On Monday, Take Two will discuss SCOTUS possibly deciding more on same sex marriage, US-led airstrikes continuing in Iraq and Syria, how the $53 million King fire is being financed, teacher diversity, the effects of metropolitan growth in Phoenix, NOAA teleconference on extreme global weather and more.
Obama says US officials 'underestimated' Islamist militants
U.S.-led airstrikes continued to hit parts of Iraq and Syria as militants made gains toward Baghdad, according to the BBC.
Over the weekend President Obama said that U.S. intelligence officials underestimated the threat of Islamist militants, a group calling itself the Islamic State.
"I think our head of the intelligence community Jim Clapper has acknowledged that they underestimated what has been taking place in Syria," said Obama on CBS' 60 minutes Sunday.
So what do his recent comments say about the current threat?
Elias Groll, assistant editor with Foreign Policy, shares more.
Could the Supreme Court definitively decide on same-sex marriage this year?
Starting Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court justices meet this week to decide which cases to take up in the coming term that begins just days from now.
One huge issue on the table -- same-sex marriage.
While the high court ruled last year on California's ban on same-sex marriage, that decision didn't go beyond the Golden State.
Over the past year, more than 80 lawsuits around the country were filed in support of gay marriage in various states.
Douglas NeJaime, professor of law at UC-Irvine, explains what the court could possibly do and what questions it sidestepped last year.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
SCOTUS ruled last year on California's same-sex marriage. Remind us why that did that not go beyond the Golden State?
California's decision was based on whether the proponents of Prop 8 had standing to appeal the lower court decision and because the U.S. Supreme Court said they didn’t and the State of California was not appealing those decisions, it left in place the 2010 decision of Judge Walker that struck down Prop 8. So that decision doesn’t go beyond California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which left this other question of all these other state bans.
So Monday the justices start to decide what cases to take on. In the past year over 80 lawsuits were filed in support of gay marriage. How many cases could the justices take on?
As many as they want. We were in a similar situation a few years back when they were deciding which case to take on regarding the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which they struck down. While they are starting to meet now, they don’t necessarily have to do anything and there will be more cases coming down the pipeline. We're waiting for more courts to rule on this question so the justices can wait and see.
Which cases would you be watching as likely ones to be taken up by the high court?
There's been a number of petitions where the court has been asked to take the cases; in each one the lawyers are making their case of why theirs is the best case to take. A lot of folks are looking at the case out of Utah, which was the first decision we had striking down a same sex marriage ban after last term's decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. That’s a relatively straight-forward case because the state has been defending the ban, unlike what we saw in California.
Any attorney out there who has worked on a case like this is lobbying hard to get the high court to pay attention. How much sway do they have?
What they're trying to do is make the court see why their case is the best vehicle with which to decide this question. And the court will ultimately make its own decision and have multiple cases before it and at the heart of these cases is the same question: Can a state restrict marriage to exclude same sex couples? The court may be waiting to see if a different court of appeals actually comes out a different way. So far all we've had is decisions striking down same-sex marriage bans. We are still waiting to hear from the 6th circuit and the 9th circuit.
What would it mean for same-sex marriage nationwide if SCOTUS decides not to hear any of these cases?
As of right now if they decide not to hear those cases then the stays for those decisions would be lifted so in the states where the marriage bans were struck down by courts of appeals, same-sex couples would be able to marry. So if decisions keep going in this direction of striking down same-sex marriage bans, the Supreme Court could do nothing, and it would keep bringing same-sex marriage to more states.
If they were to take up one or more of these cases, what sense do you have of how they may rule?
A lot of us have looked at the court and what they did with the Defense of Marriage Act and while that was about a federal law that didn't recognize couples' state law marriages, the decision of 5-4 and the opinion by Justice Kennedy has reasoning that seems to apply to these state same-sex marriage bans. What judges in courts of appeals up until this point have been doing is saying, "If the federal Defense of Marriage Act couldn't stand, we don't see any reason why a state same-sex marriage ban would stand." So a lot of folks think the court may come out the same way.
What is the deadline SCOTUS has to decide if they will take any of these cases?
The court can keep meeting for months ahead as long as they can still calendar it for a spring argument, which they would then decide the case likely by the end of June. We should stay tuned at least for the next few months.
'Power Lines': How the Navajo Nation's energy resources fueled the growth of the Southwest
Last week, the federal government agreed to pay the Navajo Nation more than half a billion dollars — $554 million — to settle claims that it mismanaged the tribe's funds and natural resources for decades.
