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February 23 - 27, 2009
Monday, Feb. 23
President Obama Talks Budget
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President Obama isn't expected to pull any punches with his first federal budget: a vow to cut the country's budget deficit—projected to total $1.3 trillion this year—in half by the end of his first term, by means of big spending cuts and a potential tax increase on the richest tax bracket, are sure to anger and please the entire political spectrum. Patt checks in with some experts to discuss the politics, economics, and potential pitfalls, as the '09-'10 budget works its way through Congress.
- Neil Irwin, national economy correspondent, Washington Post
- Sarah Binder, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of political science at George Washington University
The Dover Test
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Images of casualties have long played into the politics of war, and since 1991, the White House has upheld a ban on photographs at Dover Air Force Base, the main entry-point for American troops' remains into the U.S. Now President Obama is considering lifting the ban. Is it respectful to photograph the coffins of fallen soldiers? And what impact might this have on public morale?
Brazen Violence: Ciudad Juárez Under Siege
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The Ciudad Juárez police chief resigned Friday in response to signs posted on officers' bodies, promising to kill at least one local official for every 48 hours until the chief quit. Five police officers had been murdered leading up to the police chief's resignation. Is the Mexican government powerless to stop the violence, and should U.S. authorities get involved?
- Diana Washington Valdez, senior reporter for the El Paso Times. Her new book, Mexico Roulette: Last Cartel Standing, is due out later this year
SAG Reaches...Another Stalemate
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The Screen Actors Guild's board of directors voted Saturday to reject what the studio alliance AMPTP is calling their last, best, and final offer at a deal. The vote precludes sending the offer to SAG members for a ratification vote, but there is also no imminent risk of a strike since the union hasn't yet sent out a strike authorization vote either. No further meetings are scheduled between the two sides, and the AMPTP's deal will remain on the table for up to 60 days. What comes next?
The Women and Frank Lloyd Wright
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Author T.C. Boyle is here with his new book, The Women, an account of iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright as told through the four women who loved him: the mother of his six children, a client's wife, a morphine addict, and a devotee of the Russian mystic Gurdjieff.
T.C. Boyle will be talking about and signing copies of his book tonight at 7:30pm at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, and tomorrow, Tuesday, February 24 at 7pm at the Santa Monica Public Library
Tuesday, Feb. 24
Bernanke Sets the Table, Obama Does his Magic Tablecloth Trick
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Out of several hours-worth of testimony came the one, small, seemingly insignificant word from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that pretty much summed up all of his points: "if." If the various economic recovery and stimulus programs that have emerged from the White House and Congress work; if the global ramifications of the deep American recession stabilize; if consumer confidence rebounds, then economic growth might return by 2010. All of these caveats demonstrated the dire economic situation that President Obama faces when he addresses Congress and the nation tonight with plans to stop the bleeding. Do the "ifs" have a chance to succeed?
- Laurence Meyer, vice chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers; former U.S. Federal Reserve System Governor from 1996 - 2002
Down Syndrome Screening Test to Get More Accurate, Parents' Decisions to Get Tougher
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Notoriously unreliable genetic tests for Down syndrome in fetuses should be getting a lot more accurate. By this Spring, new screening tests will be on the market that should give doctors and parents a clear idea of whether or not their child will be born with Down syndrome. What kind of tough decisions will parents now face?
Guide to the Great Beyond
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Everybody dies, but most don't like to think about death. Bestselling author and New York Times health columnist Jane Brody hopes to change that with her new book, Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond. Brody's here with her practical primer on how we can medically, legally, and emotionally prepare for the inevitable.
Ominous Bubbles beneath Melting Ice
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It may seem that the urgency surrounding global warming has blended into the backdrop of our current financial crisis, but new research into methane pockets locked beneath melting arctic permafrost may re-prioritize our thinking. When released, the pockets could quicken a warming climate—methane has at least 20 times the heat-trapping ability of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, and about 55 billion tons of the gas could be released from beneath the Siberian lakes alone as warming temperatures thaw arctic soils. Patt checks in with two researchers for an update on their work.
