Gov. Brown given 30-day extension to reduce prison overcrowding; Gulf Cartel hands out relief for victims of Mexico flooding; Irvine's Asian population booms, boosting the local real estate market; Latinos a growing force in the fight for environmental issues; The battle over San Diego's Barrio Logan; Did recent storms put a dent in the Southwest's drought problem?
Gov. Brown given 30-day extension to reduce prison overcrowding
As we reported on the show previously, California signed a deal on Tuesday with a private prison contractor for two facilities and had plans to lease more space. But yesterday afternoon, a three-judge panel granted Governor Brown only a 30-day extension to reduce crowding: now he has until Jan. 27.
That order could bring a halt to any more private prison leases. To talk about all of this we turn to Paige St. John of the LA Times.
Gulf Cartel hands out relief for victims of Mexico flooding
Now to Mexico where large parts of the country are recovering from the twin storms that hit last week. Tropical storm Manuel ravaged the Pacific coast and the resort town of Acapulco, while Hurricane Ingrid battered the Gulf coast to the east.
The official death toll has surpassed one hundred and there are dozens still missing in a deadly landslide. Now, while the government and aid organizations struggle to get help to the affected communities, one group has magnanimously pitched in to help: The Gulf Cartel.
The cartel controls drug traffic on parts of the gulf coast struck by the hurricane has reportedly been handing out food, water and clothing. Reporter Dudley Althaus, who wrote about this for the Global Post, joins the show with more.
Irvine's Asian population booms, boosting the local real estate market
Irvine is now the fastest-growing major city in California. It also happens to be one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation -- thanks, in part, to a boom in its Asian population.
Communities like Monterey Park and San Gabriel were always the place to go, but now, as KPCC's Josie Huang reports, Irvine is a top draw for Asian homebuyers.
The battle over San Diego's Barrio Logan
Wedged between the port and the freeway, the San Diego neighborhood of Barrio Logan is a diverse mish-mash of homes, schools, and heavy industry. Its largely Latino population is the result of Mexicans brought over to work the docks during World War II.
But the mix of industry and homes has made the air in Barrio Logan dangerous to breathe; residents are three times more likely to have asthma than in other parts of the city. Now, after 30 years, Barrio Logan has a new community plan and the maritime industry is not happy about it.
From the Fronteras Desk, KPBS' Sandhya Dirks reports on the battle for Barrio Logan.
Latinos a growing force in the fight for environmental issues
There's a growing number of Latinos who are fighting for the environment on the local level.
According to a USC-L.A. Times poll, Latino voters in California are almost twice as likely to be concerned about environmental issues than whites. Although when you look at America's most famous environmentalists — like Sierra Club founder John Muir or author Rachel Carson — those leaders are mostly white.
As president of Mujeres de la Tierra, an environmental non-profit based in Los Angeles, Irma Munoz hopes to be the face of a new generation of green activists. She joins the show to talk about her group's mission.
Sports Roundup: Lakers drama, 'Shaqamento', and more
A Purple and Gold family drama, 1-2-3-4 I declare a Twitter war and exit Sandman. All that can only mean one thing, it's time for sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky.
Jeanie Buss co-owns the Lakers with her brother Jim. With the passing of her father Dr. Jerry Buss, the two work hand in hand in running arguably one of the most popular and successful teams in professional sports history. But their relationship might be strained.
Might the Lakers family drama turn into the basis of a fictional drama?
Moving to the our state capitol: SHAQAMENTO!
One more NBA story as a Twitter war is happening between a pair of superstars, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant.
The NCAA says they're going to start rebuilding the Penn State athletic program.
The SF 49ers are having a tough start to their season on the field and now Andy off the field as well?
Tomorrow could be the last time Enter Sandman will ever play in the 9th inning at Yankee Stadium.
Mariano Rivera is retiring as the all-time career saves leader, 13-time All Star, 5-time champion, and with never a hint of scandal. Could Rivera be the last of a dying breed, a professional athlete above reproach?
What Caltech MacArthur 'genius' Colin Camerer will do with the money
Caltech behavioral economist Colin Camerer is one of 24 people to receive the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant for 2013. The honor includes a $625,000 prize to the winners for showing "exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for still more in the future."
Camerer's pioneering research looks at the psychology behind stock market bubbles and crashes, analyzing the decision-making process of investors. One of his studies involved having test subjects buy and sell stocks in an artificial market to simulate what might happen in real life.
RELATED: Calif. physicist one of 24 MacArthur 'genius grant' recipients
"It's like simulating earthquakes, we can over and over study a bubble, crash, bubble, crash," said Camerer on Take Two. "Then we can see mathematically if there's some regular pattern and what's going on in people's brains when prices are going up and before the crash is happening."
His research also pinpointed the crucial impact that human emotion has on markets.
"We see that hyperactivity and reward areas are important when the bubble's rising. People getting caught up in it," said Camerer. "We also see areas involving mentalizing, which means thinking about other people: Who's buying? Who's selling? Do they know something? We see emotional areas before the crash that indicate a sense of uncertainty or dread. "
The aim of his research is to develop a way for investors and regulators to recognize patterns associated with bubbles and crashes. He admits, however, that it is difficult to predict how the market will go.
