Republican Nevada Governor-elect Brian Sandoval gives his victory speech at the Nevada Republican Party's election results watch party at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.; Credit: David Becker/Getty Images

Before last week, the name Brian Sandoval was as far away as can be from any conversations about the Supreme Court.

The Nevada governor wasn’t on any observers’ lists of potential nominees that President Obama might consider to fill the spot left vacant by the late-Antonin Scalia. The 52-year-old is described as a centrist Republican. Despite his party affiliation, he supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Numerous outlets are reporting that President Obama is weighing the possibility of nominating Sandoval to the Supreme Court, a day after Senate Republicans vowed to deny holding confirmation hearings for any Obama nominees. The Sandoval news has not changed Senator Mitch McConnell and others’ position.

But this morning, Nevada political insider Jon Ralston tweeted this out, saying that Sandoval is no longer in the running:

Breaking: Sandoval takes himself out of consideration for SCOTUS.

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) February 25, 2016

Do you support the choice of Sandoval? Would the political calculation of nominating a centrist Republican pay off for President Obama? What’s the next move for the Obama team if Sandoval does pull himself out of the running?

Guests:

Greg Stohr, Supreme Court reporter for Bloomberg News. He tweets from @GregStohr

Burgess Everett, a congressional reporter for POLITICO who’s been following the story

An American flag flies at half mast following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the U.S. Supreme Court, February 14, 2016 in Washington, DC.; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

No matter their politics, the top legal minds in the U.S. tend to favor 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices (with a small minority leery of thrusting the Court regularly into election battles).

They argue that longer life-spans and an increasingly politicized bench are not what the founders intended in offering lifetime tenure in the Constitution.

However, creating term limits would require an amendment - two-thirds of Congress to propose it and 38 of the 50 states to ratify it.

In the current climate, could Congressional leaders and President Barack Obama gin up support for such an amendment?

Guests:

Erwin Chemerinsky, Founding dean of the School of Law at UC Irvine and an expert on constitutional law

Roy Englert, Appellate Litigator based in Washington, D.C. who has argued 20 cases at the Supreme Court

“Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism” by Deborah Jian Lee (Beacon Press, 2015); Credit: Deborah Jian Lee / Beacon Press

The conservative politics of the Evangelical world could be viewed as less than inclusive. But with many young, progressive members of the Evangelical church, that perception is shifting.

LGBTQ Christians are coming out and staying in the church and pro-life members are focusing on the socioeconomic factors that contribute to the issue, instead of seeing it as a black and white case of morality. Same-sex marriage and gender equality are also being discussed in a more accepting light.

Deborah Jian Lee, author of the book, “Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism,” explores the changing world of Evangelicalism and how a young, diverse demographic of Christians is bringing the church into new territory. She joins Larry Mantle and Professor of Theology and Culture Kutter Callaway to talk about her view of the new Evangelical movement.

Deborah Jian Lee will be speaking about reclaiming evangelicalism at The Level Ground Festival today from 2 to 4 p.m, taking place at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena. Click here for more information.

Guests:

Deborah Jian Lee, journalist and author of the book, “Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism” (Beacon Press, 2015); Deborah tweets from @DeborahJianLee

Kutter Callaway, Affiliate Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary

Denny's waitress Tahmina Najemyar (R) delivers free Grand Slam breakfasts to customers.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Last Tuesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released its 2-1 decision barring business from forcing waiters, bartenders and other staff to split tips with back-of-house employees such as bussers, cooks, and dishwashers.

The ruling applies to states like California where workers earn the minimum wage. The decision re-ignites the debate about how service businesses like restaurants and casinos should compensate employees amidst rising costs due to higher minimum wages across many cities in the US and medical insurance due to the Affordable Care Act.

Other states affected include Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.  

Guest:

Randy Renick, Partner at the law firm Hadsell, Stormer and Renick LLP where he specializes in wage and hour, employment and civil rights litigation

The downtown skyline stands beyond the dry Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California. ; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

Power plants, water treatment facilities, and even cattle in Chino are just a few of the things creating methane hot spots around Southern California, according to a new study out from the University of California-Irvine.

Published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, the study looked at areas around the Los Angeles Basin emitting the highest levels of methane, which scientists have linked to global climate change. Using a special vehicle outfitted with GPS, a rooftop sampling mast, and spectrometers, researchers drove for miles around Southern California and continuously get air samples to analyze.

