Pro-euro protesters hold a banner reading ''YES" during a demonstration in front of the parliament in Athens on June 30, 2015. ; Credit: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

Greece’s financial turmoil continues. Greek banks are closed and it is anticipated that Greece will not pay the $1.73 billion due today to the International Monetary Fund, making it the biggest debt default by a country ever.

At this time, Greece owes $352.7 billion to other European countries.  If Greece continues to go deeper into financial crisis, it could be the first country to leave the eurozone. While Greek banks are expected to stay shut until July 7th, what does Greece’s crisis mean for the world economy?    

Guest:

Marcus Bensasson, Bloomberg’s economy reporter based in Athens
 

Hitchhikers near Vicksburg, MIssissippi circa 1936; Credit: Walker Evans/Getty Images

Hitchhiking has been around as long as there have been things on wheels.

The mass production of the Ford Model T made car ownership affordable in America, and made hitchhiking commonplace. The 1960s and 1970s saw flower children thumbing a ride to a Grateful Dead concert, say, or wherever their freewheeling lifestyle was taking them.

But the practice has all but become obsolete in today’s America. A dramatic rise in car ownership, the expansion of the country’s highway system, and the perception that hitchhiking is dangerous are factors that have contributed to its decline.

Have you ever hitchhiked? Do you still do it? Call in and tell us about your experience.

Guest:

Elijah Wald, author of many books, including “Riding With Strangers: A Hitchhiker’s Journey” (Chicago Review Press, 2006) and the forthcoming “Dylan Goes Electric” (HarperCollins, 2015)

Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is awarded the Silver Slugger Award prior to the MLB game against the Texas Rangers as team General Manager Jerry DiPoto (L) and pitcher C.J. Wilson (R) look on at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 24, 2015 in Anaheim, California.; Credit: Victor Decolongon/Getty Images

The Angels aren’t confirming, but Jerry Dipoto told the Los Angeles Times today that he has resigned from the team as General Manager.

Dipoto’s  departure comes amid an ongoing rift between him and the Angels’ veteran manager Mike Scioscia. The two represent two opposing beliefs in baseball, with Scioscia more of an old-school holdout, and Dipoto a devotee of using big data and sabermetric analysis to put together a team.

Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in baseball, has been with the Angels since 2000. Dipoto replaced Tony Reagins as the GM of the team in 2011.

Guest:

Pedro Moura, reporter covering the Dodgers and Angels for the Orange County Register. He tweets at @pedromoura

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti says he will block new measures making it easier for LAPD to dismantle homeless encampments.; Credit: Jon Endow/Flickr

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he will block enforcement of new measures that make it easier to dismantle homeless encampments until the City Council softens some provisions.

The council voted last week to trim the notice time from 3 days to 24 hours before removing personal belongings from sidewalks, parks and beaches. It also moved for ticketing or charging violators with a misdemeanor.

In a statement today, Mayor Garcetti explained more work must be done to “consider amendments that would enable smarter law enforcement, more compassionate treatment of homeless Angelenos, and strengthen the City’s ability to withstand legal challenge.”

How long will this issue continue to be in limbo?

Guests:

Gil Cedillo, Los Angeles City Councilmember representing District 1, which represents neighborhoods in northeast and northwest L.A. including Highland Park, Glassell Park, and Echo Park. Cedillo has voted against seizure of homeless encamp

Raquel Beard, Executive Director, Central City East Association (CCEA) - the principal advocate for property owners, businesses, employees and residents of eastern Downtown Los Angeles

Dr. Jason Greenspan (L) and emergency room nurse Junizar Manansala care for a patient in the ER of Mission Community Hospital.; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

Covered California, the Affordable Care Act’s state exchange in California, will collect insurance company data on prescriptions, doctor visits and hospital stays, a move that has stirred serious concerns about data protection and privacy.

The stated reason is to use patient data to maintain accountability from health insurers and medical providers; data the exchange already collects on enrollment was used to negotiate lower premiums for consumers, saving them over $100 million this year. But actual medical information is more important than enrollment information as medical records can be used to create a story about a person which may be invaluable to hackers and those who would sell or misuse them.

Covered California will be collecting the data on the approximately 1.4 million people enrolled on the exchange and then storing the data with Truven Health Analytics Inc. At present, there are no plans to let consumers in the exchange opt out of the data collection process, a concern that has critics countering that the state must ask permission for the information before taking it.

