The president and Dem leaders agree to agree, decriminalizing walking into a crosswalk during the timer countdown, how LAPD is managing the homeless on Metro trains.
What happened between President Trump and Democratic lawmakers Wednesday night?
President Trump once again played host to Democratic leaders Wednesday night. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi and her Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer were there.
By the end of the night, rumors swirled over a possible deal to protect DACA recipients.
But on Thursday morning, President Trump responded, tying action on DACA to building his long-promised wall between the U.S. and Mexico:
"Ultimately, we have to have the wall," the president said, speaking from Fort Myers, Florida. "If we don't have the wall, we're doing nothing."
Pelosi sounded more optimistic Thursday morning, expressing her confidence that Trump and Democrats can find "common ground" on the issue.
While there is no clear "deal" in place, Politico congressional reporter Burgess Everett says a framework seems to have been put in place.
There's been a lot of talk of "is the president denying that there's a deal?" To me, he's really confirmed the broad contours of it, but he really wants to emphasize over and over that he's not giving up on the wall.
The statement that the Democratic leaders put out last night says "we're excluding the wall from this."
A ton of criticism came from the right for the president because this was a key campaign promise — he talked about how tall the wall would be, how beautiful it would be, and now he's backing away from it and also enshrining something that President Barack Obama did into law if this comes to fruition.
Press the blue play button above to hear about more about the political fallout from Trump's Wednesday night dinner meeting. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Examining how to speed up transfers out of community college
For many college students, here's the plan: Go to a community college for two years, transfer to a university for the last two years and walk away with a degree. Stick to that plan, and save a lot in tuition.
But a new report by the group The Campaign for College Opportunity says after two years, just 4 percent of community college students transfer. After six years, it's just 38 percent.
In the end, students in two-year schools generally spend more money on extra credits than if they just started at a four-year university. There are exceptions, of course.
Take Santa Monica College:It produces the most transfer students of any school in California.
Georgia Lorenz is the college's VP of academic affairs. She tells Take Two that students who do manage to transfer after two years tend to have a few common traits:
- Those students tend to come college-ready
- They meet with a counselor and develop an educational plan
Lorenz adds that colleges that work closely with four-year universities can often get students through faster. Counselors at Santa Monica College coordinate with UCLA along with others.
Our faculty and counselors are constantly in touch with those institutions to ensure that our students are taking the right courses. Our counselors receive intensive training and ongoing professional development so all of them — regardless of which counselor your student goes to — will know the requirements that they need to fulfill to make that path successfully.
Press the blue play button above to hear more about how students who attend junior college can transfer as efficiently as possible.
You can declare a homelessness emergency, but Gov. Brown might not be listening
Homelessness is a growing problem throughout the region, and Anaheim believes it's so out of control that on Tuesday the city's leaders declared a state of emergency.
Los Angeles made a similar declaration two years ago, too.
But these cries for help may not be reaching an important person: Governor Jerry Brown.
"These calls were intended to get attention for the crisis," says Rina Palta, KPCC's reporter on the social safety net, "and they did accomplish things like ease the permitting requirements for shelters, to try to make it easier to site these things in neighborhoods."
However, the impact was largely symbolic.
Declaring a state of emergency around an event – like a natural disaster – means that localities can officially ask the state to step in and provide resources.
"That didn't work here," says Palta. "The state didn't decide to go that route and declined to provide really any new money to fight homelessness."
Sacramento lawmakers have given cities and counties some relief in recent years.
For example, they recently redirected about a billion dollars over 10 years to house those who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness who have severe mental disabilities.
But homeless advocates believe that the state isn't doing as much as it could.
"Living in LA city and county, seeing the number of people that can't afford housing and that some of whom are now ending up homeless, I think we're just impatient," says Ruth Schwartz of Shelter Partnership. "We need to invest in solutions much sooner."
In the coming months, it's possible that money from the federal government might pour in.
"But I think there's going to be a lot of advocates for all kinds of issues – from the environment, to homelessness, to housing – who are going to see federal dollars cut," says Palta, "and they'll be looking to the state for more help."
Learn more about why state lawmakers aren't hearing the cries for help from cities and counties on homelessness. Use the audio player above.
LAPD officers 'overwhelmed' by homeless problem on Metro
Months into taking the job, the LAPD officers who patrol Metro's buses and trains say dealing with the homeless is a "significant challenge."
Speaking earlier this week to the LA Police Commission, Deputy Chief Robert Green, head of the LAPD's Transit Services Bureau, said the problem is "a continuous struggle."
The LA Sheriff's Department used to be the sole agency that provided security on Metro.
But when officials and riders complained that they didn't see enough patrols, Metro split that responsibility between county sheriffs and the LA and Long Beach police departments starting last July.
"There are times when [homeless] people are acting out on public transportation," Officer Green tells Take Two. "They're making other riders uncomfortable. They may be yelling or screaming. Many are addicted."
The LAPD's current protocol is to engage an individual who's violating the Metro code of conduct.
Then the officers are instructed to deescalate the situation, then convince that person to disembark a train or bus. Finally, officers will point them towards homelessness resources.
"But many times, based on addiction or mental health issues, ultimately officers have to remove the individuals," says Green.
He adds that his officers are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of homeless people they must help.
"Our goal is to create a safe riding experience for everybody," he says, "so that folks will want to ride the system."