Political Reporter, San Jose Mercury-News
Political reporter for the San Jose Mercury-News
PROFILE
Mary Anne Ostrom
Guest
FROM Mary Anne Ostrom
Which Way, L.A.?
Supreme Court Hears Debate on Prop 8 Last May, the State Supreme Court declared that same-sex marriage was legal in California. Today, that same court heard arguments for and against Proposition 8 , which passed last November, and amended the state constitution to say that only marriage between a man and a woman is legal or recognized in California. Chief Justice Ronald George wrote the legalization decision. Outside the courthouse in San Francisco, hundreds of people demonstrated on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue.
To the Point
Preparing for the Olympic Torch Relay in San Francisco The Olympic Torch has been greeted with protests during almost every leg of the relay on the road to Beijing. In Paris yesterday, it was extinguished four times. Tomorrow it's scheduled to run in San Francisco, where protesters scaled the Golden Gate Bridge to hang banners. On Friday, the International Olympic Committee will meet to decide if the international process should be called off. Meantime, heavy security is being planned in San Francisco. Marilyn King is a two-time Olympic pentathlete who's planning to run a leg in tomorrow's torch relay in San Francisco. Mary Anne Ostrom reports for the San Jose Mercury-News .
To the Point
Will YouTube and Web 2.0 Change American Politics? CNN hyped last night's Democratic presidential debate at The Citadel in South Carolina as "revolutionary" because real people got to ask questions on video. Some students of politics and the media said the event would do for interactive Web 2.0 what the Kennedy-Nixon debates did for TV. Others called it just a tiny step forward, because CNN got to decide which questions the candidates had to respond to. Some 3000 thousand people submitted amateur videos that tackled everything from serious policy questions to sophomoric humor, including a question on global warming that came from an animated snowman. Did the format make for entertaining TV? Were the candidates more authentic? Did it finally come down to politics as usual?
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To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?