After 20 years, the Cassini spacecraft has ended its mission of surveying Saturn, it's deadline day in Sacramento, P22's journey to becoming an LA wildlife symbol.
State of Affairs: The big bill deadline, Trump's DACA dinner, CA Dem poll
Up in Sacramento, lawmakers are in high gear. It's just one of the stories discussed Friday on State of Affairs, Take Two's weekly look at politics in the Golden State.
The legislative session ends Friday night, and lawmakers are racing to pass a stack of new bills before the deadline.
Also on State of Affairs:
- President Trump and Democratic lawmakers may have outlined a DACA deal — or maybe not.
- A new poll from Berkeley's Institute of Government Studies is shining some light on how Democrats feel about two familiar faces in California politics: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Guests:
- Carla Marinucci, senior editor for Politico's California Playbook
- Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, professor of public policy at USC
Carla, it was a dramatic Thursday night in the Assembly as lawmakers finally managed to eke through some long-awaited affordable housing bills. How did it all go down?
It was a drama until the last hours. This issue of providing affordable housing in California has really become top-of-the-agenda for many communities in California. The homeless problem has really taken a toll.
Last night, you saw it. The Assembly approved some really critical housing measures:
- SB3: A $4-billion housing bond that's going to go before voters in 2018.
- SB2: Provides a permanent source of affordable housing. That's a $75 fee on real estate transactions, including mortgage refinancing.
- SB 35: Is going to help fast-track housing developments, making it hard for some of these local governments to block them. This is an interesting one because, for a long time, critics have said, some of the more affluent communities in California have stalled affordable housing. I think a lot of folks out there are saying this is the moment where California is going to start to address this affordable housing crisis.
Press the blue play button above to learn more about how the affordable housing bills recently passed by the Assembly could affect people living in Southern California.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Whittier Narrows Dam risk spurs flood planning in downstream cities
PBS documentary on Vietnam War concerns those with PTSD
For two weeks, PBS stations will relive one of the most divisive eras in American history.
"The Vietnam War" documentary – produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick – is being billed as a rare cultural milestone. The filmmakers have been planning the series since 2006, meaning their production process was about as long as America's involvement in the war.
The series is designed to be intense. Each episode if preceded by a warning about strong language and graphic violence.
But people who work with veterans say the documentary may be too intense for some of those who fought in Vietnam.
"Some are going to watch it. Few will," said Henry Peterson, a chaplain at the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Diego. He counsels people with PTSD.
"It could bring up some memories they that don't want to deal with," Patterson said. "It could bring up some memories they may need to deal with."
Tina Mayes, a VA staff psychologist, said almost anything can trigger the vivid and aggressive thoughts associated with PTSD. A door slam. Smell of diesel.
"It can be something someone says. The way they say it," Mayessaid.
News, movies, and documentaries are among the most common triggers.
"I would say the majority of veterans that I work with, when their symptoms are high, they're actively avoiding any media," Mayessaid.
While PTSD is an issue among veterans of all eras, as well as certain populations of non-veterans, Mayes said people who served in Vietnam are particularly vulnerable.
"Honestly we don't know why, but some of the research suggests that it was because of the way they were received when they came back," she said.
In the 1970s, the VA was often unwelcoming. Society in general appeared, at best, uninterested in the plight of returning vets, and in some places was openly hostile.
Decades later, some vets still live with the symptoms of untreated PTSD, like the aggression that feels like it comes out of nowhere.
"It affects everyone," said Vietnam combat veteran Larry Taylor. "I would say my own wife experienced PTSD just from her relationship with me and the war I fought in."
Before he was treated, Taylor coped by avoiding his triggers. He didn't see Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, or other popular moves about Vietnam. But when the first Gulf War broke out in 1990, he couldn't avoid the constant media coverage.
"Basically after the Gulf War, my PTSD kicked in," Taylor said. "I would wake up screaming. My wife would wonder what's going on. I was having nightmares all the time, during the daytime."
Still, Taylor wouldn't seek treatment for another decade. He's now the lead mental health chaplain at the VA in San Diego. He plans to watch the 18 hour long PBS documentary.
"I think today I know the difference between a bad memory and reliving a situation," Taylor said. "Fortunately I'm not reliving things the way I once did."
His guidance for vets is: Don't feel obligated to watch. If you do watch, find a loved one to watch with you. Taylor is enlisting his wife of 46 years.
In the past, the VA provided outreach around movies like Saving Private Ryan for vets who were triggered by what they saw. But the agency said it didn't experience a major increase in calls.
