KCRW's Which Way, LA?

California has more than 23 million motorists, but one and a half million of them are here illegally.  On the first day of next year, a new state law will let them apply for drivers' licenses ? with the goal of safer streets and more drivers covered by auto insurance.

Three years into the worst drought in California history, Santa Barbara is looking for water. From importing supplies to re-opening its desalination plant -- what are the costs? And what's the environmental impact?

The smartphone app called Waze has been helping more and more LA commuters find alternatives to grinding along at a snail's pace on busy freeways. That sounds great unless you live in a formerly quiet neighborhood of narrow streets now crowded with passing cars.

Scripts, salaries and entire pictures have been released by Internet hackers who penetrated Sony Pictures, but the biggest damage to the studio?s image may come from e-mails featuring co-chair Amy Pascal. Tweeters, commentators and columnists say they reveal the depth of racism hiding in supposedly liberal Hollywood.

Uber has reached a value of $40 billion in just five years, but there have been ?growing pains.? The DA?s of LA and San Francisco have jointly filed suit, claiming that ride sharing is misleading the public about safety.

About 135 medical marijuana clinics are legal in Los Angeles, but 945 are registered to pay taxes. That means big revenue for the city -- from illegal businesses. We hear why some council members want that to end, even though the city always needs money. 

Mayor Eric Garcetti admits that he and other Los Angeles leaders have long ignored the potential devastation from a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. We talk with him and seismologist Lucy Jones about new plans for retrofitting wooden and concrete buildings and protecting first responders, electrical power and the water supply.

Move over Facebook, Microsoft and Snapchat. Google is coming to Playa Vista on 900,000 acres next to the ?Spruce Goose? hangar, a relic of innovation past. Google's arrival is expected to combine technology and entertainment and create a new center-weight for Silicon Beach.  We hear the advance hype.

Big changes have come to local ports since the Great Recession. Traffic moves faster, the competition is stiffer and cargo ships are massively bigger.  It's all leading in the direction of automation -- and that means fewer jobs. As part of KCRW's week-long look at the ports, we bring you a special, in-depth look at those changes and the people affected by them.

California no longer takes the hard line on illegal immigrants passed by the voters in 1994, and that could be good news for more than a million people covered by President Obama's recent executive action.

From Santa Monica to Venice to Highland Park ? and now the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles ? the painters, sculptors, musicians and dancers who made those and other neighborhoods centers of artistic creativity can?t afford to live or work there anymore.

Would you rather spend Thanksgiving Day with the family or look for discounts at retailers? You?ll have more choices this year as more and more chains are opening on the holiday.  But others are striking back, staying closed and boasting that they?re more ?family friendly.?  Is opening on America?s Day of Thanks a kind of secular sacrilege, or should the marketplace decide?

Michael Hanline set a record yesterday when he was released in Ventura after 36 years in state prison.  That?s the longest anyone has served in California for a wrongful conviction. We hear why he?s still not entirely free, and talk with a Bakersfield bus driver who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. 

Years of sexual abuse at Miramonte Elementary School will cost LA Unified $169 million.  Is that what it took to protect dozens of children from re-living sexual abuse in a lengthy trial, or is it being paid to protect the District?  Would testimony have revealed years of institutional negligence?

The University of California?s full Board of Regents voted today to increase tuition, despite a ?no? vote from the Governor.  Fees could rise from $12,000 to $15,000 a year, making the total cost as much as 32,000.  We hear why one Regent voted ?yes,? and what it could mean for access by students raised in California.