City of LA Seeks Marijuana Profits with Measure M
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Medical marijuana dispensaries are thriving in the City of Los Angeles, so Measure M on next Tuesday's ballot would levy a tax, even though the measure itself reminds voters that selling medical marijuana violates both state and federal laws. Would Measure M make the city accessory to a crime or are state laws so complex and confusing that LA just might get away with it? We hear the pros and cons. Also, the TED conference in Long Beach claims to present "the most interesting people on Earth." On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, in this era of political polarization, public school teachers are getting heat from both sides: leftist reformers and right-wing union busters. We hear how demoralized teachers are responding to some of the harshest attacks.
Banner image: A man walks past a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles,California. Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Main Topic
Measure M: LA's Effort to Cash In on Medical Marijuana ()
Measure M on next week's Los Angeles City ballot would impose a hefty business tax on medical marijuana. The ballot argument claims it would raise $10 million for everything from public safety to libraries to paving roads, alleys and sidewalks. But the language of the measure itself reminds voters that "the sale of marijuana is illegal." We hear why the City Council went ahead anyway and get the pros and cons.
Guests:
- Paul Koretz: Los Angeles City Councilman
- Don Duncan: California Director, Americans for Safe Access
- Matt Kumin: Medical Cannabis Counsel, Kumin-Sommers
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
It's the TED Conference in Long Beach ()
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and it's the name of a week-long annual conference taking place in Long Beach. An audience of movers and shakers who don't want their names used has paid $6000 apiece to hear what TED sponsors call "the most interesting people on Earth." It is possible to name and report on what they've been seeing and hearing and Kim Zetter's been doing that for Wired magazine.
Guests:
- Kim Zetter: Reporter, Wired magazine, @KimZetter
Main Topic
Education, State Finance and Teacher Bashing ()
Between education reformers and union busters, teachers feel like they're "crying in the wilderness, or perhaps just crying." That's according to Kay McSpadden, who teaches high school English in a rural South Carolina and author of Notes from a Classroom: Reflections on Teaching. Will bashing teachers improve education? Are they being scape-goated for conditions they didn't create and can't change?
Guests:
- Kay McSpadden: English Teacher, York Comprehensive High School
- Lisa Graham Keegan: Founder, Education Breakthrough Network
- Diane Ravitch: Research Professor of Education, New York University, @DianeRavitch
- Leonie Haimson: Founding Member, Parents across America
Links:
- Waiting for 'Superman' (movie)
- Central Falls High School (TtP feature on)
- Parents Union
- Parent Trigger
- CREDO National Charter School Study (Stanford)
- Accountability Report: Charter Schools (Center for Education Reform)
- Charter School Achievement (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools)
- McSpadden's 'Notes from a Classroom: Reflections on Teaching'
- Ravitch's 'The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Undermine Education'
- Ravitch on why teachers are enraged (CNN)
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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