Lenora Lapidus

Playboy Magazine built a culture of objectifying women that doesn't fly in the #MeToo era.

California’s relentless clean-air enforcer, Mary Nichols, has divided the automobile industry. After weeks of secret negotiations, the Chair of the State’s Air Resources Board has announced that Ford, Honda VW and BMW of America won’t go along with President Trump’s rollback of Barack Obama’s fuel-economy standards. Nichols claims it’s an “olive branch,” giving car makers the “flexibility” to clean up the air at the same time they continue to market vehicles that make the most money. Brady Dennis of the Washington Post calls it a “big deal,” even if Toyota, GM and 11 other companies revert to Trump’s new federal standards--at least for the moment. Alan Baum is a consultant for both the industry and environmental organizations. He says the four who made the deal with California have a slight lead on their competitors in developing the technology of the future, with China currently far ahead of them all. He says the western car makers are doing a poor job of educating consumers about the benefits of hybrids and electrics. Nichols’s history with the Air Resources Board goes back to the 1970’s. She was named Chair by Republican Governor Arnold Schwartenegger and reappointed by Democrats Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. She made an international name for herself for years ago when she blew the whistle on Volkswagen for faking emissions tests on the diesel cars it sold for decades all over the world.

Host Steve Chiotakis goes on a grunion run. Embattled LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva takes tough questions from KCRW's Warren Olney.

A United Nations expert finds the WikiLeaks founder has been subjected to psychological torture, and media around the globe played a part.

President Trump says negative economic forecasts are fake news, but he’s also making nervous calls to his friends in the business world to ask if they’re true.

The House and Senate are looking into Facebook’s plan to launch a currency called Libra. Neither side of the political aisle trusts Facebook, believing it's too big.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before congress, but does he say anything new?

The original purpose of cities was to bring people together. That was their function for thousands of years. Then came the 20th Century and the automobile, which, “blew cities apart.”

This week, the political debate dominated political debate.