What Do Court Closures Mean for Criminal Justice?
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From Malibu to San Pedro, from Beverly Hills to Pasadena, Los Angeles County regional courthouses are shutting down. All personal injury cases will be heard in just one place. Witnesses, defendants, prosecutors and cops will have to go on the road. Judges will have up to 8000 cases to deal with at once. Also, Republicans who were all for Mitt Romney just over a week ago react to his explanation for losing. And, LA is known for street venders, but it turns out they're breaking the law. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, America's oil boom: the economy and the environment.
Banner image: v1ctor/flickr
Main Topic
Budget Cuts and the Right of Access to Court ()
Last April, 56 Los Angeles County courtrooms were shut down, workers were laid off and judges were asked to double up in the use of remaining staff and facilities. Presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon said, "We are rationing justice." Now, it's become even worse. Yesterday, Judge Edmon announced that all courtrooms will be closed down in Beverly Hills, West LA, Malibu, Huntington Park, Whittier, Pomona, San Pedro and Avalon on Catalina Island.
Guests:
- Lee Smalley Edmon: Los Angeles County Superior Court
- Brian Kabateck: Consumer Attorneys of California
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Main Topic
LA Times Reporter Recalls Romney Message to Donors ()
During the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney told high-level donors his job would be "not to worry" about the "47 percent" of Americans who depended on government. When he found that he'd been recorded, he told interviewers he'd been clumsy and that, "I really care about the 100 percent." He said similar things during all three debates. But now there's another recording, this time of yesterday's conference call to donors when Romney blamed his loss on what he called President Obama's "gifts" to blacks, Latinos and women. Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times has more.
Guests:
- Maeve Reston: Los Angeles Times, @MaeveReston
Reporter's Notebook
Street Vendors in Los Angeles ()
LA has long been known for street venders, but what they're doing is often against the law. Now they're organizing to get the law changed. KCRW's Saul Gonzalez has the story. (You can see pictures of the street venders at our WWLA blog.)
Guests:
- Saul Gonzalez: KCRW Producer, @SaulKCRW
Main Topic
Oil and Gas Boom Reshapes US Energy Landscape ()
Turns out it was old news to energy experts, but this week's report from the International Energy Agency has a lot of others revising their thinking about the domestic production of oil and what it will mean for jobs and the economy. Until now, it's been conventional wisdom that Saudi Arabia would be the world's leading producer of oil until 2035. Now, the Agency says the US will surpass that country in just five years. America's boom in oil and natural gas is being compared to the tech boom of the 1990's, with the unexpected capacity to create new jobs and accelerate economic recovery. But it's already bad news for the environment and lifestyles in many places — and it could drastically set back efforts to cope with global warming.
Guests:
- Elisabeth Rosenthal: New York Times, @nytrosenthal
- Kevin Hall: McClatchy Newspapers, @KevinGHall
- Philip Verleger: PK Verleger
- Ralph Cavanagh: National Resources Defense Council, @NRDC
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Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation.
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