Los Angeles Times
Matt Pearce is a national reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
PROFILE
Matt Pearce
Guest
FROM Matt Pearce
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
After voting to unionize, what's next for the LA Times and its publisher? The LA Times newsroom overwhelmingly voted to unionize today. They are demanding that their publisher Ross Levinsohn resign after NPR reported incidents of sexual misconduct. We speak with the NPR reporter who broke the story and one of the leaders of the union effort at the Times. Ross Levinsohn on Press Play last year , coming into the job.
To the Point
Who was Steve Paddock? Stephen Paddock was the man who killed at least 58 country-music concert-goers in Las Vegas on Sunday. What more do we know? Sheriff Joe Lombardo says he was leading a "secret life." Paddock’s surviving brother Eric, struggles to understand. He called his brother a gambler, but said that, "Steve took care of the people he loved. He helped make me and my family wealthy. He's the reason I was able to retire three years ago when I got really burned out doing the job that I did. I mean this is the Steve we know, we knew." Matt Pearce, national reporter for the Los Angeles Times , says new information that has come to light raises more questions than answers.
To the Point
ACLU puts limits on defending extremists gathering with guns After Charlottesville, the ACLU takes another look at free speech and violence. In 1934, Jewish lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union famously defended the free speech of Nazis in the United States. In 1978, the ACLU supported a Nazi march in Skokie, Illinois, even though it was home to many holocaust survivors. Last week's Unite the Right demonstration in Charlottesville took place after the ACLU defended its right to a permit when authorities tried to deny it. In the aftermath, California affiliates of the ACLU are saying, "White supremacist violence is not free speech." Matt Pearce, who reports for the Los Angeles Times , says the civil rights group will no longer defend white supremacists who come to rallies armed and prepared to incite violence.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Trump's failed foray into Los Angeles development Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump tried multiple times to make his mark on the LA real estate scene. In 1989, he vowed to build the tallest building in the world on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel. In 2000, he partnered with a small Native American tribe in the Coachella Valley to build a casino there. And in 2003, he put in a bid to lead the redevelopment of Grand Avenue. And each project saw Donald Trump on the losing end of the deal.
To the Point
Backlash in Blue Eric Garner in New York, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Tamir Rice in Cleveland are just a few of the African Americans whose deaths at the hands of police last year sparked a nationwide protest movement. The unrest and anger over police brutality and racial profiling has recently spilled over into threats and violent attacks by individuals against police on the beat -- including the shooting deaths of two Brooklyn officers three weeks ago. Once on the defensive, now police across the country are aggressively speaking out, in pro-police rallies, a drastic slowdown in New York in arrests, and a social media campaign, Blue Lives Matter , in support of law enforcement. What will this new phase in the national debate over race and policing bring?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Disney’s No-Fly Zone You’re probably familiar with the concept of the no-fly zone: It’s protected airspace over, say, sensitive military areas or the Kurdish areas of Iraq. But you might be surprised to learn there’s a no-fly zone over Disneyland in Anaheim, and one over Disney World in Florida. A lobbyist managed to get it to block banner advertising over the park. Is it an abuse of no-fly zones?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
A Different Tone in Ferguson Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ronald Johnson is now in charge of public safety in Ferguson after days of protests that turned into violent confrontations with city police. The new officers took a less combative approach last night, marching along with demonstrators who are protesting the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown last Saturday.
Recommended
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Rep. Schiff’s priorities for the House Intelligence Committee In January, Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff is expected to be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. We ask what investigations he will open, and what recourse there will be if Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker shuts down Mueller’s Russia probe.