This time, the VA is partnering with PBS, preparing to provide counseling to any vets who feel it's time to start working through their own experience with the war.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.
King of the urban jungle: Why P-22 is making Angelenos care about local wildlife
A regular day on the job entailed Miguel Ordeñana, a biologist at the Natural History Museum, to look at ... well, a bunch of tail.
"I was going through some footage after a long day in the field. I was very impatient," Ordeñana explained, "because I was tired and going through photo after photo of rabbit and deer butt and coyote butt."
But on that sunny day in February 2012, one of those tails changed everything.
"And out of nowhere ... a massive puma butt comes across my screen."
That was how P-22 was discovered to be living in Griffith Park. His journey to get there consisted of a dangerous 20-mile trek, which started on the western side of the Santa Monica mountains. He crossed two freeways and ended at the almost nine square miles of Griffith Park green space.
In five years, he's gone through a lot. And that journey has transformed him from lonely mountain lion to icon. He has invigorated Angelenos to care about the wildlife around them so much, he's just got his own exhibit at the Natural History Museum.
The luckiest mountain lion ever
To hear P-22's story, one might quickly think, "this is the smartest cat ever." But Ordeñana argues, he's probably the luckiest.
"By far the luckiest ... and resilient individual that I've ever learned about. Because not only did he do that amazing journey, but he also has overcome some other significant obstacles like being exposed to rat poison and mange.
Getting stuck under a house and somehow escaping that with media trucks around the house still. Eating a koala, probably the most loveable animal in the zoo and getting away with that as well."
It's true, P-22 has gone through a lot, but it pales in comparison to what could've been the case. He actually might be a little better off than his counterparts in the west.
"A lot of people don't know this but a problem for local pumas is them killing each other ... and that's because there's such little habitat to go around. In areas where they live with each other, they're very territorial about their habitat.
So upcoming males, that are just leaving mom at adult age, which is about one and a half, 2 years old, have two choices which are both difficult: One is to fight that larger male that already owns that territory. And the second option is to run away and find new territory of their own ... which then means they have to cross freeways and residential areas. And obviously P22 chose the second option and he made it. But two other mountain lions tried to make that same journey ... and didn't make it.
P-22's situation is unprecedented. But his uniqueness has put a spotlight on him, and the predicament other wildlife is facing as they try to make a densely urban area home.
No ordinary mountain lion
While hiking up to one of his most remote cameras, Ordeñana shared that a recent study predicted the extinction of L.A.'s mountain lions in just 50 years if some sort of action wasn't taken. The proposed solution: Build a bridge across the Hollywood freeway.
It's a possible solution that's received a lot of attention, and that's probably due to P-22's fame.
"He's a huge asset at getting people connected with nature, interested in nature and is hopefully going to be the reason why people are going to decide that they want to build a crossing to save our population."
Ordeñana is passionate about wildlife and the causes P-22's following has brought to light. But it's also evident, he's passionate about the big cat himself. When A Martinez asked whether he loved the cat, after a quick laugh, he answered.
"To be honest, yes. I don't see him like a pet or anything, but I would definitely be very affected whenever he dies, which is obviously inevitable. And when he was in trouble ... like stuck under that house and getting shot by tennis ball guns ... I was afraid for him. I was very very worried. I couldn't sleep that night. So, in a way, yeah. I'm pretty attached to this individual. "
And it's probably for that reason Ordeñana feels so strongly about helping P-22 and all the wildlife for which, Ordeñana believes, he is an ambassador.
"L.A. isn't just this place that is for movie stars and traffic and a place that's devoid of nature. It's actually a place a that is extremely important to wildlife and a very special place. We're one of 35 biodiversity hotspots in the world. We're on par with Madagascar as far as the species that live here and nowhere else."
To hear the treacherous hike to the camera and more about P-22's journey and how he's helped bring attention to L.A.'s wildlife issues, click the blue play button above.
Bonus: How P-22 says 'Hey girl'
When people hear about P-22's story, one of the first things they wonder: Is he lonely? The answer is no. As Ordeñana explained, mountain lions are solitary creatures.
"His urge is to mate. But necessarily to have a companion, that's probably not an issue for him.
But at the same time, recently, I documented video of him calling. And these mountain lions call for a couple reasons. One: it's a territorial thing. And one is to reach a mate and see if a mate is in the area. And for him to do that, four years into being here in Griffith Park means that he hasn't given up hope that another mountain lion will still come in here."
P-22, you hopeless romantic.
See the video of him calling below.