A surge in early voting by absentee ballot is challenging campaigns' conventional wisdom about the final "72-hour push;" The multi-state recall of peanut and almond butters is spreading even wider; Arnold Schwarzenegger is making an effort to repair his public image; We take a look at President Obama's address today at the U.N.; The NFL referee lockout continues, and many fans worry the dispute will have lasting impact on the season; Can a few words dramatically increase the economic value of a yard sale castaway? California corrections officials investigate an unusual spike in prison riots; And Actor Bob Balaban joins the show to talk about his children's book, "The Creature From The 7th Grade."
How early voting will have lasting impact on American elections
Early voting by absentee ballot will account for 35% of the presidential ballots cast this year, a statistic that is challenging campaigns' conventional wisdom about the final "72-hour push." How will the campaigns tailor their strategies in swing states after certain voters cast early ballots? And if you had to spend limited resources on a phone-a-thon or a door-to-door campaign, which is more effective? Alex Cohen and A Martínez delve into the number crunching and the big thinking behind it.
Guests:
Sasha Issenberg, political reporter and author of “Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns"
Ken Vogel
Salmonella outbreak in Trader Joe's peanut butter spreads
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now found 29 cases of the illness in 18 states, including California. Sunland, the New Mexico company that makes the peanut butter, expanded the number of its recalled products yesterday to 76 brands of nut butters. The butters have been linked to a rare and potent strain of salmonella called Bredeney. This isn't the first time peanut butter has been linked to salmonella. Peanut and almond butters are a lunchbox staple for many kids, and salmonella is particularly dangerous to children and the elderly. Three quarters of those sickened have been children, but to date, no one has died. Alex Cohen looks into how this outbreak occurred and how widespread it could be.
Guests:
Sarah Klein, a food safety attorney from the Center for Science and the Public Interest
The full list of recalled products as of September 25, 2012:
If you have one of the recalled products, the FDA recommends that you throw it away. Trader Joe's products can be returned to the store for a refund. The recall applies to the following products with Best-If-Used-By Dates between May 1, 2013 and September 24, 2013
- UPC# 00989275 - Trader Joe's Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted; Flaxseeds, Crunchy and Salted; 16oz
- UPC# 00971119 - Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter with Sea Salt; 16 oz
- UPC# 00940795 - Trader Joe's Almond Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds, Crunchy & Salted; 16 oz
- UPC# 8523902334 - Archer Farms Creamy Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 8523902333 - Archer Farms Peanut Butter with Flax Seeds; 16 oz
- UPC# 3377610090 - Earth Balance Natural Almond Butter and Flaxseed; 16 oz
- UPC# 051379022518- fresh & easy Crunchy Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 20003357 - fresh & easy Organic Creamy Peanut Butter with Sea ;16 oz
- UPC# 20003364 - fresh & easy Creamy Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 20003388 - fresh & easy Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter with Sea Salt; 16 oz
- UPC# 051379026431 - fresh & easy Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 oz
- UPC# 20003395 - fresh & easy Creamy Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 20003357 - fresh & easy Organic Creamy Peanut Butter with Sea Salt; 16 oz
- UPC# 20003371 - fresh & easy Crunchy Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 2060140048 - heinen's All Natural Peanut Butter, Creamy; 16 oz
- UPC# 2060140047 - heinen's All Natural Peanut Butter, Crunchy; 16 oz
- UPC# 2060140046 - heinen's Organic Peanut Butter, Creamy; 16 oz
- UPC# 2060140045 - heinen's Organic Peanut Butter, Crunchy; 16 oz
- UPC# 3307915073 - Joseph's Salt-Free No Sugar Added New Crunchy Valencia Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 3307915072 - Joseph's Salt-Free No Sugar Added New Creamy Valencia Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 910053 - Natural Value Creamy Peanut Butter/Salt; 15 lb
- UPC# 910060 - Natural Value Crunchy Peanut Butter/Salt; 15 lb
- UPC# 5859500020 - Naturally More Organic Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 5859500019 - Naturally More Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 5859500033 - Naturally More Peanut Butter Crunchy; 16 oz
- UPC# 5859500055 - Naturally More Peanut Butter, Gluten Free Vegan; 26 oz
- UPC# 5859500050 - Naturally More Peanut Butter, Gluten Free Vegan; 16 oz
- UPC# 7989311202 - Open Nature Crunchy Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 7989311201 - Open Nature Old Fashioned Creamy Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 5855200003 - Peanut Power Butter, Original Formula; 16 oz
