over a historic revival theater here in L.A. in typical Tarantino fashion ... by destroying something. And two studios that are having kind of a tough time are Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG and Warner Brothers.
Rebecca Keegan, who writes about film for the Los Angeles Times, joined Take Two for "On the Lot," a regular discussion of entertainment.
Cell GPS data can help predict where people will run after an earthquake
You probably have an idea of where you might run when the big one strikes.
After the shaking subsides, maybe you'll head to your parents' house to make sure they're okay, jet over to the hospital for medical attention or even put the kids in the car and head out of the area for a while.
But wherever you go, will the roads be jammed because everyone else is doing the same thing?
Research out of the University of Tokyo is using cell phone GPS data to map out where people go to in the middle of a disaster.
"There are all these lines of GPS coordinates rushing towards the center of [Tokyo]," says Sydney Brownstone who writes about this in Fast Company.
Data was taken from phones on the day that a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan.
"When the earthquake strikes at around 2:46 p.m., everything just kind of evaporates suddenly," she says. "Then the movement networks pick up again very slowly."
Professor Xuan Song at the University of Tokyo was able to track people's movements hours and days after the quake. Some jammed roads and railways to head to their hometowns, workplaces or government shelters.
"Potentially, information like this could help urban planners, transportation officials set up something like shuttles if they know that a lot of people are going to be heading out of the city," says Brownstone.
She adds that future research could help disaster recovery efforts, and identify paths in which to establish supply distribution points and the best routes into a heavily affected zone with casualties.
However, it will take more time for this information to be applied in the real world.
"With Professor Song's model, he'd have to wait until another earthquake comes along to truly prove whether this is something that can be used," says Brownstone.
AmazonFresh working with US Postal Service to deliver groceries
These days, with busy schedules, it's often tough to find time to get to the supermarket.
That's why many consumers rely on food delivery services.
Amazon has been a big player on this front with its AmazonFresh services.
And now the online retailer is trying out something new -- teaming up with the US Postal service to deliver fresh produce, meats and other groceries.
Through its AmazonFresh unit, the e-commerce giant currently delivers groceries in its hometown Seattle, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The two-month test of the service could provide a much-needed boost for the USPS, which is actively trying to compensate for ways the Internet has decreased its business, according to the WSJ.
Wall Street Journal Reporter Greg Bensinger has been looking into this and shares more on how AmazonFresh is doing and what a partnership could mean for the USPS.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
How big is the AmazonFresh grocery delivery right now and why are they doing it?
There are indications it will be in New York next. Amazon looks at this as a strategic initiative—a way to get more people spending money on Amazon. When you consider how much people spend on groceries it's probably a smart thing.
How does the service work?
They are arriving at homes early in the morning when the USPS trucks are otherwise idle. So it's a way for them to work while they're idle and hopefully drum up some revenue.
What does the landscape for this type of business look like?
There are a lot of big players, not to mention startups taking advantage of existing grocery stores. It's real competitive. There's going to be winners and losers. We'll see.
Does Amazon potentially have an edge because customers can order a vacuum cleaner or books or DVDs or whatever at the same time they're ordering their peas and carrots?
That is a compelling offer. Imagine ordering dinner and the DVD you wanted to watch. Amazon does potentially have a leg up but one of the things customers have to weigh is what is the price of this? Is it more or less expensive than going to a grocery store yourself and what do you save in terms of time and money?
Any thoughts on how Amazon plans to reduce all the packaging that comes with their delivery service?
They have not discussed that. It will be interesting to see what environmental groups have to say about it. There is a cost to you going to a grocery store in your own car and getting bags every time. Amazon uses reusable bags and presumably that is better for the environment than getting paper bags every time. We'll have to see how it pans out.
Putting heirloom grains on the table
For a few years now, heirloom tomatoes have been the thing to serve on your dinner table, along with wild greens and native berries.
But now farmers in Washington State are growing strains of wheat that harken back to the old days before the grain was a commodity.