Tracing those claims back to their origins reveals a long and complicated history of the relationship between the federal government and the Navajo Nation when it comes to supplying power to the desert lands of America's Southwest.
Without a source of cheap fuel, cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles could not have grown to the levels we see today. But where did the power come from? And at what price?
In the forthcoming book "Power Lines," NYU history professor Andrew Needham explores the role of the Navajo Nation in supplying electricity to desert communities, and the social and environmental impact it's had on Navajo lands and its people.
Migrant teen struggles to navigate high school as she awaits her fate
The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the Mexican border has fallen off dramatically since the summer.
But thousands are still here in California, waiting.
Lawmakers want money to pay for legal support for Central American kids, one of whom is Jennifer Cruz. She fled gang violence in El Salvador and now lives with her older sister south of San Francisco; she's also struggling to fit in at high school. Her sister, Yesenia has been struggling to pay the bills.
The California Report's Ana Tintocalis pays a second visit to the sisters.
On the Lot: New York Film Festival recap, 'Gone Girl,' Nic Cage movie pulled in China
LA Times' Rebecca Keegan just returned from the New York Film Festival and shares a recap here for Take Two's weekly look at the business of Hollywood, On the Lot.
The expectation at the film festival is that the opening night film is really the one to watch. This year it was the FOX film based on the best selling novel "Gone Girl" - starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3LB0lOJ0o
It would seem a new leading man in the making emerged at the New York Film Festival--an actor named Jack O'Connell, who stars in the film "'71." The film is about a British soldier fighting to survive after being accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot in Belfast in 1971. Keegan shares how the film played with audiences at the festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIYDNyEkJP4
And on the other side of the world, a movie called "Outcast" about 12th century China starring Nicolas Cage, was set to premiere late last week in 5000 theaters in China. But government officials pulled the film at the last minute. Keegan shares why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnRuRFbpnCM
'I Am Eleven': Film explores what 11 year olds around the world care about
Filmmaker Genevieve Bailey spent six years traveling the world -- 15 countries in all -- with one goal in mind: To find eleven year olds and talk to them about what matters in their lives.
Starting from her home country, Australia, she went to Thailand, Prague, and the South of India; she went to Morocco, France, and China.
Her journey has become a feature documentary titled, "I am Eleven."
It's sweet, it's funny, and the kids Bailey met along the way are wise.
"I Am Eleven" is in U.S. theaters now.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On what inspired Bailey to make "I Am Eleven"
The idea first came to me when I was working at a newspaper back in Australia and I was seeing bad news all day, everyday. It was really getting me down and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to make a film that was uplifting and engaged me and inspired me, but also made audiences happy?' And so, I thought back to my favorite age in life and that's when I was eleven.
On some of the topics the kids talk about
I wasn't shying away from giving the kids a platform to talk about more serious issues, which you see in the film, [having] to do with bullying and war and terrorism. But they also talk about love and family and culture and education and the future. I really wanted to balance out the themes explored, and to make sure that "I Am Eleven" was relevant to audiences of any age, but also of any background, any culture, any faith.
I'm really happy that the children in the film got to share their voice, because a lot of the time, we focus on what adults can teach kids. But having the opportunity to sit down and explore the world through the eyes of kids was...very much an eye-opener.
On guessing that 11 year olds would be interesting
I remember my own life as eleven being really full of energy and hope, and your blinders are off and you're starting to think about the wider world around you and getting really curious. And I love that curiosity that comes with childhood.
I asked them lots of questions and I always made sure the kids knew there was no right or wrong answer, they could comment in any way they wanted to. They were only representing themselves, not the whole world and not the country they're in.
I would argue that kids have a lot more to say about [serious] issues than what a lot of people give them credit for.
Climate change: Humans caused 9 of 16 recent major weather events, NOAA report shows
Drought in California. Extreme heat in Australia. An unusually cold spring in the U.K.
These were some of the notable weather events of last year.
Monday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - or NOAA - released a massive report looking at 16 such events.
Nine of them were shown to be linked to human-caused climate change.
To tell more about the report is Southern California Public Radio's Sanden Totten.
Drought takes toll on apple-picking season
Fall is officially here. And while it doesn't quite feel like it yet in Southern California, at least we can still don autumnal colors, down pumpkin spice lattes and go apple-picking, right?
Wrong.
At least on that last one.
Thanks to the severe drought, apple-picking season has been cut short or in some places canceled all together.
Conrad Young, owner of the Calico Ranch Orchard in the small mountain town of Julian, California, says in a normal year his orchard would yield 10,000 bushels of apples. But this year, there's virtually no crop.