- UPC# 5855200007 - Peanut Power Butter, Original Formula; 4 lb
- UPC# 4792100442 - Serious Food, Silly Prices Almond Butter Creamy; 12 oz
- UPC# 4792100439 - Serious Food, Silly Prices Organic No-Stir Peanut Butter, Crunchy; 16 oz
- UPC# 4792100438 - Serious Food, Silly Prices Organic No-Stir Peanut Butter, Creamy; 16 oz
- UPC# 4792100436 - Serious Food, Silly Prices Organic Peanut Butter, Creamy
- UPC# 4792100435 - Serious Food, Silly Prices, No-Stir Peanut Butter, Crunchy
- UPC# 4792100434 - Serious Food, Silly Prices, No-Stir Peanut Butter, Creamy
- UPC# 4792100432 - Serious Food, Silly Prices, Peanut Butter, Creamy; 16 oz
- UPC# 8506000004 - Snaclite Power PB; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500334 - Sprouts Farmers Market Creamy Peanut Butter, No Salt; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500335 - Sprouts Farmers Market Crunchy Peanut Butter, No Salt; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500336 - Sprout's Creamy Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500337 - Sprout's Crunchy Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500433 - Sprout's Creamy Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500434 - Sprout's Crunchy Almond Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 7487500431 - Sprout's Creamy Peanut Butter; 16 oz
- UPC# 4868787906 - Sunland Natural Peanut Butter Crunchy Valencia No Stir; 16 oz
- UPC# 4868786906 - Sunland Natural Peanut Butter Creamy Valencia No Stir; 16 oz
- UPC# 4868722906 - Sunland Natural Peanut Butter Creamy Salt Free Valencia
- UPC# 4868709915 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter with Sea Salt; 40 oz
- UPC# 4868726910 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter; 12 oz
- UPC# 4868785920 - Sunland Valencia Peanut Butter; 36 oz
- UPC# 062725 - Sunland Dark Roast Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 4868730725 - Sunland Organic Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 029725 - Sunland Pecan Deluxe Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 028725 - Sunland Pecan Deluxe Crunchy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 26570 - Sunland Creamy Dark Roast Peanut Butter; 500 lb
- UPC# 4868726909 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 4868767909 - Sunland Natural Creamy Peanut Butter; 18 oz
- UPC# 4868785920 - Sunland Valencia Peanut Sauce; 36 oz
- UPC# 22725 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 22704 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 4868722715 - Sunland Organic Creamy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 4868721722 - Sunland Crunchy Peanut Butter; 15 lb
- UPC# 48687009704 - Sunland Natural Creamy Peanut Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 4868790301 - Sunland Creamy Natural Stabilizer Peanut Butter; 50 lbs
- UPC# 87725 - Sunland Crunchy Natural Stabilized Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 4868786724 - Sunland Creamy Peanut Butter; 35 lb
- UPC# 4868786704 - Sunland Creamy No Stir Peanut Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 4868784301 - Sunland Extra Stabilized Organic Creamy Peanut Butter; 50 lb
- UPC# 21705 - Sunland Crunchy Peanut Butter; 40 lb
- UPC# 25704 - Crunchy Sugar Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 26704 - Creamy Sugar Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 072704 - Sunland Almond Butter; 5 lb
- UPC# 003050 - Dogsbutter RUC with Flax PB; 16 oz
- UPC# 4868772906- Sunland Natural Almond Butter, Creamy Roasted Almond; 16 oz
Schwarzenegger attempts to make his comeback
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday unveiled the opening of the Schwarzenegger Institute, a new public policy school at USC. In October, bookstores will see the arrival of "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story," the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician's new autobiography.
Clearly, Schwarzenegger wants the public to like him again. But after a messy divorce and a rocky governorship-how will that work?
New Music: Mumford & Sons, Green Day, Betty LaVette, Daddy and Lavender Diamond
It's Tuesday, the day of the week when new albums drop. NPR music critic Ann Powers and LA music critic Steve Hochman join Alex and A in the studio with their top choices.
Mumford & Sons - Babel
Songs we played:
I Will Wait
Lovers' Eyes
Betty LaVette - Thankful N' Thoughtful
Songs we played:
Crazy
The More I Search (The More I Die)
Lavender Diamond - Incorruptible Heart
Songs we played:
Everybody's Heart's
Green Day - ¡UNO!
Songs we played:
Loss of Control
Daddy (with James Franco) - Motor City EP
Songs we played:
Love in the Old Days
President Obama addresses the UN over Middle East tensions
President Obama spoke to the United Nations General Assembly today, addressing the demonstrations over the anti-Muslim video that sparked protests in Libya and elsewhere. He also discussed Iran's non-compliance with the U.N.'s Atomic Energy Commission.