But the more pervasive concern has been about how the state will protect the data. The federal government has recently discovered multiple hacks throughout the executive branch, including the comprehensive theft of more than 4 million files from the Office of Personnel Management in June and 100,000 tax accounts at the Internal Revenue Service in May.

The private sector is similarly susceptible to such attacks - Anthem, the county’s second-largest health insurer, revealed a hack in February that may have affected 80 million people.

How will Covered California reassure its consumers that their data is safe and will only be used in an appropriate manner? Should Covered California ask permission before collecting the data they say is necessary to provide the best services to consumers? Are the consumer benefits promised by Covered California worth the risk of a potential hack?

Guests:

Dr. Andrew Bindman, MD, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco; he was also the lead UCSF researcher on the exchange’s 2014 enrollment

John Simpson, Director of Privacy Project at Consumer Watchdog

Californians did not vote down the death penalty in the 2012 election cycle; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Over the next 120 days, California Governor Jerry Brown and prison officials will be working to come up with a one-drug lethal injection method for the nearly 750 inmates on California’s death row, the largest in the nation.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that states could continue to use midazolam as an execution drug after the state of Oklahoma challenged the practice following a botched execution. The majority said that executions don’t need to be painless and said that inmates challenging state execution methods should find alternatives that pose less risk of pain. The 120 day timeframe is part of a recent settlement with families of murder victims.

Despite the new deadline, there will be the need for lots of public comment on this issue, and that could take a year or more. Questions about what drugs to use in the execution cocktail and cost of housing and executing death row inmates are just some of those that are bound to come up as the process moves forward. There’s also a case before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on whether the delays in executions that sometimes span decades have left California’s death penalty system unconstitutional.

What does the future of the death penalty in California look like? How should the state formulate its execution protocol? Does the death penalty have a place in California or should it be abolished completely? What is to be done with the hundreds of inmates waiting on death row?

Guests:

Sam Stanton, reporter for the Sacramento Bee. He wrote an article last month before Monday’s Supreme Court decision entitled “Is capital punishment dead in California?” He tweets @stantonsam.

Michael Ramos, San Bernardino County District Attorney

Donald Heller, attorney at Donald H. Heller, A Law Corp., and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. He is a former supporter of the death penalty turned opponent. He headed up a in 2012 to abolish CA’s death penalty but also wrote the 1978 ballot measure that reinstated capital punishment in CA before changing positions.

"Timetable"; Credit: Nicola Delfino nicola.delfino@ou via Flikr

The long 4th of July weekend is upon us. There’s no better time to get in your car and go somewhere. But where?

Travel experts Elizabeth Harryman and Paul Lasley join Larry to offer their suggestions. Call in and let us know yours.

Guests:

Elizabeth Harryman, travel editor at Westways magazine, published by Southern California AAA. She tweets @lizharryman

Paul Lasley, travel writer at the website, OnTravel.com

Peas and guacamole? POTUS says NO. ; Credit: Cody and Maureen/Flickr

The Internet is aflame after The Gray Lady published a guacamole recipe calling for the addition of “fresh English peas.”

Responses poured in over Twitter, with most people slamming the piece penned by the New York Times’ food columnist Melissa Clark as sacrilegious. Even the President of the United States felt compelled to say something:

respect the nyt, but not buying peas in guac. onions, garlic, hot peppers. classic. https://t.co/MEEI8QHH1V

— President Obama (@POTUS) July 1, 2015

What is your guac recipe? Is it really so controversial to add peas to guacamole, particularly in the age of Kogi tacos and the proliferation of fusion cuisine?

Guests:

Russ Parsons, food writer and columnist at the Los Angeles Times. His piece today in the paper is on guacamole

Leslie Téllez, author of the cookbook, “Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas” (Kyle Books, 2015) and owner of the agency Eat Mexico that provides guided culinary tours in Mexico City and Puebla in Mexico

The United States celebrates the 2-0 victory against Germany in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2015 Semi-Final Match at Olympic Stadium on June 30, 2015 in Montreal, Canada.; Credit: Elsa/Getty Images

When the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team takes the pitch this Sunday against Japan, it will be an all too familiar place for the red, white and blue.

In 2011, the U.S. came up just short in the Women’s World Cup Final, losing in penalty kicks to an upstart Japanese team riding a wave of patriotism and unity following the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March. The other two times they’ve been in a final, in 1991 and 1999, they won it all, most notably in the ‘99 World Cup after a game-winning penalty kick by Brandi Chastain.

