Fire Department Recruiting, and the Supervisor's Race

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti has ordered an immediate stop to the recruitment of firefighters. He called the hiring process "fatally flawed" and he's enlisted Santa Monica-based think tank RAND Corp to study the process. That means a scheduled fire academy class with about 70 cadets will no longer be held, and no more firefighters will be hired from the current civil service list for the next three months. KCRW's Steve Chiotakis spoke with Ben Welsh, reporter at the LA Times's Data Desk, about the LAFD's troubled hiring practices. Also joining the Mixer this week is KCRW's Warren Olney, who moderated a debate this week between four candidates for the LA County Board of Supervisor's Third District Seat, which is home to 2 million people and includes Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Malibu.