Which Way, L.A.?
Union-City Showdown over Budget Cuts
LA's Mayor and City Council are looking at hard choices as revenues continue on the decline. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, the US Supreme Court says a defendant found guilty after a fair trail does not have the same rights as a free man.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenMayor Villaraigosa promised that an early retirement deal would save enough money to prevent furloughs and layoffs, but tax revenues have dropped so much it's not affordable. Which services will be cut and which will be saved? Will the LAPD get precedence over everything else? What about the early retirement deal made with so-called "civilian workers?" How much longer will the city spend a million dollars more than it has everyday? On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, the US Supreme Court says a defendant found guilty after a fair trail does not have the same rights as a free man. Does that mean a condemned man should be put to death, even if new evidence shows he was innocent?
In this episode
2 storiesCapital Punishment, Due Process and the Constitution
Three young children died in a house fire in Corsicana, Texas in 1991. In a two-day trial, their father was convicted of murdering them by setting the fire. Just before he was scheduled for execution in 2004, an independent investigator reported that the fire was caused by accident, not by arson as Cameron Todd Willingham's jury was told.
Read the story30 minUnion-City Showdown over Budget Cuts
In July, at Mayor Villaraigosa's urging, the City of LA agreed on an early retirement plan to avoid furloughs and massive layoffs of so-called "civilian employees." Now, financial advisors to the both Mayor and the City Council are saying that plan is unaffordable. The revenues just aren't there.
Read the story22 min
