Public records requests, military spending cuts, Irvine boarding houses

Published March 19, 2019 at 11:01 AM PDT

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SAN LUIS, AZ - OCTOBER 04: Metal signatures of military units are visible on a metal wall they helped construct on a swath of denuded desert running along the US-Mexico border on October 4, 2007 east of San Luis, Arizona. Recent US federal construction of border fences has rapidly sped up. The sudden acceleration marks a change from a month ago when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would have only completed 15 of 70 miles of new fencing promised by the end of September, enraging anti-illegal-immigration groups and many Republicans. Instead, the DHS reached its goal of 70 miles to raise the total amount of border fences from 75 to about 145 miles. The fence-building frenzy is the result of the controversial Secure Fence Act, passed last fall, calling for 698 miles of border fences. Critics argue that extensive fencing will damage fragile desert environments, divide border neighborhoods, and that illegal immigrants will continue to find ways over, under, and through the fence or simply go around it elsewhere along the 2000-mile-long international border. Supporters believe that it will hinder border crossers. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Southern California Public Radio and its web site, LAist.com, have joined forces with dozens of news gathering organizations to access police records. Plus, local military projects could be cut to help fund a border wall. And, Irvine considers changes to boarding houses.

Public Records

( Starts at 0:20 )

Until this year, California had some of the most secretive laws in the country when it came to police records. That has changed. A new state law, SB 1421, allows access to police records involving dishonesty, sexual assault and use of force. Now KPCC/LAist is joining with more than 30 newsrooms across the state to share both Public Records Act requests and the files we get in response.

Guest:

Megan Garvey, KPCC managing editor

Military Spending Cuts

( Starts at 5:51 )

The U.S. Defense Department gave Congress a list of military construction projects that could be cut to help pay for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Guest:

Libby Denkmann, KPCC reporter

Community Colleges

( Starts at 12:34 )

For many graduating California high school students, a four-year university may not be an option. The next best choice is often community college, but many students don't finish in a timely manner or even graduate, let alone transfer to a four-year school. So the California Community Colleges set some ambitious goals a couple of years back to increase student success rates. Well, the numbers revealing the system's progress just came out, and the schools have seen less than a 1% increase in students earning degrees, and just a 3% rise in transfers.

Guest:

Eloy Ortiz Oakley, California community colleges chancellor

Irvine Boarding Houses

( Starts at 18:38 )

Over 30,000 students attend UC-Irvine. But there's limited room on campus so many of them live off campus. That's created a problem in certain neighborhoods. Some residents are complaining about too many people living in single dwellings in their neighborhoods. So last week, the city council voted to ban some roommate situations.

Guest:

Brandon Pho, reporter for the Voice of OC

Freeway Sound Walls

( Starts at 25:02 )

Noise pollution from SoCal's many freeways seems omnipresent these days. In the early days of freeway travel, more noise was created than expected, which led LA to build its now ubiquitous freeway sound walls.