Two Los Angeles sheriffs could be held liable for withholding information after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said they were not immune from liability. ; Credit: Photo by greg lilly via Flickr Creative Commons

Should retired law enforcement officials be allowed to sit on a newly created commission to oversee the Sheriff’s Department?

That’s a key issue the LA County Board of Supervisors will vote on today. The same supervisors voted to create a Civilian Oversight Commission over a year ago at the urging of community members following a series of mistreatment of inmates by deputies in the county's jails that have. More than twenty members of the Sheriff’s Department have been indicted.

Opponents like Mark-Anthony Johnson told KPCC they fundamentally oppose law enforcement policing other law enforcement.

But LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs argue that excluding former deputies from eligibility would be unfair and also exclude people who know the inner workings of the department. 

Guests:

Sarah Favot, reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News. She tweets from @SarahFavot

Cindy Chang, reporter who covers the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department for the Los Angeles Times. She tweets from @cindychangLA

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill.; Credit: Pool/Getty Images

No slave to 24-hour cable news and the Twitterverse, President Thomas Jefferson eschewed delivering public speeches on the State of the Union, choosing instead to send his message to Congress in writing via messenger.

The tradition held for more than a hundred years possibly because Jefferson explained his choice in an 1801 letter to the President of the Senate stating: "[I] have had principal regard to the convenience of the legislature, to the economy of their time, to their relief from the embarrassment of immediate answers on subjects not yet fully before them, and to the benefits thence resulting to the public affairs."

Woodrow Wilson later revived the tradition of delivering the speeches in person, which has had only a temporary break when lame duck Jimmy Carter shied from a speech in 1981. 

Guest:

Margaret Talev, White House Correspondent for Bloomberg

Allan Lichtman, Distinguished Professor of History, American University

Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton(L) meets with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) elected officials to discuss what's at stake for the AAPI community.; Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton launched her grassroot outreach to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders last week in the San Gabriel Valley, where more than half-a-million AAPIs call home.

Asians are slated to outnumber Latinos as the largest immigrant group coming to the U.S., according to a Pew study released last year. Specifically, Asian immigrants and their children are projected to make up roughly 88 percent of the country’s population growth over the next half century.

That means being able to capture the Asian American vote is as important as ever. In the last few presidential elections, Asian Americans had leaned heavily democrat.

What are the two parties doing to get the AAPI vote? If you identify as Asian American, how have you voted in the past? How would you likely vote in 2016?

Guests:

Harmeet Dhillon, Vice Chair of the California Republican Party

Courtni Pugh, a Partner at Hilltop Public Solutions where she heads all California-based operations for the firm. She tweets from @courtni_pugh

Photo illustration shows Powerball lottery tickets in front of the splash screen for the powerball.com website.; Credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

Tonight’s Powerball jackpot: $1.5 billion. Your chance of winning: less than zero.

Still, that sober reality has not stopped hopefuls across the country from buying Powerball tickets, and office Powerball pools from forming.

What’s the psychology behind the craze? If you bought a Powerball ticket, what’s your reason for doing so despite the hopeless odds?

Read the full story here.

Guests:

Robert Wilson, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arizona

Noah Smith, an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University and a contributor to Bloomberg View. His latest piece looks at the Powerball craze

Inglewood's mayor poses with L.A. Rams fans at an Inglewood City Council meeting.; Credit: Ben Bergman/KPCC

More than two decades after the Raiders and Rams played their last games in Southern California, professional football is returning to the Los Angeles market.

30 of the 32 NFL team owners voted in favor of St. Louis Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke’s plan to build a stadium in Inglewood and move his team to Southern California. The NFL has updated its website to reflect the move, changing the St. Louis Rams' name on their roster to the Los Angeles Rams.

The San Diego Chargers also have the option to come to L.A., where they’d share a stadium with the Rams, but their fate remains up in the air.

Read the full story from KPCC’s Ben Bergman here.

Guests:

Ben Bergman, Senior business and economy reporter at KPCC who is in Houston for the NFL owners’ meetings. He tweets from @TheBenBergman

Laura Wingard, editor at KPBS in San Diego

Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of economics at Smith College

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill.; Credit: Pool/Getty Images

Tuesday night marked the last time that Barack Obama gave the annual State of the Union address as President of the United States.

