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Obama acts on closing gender wage gap with executive order

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U.S. President Barack Obama stands with Lilly Ledbetter on the 7th Anniversary of the Signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, at the White House January 29, 2016 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Today President Obama announced that his administration is expanding rules to close the gender and race pay gap. The executive order will require businesses with more than 100 employees to provide the federal government with pay data to identify abuses of equal pay laws.

The proposal is an expansion of a similar order the president announced two years ago aimed at narrowing the pay gap between men and women hired by federal contractors.

The new rules, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, would be unveiled in September, and employers have to start submitting pay information a year later.

Guests:

Kay Hymowitz, William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York. She is the author of four books and writes extensively on childhood, family issues, poverty, and cultural change in America.

Jocelyn Frye, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress

 


In Trump-less GOP Debate, immigration emerges as substantive issue

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Republican presidential candidates (R-L) Ohio Governor John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) participate in the Fox News - Google GOP Debate.; Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Last night's Republican debate didn't include Trump, but it did have the longest exchange about immigration policy.

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Jeb Bush confronted each other over shifting positions and political exploitation. Even without the outspoken real estate mogul on stage, there was no love lost between the other frontrunners as Senators Rubio and Cruz went after each other’s conservative ideals and backgrounds on a number of levels.

Who emerged victorious from last night’s GOP debate? What did we learn about the other candidates in their first debate without Donald Trump?

Guests:

Luis Alvarado, Republican political consultant and analyst for CNN Español and Telemundo; he’s a former campaign staffer for Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and was the Los Angeles Regional Chairman for the 2008 McCain/Palin presidential campaign; he tweets @latinostrategy

Susan Del Percio, a New York-based Republican strategist and founder of Susan Del Percio Strategies, a full service strategic communications firm, she tweets @DelPercioS

Covered Cal. enrollment ends Sunday. Here's what you need to know about costs and penalties

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California Releases Health Care Enrollment Numbers For Month Of October

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee.; Credit: Max Whittaker/Getty Images

Open enrollment for California’s health insurance exchange Covered CA ends this Sunday, January 31 and this year will see the highest penalties yet for people who do not purchase coverage.

The penalty for adults is $695 per adult and $347 per child with a family cap of $2500 or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater.

According to Covered California, nearly nine out of every 10 people currently enrolled qualify for some level of financial assistance and representatives are making their final appeals to convince more Californians that health insurance is affordable.

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee joined host Larry Mantle in studio to answer listeners’ questions about costs and penalties.

Interview highlights

If you decline your employer’s health care coverage, does your Covered California subsidy go away?

"It does. If you get offered through employers, take it. Even if it’s not great coverage. If it’s really bad coverage you can get a subsidy through Covered California, but it’s got to be really bad. Covered California is for people who don’t have employer-based coverage or Medi-Cal or Medicare. It’s really out there for people who are otherwise left out in the cold."

My son’s silver policy deductible went up 10 percent and none of his current $7500 treatment is covered.

"It’s hard to go through the specific facts of a case, but for an individual on a silver plan, the deductible is about $6,000 and again as I noted before what’s not subject to a deductible is going to see your doctor today. If you’ve got someone who’s got really expensive care going to the hospital on a regular basis, you’re going to hit your maximum out of pocket, which is like $6,000 and then you’re going to be covered 100 percent."

Do you have to pay back the previous year’s subsidy if your income increases?

"If, halfway through the year, you know that you’re going to get a bonus, let us know that and you’ll adjust your subsidy for the balance of the year. If you don’t tell us at the end of the year and you made say $40,000 more, yeah, you will need to repay a portion of the subsidy on the tax return. The amount of the subsidy is based on your income and we will adjust your subsidy down if you get a bump in income." 

Our income went up and we lost our subsidy and now the plan with the coverage we need costs a fifth of our income.

"We have not made health care in America inexpensive and what the Affordable Care Act does is say that people up to 400 percent of poverty will get a subsidy. Above that there’s not a subsidy and this is the federal law about where the cliff is. If you’ve gone over that cliff, this is not great solace, but if your insurance costs more than 9 percent of your income, then there’s no penalty for you not having insurance. Now the penalty that’s a big penalty is rolling the dice to go without insurance and then having to show up at the ER with $50,000 in debt." 

Science writer on how the mind can heal the body

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“Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind over Body” (Crown, 2016); Credit: courtesy of Jo Marchant

What is our mind’s ability to heal our body?

