Supreme Court Rules Students Attending Religious Schools Have The Right To State Aid
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can’t exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition aid for private education, a decision that could ease religious organizations’ access to taxpayer money.
The 6-3 outcome could fuel a renewed push for school choice programs in some of the 18 states that have so far not directed taxpayer money to private, religious education. The most immediate effect of the court’s ruling beyond Maine probably will be in nearby Vermont, which has a similar program.
The decision is the latest in a line of rulings from the Supreme Court that have favored religion-based discrimination claims. The court is separately weighing the case of a football coach who says he has a First Amendment right to pray at midfield immediately after games. Michael A. Helfand, Brenden Mann Foundation Chair in Law and Religion at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law and Rebecca S. Markert, legal director for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, join Larry to discuss the ruling.
With files from the Associated Press
Housing Market Check-In: Asking Prices Scaling Down As Mortgage Rates Price Out Buyers
What’s been a hot housing market in the United States has now begun to slow down, with many buyers priced out due to increasing mortgage rates. Median home prices reached a record high in May across the nation, sitting at above $400,000. In Los Angeles County, which has its own unique factors, the median home price has soared to $900,000 according to Redfin. But will those asking prices start to trend down as interest rates rise? Will sellers cut prices, giving buyers a bit of an edge? Today on AirTalk, Larry checks on the current state of Southern California’s housing market with Altos Research CEO Mike Simonsen and Gary Painter, professor at the USC Price School of Public Policy.
LA’s Historic Love For Racing
At one point in time, Los Angeles was the biggest racing market in the world. That’s according to author Harold L. Osmer, who wrote “Where They Raced: Auto Racing Venues in Los Angeles, 1900-1990.” Tracks and raceways could be found throughout the region, including in Pasadena, Beverly Hills, El Sereno and Playa Del Rey. L.A. Times Columnist Patt Morrison details how some L.A. neighborhoods were shaped by this history in her latest column, “Horses, motorcycles and fast cars: Angelenos have long loved racing and racetracks.” Today on AirTalk, Patt Morrison joins Larry to discuss.
COVID-19 AMA: Vaccines Now Available For Kids Under 5, COVID Reinfections, & More
In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Dean Blumberg, professor of medicine and chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.
Topics today include:
- New California COVID wave has big spread, less illness
- COVID-19 vaccine available for LA County infants and toddlers
- 2 million California kids are now eligible for COVID vaccine. How many will get it?
- If you still have not had COVID after the latest surge, what are the odds you never will?
- Study under review notes each SARS-CoV-2 reinfection causes more severe disease
- Study finds that Omicron variant is significantly less of a risk than Delta
Eso Won, L.A.’s Beloved Black-Owned Bookstore, Will Close Its Doors By The Year’s End
Eso Won Books, L.A’s widely beloved Black-owned independent bookstore, will be closing its physical shop at the end of the year. Since opening in the late 1980s, the Leimert Park bookstore has become a cultural center for L.A.’s Black community, hosting signings and readings by celebrated Black authors and luminaries, including Spike Lee, Ibram X. Kendi, Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Octavia E. Butler, Toni Morrison, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Barack Obama. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and a summer of protests demanding racial justice, the store experienced a huge spike in sales and patronage as people sought out books and materials on the Black experience and antiracism. //
Today on AirTalk, we’re joined by James Fugate, owner of Eso Won, and LA-based freelance journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan, a frequent reader at Eso Won, to discuss the history of the store and the importance of independent and Black-owned bookstores.
“Bad Mexicans” Explores The Start Of The Mexican Revolution And How It Reverberates Today
The 1910 lynching of a ranch hand in South Texas for allegedly murdering a white woman is the start of UCLA history professor Kelly Lytle Hernández’s new book “Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022) about the Mexican Revolution, the Magonistas and their political movement to unseat the government of Mexican autocrat Porfirio Diaz, and the rise of white imperialism.
Today on AirTalk, Professor Hernández joins Larry to discuss her new book, the history of the Mexican Revolution, and how it changed our political landscape.
Professor Hernández will be discussing her book in a free, in-person event tonight at 7pm at Vroman's bookstore in Pasadena. You can find details of the event here.