Among the highlights from the speech were the president’s decision to hand control of finding the cure for cancer to Vice President Joe Biden and his sharing of what he says is one of his biggest regrets from being in office: that he couldn’t ease simmering tension between Republicans and Democrats.

For more analysis of the State of the Union and a full transcript of the speech, click here.

Guests:

John Feehery, Republican strategist and President of Quinn Gillespie Communications; he’s also a columnist for The Hill

Bill Burton, Managing director at the Los Angeles office of the public affairs agency SKDKnickerbocker and former deputy White House press secretary in the Obama Administration. He tweets from @billburton   

Announcement cards and envelopes by designer Marc Friedland which are used by presenters at the Oscars to announce winners.; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

Forecasting Academy Award nominees is a complex, fun, and influential game.

The top predictors in showbiz can be found on the website Gold Derby, including film critic Thelma Adams.

Adams and her fellow prognosticators start gaming nominees during international film festivals in Toronto, Telluride, Venice, etc. They take into account not just a film's merits, but whether the studio and players are willing to campaign for gold, or whether their campaigning will go overboard.

Plus, there's the Susan-Lucci effect, unpredictable backlashes, or an intangible failure to gain traction.

What are your predictions for tomorrow's Oscar nominations and why? 

Guest:

Thelma Adams, Film critic and long-time expert awards predictor for Gold Derby - a foremost media outlet dedicated to entertainment awards. She tweets from @thelmadams

Police Chief Charlie Beck joins Larry to talk about pocket parks, Dorner, realignment and property crime, ankle bracelets and car chases.; Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

LA Police Chief Charlie Beck surprised many this week with news he recommended criminal charges be filed against an officer who shot an unarmed homeless man in Venice last month.

Beck says it was a difficult, but obvious decision to ask the district attorney's office to take action in the case. Another task facing the chief is rising crime in LA.

While criminologists told KPCC's Frank Stoltze the rates are not alarming, preliminary numbers from 2015 show a 10 percent increase in murders, robberies went up 12 percent and aggravated assaults 27 percent - over last year, according to the latest data available from LAPD.

We'll also talk about the latest word on body cameras, gun sales and security in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings, plus talk with listeners on AirTalk.

What are your questions for Chief Beck?

Guest:

Charlie Beck, Chief, Los Angeles Police Department. He tweets from @LAPDChiefBeck

"Woody Guthrie L.A." by Darryl Holter and William Deverell; Credit: Angel City Press

The first book to thoroughly explore the legendary folk singer’s time in Los Angeles, “Woody Guthrie L.A. 1937 to 1941” details how the legendary folksinger’s stay in Los Angeles in the later years of the Great Depression forever changed his music, his politics, and his legacy.

The book’s twelve essays examine and document Guthrie’s early radio success in Los Angeles with the Woody and Lefty Lou Show; his first recordings made on old Presto disks; and the important friendship he forged with the actor and leftist radical Will Geer (later of “Grandpa Walton” fame).

Other pieces cover Guthrie’s racial egalitarianism, and the impact he still exerts in his songs about migrants and workers looking for their main chance in California.

Darryl Holter and Bill Deverell will be at Vroman’s in Pasadena this Sunday, January 17, at 3 p.m. to discuss and sign their new book, “Woody Guthrie LA, 1937 to 1941”. Click here for event info.

Guests:

Darryl Holter, co-author of “Woody Guthrie L.A. 1937 to 1941” (Angel City Press, 2016) and an adjunct professor in history at USC. He’s also a singer and songwriter. His album, Radio Songs: Woody Guthrie in Los Angeles, 1937-1941, was released last year

William Deverell,  co-author of “Woody Guthrie L.A. 1937 to 1941” (Angel City Press, 2016) and the director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West at the University of Southern California

A motorist fills his vehicle with fuel at a Mobil station.; Credit: Joshua Lott/Getty Images

This week, the price of a barrel of crude dropped to $30 a barrel -- the first time since 2003.

That might be great news for commuters and consumers, but terrible news for a long list of countries ranging from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria to Canada to Scotland.

Many factors have feed the long decline of oil prices, including the uptick in the production of oil in the US through fracking. Signs of economic troubles in China are contributing to the Black Gold’s most recent slump.

Which countries are the winners and losers of cheap oil? How low can oil prices go?