"We're not even going to open," said Young. "The orchard is really parched. For the first time in 30 years, our well is drawn down. The few apples that are on the trees are about the size of small marbles."
Young says that tourists can still come to Julian to enjoy the country experience, mine tours and apple-picking at the orchards that are open. And while this year will be a difficult one for the town, he's still optimistic for next year.
"If you're in agriculture, you're always optimistic," he says. "There's always next year and I really feel that it's going to be a good, wet year."
You can hear our interview with Young at the link above.
King Fire: Financing the $53 million fire fight
The King Fire near Sacramento is almost 90 percent contained but the blaze has been burning for weeks and has cost more than $53 million so far.
Cal Fire Finance Section Chief Steve Hawks says the King Fire is costing about $5 million a day, Capitol Public Radio's Katie Orr reports.
Costs like food for 5,600 people assigned to the fire, fuel for the trucks and other heavy equipment and rented bunks for tired personnel add up fast.
Orr explains how the money keeps flowing to fight the fire.
US Conference of Mayors addresses race
A bipartisan delegation of more than 30 mayors from across the country are meeting Monday in Sacramento for the fall leadership meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
On the agenda: economic equality, technology innovation... and race.
Sunday, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson led a spirited and emotional discussion about the racial divide in the country.
Sacramento Bee reporter Stephen Magagnini was there and shares more.
California's initiative process set for changes after Brown signs law
California's voter-backed initiative process will undergo some big changes, after Governor Brown signed SB 1253 this weekend.
John Myers of KQED sums up the main changes in the law:
The key elements of SB 1253, by outgoing Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) are threefold — a new month-long public review of initiatives in which backers can make changes; a process for legislators and initiative proponents to craft a compromise in the state Capitol and avoid an election altogether; and a new, continually updated online list of top initiative donors.
For more, John Myers, senior editor at KQED.
RELATED: New Law Brings Big Changes to California’s Initiative Process
Governor Brown vetoes bill on law enforcement restricted use of drones
One of the bills that California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed this weekend would have placed restrictions on the use of drones by law enforcement and other government agencies.
The measure had passed the state senate and assembly with broad support.
So why didn't it become law? For more, Southern California Public Radio reporter Erika Aguilar explains.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
What exactly did this bill call for?
The bill said a law enforcement agency could not use a drone without obtaining a warrant. There were exceptions—a fire, hostage crisis, hot pursuit. Also any kind of data collected—footage, pictures, any type of data would have to be destroyed within a year or get some sort of exception to keep that data.
Why did Brown veto this if it had broad support?
He sent out a release. He said there are undoubtedly circumstances where a warrant is appropriate but he said this bill had exceptions and those exceptions appeared to be too narrow and could impose requirements beyond what is required under either the 4th amendment—unreasonable searches and seizures—or the privacy provisions in California's Constitution already cover these things and so he felt the exceptions for the public agencies who could use drones were too narrow.
So what are the short-term implications? Can agencies use drones as they wish?
Any public agency that wants a drone needs to ask for a permit from the FAA. So that’s still a little bit of time. LAPD has two drones. They'll have to go through a process in which they get a permit that says, 'Yes you can have a drone and you can fly it here and this high and this low.'
So once they have a drone it's kind of free reign?
Yes and it's really up to the public agencies. This is where a lot of civil rights advocates have stepped in and said legislatures need to put in some kind of limitations.
If there's no boundaries then why wouldn't the LAPD apply for a bunch of permits and fly drones all over?
It might be bad for public perception. These two mini choppers (for the LAPD) came from the Seattle Police Department and in Seattle the public was outraged to hear that they got two mini choppers, or drones, and the city council said 'We don’t want to do this anymore' and they locked them away and don’t use them anymore. So it could be bad for public perception and LAPD if they use them however.
How important is teacher diversity with preschool children?
A report released this year by the National Education Association found that students of color suffer academically because there isn't a racially or culturally diverse teaching force in the K-12 system.
With kids of color now the majority in public schools, it's led to fierce debate about whether the race of the teachers matters.
Related: Diversity in preschools: Does teacher race or quality matter more?
Deepa has been looking into this with her Early Years Education Hat on. Just how important is the diversity of teachers when it comes to preschool children?
Take Two turns two: Flashback with Aimee Mann and Ted Leo
This week, Take Two turns two years old.
We listen back to some of the best duos that have visited the program.
On Monday we revisit our chat with musicians Aimee Mann and Ted Leo, who recently formed a band called The Both.
Related: Aimee Mann and Ted Leo team up for their new album 'The Both'