(L-R) Actor Will Arnett, director Jonathan Liebesman and actress Megan Fox attend the premiere of Paramount Pictures' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" at Regency Village Theater on August 3, 2014 in Westwood, California. ; Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Paramount Pictu

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Amy Nicholson, Peter Rainer and Charles Solomon review this week’s releases, including “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “What If,” “The Hundred Foot Journey” and more. TGI-Filmweek!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

What If:

The Hundred Foot Journey:

Guests:

Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and LA Weekly

Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor

Charles Solomon, animation film critic for KPCC and author and historian for amazon.com

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan with assistant director-general for health security Keiji Fukuda on August 8, 2014 in Geneva give a press conference following a two-day emergency meeting on west Africa's Ebola epidemic, as the death toll nears 1,000.; Credit: ALAIN GROSCLAUDE/AFP/Getty Images

The World Health Organization has declared West Africa’s Ebola epidemic is an international public health emergency. A spike in cases over the past two days has overwhelmed the region -- 1,779 people have been infected so far, and 961 have died. This years outbreak is the worst in Ebola’s 40-year tracking history. Aid organizations and doctors in West Africa blame the rapid spread of misinformation and fear about Ebola -- one crucial step in slowing and stopping the spread of the virus is education. Many of the countries where Ebola is most dangerous are ill-equipped to handle the virus. In the U.S., where two Americans with the disease have been sent for treatment, preventative measures and better hospital resources are better able to handle infectious diseases.

What are the next steps in slowing the spread of Ebola? How should people in West Africa handle the virus? What do people in the U.S. and global travelers need to know about the disease?

Guest:

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.,. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, August 7, 2014.; Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The US launched an airstrike against Islamic militants in northern Iraq this morning, less than a day after President Obama authorized limited military action against Islamic militants ISIL, which began advancing across Iraq since June.

The Pentagon said two F/A-18 jet fighters dropped laser-guided bombs on a target near Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan where a US Consulate and a handful of military advisers are based. ISIL has been moving toward Erbil in recent days.

The bombing is the first major American military operation in Iraq since troop withdrawal in 2011.

On Thursday, President Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq to protect American personnel in Erbil and across Iraq. He also authorized  humanitarian food drops to help thousands of Iraqis that have been driven into the mountains in the city of Sinjar in northwest Iraq.

Guests:

Eric M Davis, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University and past director of the University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He keeps the blog, The New Middle East and has written extensively about ISIS and Iraq

Geoffrey Corn,  Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and a veteran Army prosecutor

Few films in the current fare are capitalizing on the foodie culture. Why do you feel that is?; Credit: flickr

Today “The Hundred-Foot Journey” opens starring Helen Mirren as a French chef who clashes with a young Indian chef played by Manish Dayal.

Also taking center stage are tantalizing shots of beef stews, spiced curries and sweet crepes. Thanks to the success of The Food Network, audiences have come to expect a gastronomic experience when the camera enters a kitchen.

Surprisingly few films in the current fare are capitalizing on the foodie culture. “Julie and Julia,”  “Chef,” and the forthcoming “Adam Jones” are part of a very short list in recent years.

Why aren’t there more? What are your most memorable foodie movies or even the best cooking scenes?

Guests:

Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and LA Weekly

Peter Rainer, film critic for KPCC and the Christian Science Monitor

; Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The LA District Attorney is investigating a crash involving an LA County Sheriff Deputy who fatally struck a bicyclist on Mulholland Drive last year. Records show the deputy, Andrew Francis Wood, might have been texting at or around the time he hit Milton Olin, Jr., 65. Police officers are exempt from California’s ban on texting and driving, but only in emergency situations. Patrol-car computers and radios also demand officers’ attention, but they are given advanced driving safety training known as EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Courses).

How do police and other first responders manage the demands of communications and driving? Should the rules that govern them be just as strict as those for civilians or can they use their discretion to know what is and is not safe?

Guest:

J.P. Molnar, former Nevada state trooper who has been teaching EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operations Courses) since 1991; Law Officer Magazine's "Cruiser Corner" columnist

File: Austin Beutner on stage during the preview of The Broad Stage 2010-2011 schedule at The Broad Stage on April 22, 2010 in Santa Monica.; Credit: Mark Sullivan/Getty Images for The Broad Stage

Austin Beutner has been named the new publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times.