They monitored levels of methane, ethane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide Using the data, they were able to identify 213 hot spots in a number of locations across Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange counties.

While the study was conducted before the Porter Ranch gas leak happened this past October, the study authors say they’re hopeful Southern California Gas Company will use the findings to help meet Governor Brown and the Air Resource Board’s orders that they remove as much of the methane from the air as was emitted during the leak.

Guest:

Francesca Hopkins, post-doctoral fellow at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the UCI study which mapped methane hot spots across the L.A. Basin

Ahmed Zewail is being honored at Caltech’s Science and Society Conference to address the most challenging problems facing the world and its future from medicine and space exploration to inequality and world economics.; Credit: Francois Durand/Getty Images

This Friday, Professor Ahmed Zewail is being honored at Caltech’s Science and Society Conference to address the most challenging problems facing the world and its future from medicine and space exploration to inequality and world economics.

Questions to be addressed include:  how to bridge the gap between rich and poor; can and should the body be engineered to live longer than our genes currently allow; what will startling advances in quantum mechanics mean for us.  

The professor will be recognized for his scientific contributions as well as his critical role in negotiating a peaceful resolution and transition to a new regime during the Egyptian Revolution in 2011.  

In 2009, President Obama appointed Zewail as US Science Envoy to the Middle East and Zewail also served as Science Advisor to the United Nations. In 1999, Zewail won the Nobel prize in chemistry for his contributions to femtochemistry, an area of physical chemistry that studies chemical reactions on extremely short time scales. Zewail developed a way to capture real-time movies of molecules as they meet and mate at speeds billions of times faster than the blink of an eye.

The Science and Society Conference featuring Ahmed Zewail and other Nobel Prize winners begins Friday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m. at the Beckman Auditorium at the Caltech campus in Pasadena. Admission is free. For more information visit scienceandsociety.caltech.edu.  

Guest:

Ahmed Zewail, Nobel laureate in chemistry and Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics at Cal-tech

Republican presidential candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) listen as answers a question during the Republican presidential debate at the University of Houston.; Credit: Pool/Getty Images

If you listened closely enough to last night’s GOP debate in Houston, you just might have heard some substance amidst the cacophonous shouting that highlighted the evening.

Businessman Donald Trump and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio traded blows amongst themselves, with the majority of the Congressmen’s ire directed towards the billionaire real estate mogul.

The CNN moderators seemed lost at times, either unable or unwilling to gain control of the discussion. And...oh yeah, weren’t there two others on stage?

John Kasich got a word in edgewise every so often, and Ben Carson may have ousted Jeb Bush’s “Please clap” for one-liner of the campaign when he asked, as the other four candidates shouted over one another, “Can someone please attack me?”

When the candidates were playing nice with one another, they were asked questions about Planned Parenthood, Obamacare alternatives, religious liberty, and amnesty.

Some have said Marco Rubio was last night’s winner because of his onslaught of attacks against Trump, while others think Rubio and Ted Cruz missed a golden opportunity to take Trump down a peg by highlighting his lack of political and policy-making experience.

Meanwhile, Trump gathered another endorsement in the wake of the debate. At a press conference Friday morning, New Jersey Governor and former presidential candidate Chris Christie announced he'd be endorsing Mr. Trump for the presidency.

Was there a winner in last night’s GOP debate? Was the strategy of attacking Donald Trump smart for Cruz and Rubio or did it just make them look petty? How does the debate set the table for Super Tuesday?

Guests:

Paris Dennard, Republican political analyst and former staffer for President George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee; currently serving as the legislative director of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; he tweets @PARISDENNARD

Angela T. Rye, a democratic analysis and  CEO of IMPACT Strategies, a DC-based political consulting and government relations firm

A man uses a laptop computer at a wireless cafe.; Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

In a recent Op-Ed in the LA times, journalist and author of “Getting Screwed, Sex Workers and the Law,” Professor Alison Bass argues that recent crackdowns of websites used to advertise and negotiate sex work actually increase the threat of violence against women in the trade.

In Seattle last month, law enforcement agents seized and shut down website TheReviewBoard.net, for its suspected use by local sex workers to post advertisements for sexual services.