It’s a controversial subject, one that has been dismissed by some in the medical community as new-age hogwash. But former “Nature” editor and science journalist Jo Marchant says there’s a lot more to the concept than most people think.

In her new book, “Cure,” Marchant cites a wealth of recent scientific research that lends credence to the idea that healing thoughts have the ability to heal the body.

Guest:

Jo Marchant, science journalist and author of of the new book, “Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind over Body” (Crown, 2016)

AirTalk elections coverage 2016: What to expect as Iowa caucuses begin

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Hillary Clinton Campaigns Iowa As State's Caucus Approaches

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (C) greets diners at Riley's Cafe on January 24, 2016 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.; Credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Months on the campaign trail stumping and shaking hands have all led to this for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.

Iowans will begin heading to caucuses this evening at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m CT, and the question looming over the Hawkeye State ahead of the voting is just how many people will turn out?

Polls are showing a tight race as the final hours tick down until the start of caucusing.

Quinnipiac’s latest poll has Bernie Sanders leading Hillary Clinton by three points and Trump holding a seven point lead over Ted Cruz. Will the frontrunners be able to activate their supporters in enough numbers to hold a lead or will a dark horse emerge in the final hour and surprise us all?

Guests:

Donna Hoffman, head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Northern Iowa

Edward-Isaac Dovere, senior White House reporter for POLITICO; he tweets from @IsaacDovere

NY AG report finds ticketing system for sports events, concerts ‘rigged’

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Fans cheer the Irish band U2 during a performance.; Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

A major report from New York finds that the ticketing industry is “rigged” against consumers, making it almost impossible for them to buy tickets to events and concerts at affordable prices.

The attorney general’s office started investigating the industry after complaints from consumers, and found that brokers like StubHub inflate the prices of tickets at average of almost 50 percent more than what they cost. Additionally, some brokers use “ticket bots” -- a type of illegal software -- to buy up tickets as quickly as possible. Two broker, the investigation found, were able to gobble up 15,000 tickets to a series of U2 concerts.

The report also found fault with Ticketmaster for piling on extra fees to the face value of a ticket.  

NY Attorney General Ticket Sales Report

Guest:

Dave Brooks, Executive Editor of Amplify Media, focusing on the venues and live entertainment industry

Update and analysis on OC jail break

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Hossein Nayeri

Hossein Nayeri escaped just over a week ago and was returned to Orange County jail on Sunday. Authorities say he was apprehended after a short chase on foot near a Whole Foods parking lot in San Francisco.; Credit: OC Sheriff

Listen with Larry to the news conference about the Orange County jail break.

After, we’ll hear analysis on how three violent criminals, Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong broke out of jail with what seems to be assistance from an ESL jail teacher, Nooshafarin Ravaghi.

All have been caught, but how they did it remains a mystery.

Guest:

Lenny DePaul, Chief Inspector/Commander (Ret.) of the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Task Force

Debating UK approval of gene editing in human embryos

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French Fabien Danjan of CNRS (French Res

French Fabien Danjan of CNRS (French Reseach Institut Center) introduces embryonic stem cells to set a genetically modified line.; Credit: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images

LONDON (AP) - In a landmark decision that some ethicists warned is a step down the path toward "designer babies," Britain gave scientists approval Monday to conduct experiments in which they will try to edit the genes in human embryos.

The scientists won't be creating babies - the modified embryos will be destroyed after seven days. Instead, they said, the goal is to better understand human development and thereby improve fertility treatments and prevent miscarriages.

The decision by Britain's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority marks the first time a country's national regulator has approved the technique. Permission isn't explicitly required in many other countries, including the U.S. and China.

The U.S. does not allow the use of federal funds for embryo modification, but there is no outright ban on gene editing.Gene editing involves deleting, repairing or replacing DNA inside living cells in a sort of biological cut-and-paste technique that scientists say could one day lead to treatments for conditions like HIV or inherited disorders such as muscular dystrophy and sickle cell disease.

A team led by Kathy Niakan, an embryo and stem cell specialist at London's new Francis Crick Institute, received the OK to use gene editing to analyze the first week of an embryo's growth.

Read the full article here.

Guests:

Ronald Bailey, Science Correspondent for “Reason” magazine and Reason.com; Author of “The End of Doom: Environmental Renewal in the Twenty-first Century

Marcy Darnovsky, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of human genetic, reproductive, and biomedical technologies


Weighing the negative effects of mindfulness meditation

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Mindfulness has been lauded as an effective meditation practice to bring people into the present moment.

; Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Mindfulness has been lauded as an effective meditation practice to bring people into the present moment.

It’s used as a tool to beat chronic pain and anxiety, and can even promote better self-esteem.

As a popular choice for meditation, mindfulness has even been adopted by companies such as Google, Apple and Sony as part of employee packages and the app, Headspace, offers 10-minute practices to anyone with a smartphone.

But what happens when mindfulness goes wrong?

For some, the meditative practice could trigger unprocessed emotions, bringing on negative side-effects such as panic and depression.

Larry Mantle speaks today with mindfulness researchers Miguel Farias and David Creswell to weigh in on the side-effects of mindfulness and how to avoid them.

Guests:

Miguel Farias, Lecturer and Director of Studies in Psychology at Oxford University and author of “The Buddha Pill” (Watkins Publishing, 2015)

J. David Creswell, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director, Health and Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University

Pot legalization carries huge negative public health risks, new UCSF report finds

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An analysis released today by UCSF researchers look at the public health effects of pot legalization in California.
; Credit: David Ramos/Getty Images

An analysis released today by UCSF researchers look at the public health effects of pot legalization in California.

They say that the public health disadvantages of legalization disproportionately outweigh advantages it might bring, including the potential in lowering crime.

Rachel Barry and Stanton Glantz, UCSF researchers and co-authors of the report, zero in on two proposed pot legalization ballot initiatives for California to look at the possible impact of each scenario. Using the tobacco industry as comparison, they found that the two ballot measures are more interested in establishing a business model that “only include minimal protections for the public that are unlikely to prevent public health harms.”

UC San Francisco's Public Health Analysis of Proposed Marijuana Legalization

Guests:

Rachel Barry, coauthor of the public health analysis released today looking at the two California upcoming ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana. She is a policy researcher at the UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education

Paul Armentano, Deputy Director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a DC-based nonprofit that works to legalize the use of marijuana.

The psychology of con-artists and how to avoid a scam

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“The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It. . . Every Time” (Penguin Random House, 2016)
; Credit: Penguin Random House

We hear about scams all the time, from Ponzi-schemes to small-time fraud.

While most people feel are confident about how to avoid a con, it may be surprising how susceptible we all are to them.

So what makes a successful con and how do we avoid falling for their ploys? The answer may not have to do with the intelligence of a victim, it has to do with confidence.

Maria Konnikova digs into solutions on how to outwit con-artists in her new book, “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It. . . Every Time.” She speaks with Larry Mantle today on who is the most vulnerable when it comes to falling for scams and how to protect ourselves against manipulation.

Guest:

Maria Konnikova, contributor for the New Yorker and author of “The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It. . . Every Time” (Penguin Random House, 2016)

On to NH after Cruz cruises past Trump, Clinton edges Sanders in Iowa

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Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stands with his wife Heidi as he addresses supporters after winning at an Iowa caucus night gathering.; Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Exuding his usual confidence and bravado, Ted Cruz thanked voters in Iowa for propelling him to victory in the Iowa caucuses.

Cruz finished with 28 percent of the vote, enough for a four point victory over Donald Trump. Marco Rubio came up third with 23 percent. Trump was congratulatory but confident as he addressed a crowd at his Iowa headquarters while Marco Rubio touted his third place finish as a victory for his campaign over all those who doubted its legitimacy.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Democratic Party announced Hillary Clinton has officially won the closest Democratic caucuses in the state’s history, beating Bernie Sanders by two-tenths of a percent. Sanders wasted no time moving on to his next challenge, jetting off to New Hampshire to speak with supporters before the sun even rose.

Now, the work begins in New Hampshire just a week away from the first-in-the-nation primary. Ted Cruz will have his work cut out for him there, where the latest polls have him trailing Trump by over 20 percent. Hailing from next door neighbor Vermont, Bernie Sanders is a household name in the Granite State, so Hillary Clinton will also have some ground to make up as she also trails by a sizeable margin.

What do last night’s caucus results tell us about the candidates? Do you think Iowa’s results are a sign of things to come? Who has the most work to do in New Hampshire?