The 54-year-old was the first deputy mayor of Los Angeles and the city’s former jobs czar under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. But he first made his name first in the world of high finance on Wall Street, as the youngest partner of the Blackstone Group and then co-founder of Evercore Partners. Beutner briefly ran for the Los Angeles mayorship in 2013 before dropping out of the race.

Beutner’s appointment came amid an industry-wide decline in print advertising revenue. The Los Angeles Times, like many news publications across the country, is trying to monetize its web presence to make up for the loss.

Beutner has called Los Angeles home since 2000. He succeeds former Times publisher Eddy W. Hartenstein, who recommended him for the job.

As a LA Times reader, what do you think of the appointment? What does the future hold for the LA Times with the appointment? What is the role of a publisher? How much editorial influence would Beutner yield at the newspaper?

Guests: 

Alice Walton, KPCC politics reporter

Gabriel Kahn, Director, Future of Journalism at the Annenberg Innovation Lab; former LA bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck poses for a picture at the Los Angeles Police Foundation's 10th annual fundraising gala held at the new LAPD Headquarters on November 7, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. ; Credit: Toby Canham/Getty Images

The Police Commission is meeting tomorrow to decide whether to reappoint LAPD Chief Charlie Beck for a second five-year term.

Crime in the city has decreased for 11 years in a row and Beck has played an important role in keeping Los Angeles safe in the face of budget and departmental cuts. But Beck has also come under fire for favoritism and inconsistency in dishing out discipline. Of late, he has been embroiled in a scandal of sorts involving a horse the department bought that was subsequently revealed to have been owned by Beck's daughter. And over the weekend, the LA Times published an analysis finding that the LAPD has misclassified some 1,200 serious violent crimes as minor offenses.

How does the reappointment process work? What criteria does the five-person Police Commission use for making their decision? What’s your opinion of Chief Beck’s performance thus far?

Guests:

Erika Aguilar, Crime and Politics Reporter at KPCC 

Frank Stoltze, Crime and Politics Reporter at KPCC

Ben Posten, LA Times assistant data editor who led the Times’ analysis into the LAPD’s violent crime misclassification

Raphe Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CSU Los Angeles

Increased loneliness is linked to increased negativity, depressive thinking and heightened sensitivity, according to research by John Cacioppo and Louise Hawkley. ; Credit: Flickr - Creative Commons

Science writer Robin Marantz Henig admitted recently that although she has a relatively full social calendar and a happy marriage, most of the people in her circle are closer with other people than they are with her.

Essentially, Henig confessed she suffers from loneliness. Searching for cures or answers in psychology research reveals that the worst symptoms of loneliness are also reinforcing causes. Increased loneliness is linked to increased negativity, depressive thinking and heightened sensitivity, according to research by John Cacioppo and Louise Hawkley.

And just how much pleasure do we get when socializing with negative, hypersensitive depressives? What is less bleak about this research is that it shows lonely people play a role in their situations and could play active roles in changing them. What is your experience with loneliness? Better yet, what is your cure?

Guest:

John Cacioppo, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Psychology; Director, Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, The University of Chicago

The Amazon logo is seen on a podium during a press conference in New York, September 28, 2011.; Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

Amazon’s prohibitive sales restrictions and stall on pre-orders is now affecting Disney. Amazon halted pre-order sales for Captain America, Maleficent, and other films, a tactic the company uses often to negotiate with media companies.

Although consumers can pre-order the Disney films from other sites and even stream them on Amazon, the site has notified users that they will be notified when the movies become available.

This tactic has sped along financial disputes with other companies, including Time Warner Films, but has been more protracted with publisher Hachette. Amazon has come under fire for refusing to discount Hachette books, stopping pre-orders, and delaying shipments. This weekend, a group of over 900 authors joined together to sign a letter published as a paid advertisement in Sunday’s New York Times speaking out against Amazon’s policies.

Amazon argues that Hachette should be criticized instead: the site wants to sell Hachette’s e-books for less money, claiming that a digital copy has less value and that Amazon is taking the same percent of the profits -- it’s Hachette that doesn’t want to pay its authors. As the standoffs continue, anger at the situation is clearly rising.

How do Amazon’s disputes with Disney and Hachette affect consumers? Who should be making pricing decisions for online sales of books and media? How will the conflicts resolve?