Last year, law enforcement also shut down sites RentBoy.com and MyRedBook.com for allegedly harboring the activities of traffickers and pimps.

According to Professor Bass, there is little evidence that these websites abet sex trafficking. Online advertising in fact helps sex workers better screen potentially dangerous clients and negotiate safer sex. Without access to these sites, more women are forced to work in the streets, which leaves them more vulnerable to violent customers.

Proponents of police crackdowns argue that the majority of ads are used by women controlled by third parties like pimps and traffickers. The argument that decriminalization reduces sex trafficking is a myth. 

Here’s a YouTube interview of Bass talking about her book “Getting Screwed, Sex Workers and the Law.”

Guests:

Alison Bass, journalist, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Reed College of Media at West Virginia University, and author of “Getting Screwed, Sex Workers and the Law”

Taina Bien Aime, Executive Director of The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)

Voters go to the polls for Super Tuesday primaries in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights.; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

The hours are ticking away until voters in 11 states will head to the polls for Super Tuesday as hundreds of delegates are up for grabs among the remaining presidential candidates.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump continues to pad his lead over Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as he cited a new CNN/ORC poll during a campaign stop in Virginia this morning that has 49 percent of respondents supporting him for president to Marco Rubio’s 16 percent and Cruz’s 15.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who is also poised to have a big day tomorrow, seems to be spending less time attacking her in-party opponent Bernie Sanders and more focusing on how to defeat the Republican Party, maybe suggesting that she’s put Sanders in the rear view mirror. The Vermont Senator would have to have a huge day tomorrow if he wants to remain relevant in the election.

What’s at stake as voters head to the polls? Who has the best chance to win which states? Is there any way for the candidates who aren’t Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton to put pressure on the two frontrunners?

2016.Primaries

Guests:

John Iadarola, creator and host of the daily infotainment talk show ‘ThinkTank’ along with Hannah Cranston, part of The Young Turks Network; he’s also the main political fill in host for online news show The Young Turks

Pete Peterson, interim dean of the School of Public Policy and executive director of The Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University

Host Chris Rock speaks onstage during the 88th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.; Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The ensemble newsroom drama “Spotlight” nabbed Best Picture, while Leonardo DiCaprio finally took home the Best Actor honor for his turn in “Revenant.”

But Hollywood’s biggest celebration of the movies seems to be so much more than just about the movies this year. Criticisms over issues of diversity have dogged the Academy Awards -- and by extension, Hollywood. All eyes were on host Chris Rock to see what he would do to take on the controversy, and the comedian came out of the gate with guns blazing, devoting his entire opening monologue to calling Hollywood out.

Rock’s performance, however, failed to bring viewers in. The numbers out on the telecast this morning show that viewership last night declined to an 8-year low.

What do you think of the Oscars broadcast? How would you rate Rock’s performance?

Guests:

Dominic Patten, senior editor at the online Hollywood and entertainment news site, Deadline; he tweets from @DeadlineDominic

Matthew Presser, International Business Times’ Entertainment Business Reporter

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif, center, waves after speaking before the California Democrats State Convention Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot); Credit: Ben Margot/AP

Over the weekend state Democrats wrapped up their annual convention with a much anticipated endorsement of Attorney General Kamala Harris over her opponent Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange County for U.S. Senate.

And while many paint a rosy picture of the party’s future -- Democrats have for some time held every statewide office and controlled the state Legislature -- registration numbers tell a different story. Democrats are struggling to attract new voters and young talent to the party.

Until this election, disenchanted Democrats have had nowhere to turn, but perhaps thanks to so many young people “feeling the Bern” of this election, that playing field could be widening. By comparison to the California Republican party, which has largely imploded since the state broke its Republican streak by nominating Bill Clinton in 1992, the Democrats haven’t looked too bad.

But in November of 1992, there were almost 7,410,914 Democrats in the state, out of 15.1 million registered voters. And while the number of registered voters has increased by nearly 2.2 million, the number of Democrats has only grown by less than 28,000 voters. And across California today, nearly every new voter is registering nonpartisan.

We look at what that future could mean for both parties.

Guests:

Cathleen Decker, Political Columnist for the Los Angeles Times; she tweets from @cathleendecker

Paul Mitchell, owner of Redistricting Partners, and Vice President of Political Data Inc. a company that analyzes  voter file information for campaigns and others

The new dashboard of Tesla "D" model electric sedan is seen on a giant screen.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Problems with technology have become consumers’ number one concern when it comes to car dependability, according to a new study.

