The Dodgers Uninvited An LA LGBTQ+ Nuns Group From Pride Night. Thoughts?
When the Los Angeles Dodgers announced a decision last week to uninvite the L.A. chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a self-described "Order of 30th Century Nuns" known for decades of charity work and dressing in drag, a backlash ensued.
The mostly LGBTQ+ Sisters were supposed to receive the Community Hero Award at the Dodgers’ 10th annual Pride Night. But the team, facing pressure from conservative and Catholic groups, rescinded the honor. Since then, L.A. Pride, the Dodger’s main partner for the event, as well as the ACLU of Southern California and the L.A. LGBT Center, have announced they're pulling out of Pride Night in response. Today on AirTalk, we want to hear your reactions and thoughts. Call 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com.
With files from LAist. Read the full story here
California Snowpack Update: The View From The Top, And The Tech Helping To Reveal It
California’s remarkably wet winter has led to a historic snowpack and may lead to historic flooding as well. To get a better understanding of how much snow is expected to melt, and how the state can prepare for the deluge of water, a team of scientists have taken flight, literally. A state-funded program is sending the scientists high above the snowpack to measure its depth using laser pulses and spectrometers. So far, their data reveals that the snowpeak reached its peak in April and it holds nearly 40 million acre-feet of water. These aerial surveys have provided a much more accurate picture of the impending watershed. Joining us today on AirTalk to talk about the state of California’s snowpack and what we can expect snowmelt to look like this summer is Sean de Guzman, manager of the Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting at the Department of Water Resources and Liz Carey, lead of flight operations and educational programs at Airborne Snow Observatories.
That’s (No Longer) Mr. To You: Wall Street Journal Drops The Use Of Honorifics
Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Mx. are on the way out. Last week, the Wall Street Street Journal became the latest publication to drop the use of honorifics, making the New York Times one of the only remaining news organizations still committed to the titles. The WSJ’s decision was several years in the making, Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker wrote in a note to readers last week. She said the publication’s original intention with using honorifics was to maintain a polite tone. “In the end, we decided that dropping those titles is more in line with the way people communicate. It puts everyone on a more-equal footing and will help make our writing livelier and more approachable,” Tucker wrote. Of course, there’s nuances – including occupational titles for politicians, clery, and judges. And, “Dr.” is now reserved for medical doctors…sorry Ph.D.s.
On today’s show, we want to hear from you. Do you feel strongly about honorifics? Are you constantly telling people, “just call me Joe,” or do you prefer a title? What value (if any) do honorifics hold in society, and has their purpose changed throughout history? Give us a call at 866-893-5722 or email us at atcomments@LAist.com.
The Legal Road Ahead After UC Regents Approve Proposal To Allow Hiring Of Undocumented Students For On-Campus Jobs
The University of California Board of Regents voted unanimously last week to create a working group that will determine the best path forward to allow undocumented students to be hired for on-campus positions. This comes almost a year after a group of undocumented students from UCLA, along with UCLA's Center for Immigration Law and Policy and the UCLA Labor Center launched the campaign Opportunity For All, pushing for the UC Board of Regents to allow campuses to hire undocumented students and laying out the legal argument to do so. The argument is based on the 1986 Immigration Rights and Control Act (IRCA) that prohibits employers from hiring undocumented workers. Legal scholars behind the campaign argue that because the IRCA does not explicitly name states as employers the act does not apply to the UCs. The UC Regents vote does not mean that departments can start hiring undocumented students just yet. And there is the potential of litigation by the federal government for violating the 1986 Immigration Rights and Control Act. Joining us to discuss the decision of the UC Board of Regents and the potential legal issues the decision may face is Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, higher education correspondent for LAist, Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director for the Center for Immigration Law & Policy at UCLA and one of the authors, and Daniel Morales, associate professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center. We also want to hear from you. Are you an undocumented student at one of the UCs? How do you feel about the decision? Let us know by calling 866-893-5722 or you can email us at atcomments@laist.com.
University Athletic Programs Would Be Required To Share Revenue From Major Sports Under Proposed California Law
College athletes could finally get a slice of the revenue pie that athletics departments generate from big money sports. Democratic Pasadena-area Assemblymember Chris Holden, who played basketball at San Diego State, has proposed a new bill called The College Athlete Protection Act, and it give college athletes the right to receive a portionfrom their university’s athletic department’s annual revenue, Players would be eligible to receive up to $25,000 annually; and for some of the most successful schools in California, that number could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Pac-12 schools including USC and UCLA oppose the legislation, saying the new law would likely lead to the elimination of sports that don’t generate revenue.
Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with associate professor at Pepperdine University and founder of Ruling Sports Alicia Jessop and University of Washington Deputy Athletic Director Andy Fee about how this legislation would change the landscape of college athletics and the way players are compensated.
New Book On Dr. Martin Luther King Offers Further Details, Research Into His Life
A new book by acclaimed book author Jonathan Eig, who’s previous work was documenting the life of activist and box Muhammed Ali in “Ali: A Life,” takes a similar approach to biographically detailing the journey of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King. In “King: A Life,” he offers new research into King’s politics, having used recently released FBI files and found additional research into an icon that was considered moderate by some and too radical by others. Eig’s research even found itself rewriting history, having found an often cited interview by Dr. King where he criticizes Malcolm X to be a complete alteration of what was actually said.
Today on AirTalk, Larry talks to Jonathan Eig, journalist, biography and author of the new book “King: A Life,” to talk about his findings about the acclaimed civil rights hero’s story that has been untold until now.