This year, the U.S. Women are back with a vengeance and have bested all their opponents except Sweden, whom they tied during the group stage. But so are the Japanese women, who have quietly won every game they’ve played. The U.S. has never placed lower than third in the history of the Women’s World Cup, and a win Sunday would be the third-ever Women’s World Cup title for the U.S., more than any other nation has won in the tournament’s history.

What will it take from the U.S. Women’s team to secure a victory on Sunday? Where do you think this year’s U.S. Women’s team ranks among the best U.S. Women’s teams of all time?

Guests:

Caroline Rigby, women’s sport reporter for BBC Global News. She’s in Vancouver to cover the Women’s World Cup Final. She tweets @Carigby

Brandi Chastain, retired soccer player and former member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team. Her game-winning penalty kick during the 1999 Women’s World Cup Final led the U.S. to a win over China. Chastain is now a coach for the varsity soccer team at Bellarmine College Preparatory School in San Jose

A woman pulls her suitcase as she walks through the departures area of Glasgow Airport in Glasgow, Scotland on May 5, 2010. ; Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

By DAVID KOENIG, SCOTT MAYEROWITZ and ERIC TUCKER

The U.S. government is investigating possible collusion among major airlines to limit available seats, which keeps airfares high, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

The civil antitrust investigation by the Justice Department appears to focus on whether airlines illegally signaled to each other how quickly they would add new flights, routes and extra seats. A letter received Tuesday by major U.S. carriers demands copies of all communications the airlines had with each other, Wall Street analysts and major shareholders about their plans for passenger-carrying capacity, or "the undesirability of your company or any other airline increasing capacity."

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines all said they received a letter and are complying. Several smaller carriers, including JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines, said they had not been contacted by the government. The department had tried to block the most recent merger, the 2013 joining of American Airlines and US Airways, but ultimately agreed to let it proceed after the airlines made minor concessions.

Guests:

Charlie Leocha, Chairman, Travellers United (formerly Consumer Travel Alliance) - a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization; TravellersUnited.org

Marc Scribner, Fellow in Transportation Studies, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan'.; Credit: Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has remanded a prior victory by interns over Fox Searchlight back to a lower court, resetting the stakes and creating a new test for whether interns should be paid.

At issue is whether interns should be paid or not. While prior guidance from the Department of Labor in 2010 spelled out certain criteria, such as whether the internship displaces regular employees and whether the internship is comparable to experience that would be gained in an educational environment, to help make the determination, Judge Walker of the 2nd Circuit wrote about a test he calls the primary beneficiary test.

The test comprises of two factors: “First, it focuses on on what the intern receives in exchange for his work. Second, it also accords courts the flexibility to examine the economic reality as it exists between the intern and the employer.” Therefore, the stronger the imbalance in favor of what the employer can provide in non-monetary benefits such as experience and substitution of coursework to the intern, the weaker the argument for the intern to be paid.

Despite a flurry of lawsuits against other major studios (including Viacom, Lionsgate, ICM Partners, and NBCUniversal) that have ended in multi-million dollar settlements for interns, Fox continues to fight against this lawsuit. The case has been handed back to the lower court, and although the plaintiffs Alex Footman and Eric Glatt still have a strong chance of winning this case, the new test raises the bars for interns who fight to get paid.

Where is the line between paid and unpaid interns? Are unpaid interns actually unpaid employees? Will this case stifle further class action lawsuits from interns against their employers?

Note of full disclosure: This webpage was written and created by paid interns

Glatt et al. v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. et al

Guests:

Dominic Patten, Legal Editor and writer at Deadline, a news site covering Hollywood and the entertainment industry. His latest piece looks at today’s decision.

Eric Glatt, former intern for Fox Searchlight and one of two plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Maurice Pianko, Director and lead attorney for Intern Justice, a website that gives legal information and services to unpaid workers.

Paul DeCamp, Partner with the Jackson Lewis law firm based in Washington, D.C.; he previously ran the Wage & Hour Division of the Department of Labor.

Workers set up a security checkpoint for the Capitol Fourth concert at the west front of the U.S. Capitol July 2, 2015 in Washington, DC. Security has been increased for the upcoming July 4th holiday.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

As most Americans finish planning for their Independence Day weekend, security is being ramped up across the country in preparation for heightened safety concerns.