The J.D. Power 2016 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, released Wednesday, noted that 20% of all customer complaints had to do with infotainment, navigation and car communication systems problems.

Customer dissatisfaction in these areas are also responsible for the car industry’s decline in vehicle dependability. If infotainment systems don’t work, potential buyers question what else in the car may not be up to snuff.

With all the advances in smartphone technology, why do cars seem to be the Achilles heel of infotainment?

Guests:

Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive strategy at J.D. Power and Associates

Gabe Nelson, reporter for Automotive News, who’s looked at reasons why car manufacturers just can’t seem to get infotainment systems right

Cudahy City Council members say anti-illegal immigration activists hostility forced the council to move the location of its meetings from chambers to a "safer" space.
; Credit: grindall61/ YouTube

Self-described "anti-illegal immigration" activists are expanding their protests of small city governments in South Los Angeles that they believe are overly sympathetic to residents without legal status.

The group, called "We the People Rising," recently targeted Cudahy's Latino-dominated City Council after lawmakers declared Cudahy a "sanctuary city" — meaning the city will not generally cooperate with immigration authorities.

Huntington Park officials appointment of two local residents without legal immigration status to city commissions drew the activists to city meetings last fall.

Read the full story here and see video posted to YouTube by user 'grindall61' below of the Feb. 2 Cudahy City Council meeting where citizens and council members clashed during public comment.

Guests:

Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Law School and president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission; she tweets @LevinsonJessica

Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, an organization focusing on public forum law, and former executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition

"Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror" by General Michael V. Hayden; Credit: Penguin Random House

The secret cellphone metadata collection program Stellarwind became household knowledge in 2009, after files obtained by CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden were published in the Guardian newspaper.

The man at the helm of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time is Michael Hayden, author of the new book, “Playing to the Edge.” Hayden has the distinction to be the only person to have led both the CIA and the NSA, and uses the book to give Americans a chance to look at the inner workings of both agencies, and what the intelligence community does for the country’s safety.

Since the leak of the Snowden files, the work of both agencies have come under sustained attack from civil liberties advocates. Hayden defends the use of intelligence collecting programs like Stellarwind, asserting that robust safeguards have been put into place to ensure that these sensitive data do not fall into the wrong hands.

What does Hayden think about the dustup over Apple’s refusal to help unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino terrorists? How is the battle between privacy and national security going to play out in the future?

Michael Hayden will be at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda, CA today at 7:00pm to talk about his book and America’s intelligence wars. Click here for ticket information.

Guest:

General Michael Hayden, author of “Playing to the Edge: American intelligence in the Age of Terror” (Penguin, 2016).  He was the head of both the CIA and NSA

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to supporters during a rally at Valdosta State University February 29, 2016 in Valdosta, Georgia.; Credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

It's Super Tuesday -- a dozen states holding primaries or caucuses and the largest number of delegates at stake on any day in the primary process.

Polls show that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are likely to pick up the most delegates, but opponents will be looking for any positives to grab before the next big primary day, March 15th.

There's always talks of strategic voting before an election. The Boston Herald reported today that some 20,000 Massachusetts voters re-registered from Democrats to Republicans or independents, in an effort to to curb Trump's momentum.

What is the ethics of strategic voting? What do Sanders, Rubio, and Cruz need to accomplish today to stay in the game?

Guests:

Christina Bellantoni, Assistant Managing Editor, Politics for the Los Angeles Times; previously political editor at "PBS NewsHour"

Christopher J. Galdieri, Assistant Professor of Politics, Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire

Peter Beinart, a contributing editor at The Atlantic magazine, whose latest piece is titled, “Why Liberals Should Vote for Marco Rubio”. He is also an associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York. He tweets from @PeterBeinart

A police officer investigates the scene near Pearson Park in Anaheim, California, after three counter-protesters were stabbed while clashing with Ku Klux Klan members staging a rally. ; Credit: RINGO CHIU/AFP/Getty Images

A Ku Klux Klan leader who was injured when his small group of demonstrators brawled with counter-protesters in a Southern California park this weekend said Monday that he called police beforehand asking for security and was told, "We don't do that."