Guests:

Gurpal Dosanjh, energy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International economics and has written extensively about global trade and oil

Actor John Krasinski and President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs announce 'The Revenant' as a nominee for Best Visual Effects.; Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Two themes emerged in today's Academy Awards nominations: “The Revenant” is a beast to be reckoned with, commanding 12 nominations, and Academy voters could not rally around a single performer of color in the acting categories.

Some film lovers questioned why Oscar Isaac ("Ex Machina"), Idris Elba ("Beasts of No Nation"), and Benicio Del Toro ("Sicario") are absent as contenders, especially on the heels of last year's intense criticism of an equally white cast of nominees.

Other notable news includes the small indie "Room" getting four nominations; seven nominations for "The Martian," excluding its director Ridley Scott; and Sylvester Stallone being recognized in "Creed."

The 88th Oscars® will be hosted by comedian Chris Rock on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 4 p.m. PST. 

What's your reaction to today's nominations?

2015 Oscar nominee list

Guest:

Pamela McClintock, Senior Film Writer, The Hollywood Reporter. She tweets from @PamelaDayM

Ryan Bundy speaks on his phone at the occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on the sixth day of the occupation of the federal building in Burns, Oregon.; Credit: ROB KERR/AFP/Getty Images

Occupation of a wildlife refuge in rural Oregon is entering its 13th day today with both sides still at an impasse on how to resolve the conflict peacefully.

The group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge says its members will meet with the community tomorrow to discuss a plan to leave, but it’s unclear whether they’re actually planning to do so or just restate their demands.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy met with Harney County Sheriff David Ward last week to try and work out a solution, but the occupiers say they’re not leaving until the county’s federal land is turned over to residents to manage.

In a more amusing twist to the story, the occupiers have reportedly been receiving frequent, and sometimes even phallic, hate mail after posting their address on their Facebook page and asking supporters to send supplies.

Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with a veteran investigative reporter in Oregon who has been covering the standoff since it began and recently profiled Harney County Sheriff David Ward as part of his reporting.

Guest:

Les Zaitz, senior investigative reporter for The Oregonian and OregonLive.com; he tweets from @LesZaitz

Director Quentin Tarantino speaks at the press conference for "The Hateful Eight." ; Credit: Bryan Bedder

Quentin Tarantino made waves this week after he used the word “ghetto” in his Golden Globes acceptance speech.

He used it in the context of its historically correct usage, as an area confined to members of a minority group, but offended people nonetheless.  

“Even when you're a white person who demonstrates some level of appreciation or affinity for black people and black culture — you're still white. You don't get a free pass to play around with the words, phrases and experiences that reinforce the marginalization of black people,” wrote NBC commentator Derrick Clifton. Others have deemed Tarantino the most recent victim of Americans’ shrinking vocabularies.

But should people retire words like “retarded,” “apologist,” “catholic,” and “niggardly” from usage for fear of offending people who assume you’re referring to the word’s popular usage?

Guests:

Geoffrey Nunberg, Linguist and professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley.  He’s the author of the books “A-word” and “Talking Right"

Jesse Sheidlower, president of the American Dialect Society, editor-at-large of the Oxford English Dictionary and author of “The F-Word”

Republican presidential candidates (L-R) Ohio Governor John Kasich, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ben Carson and Jeb Bush arrive to participate in the Fox Business Network Republican presidential debate.; Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were the ones to watch during last night’s GOP presidential debate.

The field of hopefuls have thinned considerably, and the pecking order has evolved since the first debate in August 2015.

Perhaps to the surprise of many, Trump is still the man to beat, but Carly Fiorina’s momentum has subsided significantly, and Ben Carson’s campaign is all but disintegrating right in front of our eyes.

With a little more than two weeks away from the Iowa Caucuses, how did the candidates do in last night’s debate?

Guests:

Dan Schnur, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and adjunct faculty at USC Annenberg School

Louis Desipio, a professor of political science and Chicano / Latino studies at UC Irvine

Shoppers are seen outside Macy's Herald Square in midtown Manhattan.; Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

Now that the holiday season has wound down, sales have mostly ended, and customers have spent the majority of their gift card money from Christmas, it’s time to see how retailers did.

The National Retail Federation has released its report on holiday retail sales numbers, and while the increase was 3 percent instead of the 3.7 percent that NRF predicted, the group says the growth is still solid, especially when considering weather events that deterred many shoppers from going out.