A terror warning has been issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While it is still safe to go outdoors and travel, listen in for what you need to know to safely enjoy your Fourth.

Guests:

Commander Andy Smith, Media Relations and Community Affairs Group, LAPD

Brian Michael Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President of the Rand Corporation and one of the nation's leading experts on terrorism and homeland security

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with Endoskeleton during the France Photocall of 'Terminator Genisys' at the Publicis Champs Elysees on June 19, 2015 in Paris, France.; Credit: Dominique Charriau

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Claudia Puig and Tim Cogshell review this week’s new film releases, including the sexy sequel “Magic Mike XXL,” the sci-fi sequel “Terminator: Genisys” starring your former Governor,” a well-received documentary about the life and death of Amy Winehouse, and more. TGI-Filmweek!

Guests:

Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Alt Film Guide

Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC

Green screens have become ubiquitous in Hollywood; Credit: Photo by Mark Sebastian via Flickr Creative Commons

Everyone has an opinion about visual effects and the prevalence of green screens in cinema.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" was applauded for minimal use of it. Sir Ian McKellan said he wanted to quit acting while filming the first “Hobbit” film because of it. Action star Jason Statham isn't
a fan either.

Love it or hate it, it's what keeps people coming back to theatres. And it's not going anywhere.

Actors are putting their training to the test in a cinematic landscape where bigger seems to be better. Jessica Barth, who plays Ted’s wife in “Ted 2,” recalls having to make out with nothing in front of her in a recent Wall Street Journal piece that explores how actors are adapting to fewer elaborate sets and more green screen.

From “Guardians of the Galaxy” to “Jurassic World,” actors are having to envision new worlds or run away from creatures on sets that include a pole with two golf balls attached to the top of it and lots of green screens.

Is the proliferation of green screen-heavy blockbusters helping or harming the industry? As technology continues to evolve, how will actors keep up?

Guests:

Michael Fink, Senior visual effects supervisor for “Batman Returns.” He’s also worked on “Life of Pi,” “Tron: Legacy” and “Avatar.” The Georges Méliès Endowed Chair in Visual Effects and Kortschak Family Endowed Division Chair in Film and Television Production at USC

Joanne Baron, Co-owner and artistic director, The Joanne Baron/D.W.Brown Studio, who has taught Halle Berry and Robin Wright. Actress featured in “Spider-Man 2,” “Drag Me to Hell” and “Universal Soldier.”

An Iranian woman walks past graffiti in a southwestern street of Tehran on June 29, 2015.; Credit: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images

The West's perception of women's lives in Iran is incomplete at best.

Narratives of oppression and discrimination dominate media coverage of the subject we see in the US, but that's certainly not the whole picture.

In "Jewels of Allah," Iranian writer Nina Ansary documents the birth of a feminist movement in the country following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, introducing readers to a number of female leaders and advocates throughout Iran's history.

Nina Ansary will be appearing with Iranian singer Sussan Deyhim and author Cyrus Copeland at the Last Bookstore in downtown L.A. this Friday, July 10th at 7pm for the event,  "The Untold Story of Iran."

Guest:

Nina Ansary, author of "Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran" (Revela Press, 2015). She currently serves on the Middle East Institute Advisory Board at Columbia University, as well as the Board of Trustees of the Iranian American Women's Foundation

Following the Charleston Massacre schools with Confederate roots such as this one located in a predominately African American neighborhood in Tampa, Florida are coming under scrutiny.

With the Confederate Flag falling from favor across the country, a question has come to the fore: where is the line when it comes to glorifying or castigating historical figures?

For Southerners, this could mean reevaluating their relationship with heroes such as Confederate General Robert E. Lee (who even has schools named after him in Long Beach and San Diego). For Westerners, Father Junipero Serra has come under scrutiny as revisionist history calls into question his treatment of indigenous Americans. For Northerners, icons like Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. are now viewed with disdain for having supported eugenics.

Of course, all Americans have come to understand that the men commonly referred to as the Founding Fathers were deeply flawed by modern standards. Most of them owned slaves, a practice that is seen as morally reprehensible today. In addition, presidents such as Thomas Jefferson supported policies that displaced indigenous Americans from their ancestral lands.

How should the lives and accomplishments of historical figures be put into the context of their times? Is there a firm line between those we celebrate and others we denigrate? If so, where is it? If not, what standards should we embrace in delineating our heroes from our villains, and how will those standards change with time?

