Take Two

The pandemic hit our most vulnerable populations the hardest. We look back - and ahead on the issue of housing and homelessness. Plus, we unwind with the best tunes of 2020.

This week, we look back at 2020 - and ahead to 2021 - and today we zero in on the spread of COVID-19 and distance learning in LAUSD. Plus, some judges and prosecutors in LA are pushing back on DA Gascon's policies.

Today's show is dedicated to our Race in LA series with LAist.com where Angelenos share their personal stories of how race and ethnicity has shaped their relationship with the world.

What to know about the UK's new COVID-19 variant, coronavirus outbreaks tick up at childcare facilities and how to give this holiday season because kindness is contagious.

COVID-19 relief talks continue in congress as needs mount, ICU nurse pleads to Angelenos to stay home and author Christina Hammonds Reed on her new young adult novel, The Black Kids.

LAUSD first millennial board president Kelly Gonez joins us, California monarchs plummet to low levels and why Tom Cruise freaked out on his crew over COVID-19 protocols

It'll be several months before the general public gets access to the coronavirus vaccine but what checks will be place to make sure it's distributed equitably, LAist's Race in LA series goes back to 1956, and Disney faces pushback for some mask photos.

The first shots of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine are administered, cops may have to be 25 before they get a badge and gun and West Hollywood relies on super heroes to stress importance of wearing masks.

How Gov. Newsom is looking to fill a number of important positions in CA's government, how the coronavirus vaccine will get distributed in LA County and some hot tips for making potato latkes.

CA is expected to get the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in just two days, a low income housing complex for veterans has been destroyed and why the NFL wants to finish the season.

Calculating the real cost of the government shutdown; End of shutdown brings life and tourism back to National Parks; Keeping the dying art of hand-painted billboards alive in Los Angeles; Director Kimberly Peirce on resurrecting the classic horror film 'Carrie'; Exemption to ACA could leave many Native Americans uninsured; What you need to know about Medicare open enrollment, plus much more.

What would happen if the US government were to default?; Biggest roadblocks to Asian mental health may come from within; The Band's Robbie Robertson on the music that changed the world; Study shows anti-gay sentiment is underestimated; The struggle over Bitcoin's future; Sports Roundup: Dodgers must win, Puig under fire; App Chat: Guilt-free entertainment for your kids, plus much more.

Supreme Court to hear arguments in Michigan affirmative action case; Why aren't the NFL's first minority Super Bowl winners in the Hall Of Fame?; Marine base expansion in Joshua Tree faces opposition; DNA from LA area immigrants could solve painful mysteries from Guatemala's civil war; The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's fragile ecology, plus much more.

The LA Times reports more than a thousand of LA's older, concrete buildings are at risk of collapse when an earthquake strikes; Die-hard Dodgers fans talk about their pre-game rituals and superstitions; Central Valley farmworker who are close to fresh food, yet struggle to find some to put on their own tables; Meet the agent who casts laugh tracks for a living; Congressman Adam Schiff about the ongoing government shutdown; KPCC's Erika Aguilar on the growing questions of safety on USC's campus; and more.

The latest bills to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown; Budget standoff turns off the tap on craft brewers; Friday Flashback: Paul Ryan, John Boehner's approval rating and more; 'Escape From Tomorrow' director on filming under Disney's nose; Richard Buckner on his new album 'Surrounded', plus much more.

How is Wall Street reacting to the government shutdown?; LA Mayor Eric Garcetti looks back at his first 100 days in office; Shutdown puts scientists' Antarctica research on ice; Downtown LA's Grand Park celebrates its 1st anniversary; Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Canadian writer Alice Munro, plus much more.

Poll: Most Americans confused about the debt ceiling; LA schools and iPads: Big promises but where's the research?; App Chat: Tools to make travel more bearable; Sports Roundup: LA Dodgers, NCAA drama, Frontline doc; 'Justice For My Sister' doc examines femicide in Guatemala, plus much more.

Cognitive therapy for the government shutdown; Rep. Mark Takano of Riverside on the status of the shutdown; Foster Farms chickens blamed for salmonella outbreak that sickened 300; Immigration rally to go on at National Mall despite closure; Hard time or inhumane? Solitary confinement in Corcoran prison's SHU (Photos); Study shows vets suffering from PTSD benefit from meditation, plus much more.

A look back at the last government shutdown; GOP strategist Mike Madrid on CA's Republican summit in Anaheim; Dodgers fans hopeful at team's chances at a championship; Profile: The first Latino president of the State Bar of California; Cheech Marin on Chicano art and 'Chicanitas'; Odd Hollywood Jobs: Celebrity profiler, plus much more.

What do foreigners think about the US government shutdown?; NYT sets off a New York-Los Angeles taco showdown; 'Parkland': The search for the truth behind the JFK assassination; 'League of Legends' video game championship comes to LA; Friday Flashback: Government shutdown edition, plus much more.

Rep. John Campbell on the government shutdown; What is it like to sign up for Obamacare in California?; Danny DeVito and Judd Hirsch reunite in 'The Sunshine Boys'; Picture This: Documenting the Los Angeles Dodgers; Former Guatemalan soldier accused of atrocities convicted of US immigration fraud, Etiquette Lesson: How to deal with a significant other's annoying obsession, plus much more.