NFL replacement referees draw yellow flags from fans
If you saw the end of the Monday Night Football match-up between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, it might have looked more like a schoolyard brawl in the end zone than an NFL game.
On the last play of the game, the Seahawks threw a hail mary pass that, to the naked eye and in multiple replays, looked like an interception. But, the referees ruled the play a touchdown, and Seattle went home as the winner.
The controversial decision is the exclamation point on a season full of bad calls made by the replacement refs.
For more now we turn to Curtis Conway, former NFL player and Fox Sports analyst.
Spate of prison riots raises concerns about safety for staff and inmates
California corrections officials are investigating an unusual spike in prison riots.
Over the past three weeks, one inmate was killed; at another prison, guards shot and injured an inmate. There was an incident at a third prison as well.
KPCC's Julie Small looks at the violence that sent dozens of prisoners to hospitals.
Click here to read the whole story
Bob Balaban introduces kids to 'The Creature from the 7th Grade'
Actor Bob Balaban is recognizable for his roles in films such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Waiting for Guffman," and "Moonrise Kingdom," but did you know he's also an accomplished writer of children's books?
A Martinez talks to him about his latest work, "The Creature from the 7th Grade," about a nerdy kid by the name of Charlie Drinkwater, who suddenly finds himself resembling a giant mutant sea creature.
Interview Highlights
On how he got into writing children's books:
"About 10 years ago I wrote a treatment for a movie about a little boy and his bionic dog, and that's how it started. I sent the treatment to Scholastic publishing because they have a movie-making dept. and they said, 'We don't want to make this into a movie, but we think it might be a cool series of kids books, would you like to write six of them?' I said yes, so I wrote six of them and we sold a few million of copies. A few years went by and I thought I must do this again, I must think of a new series."
On the main protagonist of the series, Charlie Drinkwater:
"Charlie is 12, [he] is the smallest, skinniest, dorkiest kid in middle school, 7th grade. He's always getting beaten up by the bigger people, he's not good at sports and he's really smart ... It is now 7th grade and Charlie is having an upsetting day of school, it's first period english class and he noticed his hands are turning into giant claws, his feet are turning into flippers. He's trying to hide it from everybody and by the end of class he has to race to the room and complete his transformation into an 8 1/2-foot mutant dinosaur. So he's transformed from the dorkiest little tiny kid in 7th grade to the largest monster in 7th grade, but he's still not popular."
On why he chose to place Charlie in the 7th grade:
"The real year of change is 7th grade, first of all you're going through puberty and everyone's kind of going through it around the same time, and it's a unique experience nobody really talks about it. You literally wake up one day and your molecules are rearranging themselves and you're expected to be kind of an adult with no authority to do anything without asking your mother. So its really challenging. Also people are comparing themselves to the other kids around them because you so intensely want to fit in, you intensely would like to be normal. His mother says, 'Look how special you are, Charlie, nobody else in your class is anything like you.' He's like, 'Mom I just want to be normal.'"
On how the character of Drinkwater is partially based on Balaban:
"He does have my middle name in the book, which is a plot point he's terrified that people will find out his middle name and I actually don't like to say my middle name in public, but it's Elmer. It's pretty bad, but I gotta get used to it."
On how Balaban's experience in 7th grade shaped the character of Drinkwater:
"There's an ongoing through-line with the principal who gets a case against Charlie, and the principal when I was in 7th grade was my advisor and he came in one day and said, 'Well, boys, something new is happening I've decided to make football mandatory for the 7th grade.' I raised my hand, 'I'm 4-foot-10 and a half, I weigh like 61 pounds, you can't make me go on the football team.' He did and he really made a big case out of it and I got my shoulder pads and got the whole thing. I guess I bought it or whatever, it did turn out that I was the fastest kid on the football team, but unfortunately I was so afraid of being tackled that I tended to run in the opposite direction. There is a lot of stuff like that in it, I was the smallest kid in my class and would continue to be if we still had a class."
On what he loves most about writing children's books:
"I love connecting with kids, I love the mail I get, I read everything. On my first book I had some pretty fascinating kids writing me. It really makes you aware, you're sitting alone in your room all alone and you're communicating with sometimes hundreds of thousands of kids around the country. It's a responsibility, but its also nice to think you're helping kids learn to love to read. You're providing something that might actually set them off on a path that will make them happy for the rest of their lives. You're not who you look like you're who you really are, everybody is not staring at you so get over it now. Most people don't get over it until they're about 50 years old, but still its worth knowing. Your true friends are the people who really care about you, don't be friends with somebody because they're tall and they're on a sports team."