Guest:

Greg Bensinger, reporter for the Wall Street Journal

Members of the Korean K-pop group 'SPICA' appear on the red carpet during the K-CON 2014 (Korean Culture Convention) at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on August 10, 2014. ; Credit: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

When a South Korean music hit swept the globe in 2012, it was confirmation the country's transformation was massive - and nearly as rapid as the beats of "Gangnam Style."

Author Euny Hong remembers her schools days in Seoul's posh Gangnam neighborhood in the mid-1980s. Strict dress codes, regular brownouts and water shutoffs were commonplace at school and home. Then at the turn of the millenium South Korea hurtled rapidly into the 21st century, repaying of billions of dollars in loans to the IMF, wiring the country for fast Internet and creating a Ministry of Culture to propagate brand Korea.

How did the country go from miniskirt bans to mass producing boy bands? How influential was the success of Samsung, formerly known as "Samsuck?" What's next for Korean culture?

Guest:

Euny Hong, Author, “The Birth of Korean cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture;” Journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and more.

Antique firearms displayed during the 8th Annual East Coast Fine Arms Show in Stamford, Connecticut January 6, 2013. ; Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Dartmouth officials have rejected a student’s appeal to carry a gun on campus to protect her from a man accused of stalking her.Taylor Woolrich, 20, originally from San Diego and has been harassed by Richard Bennett, 67, since 2011.

Bennett began stalking Woolrich in San Diego when she worked at a local coffee shop. His most recent arrest resulted from appearing at her dorm in New Hampshire. Previously, Bennett was arrested for carrying items in his car deemed to be a “rape kit” that included a noose and knife after having a restraining order placed by the Woolrich family. Bennett is facing charges in San Diego County Superior Court with a bail posted at $30,000 that could have him released at any time.

Woolrich, who fears for her safety, is considering dropping out. There are currently nine states who allow firearms on college campuses which include Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin. Because she is 20 years old she is younger than the 21-year-old restriction for carrying a firearm.

Should more states allow firearms on campus?

Guests:

Matthew Kirby, West Coast Regional Director, Students for Concealed Carry - a national advocacy organization

Paul Neuharth, Criminal Defense Attorney with an emphasis on Constitutional safeguards (2nd, 4th and 5th Amendments) based in San Diego

Roberta Valente, legislative firearms policy expert, National Domestic Violence Hotline

FICO and the major credit bureaus have announced significant changes in assessing consumer debt. ; Credit: Courtney Keating/iStockphoto

FICO and the major credit bureaus have announced significant changes in assessing consumer debt. FICO will lessen the impact of bad medical debts on credit scores.

Additionally, the widely used scoring formula will ignore old debts that have been paid to zero. Another move that could help would-be borrowers comes from Experian and TransUnion. They have started including rental-payment history into credit files.

Most credit scores increase when rental data is incorporated, making mortgage lenders more willing to work with a potential homebuyer.

Why are these changes happening now? How soon until they impact a large number of consumers? What else should be ignored or included in credit reporting?

Guest:

John Ulzheimer, a credit expert at CreditSesame.com - a credit education website - and a former manager at FICO

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 30: Brandon Rios (L) and Mike Alvarado (R) are interviewed by Max Kellerman (center) after their WBO interim junior welterweight championship bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on March 30, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ; Credit: Josh Hedges/Getty Images

There’s been a curious trend of ESPN silencing its hosts when it comes to the case of Ray Rice, the NFL football player who was suspended for 2 games after security camera footage caught what appeared to be the aftermath of a physical altercation between Rice and his fiancee.

Steven A. Smith, host of ESPN’s First Take, was taken off the air for a week after his on-air comments about the incident implied that women are sometimes partially responsible for provoking domestic violence.

Now, Max Kellerman, host of ESPN LA’s Max and Marcellus, is off the air until this Thursday after he talked about drunkenly battering his then-fiancee and now wife of 20 years. ESPN quickly took down the podcast including the comment, and won’t say why Kellerman is off the air, but the series of events raises the question of whether there are certain topics that should or should not be off limits. Which ones and why?

ESPN has built a brand recognized for its sports news but also for its pointed commentary and some argue that even if what’s being said is offensive to some, there should still be space opened for even the most uncomfortable conversations.