"It probably won't be super predictive, it'll be more like an early warning system," said Camerer. "If you're an investor or a regulator, you might be able to at least get a hint that something unusual is going on."
Camerer plans on donating a portion of his prize to St. Mark's School in Altadena, a portion to his sister's charity in Detroit and to fund his own research and that of others in areas that are difficult to fund, but which he says are scientifically important.
With the rest of the money, "I'm going to buy my wife a fancy watch ... so that she'll be on time more often. "
RELATED: MacArthur 'geniuses' Carl Haber and David Lobell on why they won
Why is Iran opening up to nuclear talks with US?
Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet with his Iranian counterpart in New York tomorrow. It's being called the highest level talks between the two nations since the hostage crisis in 1979.
This follows news that President Obama and the newly elected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani had been exchanging letters. Yesterday, Mr. Obama seemed to reach out to Iran in a speech to the UN general assembly.
After years of fierce resistance, is Iran really ready to come clean about its nuclear program? And if so, why now? For some help understanding this, we turn to Carol Williams of the LA Times, a veteran foreign correspondent and Middle East watcher.
Did recent storms put a dent in the Southwest's drought problem?
Given all the recent news about record rainfalls and flooding in Colorado, it's easy to forget that the Southwest has been in the throes of one of the most severe droughts in its recorded history.
Earlier this summer in places like New Mexico and Arizona, temperatures were reaching record highs, cattle were dying and crops were drying up. So did those September storms do much to help the drought?
For more we're joined by hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, a professor at UC Irvine and the director of the UC Center for Hydrologic modeling.
Mexico proposes border sales tax hike
Mexico's Congress may soon hike the sales tax in stores along the U.S. border. But that could drive more Mexican shoppers to places like San Diego, where the lower sales tax saves them money.
Jill Replogle from the Fronteras Desk takes a look at how the economy along the border could change.
App Chat: Discover new music with Hype Machine, Songza and more
This week on app chat we're going to help you discover new music.
Jacqui Cheng of Ars Technica talks with A Martinez about how these apps are different than more popular music apps like Spotify and Pandora. We'll even profile one that creates music from your heartbeat.
Hype Machine
Great place to discover remixes.
Songza
Human-curated lists that match your mood.
Pulse by BioBeats
Creates music related to your heart beat.
Navajo language app comes to Android
Android users now have a way to brush up on their Navajo. As KUNM's Carrie Jung reports, the Navajo Keyboard app is allowing smart phone users to practice their skills in the native language through text messaging and social media.
The application comes loaded with all of the traditional Navajo characters and 65 pre-made phrases to help beginners through any basic conversation. It can also act as a user's primary keyboard.
Jerome Tsosie is the president of Native Innovations, the company that developed the application. He said he created the app to give those wanting to learn the language more ways to practice communicating.
"Our younger generation, these days, they’re all digital. Everyone has some kind of device," Tsosie said. "It's an opportunity for anyone out there who's wanting to learn, to start texting in Navajo and start posting things in Navajo on social media."
The Navajo Keyboard has been available to iPhone users since February. But because there are more Android users on the Navajo Nation, Tsosie said the Android release was in high demand.
The Android app has been downloaded more than 1,000 times since being released earlier this month.
Burger King debuts new lower calorie french fries
For many people, a large order of greasy french fries is the very definition of a guilty pleasure. But what if they were lower in fat and calories? Would that make it less guilty?
That's at least what many people say is behind the latest offering from fast food giant, Burger King. They're offering a new french fry that's got almost half as much fat and a third fewer calories than the old fry. It's called ... wait for it ... the "Satisfry." We'll have a review.
The politics of Dr. Seuss's 'Green Eggs and Ham'
Anyone watching the current machinations in Congress would be forgiven for comparing lawmakers to a bunch of children who can't get along. Children who could maybe use a little Mr. Rogers in their lives, or maybe some Dr. Seuss.
Well Dr. Seuss indeed made an appearance on the Senate floor last night, at least one of his most classic books, "Green Eggs & Ham" did. You remember how it goes: the character "Sam I Am" tries to persuade his friend to eat Green Eggs and Ham. His friend refuses over and over again:
As part of his pseudo-filibuster against funding for Obamacare Republican Ted Cruz read aloud from "Green Eggs and Ham" for his daughters who were apparently at home watching him on C-SPAN.
This was an interesting choice -- politically -- and here for a little discussion of green food and the food fight in Congress is our very literary friend David Kipen, owner of the Boyle Heights lending library Libros Schmibros.
How much homework is too much?
Like a lot of parents, writer Karl Taro Greenfeld was concerned about the amount of homework his eighth grade daughter had to struggle through each night. But unlike most parents, Greenfeld decided to see for himself what sort of workload his 13-year-old was having to tackle.
He tried doing her homework with her for a week and wrote about the experience in a piece for The Atlantic, called "My Daughter's Homework Is Killing Me."
We spoke with Karl Taro Greenfeld earlier, and asked him why he decided to basically go back to eighth grade.