- Dr. Katey Walters, aquatic ecologist and biogeochemist; assistant professor of Limnology, University of Alaska
- Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky, professor of geophysical sciences, University of Alaska
Both Dr. Walters and Dr. Romanovsky were featured in this week's LA Times article about methane bubbles trapped beneath the arctic
Fat Tuesday in a Fat Recession
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We check in for some eye-witness accounts of Mardi Gras 2009 in New Orleans. Have this year's celebrations toned down with the economy? We also get the latest on the reported shootings along the parade route.
Is In Vitro Fertilization Safe?
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One well-known complication of in vitro fertilization is the risk of multiple births, such as the Suleman octuplets born last month in California. What are the concerns beyond multiple births? Some studies indicate an increased risk of birth defects and
abnormal patterns of gene expression associated with IVF. The findings are considered preliminary and researchers say IVF is not excessively risky. But there's a lot we don't know. Patt talks with experts about the information we have, what's lacking, and why.
Wednesday, Feb. 25
Obama's Mortgage Relief Program Might be in Default
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It's a key component of President Obama's overarching economic policy, and one that was meant to deal with the core cause of the current recession. The two-part mortgage relief plan, which would offer refinancing to homeowners in trouble and loan modifications to people facing loan default, was mentioned in the president's speech last night; the problem is that the two distinct elements were blended together by the president. This adds to the confusion over a plan which critics doubt can target responsible homeowners or ultimately help that many troubled loans. Is the president's plan facing its own foreclosure?
- Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates, the nation's largest publisher of mortgage and loan information
Supreme Court Hands Down Rulings
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The Supreme Court handed down two long-awaited rulings this week. One 7-2 decision strips the right of anyone convicted of a domestic violence crime to own a firearm. The second, a unanimous decision, ruled that a religious sect in Utah could not force the city to erect a monument to its faith in a public park. How significant are the rulings? And what do they mean for jurisprudence?
- David Savage, staff writer in the Washington D.C. bureau of the LA Times
Men and Medicine
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Going to see the doctor has never been a "macho" thing to do, and women are much more likely than men to make that appointment. What factors cause some men to be hesitant to talk about their health, get a regular check up, or even see the doc when they're really sick? And what are the dangers of delaying that doctor's visit? We examine the difference and the consequences in how the sexes deal with their health.
The issue of men's health was featured in a recent episode of KQED's Health Dialogues
Big Man on Campus
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It's our monthly sit-down with the big man on campus, LA Unified superintendent Ramon C. Cortines. This month Patt asks the superintendent about corruption allegations against LAUSD's Wonder of Reading program, controversial school expansion plans in Playa Vista and Sylmar, and the latest budget cut details—will the superintendent be forced to take back his pledge of no mid-year teacher layoffs? We also get his input on the upcoming March 3rd Board of Education elections.
Barbie and Ruth
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Throughout her history, Barbie has been both cultural icon and chimera—both the object of young girls' envy and feminists' resentment. But the lesser known story is of the female creator behind Barbie, Ruth Handler, the tenth child of Polish Jewish immigrants, who fought to establish herself in a fiercely male-dominated field. Author Robin Gerber is here with the tragic, redeeming story of two women who changed American business and culture.
Thursday, Feb. 26
If the Good News is a $23 Trillion Debt, Imagine the Bad!
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Even with the significant cuts in spending, the new revenue sources from tax increases on the richest Americans and a carbon cap-and-trade system, the projected national deficit in President Obama's new federal budget will be $712 billion in 2019; the national debt will almost double to $23.1 trillion. The President will probably simultaneously anger and please almost every kind of constituent with his budget proposals, but the bleak reality is that the country is so deep in debt, there isn't much he can do long-term. Does the huge national debt figure ultimately matter?
Obama's Budget: Cut Greenhouse Gasses & Raise Money Doing It?
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Among the many ambitious programs contained in President Obama's budget is one particularly provocative idea that, if it works, could radically change the country's economic and environmental landscape. The President proposes to auction off carbon permits to businesses, which should bring in some $80 billion a year between 2012 and 2019. Of that money $15 billion would go toward "clean" energy investment and the rest would pay for individual tax credits. Is it possible to ostensibly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also generating a new revenue source for the government?