Guests:

Tom Ley, staff writer at Deadspin.com who’s been following the story

Daniel Durbin, Ph.D., Director, USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society

An airliner comes in to land at Heathrow Airport on August 11, 2014 in London, England.; Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Noise pollution is an inescapable fact of modern life. In mid-Wilshire, it might take the form of the seemingly incessant noise coming from construction projects in the area. In Hollywood, it could be the muffled beats from late-night dance clubs. In Downtown Los Angeles, it could be the car honks from impatient, gridlocked drivers. If you live close to a freeway, there's of course the blanket of traffic white noise. Even suburbanites aren't spared from unwanted noise, be it the occasional fire truck to the rumblings of your neighbor's lawn mowers.

What kind of noise do you live with? How do you cope with noise in your surroundings? What noise mitigation techniques do you use?

Guest:

Ted Reuter: Director, Noise Free America , a national citizens group opposed to noise pollution. He was a Political Science professor at UCLA and now teaches the subject online at the University of Maryland University College and other schools.

“The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters” by Stephanie Wu.

In just a few weeks, college freshmen will move into their dorm rooms and begin a new chapter in the way they live: cohabitating with a roommate. Roommates are not just for college — just look to the shows that explore and rely on roommate dynamics ("Friends," "New Girl," "The Golden Girls").

Everyone has stories to tell about current and former roomies, whether they be nightmare-ish, epic or nostalgic. We deal with food pilfered from the fridge, hair in the drain, roommates who are loud or who hog the shower. We live with friends and sometimes with strangers, we learn people’s quirks.

In her book “The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters,” author Stephanie Wu examines roommate relations through the lens of real roommates.

The stories from sleepaway camps and colleges, apartments and retirement homes, beach houses, reality show mansions, and yachts.

How do people learn to cohabitate? What are the best ways to live alongside your friends (or even your enemies)?

Guest:

Stephanie Wu, author of “The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters” 

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 10: Actor Robin Williams attends the Broadway opening night of "Catch Me If You Can" at the Neil Simon Theatre on April 10, 2011 in New York City. ; Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

His comic energy burst into America's living rooms nearly 40 years ago as the alien Mork on planet Earth learning a range of human emotions.

Director Garry Marshall recalls crafting "Mork and Mindy" to accommodate the awesome breadth of Robin Williams' range: "[I] knew immediately that a three-camera format would not be enough to capture Robin and his genius talent. So I hired a fourth camera operator and he just followed Robin. Only Robin."

The brighter the light, the darker the shadows is an apt saying to describe Williams, who was known to battle addiction and depression. He will also be remembered for his compassion.  

The creator of charity organization Comic Relief, Bob Zmuda, told the LA Times, "The first time we went to one of the shelters in downtown L.A., on skid row, when he got up in front of the homeless folk, he froze. He was so taken aback. The director of the homeless shelter came back and asked Robin, 'What happened? They love you and they expect you to be funny.' So he went back out and killed it."

Rick Morse, an entertainment attorney who went to high school with Williams, shares how he saw some of Williams' talent starting as a drama student as well as encountering him years later:

"There, you saw a really gifted actor. Shakespeare was his passion, also Russian literature. You saw someone really special emerging. Years later I saw a concert with Steve Martin and Martin Mull, it just so happened that this unknown named Robin Williams was the fourth bill at the bottom, and he stole the show. It was just amazing, it was like 'Oh my God, my old buddy from high school!' The next day, I'm at poolside and I look over and he's sitting right next to me, smiling. I hadn't seen him in years, since I'd gone away to school, and he tells me 'I gotta tell you something, it's about this show, Mork and Mindy, it's in the can and it's going to be coming out and I'm kinda worried about it.' He told me the premise, and I said, 'Oh my God, Robin, it sounds horrible! You gotta get out of it, I'll break your contract, I'm a second-year law student, I'll get you out if this!"

"He started laughing and he goes, 'No, it's not going to be that bad, don't worry about it. Come into my show tonight and we'll have fun.' And of course, it went to number one in the first season. That shows you why I'm not a network programming executive and why Robin was Robin."

Williams, 63, died of suspected suicide last night in Marin County. If you ever met Williams, what do you remember? What are your favorite moments of his career? How do you feel about his passing?  

