KCRW's Which Way, LA?
Summary: Award-winning moderator Warren Olney leads lively. thoughtful and provocative discussion on the issues Southern Californians care about. Which Way. L.A.? draws from newsmakers around Los Angeles, the state, North America, and from around the world to present all sides of the issues.
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- Artist: Warren Olney, KCRW.com
- Copyright: KCRW 2014
Podcasts:
A package of anti-smoking bills passed the State Senate this year, but it appeared they'd been killed by Assembly members who've taken large amounts of tobacco money. Now the measures are alive again -- in a special, legislative session to address healthcare financing. The major goals are preventing e-cigarettes from being used in public and raising the smoking age to 21. Would they limit the personal freedom of Californians who've reached voting age?
Twenty-two people have been shot by the LAPD in the first half of this year. Eleven of them have died ? most recently Jason Davis, a homeless man shot in Venice on Monday. Police say there's no "epidemic," but retraining in the use of force has begun this week for all 10,000 officers. Will that help restore the confidence of black people, the homeless, the mentally ill?
Is it really possible that a house with half a bathroom and no kitchen at all could be worth $1.2 million? That?s the asking price of a cottage in Venice.
Drought isn't the only crisis for California farmers. Adding to the shortage of water, there's a shortage of legal labor for the summer harvest that's already under way. Farmers want permits so undocumented workers can be safe in the fields but, with immigration reform stalled in Washington, that's not happening. With billions of dollars at stake, we hear how the state legislature is trying to light a fire under Congress.
On Skid Row early this year, an unarmed black man was shot to death by the LAPD. Chief Charlie Beck defended the killing because officers claimed the man had grabbed one of their pistols. But an investigative reporter says police body cams and interviews tell a different story.
There's a construction boom in California. News stories show local officials posing with shovels as counties break ground for new jails. But those aren't the images that were expected. New money was supposed to be split between jails and cheaper alternatives to incarceration, like mental-health treatment and other forms of rehabilitation. But most of it's going to jails. We hear how that happened in the rush for prison reform.
The killing of a woman by an undocumented Mexican immigrant has injected San Francisco into the presidential campaign. Details of the incident are undetermined and the legal circumstances are controversial ? all creating a perfect political storm. Wouldn't other cities have some the same thing?
State regulators have changed the game for electricity users in California. Households that use the most electricity from Southern California Edison are about to get lower rates, while those who use less will see their bills going up. With consumers being asked to cut back, that seems like a contradiction. So, how can the Public Utilities Commission claim it's leveling the playing field?
Parental demand caused a Chinese language immersion program to outgrow its campus in Venice on LA's Westside. Plans were made to expand it in nearby Mar Vista. Residents there said the program was okay, but didn't want the traffic and other consequences in their backyard. LA Unified's final solution: cut the program in half.
Water rights granted more than 100 years ago are part of today's water wars, created by a drought that's getting worse than ever. State officials want to re-allocate dwindling resources according to need, but they may be over-ruled by history.
It's been nine years since the death penalty was carried out in California; death row is packed with 750 inmates. A ruling this week by the US Supreme Court may pave the way to restoring the practice, although advocates accuse the state of "dragging its feet.: Will California voters get another chance to decide if some convicts should live or die?
Mammoth and Lake Tahoe have been hurting for three years because of the drought. Climate change means late winters, early springs and mountain slopes that used to be covered with white powder still brown under rising snowlines. Does snow itself have a future?
Federal appeals court judges are mad as hell, and they won?t take it any more. They say there?s an ?epidemic? of misconduct by prosecutors in California courts. Worse yet, district attorneys who lie and present false evidence are tolerated by state judges. The federal judges want to hold their feet to the fire.
Eric Garcetti was elected Mayor of LA by 6% of the people who live in the city. That?s because so few people register and so few of those who register actually vote. Would simultaneous elections increase the turnout?or make local jobs seem less important than ever?
There are 1.6 million acres of beaches, forests and historic sites in California?s State Park system?threatened by years of budget cuts, scandal, and mismanagement. Now a blue-ribbon commission has proposed major change in hope the next generation will use them and pay for them.