Gun Control in the Wake of Tucson, Gardena High Shootings
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As several schools in the San Fernando Valley are locked down while police look for a man who shot a school policeman, columnist Steve Lopez debates the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America. Also, while cities work overtime to protect redevelopment money, Governor Brown tells them he needs it to help solve the state's massive financial problems. Plus, Sheriff Lee Baca responds to an LA Times editorial accusing him of performing official favors for wealthy contributors in Beverly Hills. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, the New York Times reports that the US and Israel tested equipment just like that in Iran's nuclear program, which was partly disabled by the Stuxnet computer virus. Is Stuxnet the future of cyberwarfare? What are the risks of blowback and the immediate consequences for renewed talks with Iran?
Banner image: Lichelle Hill (R) hugs her daughter Breann Hill (L), 15, outside Gardena High School in Gardena, California January 18, 2011 after two students were shot, one in the head, when a gun went off accidentally in a classroom. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Making News
Brown Faces City Officials over Proposed Elimination of Redevelopment Funds ()
Governor Jerry Brown addressed the California League of Cities today after reports in the morning papers that cities around the state are trying to protect redevelopment money he wants to spend on public safety and schools. John Myers is Sacramento reporter for public radio station KQED in San Francisco and host of The California Report.
Guests:
- John Myers: Sacramento Bureau Chief, California Report, @johnmyers
Main Topic
Gun Control in the Wake of Tucson, Gardena High Shootings ()
A high school and a middle school in Woodland Hills were locked down today after a school policeman was shot and a manhunt got under way for man described as possibly in his 40's. The officer was wearing body armor, and was hospitalized in fair condition. Meantime, students at Gardena High School had to line up on the sidewalk for screening this morning, a policy that was not followed yesterday. That's when an automatic weapon brought on to the campus in a backpack accidentally discharged when the bag was laid down on a desk. The boy and girl who were hit are still in stable and critical condition respectively. The boy with the backpack faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon. This morning's Los Angeles Times carried a column by Steve Lopez under the headline, "It's time to inject sanity into the gun debate."
Guests:
- Steve Lopez: Columnist, Los Angeles Times, @LATstevelopez
- Sam Paredes: Executive Director, Gun Owners of California
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Charges of Favoritism Dog Sheriff Baca ()
On Saturday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was accused of favoritism in an LA Times editorial. In two previous articles and one since, the paper reported that Baca personally intervened on behalf of two people in Beverly Hills. In the case involving Ezat Delijani, Baca asked District Attorney Steve Cooley how to appeal a prosecutor's decision to reject forgery charges the real estate magnate made against a tenant. In the other case, Guess founder Georges Marciano claimed employees had embezzled $1.4 million. Baca personally ordered an investigation that took a detective 500 hours before he and prosecutors found no criminal wrongdoing. Both men have given the Sheriff gifts and contributed to his charities. Baca joins us to discuss the allegations.
Guests:
- Lee Baca: Los Angeles County Sheriff
Main Topic
Iran, Stuxnet and International Diplomacy ()
The US and Israel now say Iran is not as far along in developing nuclear technology as they thought just a few months ago. Hillary Rodham Clinton says that's due to international sanctions. The outgoing chief of Israeli intelligence cites what he calls "technical setbacks." The New York Times is more specific, pointing to the Stuxnet computer virus, tested at Israel's Dimona nuclear complex with assistance from the United States.
Segment image: Iran begins to fuel its first nuclear power station on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr. Photo: IIPA via Getty Images
Guests:
- John Markoff: Technology Reporter, New York Times, @markoff
- David Albright: President, Institute for Science and International Security
- John Arquilla: Professor of Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School
- Robin Wright: Senior Fellow, US Institute of Peace, @wrightr
Links:
- Ralph Langer on Stuxnet
- IAEA and Iran
- Markoff on the impact of Israeli test of worm on Iran's nuclear program
- ISIS preliminary report on Stuxnet's role in damaging centrifuges at Natanz Enrichment Plant
- Albright's 'Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's Enemies'
- Wright's 'The Iran Primer: Power, Politics and US Policy'
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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