Los Angeles Times
Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
PROFILE
Mark Magnier
Guest
FROM Mark Magnier
To the Point
Radiation Fears Spread as Efforts to Cool Reactors in Japan Fail Military and police forces have used water-dropping helicopters and water canons in a desperate effort to cool down the spent fuel rods now exposed to the air at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. American and Japanese officials have different assessments of how much radiation is spewing into the air from Japan's damaged reactors. Both the Pentagon and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are sending experts into the area.
To the Point
Political Aftershocks of the Earthquake in China Three days of mourning are over and the Olympic torch relay has resumed, but the earthquake aftermath will trouble China for years to come. More than 51,000 have died and 29,000 are missing. Five million are homeless and 300,000 are injured. Officials in Beijing say hundreds of dams have been damaged, and that landslides have created 30 new lakes behind fragile mud flows. The UN has praised China for unprecedented openness since the quake struck a week and a half ago, but a return to restrictions on news coverage seems to be under way. We update the damage and the risks to come. Can an authoritarian government survive the free flow of information?
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Left, Right & Center
The week that wouldn't quit Will next week get even weirder? (Special one-hour episode)
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How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.