New Political Lines Will Hang Republicans Out to Dry
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State legislators will lose their pay if no budget has passed by Wednesday of this week, and the prospect of newly redrawn district boundaries just might get some Republicans to cross the line. Those new district boundaries, drawn by an independent commission, may require the GOP to reinvent itself. But did the commission do all it could to accommodate the growth of the state's Latino and Asian populations? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, weird weather and climate change.
Making News
Governor Brown Wants Urgency for a Budget Deal ()
Legislators in Sacramento are getting close to the wire. As a result of voter anger last year, if Senators and Assembly members don't pass a budget by Wednesday's constitutional deadline, they'll lose their pay until they do. On YouTube yesterday, Governor Brown released a statement pushing his now familiar plan to avoid more spending cuts by extending tax increases. Shane Goldmacher of the Los Angeles Times has an update.
Guests:
- Shane Goldmacher: Los Angeles Times
Main Topic
What's Next for California's Republican Party? ()
The political website Calbuzz calls "reapportionment" the "most hated word" in politics and says reports about it amount to "eat your spinach journalism." But when you put familiar names on the maps of new districts, and look at which party wins and which one loses, it gets very interesting. Political insiders agree that the Citizens Commission created by voters did its job, by avoiding both partisanship and incumbency. And even Republicans agree that spells trouble for the GOP.
Guests:
- Adam Mendelsohn: Mercury Public Affairs
- Garry South: Garry South Group
- Rosalind Gold: National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund
Links:
Main Topic
Weird Weather and Climate Change ()
This year — and the past decade — have seen an increase in human catastrophes caused by unusually "extreme weather" of different kinds. Arizona's wildfires are the result of a drought, while late snow in the western mountains has led to predictions of massive flooding. This is the kind of thing climate-change scientists have predicted, but public skepticism that it's caused by human activity is on the increase and efforts in Washington to take any action are on the decline. We look at the science and the politics.
Guests:
- Elizabeth Kolbert: New Yorker, @NewYorker
- Anthony Leiserowitz: Yale University, @ecotone2
- Richard Rood: University of Michigan
- Bill McKibben: 350.org, @billmckibben
- Darren Samuelsohn: Politico.com, @dsamuelsohn
Links:
- Kolbert on the politics of climate change and extreme weather
- Yale Project on Climate Change on Americans' global warming beliefs, attitudes
- Rood, American Meteorological Society on climate policy
- McKibben’s extreme weather op-ed (video)
- McKibben's 'The End of Nature'
- Samuelsohn on Pawlenty, cap and trade
- Samuelsohn on Santorum, climate change as 'junk science'
- Samuelsohn on Romney, climate change
- Climate Direct Action
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert 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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