Obama's Budget: The Pentagon (and foreign wars) Takes a Big Hit
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In order for President Obama's budget projections to pan out over the next ten years he'll need a lot of peace and prosperity in the world. On the peace side of things the President is hoping for major changes in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and is banking on no new expensive military expeditions during his time in office. The gimmickry of the Bush Administration, which kept supplemental funding requests for Iraq and Afghanistan separate from the Pentagon budget, is over; and while the Pentagon's budget grows in the next two years, it then starts to dramatically shrink. Is the President being a little too hopeful on a peace-loving world?
Sinaloa Cartel Broken, but not yet Defeated
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Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that the US was mounting its biggest assault against the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the oldest and most violent, has recently split in two, with a former mid-level leader leading a new cartel that is particularly violent. The arrests of more than 750 people nationwide, and the seizing of tons of cocaine and marijuana as part of an investigation begun 21 months ago are a positive sign, but certainly only a small piece of a larger challenge. We check in for the big picture.
Businesses Need Sick Days Too: Health Care Costs for Small Businesses
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According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study, only 62 percent of small businesses (under 200 employees) offer health insurance to their workers. That number drops to less than half for businesses with under ten workers. Due to rising costs, some small business owners are opting to use part-time and contract labor rather than full-time employees, or even to down-size to avoid state-mandated insurance requirements. Is the cost of health care becoming a barrier to entrepreneurship?
Friday, Feb. 27
Obama Pulls Us out of Iraq
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President Obama announced at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina today that he plans over the next eighteen months to pullout troops from Iraq, reducing the number to a "transitional force" of 50,000 by the end of August, 2010, and ultimately withdrawing all troops in accordance with a security agreement Iraq negotiatied with the Bush administration, by December 2011. Now that it's really happening, is the plan realistic? And what are the unforseen consequences? We check in with some experts.
- Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department's Middle East Intelligence Office, and an adjunct scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C.
- Dr. Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
What's Manny's Problem?
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Two years for a total of $45 million - all to play a game. To the casual observer the contract offered to slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez by the Dodgers seems more than generous enough to get a deal done. And yet, late last night, Manny's agent rejected the Dodgers' offer even though there are no other obvious suitors for Manny's services this season. So what's Manny's problem? Perhaps the problem really lies with the Dodgers - their offer of $45 million included a lot of deferred money, which apparently angered Manny and his agent Scott Boras. Which side will blink first?
Measure E - Bucks for Business
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Los Angeles already spends millions of incentive dollars to bring businesses to the city, but supporters of Measure E say it is needed to create a standard strategy and new jobs. The naysayers call the measure financially risky at the least and, at the worst, welfare for the rich. The proponents for and against E argue the issue.
- Gary Toebben, President and CEO, LA Area Chamber of Commerce
- Walter Moore, spokesman for VoteNoLA, and a candidate for mayor.
Regulating Risk: An Oxymoron or Smart Policy for Banks?
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The news today that the U.S. government would vastly expand its ownership of the struggling Citigroup Corporation is the clearest example to date of a banking industry that has run far off the rails. $25 billion more taxpayer dollars will be used to purchase Citigroup stock that will hopefully stabilize a company that has been wracked by bad loans and shady accounting - two practices that are in the bullseye of the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats. There is a new wave of banking regulations coming that promises to give more transparency and oversight to the lending process. But can new regulations prevent future bank failures soon enough?
- Joseph Mason, professor of finance at Louisiana State University's College of Business and a senior fellow at The Wharton School
- James Barth, professor of finance at Auburn University and a senior fellow at the Milken Institute
Deadbeat Businesses Shamed
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The Board of Equalization has posted a list of Los Angeles area businesses that have failed to pay taxes--some as many as $4 million. Will this method of public shaming cause businesses to cough up the dough? And now that they're public, what were their reasons for not paying? Are they all crooks cutting corners, or did they have to make hard decisions about keeping people employed or sending away money they thought they could put to better use than the feds?
No More Raids on Pot Dispensaries?
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Attorney General Eric Holder announced at a press conference Wednesday that the Federal government will leave medical marijuana criminalization up to the states, meaning the DEA will no longer be raiding medical marijuana facilities in California, a promise Barack Obama made on the campaign trail. California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, but the DEA continued to raid marijuana dispensaries since the drug was still illegal under federal law. Could this be one step in the direction toward legalization of marijuana?
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