Guests:

Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; founder of Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008. He tweets @RodStrategies

Reed Galen, Republican political strategist and owner of Jedburghs, LLC., a public affairs and campaign consultancy firm in Orange County

A new study makes a major stride toward understanding the cause of schizophrenia

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New research pieced together the steps by which genes can increase a person’s risk for developing the schizophrenia. ; Credit: /iStockphoto.com

The landmark study published in the journal Nature will not lead to new treatments nor to widely available testing for individual risk in the near future, but it does explains some mysteries surrounding the disease such as why the disorder often begins in adolescence.

The research pieced together the steps by which genes can increase a person’s risk for developing the disorder. The risk is related to a process called “synaptic pruning,” in which the brain sheds weak or redundant connections. The study suggests that people who carry genes that accelerate or intensify the pruning are at a higher risk of developing schizophrenia.

About 2 million Americans have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, a debilitating disease characterized by delusional thinking and hallucinations.

Why has discovering the cause of this disease been so elusive? How did you arrive at this conclusion? How much closer does this research bring us to finding a cure or early detection? How many people in California/Los Angeles have been diagnosed? What kinds of treatments are available? What does this research mean for people living with the disease?

Guests:

Steve McCarroll, Associate professor of genetics at Harvard and the study’s lead researcher

Keith Nuechterlein, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and Director of the UCLA Center for Neurocognition and Emotion in Schizophrenia

Zika virus threat renews interest in DDT insecticide

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MADAGASCAR-ENVIRONMENT-AGRICULTURE

Members prepare insecticide for a helicopter equipped for pesticide spreading.; Credit: RIJASOLO/AFP/Getty Images

Without a vaccine or treatment for the Zika virus, experts are debating aggressive campaigns for mosquito elimination including the use of DDT (long banned in the U.S.).

Critics of the ban on DDT say people suffering from the Zika health emergency do not have the luxury of worrying about the environmental impact of the insecticide. Some entomologists argue newer insecticides are likely as effective as DDT on Zika-carrying mosquito species, plus some research has found DDT-resistant mosquito populations.

Is the resurgent interest in DDT based on its efficacy?

Guests:

Robert Zubrin, author, "Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism;" Zubrin wrote “Will the EPA cause a Zika Pandemic” for the National Review; Aerospace Engineer by trade

Dina Fonseca, Ph.D., Professor of Entomology, Rutgers University; Fonseca studies invasive mosquitoes and insecticide efficacy; 2014 study published in PLoS One "Insecticide Resistance Status of United States Populations of Aedes albopictus and Mechanisms Involved"

Why Amazon wants to open up 400 more brick-and-mortar bookstores

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Amazon Opens First Brick-And-Mortar Bookstore In Seattle

Jeff Ing of Seattle uses a Kindle Fire tablet device at the newly opened Amazon Books store on November 4, 2015 in Seattle, Washington.; Credit: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Amazon.com, the online “everything store,” opened its first brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle late last year.

The company called it a “physical extension of Amazon.com”. For all intent and purposes, it looks just like a regular bookstore, except prices are the same as they are on the site.

Now, a few months after that store’s debut, it looks like Amazon might be thinking of expanding the concept -- to the tune of 300 to 400 physical stores.

Word of the move didn’t come from Amazon, though, but from Sandeep Marthrani, the CEO of the mall operator General Growth Properties. During a conference calls with analysts, Marthrani let the news slip.

Why would this impact brick-and-mortar booksellers from Barnes & Noble to independent bookstores? What is driving Amazon’s decision to expand in the physical retail space?

Guest:

Spencer Soper, Seattle-based e-commerce reporter at Bloomberg who’s been following the story. One of the companies he reports closely on is Amazon

John Mutter, editor in chief and co-founder of Shelf Awareness, which publishes an email newsletter for booksellers, librarians and book readers


New study looks at how religion, class, and gender factor into self-identification of biracial Americans

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Sonia Smith Kang (back row right) poses with her multiracial, multicultural family. She is Mexican-black, and her husband is Korean.; Credit: Sonia Smith Kang

A Pew report from last year found that multiracial adults make up close to 7 percent of the US population. It’s projected that by 2050, one in five Americans will be multiracial.

As it grows, how those in this population choose to identify themselves racially will have political, policy, and legislative significance.

A new study published in the journal, American Sociological Review, looks precisely at that. Author and Stanford professor Lauren Davenport surveyed how 37,000 biracial Americans (Asian-white, black-white, and Latino-white) and found that gender, class, and religion all play different roles in influencing how they choose to self-identify.

