The future of our electric grid
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has pretty much worked five days straight to restore power to tens of thousands of residents after a heat wave caused an outage all over the county last weekend. All that air conditioning, not to mention the usual needs for lighting and a washing machine, can wear a grid down, you know. But thing is, if recent history tells us anything - we will have more extreme heat events like this and more frequently. Can our power grid handle that heat?
Guests:
- Emily Guerin, KPCC environment reporter
- Eric Fournier, Research Director at UCLA's California Center for Sustainable Communities.
Children Crossing: Erika
Leaving your home for a new land can be a harrowing experience — especially for children. Starting July 9th, Take Two spotlights five people who were just kids when they were taken to a new life in America. In this installment, we hear from Erika, who came from Guadalajara, Mexico.
Listen to Erika's story:
And if you missed any of our other Children Crossing stories, you can listen here.
Josh Newman and the Gas Tax repeal effort
In the June primary, Southern California state Senator Josh Newman was recalled by the voters in his district. It was the first major victory in a larger Republican campaign to weaken the Democratic majority in the state legislature and repeal the gas and car tax. California voters will be deciding whether to repeal the tax on their ballots in November.
Guest:
- Jill Replogle, KPCC Orange County reporter
Autonomous cars and trust
We check in with Take Two’s Sue Carpenter from a symposium on autonomous vehicles. The cars are coming to a street near you, Los Angeles, but research finds there is still a lot of distrust about the tech. Also at the conference, Department of Transportation chief Elaine Chao addresses attendees about federal attitude toward the rollout of AVs.
Guest:
- Sue Carpenter, Take Two
https://twitter.com/taketwo/status/1017086141902684160
And the most beautiful building in California is...
California is home to some impressive architecture, there's no doubt about that. So, it must have been a tough call when Business Insider asked their readers to pick the most beautiful building within every state. Well, the votes are in and the Salk Institute in La Jolla won for first place in the Golden State.
The grounds are perched atop a San Diego County seacliff, and combine sunlight-inviting glass panes with bold concrete walls. The Salk Institute's design was the brainchild of its namesake, Jonas Salk (you may remember him discovering the polio vaccine) and American architect, Louis Kahn. The two set out to construct an environment that would foster groundbreaking scientific research.
And most of the honorable-mention awards went to buildings all over SoCal.
- The Bradbury Building
- L.A. City Hall
- The L.A. Theater
- The Bonaventure Hotel
- The Eastern Columbia Building
Hollywood's Stahl and Hollyhock Houses got a shout-out along with the Pantheon and Bob Hope Estate in Palm Springs.
The Lakers team is taking shape
LeBron James has officially signed on with the Lakers but how might the new team take shape? Lakers officials has also signed on a few other veteran players to join their young team. A Martinez discusses all this and more in sports.
Guests:
- Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, Take Two sports contributors
The wild parrots of Pasadena
If you live in the Pasadena area, you might wake up to the loud squawking of Red-Crown parrots. They are considered endangered in their native Mexico but are thriving here – a population that can be traced to birds that were once pets that escaped their cages a few decades ago. Their survival in L.A. has some ecologists re-thinking what preservation really means.
Guest:
- Ursula Heise, co-founder of the Lab for Environmental Narrative Strategies at UCLA