That’s raised questions about how police are supposed to respond in such situations.

Read more here.

Guests:

Tom Tait, Mayor of Anaheim

Eugene O’Donnell, Professor of law and police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; former NYPD officer; former prosecutor in Kings County, New York

A supporter of U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders holds a sign at Sanders' first campaign rally in Michigan at Eastern Michigan University.; Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

AirTalk fact checks one of the defining pillars of his campaign--and likely appeal to millennial voters--free tuition at public universities and colleges.

Sanders claims the $75-billion a year plan will be fully paid for by “imposing a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators.”

While there are left-leaning people that theoretically applaud the spirit behind making higher-education affordable for all, they question the pragmatics of the Sanders plan.

Might college students capable of paying tuition, forgo it in favor of attending a high-quality free public school, thereby overloading those colleges? Is it realistic to impose the taxes Sanders suggests? Where exactly are those taxes coming from?

Guests:

Gerald Friedman, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Jared Bernstein, Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden; @econjared

Supporters of legal access to abortion, as well as anti-abortion activists, rally outside the Supreme Court as the Court hears oral arguments in the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.; Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

The first major case to go before a post-Scalia, short-staffed Supreme Court looks at whether a Texas law puts an “undue burden” on a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

The case, “Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt,” is the first abortion case the High Court will consider in more than 20 years.

The Texas law in question, HB2, requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and abortion clinics to have similar building standards as ambulatory surgical centers.

Proponents of HB2 say these requirements ensure the safety of women seeking abortion in Texas, but opponents argue that they are unnecessary and have already led to the closure of many facilities in the state, essentially limiting women’s access to the procedure.

A decision is expected by June.

Guests:

David Gans, Civil Rights Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed an amicus brief on behalf of the petitioner

Linda Schlueter, President of Trinity Legal Center, a nonprofit litigation and legislation support center focused on women’s reproductive health issues based in San Antonio, Texas. It filed an amicus brief on the respondent in the case  

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. ; Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

WASHINGTON (AP) - After an Oval Office sit-down on Tuesday did nothing to move Republican Senate leaders off their hard line against a Supreme Court nomination, Democrats pulled out another weapon in the heated election-year fight: Donald Trump.

In a White House meeting that lasted less than an hour, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told President Barack Obama that any confirmation process during a presidential campaign would politicize the court.

They offered up no potential candidates that would win their backing and no route to filling the seat.

Guest:

Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump speaks to the media at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.; Credit: John Moore/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are much closer to their party's Presidential nominations after strong showings yesterday on Super Tuesday.

A broad swath of leading Republicans are trying to figure out what to do about Donald Trump's dominance on Super Tuesday. Trump won over 300 delegates, Ted Cruz got just over 200, and Marco Rubio received just over 100. Starting March 15th, the GOP primaries become winner-take-all.

If Trump continues winning states, he'll be grabbing fistfuls of delegates at a time. With that prospective staring them in the face, traditional Republicans are thrashing around looking for an alternative to Trump. Is there anything they can do to stop his progress?

Then, a couple months ago in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times and on AirTalk, political science professor Larry Gerston claimed that, due to the larger than usual pool of candidates vying for the GOP spot, that this could be the year that California’s vote could finally matter in the primaries.

We check in with Gerston about how Tuesday’s results impacted that outlook.

Guests:

Philip Rucker, Reporter at The Washington Post who’s been following the latest GOP stances on Donald Trump’s ascent

Lisa Camooso Miller, Republican strategist and partner at Blueprint Communications, a public affairs firm based in D.C.; Lisa tweets from @camoosomiller

Ed Espinoza, director of Progress Texas, a political communications firm based in Austin, TX. Former Western States Director for the Democratic National Committee in California and a superdelegate in 2008; Ed tweets from @EdEspinoza

Zach Courser, research director of the Dreier Roundtable and visiting assistant professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College

John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation; he tweets from @NicholsUprising

Larry N. Gerston, a professor emeritus of political science at San Jose State University and author of many books, including “Not So Golden After All: The Rise and Fall of California” (CRC Press, 2012). He is the author of the op-ed piece, “This year, California will finally influence who becomes the GOP presidential nominee,” published yesterday in the LA Times; Larry tweets from @lgerston