They've even gone so far as to set up the Bread Lab, a place to experiment with these whole grains.
The lab's resident baker, Jonathan Bethony-McDowell, shows ideal bread dough rolling technique in the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJthjJoQINE
Seattle Public Radio's Ruby de Luna has more of the story on Bread Lab, a space that revolves around wheat during a time when gluten-free is all the rage.
Deep-sea mushroom organism mystifies researchers
From the deep-sea harbors off the coast of Australia comes a creature so rare that it can't be categorized. Scientists think it could be related to jellyfish or comb jellies, but aren't quite sure since it doesn't have the telltale features.
What it does have is a body shape that looks like a mushroom. The discovery was published in the journal PLOS One, where scientists admitted that they were having a hard time placing the organism. Jean Just from the University of Copenhagen is the paper's co-author and says it will take a few more years for researchers to figure out what it is.
Waiting on the El Niño
Californians are eagerly awaiting an El Niño weather pattern to take effect and, hopefully, dump rain on the state that is desperately in need.
But many feel that this year's El Niño will be disappointing.
Craig Miller of KQED in San Francisco reports.
California Report: Environmentally friendly fish farming growing off California coast
Fish farming raises a lot of environmental concerns, even as it meets more of the world's appetite for seafood.
Most of the farmed fish people eat comes from overseas where there are fewer controls to mitigate its negative effects.
But fish farming is growing off the coast of California now in a more sustainable fashion. The California Report's Chris Richard reports.
Spain dominates wine production as industry grows
Spanish wine makers have good reason to raise a glass in celebration.
Last year, Spain produced more wine than any other country in the world thanks to ideal grape-growing conditions, namely a wet spring and a hot dry summer.
But there are other things going on in the Spanish wine industry too.
An increasing number of smaller vineyards for example, and an increasing use of indigenous Spanish varieties of grapes.
The BBC's Madrid correspondent Tom Burridge says Spanish wine is no longer just about 'Rioja'.
Burridge sent a report from Spain's wine-growing areas.
Governor Brown to decide on plastic bag ban, groundwater reserves and more
California governor Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to either sign or veto bills approved by the California state legislature.
Related: Assembly approves California statewide ban on plastic bags
Katie Orr with Capitol Public Radio in Sacramento weighs in on what Brown might decide on various issues, including:
- A bill to ban plastic bags statewide, which Brown said in a debate with Neel Kashkari last week that he would sign
- Another piece of legislation that would regulate groundwater reserves in the state
- Any sense of whether Brown intends to veto anything
- If Brown is the kind of guy who waits until the last minute
In other political news, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back at the Capitol--but why?
Roving rabbis harken back to a time of traveling help
Residents of the rural West have historically relied on the talents of people passing through.
People such as traveling doctors helped people to get well; traveling circus performers to laugh; and even traveling preachers to connect to a higher power.
But in today's hyper-connected world, those sorts of visitors are a rarity--almost.
KJZZ's Stina Sieg recently met two unlikely travelers--young Orthodox rabbinical students--as they made their way through the wilds of Arizona.
Zalman Refson and Yaakov Kaplan are part of the Roving Rabbis program and two of the hundreds of rabbinical students who travel every year to rural places all across the globe in the name of Chabad, a movement within Orthodox Judaism, KJZZ reports.
Reading by Moonlight: 'Los Angeles Boulevard,' Nobel Prize, 10 most influential books
Book critic and founder of lending library Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights, David Kipen shares his monthly wrap up of California-inspired literary news.
In real life there's a Los Angeles Street, though no "Los Angeles Boulevard" - but that is the title of a newly re-published book.
A 25th anniversary reissue of the local architect Doug Suisman's unsung work is happening.
In global book news, Kipen shares the favorite for the Nobel Prize in literature, which will likely be given out in about a month's time. He also isn't ruling out a southern California based writer to take home the prize.
And Kipen shares his thoughts on the current facebook post trend to pick the 10 most influential books of your life.