We're taking your calls at 866-893-5722!

Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms examine the burned ruins of the Mt. Zion AME Church July 1, 2015 in Greeleyville, South Carolina. Federal and state agencies are investigating a recent string of church fires in the South that have occured since the church massacre in nearby Charleston, South Carolina. Mt. Zion AME was burned twenty years ago by members of the Ku Klux Klan.; Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

In the weeks following the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that left nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church dead, there has been a spate of fires at black churches in states across the South.

Most recently, the Mount Zion AME Church in Greeleyville, SC burnt to the ground for the second time in its history. A fire in 1995 started by the Ku Klux Klan destroyed the church once already.

While no evidence exists to link the string of fires to arson or hate crimes, it hasn’t stopped the wave of speculation from news media that a connection exists between the churches burning down and the racial tension ignited by the shooting in Charleston.

What are some other patterns that the news media treat similarly? Is it fair to speculate on things like this or do you think it just fuels the rumor mill?

Guests:

Hub Brown, professor of broadcast and digital journalism and an associate dean at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University.

Kenny Irby, senior faculty member for visual journalism and diversity at the Poynter Institute.

The intersection of La Cienega and San Vicente Boulevards, Los Angeles, California, 2009; Credit: Precious Dream via Flickr

Where should outdoor signs should be allowed and at what cost?

That’s the question that’s once again facing the Los Angeles City Council as it grapples with the future of digital billboards. The next vote won’t come until after summer, but a preliminary city panel last week was indication that more billboards may be on their way.

Proponents say they’re job creators but opponents say they’re a distracting eyesore. 

Read the full story here.

Guests:

Stuart Waldman, president of VICA, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association

Dennis Hathaway, President, Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight

A general view shows the body welding workshop which uses automated welding machine robots that assemble automobile bodies; Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images

The national unemployment rate stands at a rosy 5.3 percent, almost half of where it was at the height of the Great Recession in 2009.

Hiding behind that number, though, is a troubling trend: frustrated by the endless search, many in the ranks of the country’s unemployed have simply stopped looking for work.

Many factors contribute to the disappearance of jobs, and a recent Atlantic magazine piece has zeroed in on how technological advances have and will continue to impact our economy and the job market.  

How would the idea of work change in the future? What kind of jobs might be displaced? What are the health and psychological implications?

Guests:

Henry Siu, associate professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a US-based economic think tank

David Blustein, professor at the Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Department at Boston College. His research focuses on the psychology of working and the intersection between work and mental health

Benjamin Hunnicutt, professor at the Department of Health and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa. His research focuses on the topic of work and leisure

Natalie Wood & James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)

Long removed from the days of “Rebel Without a Cause,” youth rebellion today does not look much like what it did in the iconic 1955 drama.

Though James Dean, the film’s star, was the image of rebellion in the mid 20th century, clad in dark sunglasses, wearing a white t-shirt underneath a leather jacket, and nonchalantly leaning against a wall as thin wisps of smoke slither gracefully around his head from the cigarette hanging in his mouth, the youth today are neither wearing leather nor smoking cigarettes.

Later in the 1900s, rebellion came in the form of music. Bands like The Beatles irritated parents everywhere by introducing rock ‘n roll to America, and it wasn’t long before punk, hip-hop, and metal artists created their own waves of rebellion in the years that followed.

Today, however, rebellion is not so black and white. In fact, it may be taking forms that are the exact opposite of what it used to mean.

An op-ed in the New York Times this weekend attributes the spike in sales for Evangelical sex manuals (some of which call for women to abstain until marriage) to a desire to rebel. “The act of submission, when consciously chosen, can feel empowering, and even politically empowering,” writes the author.

What does youth rebellion look like today? Where is the next wave of cultural transformation coming from, and will it be from the music scene as we’ve seen in past generations? Do young people actually rebel against anything anymore, or have technology and social media made them complacent sheep? Could it be that there are still forms of rebellion taking place, but we don’t recognize them as easily because they aren’t taking the same form they once did?

Guests:

Darby Saxbe, assistant professor of psychology at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. She recently co-authored a study that tracked brain activity of teenagers who engage in risky behavior.

Stephen Marche, columnist for Esquire Magazine. He explores the topic of what youth rebellion is today in an article from the November 2014 issue of Esquire, entitled “Where is America’s Real Youth Rebellion?”