Who Gets Hurt When the California Budget Stalls
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The State Legislature is ending this year’s legislative session without completing their principal mission of passing a budget. At the same time they’ve been collecting money from lobbyists for their own campaigns. Also, eminent scientists have been fired from a state board that regulates chemicals, in the midst of a lawsuit brought by polluting industries, and the McCourts in divorce court. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, the big lesson from this month’s outbreak of salmonella is don’t eat eggs if the yolks are still runny. We hear about filthy conditions, animal cruelty and the absence of federal or state regulation at massive egg farms in Iowa.
Banner image: California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about the State budget during an appearance at City Summit 2010 August 31, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Making News
Dodger Owner Frank McCourt Takes the Stand ()
The divorce trial of Frank and Jamie McCourt continued today in Superior Court, focusing mainly on who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. The case is expected to last up to a month and determine who will be awarded some $400 to $500 million in assets. Gene Maddaus was in the courtroom for the LA Weekly.
Guests:
- Gene Maddaus: Reporter, LA Weekly, @GeneMaddaus
Main Topic
The Legislature Adjourns with Unfinished Business ()
The State Assembly and Senate still haven't passed a budget, but they have cracked down on abuses of public trust by local officials, at the same time they're ending this year's legislative session with $380,000 in campaign money raised from lobbyists in the past few days. We hear about some of the pain caused when there's no spending plan.
Guests:
- George Skelton: Columnist, Los Angeles Times
- Jean Ross: Executive Director, California Budget Project
- Jack Scott: former California State Legislator
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Toxic Air Contaminant Board Members Disappear into Thin Air ()
Five scientists from Stanford, UCLA, USC and UC Davis have been dismissed without explanation from the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants, a little-known group with weighty responsibilities that decides how new chemicals should be regulated. The action comes in the midst of a lawsuit brought by a group of industrial polluters. Amy Standen reports for Quest and the California Report, produced by KQED in San Francisco.
Guests:
- Amy Standen: Reporter, KQED’s 'Quest' and 'California Report'
Links:
Main Topic
Egg Safety, Animal Rights and Industrial Farming ()
Yesterday, FDA inspectors reported filthy conditions at the two Iowa mega-farms that have recalled a half billion eggs because of a national outbreak of salmonella. The irony is that the FDA had no regulations for egg safety until last month.
Guests:
- Philip Brasher: Washington Correspondent, Des Moines Register
- Caroline Smith DeWaal: Food Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
- Erica Meier: Executive Director, Compassion over Killing
- Jeffrey Armstrong: Chair, United Egg Producers' Animal Welfare Advisory Committee
- Joel Salatin: Farmer/Rancher, Polyface Farms
Links:
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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