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck finds himself in a tangle of controversies as the L.A. Police Commission decides whether he should have another five years as police chief. ; Credit: Erika Aguilar/KPCC

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck has been reappointed for a second five-year term by a 4-1 vote of the L.A. Police Commission.

The single no vote came from Commissioner Robert Saltzman. Police Commission President Steve Soboroff credits Beck for the city’s record low crime rates, but acknowledges that officer moral needs to be improved to improve trust in the police department. 

The Police Commission’s vote came a day after the LAPD faced questions over an investigation that found some 12-hundred violent crimes last year may have been downgraded to minor offenses in statistics reported to the government. Department officials claim it was inadvertent.

How will Chief Beck handle his second term? What does his reappointment say about the current state of police affairs in Los Angeles?

Guests:

Erika Aguilar, KPCC crime reporter who joins us from City Hall where she was covering Chief Beck’s press conference

Frank Stoltze, KPCC politics reporter

According to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, baby boomers between the ages of 45 and 64 are committing suicide at an increasing rate.; Credit: /iStockphoto.com

Actor Robin Williams' suicide was a surprise to many. But statistically, it's unfortunately not so much of a shock.

According to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, baby boomers between the ages of 45 and 64 are committing suicide at an increasing rate. From 1999 to 2011, suicide rate for this age group jumped 40 percent.

Julie Phillips, a sociology professor at Rutgers University who has been researching the topic, calls this epidemic a "changing epidemiology of suicide," spurred by a variety of social, cultural and economic factors. But she warns that the boomer generation might just be “the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to being burdened by this troubling trend.

What are the factors behind this phenomenon? What can be done to reverse it?

Guest:

Dr. Christine Moutier, M.D., Chief Medical Officer at the American Federation for Suicide Prevention

Patrick Arbore, Founder and Director of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Related Services at Institute on Aging in San Francisco.

Need help? Call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at: 1-800-273-825

A bird relaxes on recently-planted grass in LA's City Hall Park. The lawn designed after the Occupy movement is expected to attract more birds and insects.; Credit: Andres Aguila/KPCC

L.A. City councilmen Felipe Fuentes and Mike Bonin have had enough. They’re calling on Los Angeles in a motion introduced this week to stop watering the lush green lawns on city property, let them go brown, and eventually replant with native plants.

Their argument is simple: It sets a bad example to be maintaining the city’s turf-grass lawns while residents face mandatory watering restrictions. 

Particularly in poor taste, according to their motion, is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s electricity distribution station in Eagle Rock, which neighbors say gets watered hours on end.

Do you agree Los Angeles should make its city properties showcases for sustainability? Or is there something we just aren’t ready to sacrifice about the stateliness of a green lawn on official city property? And would it really be more sustainable and save resources to rip out those lawns and replace them with native plants, which would still require significant amounts of water in their first few years to establish themselves in new ground?

Guest:

Felipe Fuentes, councilmember of the seventh district, serving the communities of Lake View Terrace, Mission Hills, North Hills, Pacoima, Shadow Hills, Sunland, Tujunga,La Tuna Canyon, Sylmar.

A Tesla Motors showroom in San Jose, Calif. Car dealers in New York and Massachusetts have filed a lawsuit that seeks to block Tesla from selling its vehicles in those states.; Credit: Paul Sakuma/AP

Two powerful Sacramento lawmakers are proposing that a battery plant for "green" auto manufacturer Tesla be partially exempted from California Environmental Quality Act regulations, as reported by the L.A. Times.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Senator Ted Gaines (R-Northern California)  are working on a package of incentives to lure Tesla's plant along with its 6,500 new jobs and $5 billion in spending. Environmental advocates says CEQA does not apply differently to different companies.

What are the environmental risks associated with a battery plant? Are those risks balanced by the zero-emissions cars manufactured by Tesla? What about the pioneering research? Is this move really an attempt to reform CEQA by lawmakers who in the past have sought changes to the landmark law?

Guests:

Marc Lifsher, business reporter in Sacramento for the L.A. Times

Jennifer Hernandez, attorney with Holland & Knight law firm; Hernandez specializes in CEQA on behalf of developers; she co-chairs Holland & Knight’s National Environmental Team and leads the West Coast Land Use and Environment Practice Group for the San Francisco firm

David Pettit, senior attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council and director of NRDC's Southern California Air Program