American Sociological Association Multiracial Labeling Study

Guest:

Lauren Davenport, author of the new study, “The Role of Gender, Class, and Religion in Biracial Americans’ Racial Labeling Decisions,” published in the February issue of American Sociological Review. She is also an assistant professor of Political Science at Stanford University

Yahoo announced layoffs amid lawsuit alleging its forced ranking review system discriminates against men

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Newest Innovations In Consumer Technology On Display At 2014 International CES

Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer delivers a keynote address at the 2014 International CES at The Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.; Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The tech company Yahoo is reeling. Investors are putting heavy pressure on CEO Marissa Mayer for the company's lack of growth.

Yesterday, Yahoo announced 15-percent of its workforce will be laid off. That's 1,700 people. But another threat is looming.

A federal lawsuit filed by a former Yahoo editor who oversaw content on multiple websites. He was fired via Yahoo's signature 1-to-5 employee rating scale. Marissa Mayer introduced the system shortly after taking over the company in 2012. Former Yahoo employee Gregory Anderson claims the quarterly numerical rating is used to conduct mass layoffs and replace men with women, not truly rate employee performance.

Forced ranking, where managers across a company are required to rank all of their employees on a bell curve, has been a controversial management technique since then GE CEO Jack Welch popularized it in the 1980s.

Yahoo Complaint

Guests:

Jon Parsons, employment attorney in Palo Alto who is representing former Yahoo employee Gregory Anderson in his lawsuit against Yahoo

Tamara Devitt, a labor and employment attorney at Haynes and Boone, a law firm with offices in Palo Alto and Orange County

University of Connecticut black-only learning community draws mixed reactions

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Michigan v Connecticut

An exterior view of Rentschler Field before a game in East Hartford, Connecticut.; Credit: Jim Rogash/Getty Images

The University of Connecticut is setting aside specific rooms in its new dorm building for more than 40 African-American male students.

On average, male Black students academically underperform at UConn. The school hopes having the students live together and will boost their grades and graduation rates.

The Universities of Minnesota and Iowa have set up similar segregated areas in dorms.

Do you think this is a good response to some minority students' concerns that they have a hard time feeling comfortable on some college campuses? If you were in the distinct minority at the college you attended, would you have liked to have a separate area of the dorms for students of your race, ethnicity, or religion?

Guests:

Nolan Cabrera, assistant professor of education at the University of Arizona; Cabrera's primary research interests include race/racism in higher education

Joe Hicks, co-founder and vice president of Community Advocates, Inc., a Los Angeles-based human and civil rights organization

What we think we know about non-conformists is all wrong, says Wharton professor in new book

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Originals

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World; Credit: Viking Books

The business world worships innovation and non-conformity.

For evidence, look no further than the lionization of such CEOs as Jeff Bezo, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk.

But what exactly is a non-conformist? Traditionally, they are thought of as mavericks and risk-takers. According to the new book, “Originals” by Wharton professor Adam Grant, though, the personality traits that constitute a non-conformist run counter to what common wisdom might suggest.  

Adam Grant will be signing copies of his book at UC Santa Barbara tonight from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Reserve tickets and get more information.

Guest:

Adam Grant, author of “Originals:How Non-Conformists Move the World” (Viking, 2016) and a professor of psychology and management at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania

Consumer advocate, self-driving car researcher debate CA DMV’s proposed rules for autonomous vehicles

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Gov. Brown Signs Legislation At Google HQ That Allows Testing Of Autonomous Vehicles

A Google self-driving car is displayed at the Google headquarters.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California is the car capital of the world. It’s also becoming the self-driving car capital of the world.

Companies from Google to Tesla have used the Golden State as their base to produce and test their autonomous vehicles.The technology is still being fine-tuned, but municipalities and states have already begun thinking about road rules for these vehicles. Naturally, California is at the forefront of these efforts.

The CA DMV in December released a set of rules for self-driving cars and this month the agency is held two workshops in Northern and Southern California on the proposal, which would require, among other things, that a person is behind the wheel at all times despite the fact that the car could operate on its own.

Google has already said if these rules are adopted, the company will likely pull out of California, but consumer advocates say that these rules are exactly what we need to protect drivers and pedestrians.

Guests:

John M. Simpson, Privacy Project director at Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica   

Brad Templeton, software architect and board member of Electronic Frontier Foundation. He consulted on Google’s team designing a driverless car and is an expert on the technology  

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