Former LA City Councilmember, Fixture In CA Politics Rosalind Wyman Dies At 92
Roz Wyman, who made Los Angeles City history books for being the youngest ever elected councilmember at 22 in 1953, has died at the age of 92. Her impact on the city still continues even now, with Dodgers Stadium being a reminder of her efforts in bringing a professional baseball team to the city, having worked with then Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley to bring the team here from Brooklyn in 1957.
Today on AirTalk, director of Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and former L.A. County supervisor and city councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky joins Larry to discuss the life and legacy of Wyman and her influence on the community.
Growth Is Up Slightly, Mortgage Rates At Record Heights. What Does All This Spell For The Economy?
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.6% annual rate from July through September, snapping two straight quarters of contraction and overcoming high inflation and interest rates just as voting begins in midterm elections in which the economy’s health has emerged as a paramount issue. Meanwhile, the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate topped 7% for the first time in more than two decades this week, a result of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes intended to tame inflation not seen in some 40 years. The last time the average rate was above 7% was April 2002, a time when the U.S. was still reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but six years away from the 2008 housing market collapse that triggered the Great Recession. Last year at this time, rates on a 30-year mortgage averaged 3.14%. Here to explain the latest on the economy are Richard Green, Director and Chair of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and Chris Thornberg, director of the UC Riverside Center for Economic Forecasting and Development
With files from the Associated Press
Understanding Conspiracies, Who Believes Them And Why Through The New Book ‘Conspiracy’
Why do seemingly rational people believe conspiracy theories? Bestselling author and founding publisher of Skeptic Magazine, Michael Shermer, raises this question in his new book “Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational” (Johns Hopkins University, 2022). And he makes the point that the state of conspiracism is at its most pressing moment today compared to any other time. Shermer presents his own analysis of why and dives into how we break down conspiracies and their power. Shermer joins Larry on AirTalk to discuss.
COVID-19 AMA: Is A “Tripledemic” Happening, Research Casts Doubt On New Booster Shots, And 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:
- Is a ‘Tripledemic’ among us? Flu, Covid, and RSV
- The rise in respiratory syncytial virus in Southern California
- Your COVID symptoms may depend on your vaccination status
- Why are flu cases rising?
- New research casts doubt on the efficacy of the new COVID booster
- Do people have booster fatigue?
Twitter Is Shedding Its Top Tweeters — We Break Down Why And And The Exodus Means For The Platform
Just days before billionaire Elon Musk is set to take over the social media site, Reuters has reported that Twitter is shedding its most prolific users. According to internal research obtained by the news site, “heavy tweeters,” who make up 10% of monthly users but create half of Twitter’s revenue and account for 90% of all content, have been fleeing the site since the onset of the pandemic. Just as bad for the site’s pocketbook is a marked decline of “safe for work” topics like entertainment and sports that advertisers are comfortable paying for ads next to, and a rise in “not safe for work” content such as pornography among English-speaking users. The decline comes after Facebook announced a decline in monthly users for the first time ever earlier this year, and the future of social media as an industry appears murky.
Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with Sheila Dang, reporter for Reuters who first reported on Twitter’s loss of top tweeters and Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia about the decline in Twitter’s heavy tweeters, and what it means for the platform.
TV-Talk: The White Lotus Season 2, Love Is Blind Season 3, Atlanta Series Finale & More
Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network tv and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we’re going to try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, Larry talks to New Yorker tv critic Inkoo Kang and Melanie McFarland, television critic at Salon and president of the Television Critics Association.