The report from the NRF comes the same day Wal-Mart announced it will close 269 of its stores.

Guests:

Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach, where a Wal-Mart store is closing

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group, a retail analysis firm, and author of “Buy Me! How to Get Customers to Choose Your Products and Ignore the Rest

Dale Achabal, L.J. Skaggs Distinguished Professor, co-chair of the Department of Marketing and executive director of the Retail Management Institute in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University

LAUSD's Michelle King

LAUSD’s new superintendent Michelle King has kept her plans for the district fairly close to the vest, so it made headlines this week when she announced in her first interview her belief single-sex campuses could be a way to attract families to the district.

It’s a controversial topic, and one that’s currently being disputed in a lawsuit in Austin, TX. Superintendent King says single-sex schools are one of several ways to potentially improve academic achievement and make the nation's second-largest school system more attractive to parents.

But opponents say there’s no definitive research supporting improved academic achievement and that it can have unintended consequences, such as perpetuating gender stereotypes and creating educational inequalities.

Have you experienced single sex schooling? Did it work for you? Do you think it’s a good option for LAUSD to attract more students?

Guests:

Kathy Piechura-Couture,  a professor of education at Stetson University in Central Florida

Juliet Williams, Professor of Gender Studies and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA, and author of “The Separation Solution? Single-Sex Education and the New Politics of Gender Equality”

The US clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther King addresses, 29 March 1966 in Paris' Sport Palace the militants of the "Movement for the Peace". ; Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

The AirTalk team is off today for a special KPCC Martin Luther King Jr. broadcast.

The special program will begin with "The Power of Nonviolence: The Spirituality of Peacemaking," and will be followed by "King's Last March."

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to an election-year review of Obama's executive order to allow up to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to work legally in the United States.; Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

(Mark Sherman | AP) The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to an election-year review of President Barack Obama's executive order to allow up to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to "come out of the shadows" and work legally in the United States.

The justices said they will consider undoing lower court orders that blocked the plan from taking effect in the midst of a presidential campaign that already roiled by the issue.

The case, United States v. Texas will be argued in April and decided by late June, about a month before both parties' gather for their nominating conventions. The immigrants who would benefit from the administration's plan are mainly the parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Texas is leading 26 mainly Republican-dominated states in challenging the Democratic administration's immigration plan.

What factors will justices be considering in this hearing? What impact will this ruling have on the 2016 election?

Read more on this story here.

Guests:

Karen Tumlin, managing attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, which filed an amicus brief

Dan Stein,  President of Federation for American Immigration Reform, a DC-based nonprofit working to tighten immigration. The group has filed an amicus brief in support of the state of Texas

A pedestrian walks in the rain.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

When driving in Southern California, two things are almost guaranteed: first, there will be traffic, and second, it’s probably not going to rain.

This has been especially true over the last year as the Southland and the entire state of California deal with drought conditions. But winter is here, and with it comes El Niño. With El Niño comes rain, and with rain comes bad driving.

In a recent L.A. Times op-ed, The Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf tackles what he sees as drivers’ complete loss of all common sense once precipitation starts to fall from the skies. Most of us have probably seen motorists who don’t change anything about their driving habits, even when it’s raining or snowing.

What do we do about these drivers? Friedersdorf proposes a simple solution: lower speed limits in the five SoCal counties so that drivers are required by law to go 10 miles per hour slower in rain or snow than when driving conditions are ideal.

Do you think lower speed limits in inclement weather will make a difference in the number of traffic accidents and fatalities that happen during those kind of conditions? If not, is there another way? How do you change your driving habits when it starts to rain?

Guests:

Megan McCarty, KPCC reporter covering transportation and mobility; read Meghan's article on L.A. drivers in the rain here

Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer at The Atlantic and a contributing writer to the Los Angeles Times’ Opinion section; his latest piece is titled “When it rains, L.A.’s drivers lose all common sense”

The weather is displayed on a smartphone.; Credit: KPCC

It’s our first El Nino post-smart phones, so Californians are likely grappling with the issue for the first time ever: How do you find the most accurate weather app?

In a recent unscientific survey, AirTalk staff discovered their three different apps had significantly different forecasts for the same area. How does this happen?

Part of the answer is where the data comes from.

Guest:

Mark Jackson, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Los Angeles Weather Forecast Office in Oxnard, Calif.