Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam waves to supporters at an election night rally November 7, 2017 in Fairfax, Virginia. Northam defeated Republican candidate Ed Gillespie. ; Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

In the Virginia gubernatorial race, Ralph Northam (D) defeated Ed Gillespie (R) by an unexpectedly wide margin: 9 points.

White women with college degrees lent a hand in the Democrats’ win — they favored Northam over Gillespie by 16 points. By contrast, they favored Hillary Clinton over Trump by just 6 points last year (she did win Virginia — it was the only Southern state she won). Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) is termed out, and some say he may ride this victory to a presidential run in 2020.

Democrats also may have won control of Virginia’s House of Delegates. All 100 seats in the chamber were up for reelection yesterday, and Democrats unseated at least 12 Republicans — all of whom were men — and flipped three districts (Republican incumbents who did not seek reelection). Women won 11 of those seats, including the first openly transgender woman (Danica Roem) to win elected office. Four races are too close to call.

If Democrats win two of those four undecided races, bringing their total wins to 17 seats, they will control the House of Delegates — a development no one expected. Yet even without winning control of the chamber, yesterday’s win for Democrats represents the biggest shift in party power in Virginia’s House of Delegates in decades.

Other victories for Democrats:

• In New Jersey, Phil Murphy (D) beat Chris Christie’s lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno (R) by 13 points. Democrats now control New Jersey’s state legislature and governor’s office.

• Maine voted overwhelmingly to expand Medicaid (by 20 point margin), despite opposition from the state’s Republican governor and a big advertising campaign financed by out-of-state dollars.

Guests:

Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush

Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of “Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age” (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets @carolineheldman

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Twenty-six crosses stand in a field on the edge of town to honor the 26 victims killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on November 8, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas.; Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

In the wake of the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas this past Sunday, President Donald Trump referred to the act as a “mental health problem.”

Experts say that while some mass murderers do exhibit psychopathic or sociopathic behaviors, it’s a much different psychological manifestation than mental illness. So, what is psychological link between mental illness and mass murderers, if one exists? And if there isn’t, what accounts for their behavior?

Guests:

Judy Ho, associate professor of psychology at Pepperdine University; she is also a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; she tweets @DrJudyHo

Dr. Michael Stone, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, specializing in personality disorders; he was the host of the Discovery Channel series “Most Evil” and is the author of “The Anatomy of Evil” (Prometheus Books, 2009)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Volunteers get a briefing at the George Brown Convention Center that has been turned into a shelter run by the American Red Cross to house victims of the high water from Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas.; Credit: Erich Schlegel/Getty Images

The Red Cross is under fire for its response to Hurricane Harvey last month.

As reported by USA Today, Texas officials including Gov. Greg Abbott are accusing the organization of a disorganized and slow response following last month’s hurricane in Houston and its surrounding areas.

But this is not the first time the Red Cross has been questioned because of how it directs its resources. ProPublica and NPR teamed up for an investigation of how the organization spends its funds.

The Red Cross is trying to manage its money and manpower to help with multiple natural disasters this year, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the California wildfires. So what can the organization do to curb the criticism and offer the best possible aid? Larry speaks to ProPublica’s Decca Muldowney to find out more.

Guest:

Decca Muldowney, journalist who contributed to ProPublica’s report “Texas Official After Harvey: The ‘Red Cross Was Not There’;” ProPublica has investigated numerous instances problems at the Red Cross

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A Vivian Maier self-portrait. She's the subject of the new biography by Pamela Bannos, "Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife"; Credit: Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier is one of the new millennium’s biggest art stories. The story goes that Maier was an odd, secretive, reclusive nanny who took thousands of photos that she never made public.

A man named John Maloof bought a trove of her negatives at auction, saving them from the junk heap, and has released them onto the art market, where prints fetch thousands of dollars. The documentary "Finding Vivian Maier" was nominated for an Academy Award.

But how true is the story? Why does somebody else get to tell it? And are legions of Maier fans actually being disrespectful by  looking at photos she may well have never wanted to be made public?

In 2012, Maloof told Off-Ramp's John Rabe he feels a little guilty that he's selling prints, "knowing she could have some level of success while she was alive." But, he says, "What do you want me to do? I could just leave it in my basement and let it collect dust? I could do nothing, or get money to get this out there."

In the new biography, “Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife,” Pamela Bannos - a professor of photography at Northwestern University - tries to give a little control back to Vivian Maier. "The purpose of my book is to give her story back to her. I talk about her life through her photographs, and interleave it with what happened posthumously." She takes particular issue with the portrayal of Maier as a "nanny photographer," when in fact she was a photographer first, and happened to support her art by being a nanny.

Guest host John Rabe speaks with Bannos about the book and its new findings surrounding the Maier's enigmatic life.

Guest:

Pamela Bannos, associate professor of instruction in the Art Theory and Practice department at Northwestern University and author of “Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife” (The University of Chicago Press, 2017)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Workers put final touches to a support structure, as ‘Lola’, one of two massive Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) creating tunnels for the Light Rail Eastside Extension, after it broke through from burrowing a 1.7-mile tunnel segment for the Metro Gold Line eastward on November 16, 2006 in Los Angeles, California.; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

USC is hosting scientists, researchers, writers, artists and historians in a day of conversation on what lies beneath Los Angeles: earthquakes, tunnels, fossils and oil, and more.

Speakers and panels will cover LA’s underground science and ecosystem, the city’s subterranean infrastructure, local military history, and its edgy arts and culture.

The conference is called “Under L.A.: Subterranean Stories,” and it’s open to the public Saturday, 9am-4:30pm at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.

Guests:

William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West (ICW) and co-curator of the “Under LA” conference this Saturday, Nov. 11, at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library

Robert-Michael deGroot, staff scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and a panelist at the “Under LA” conference

Emily Lindsey, assistant curator and excavation site director at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum; a panelist at the “Under LA” conference

M.G. Lord, assistant professor of English at USC and a panelist at the “Under LA”  conference

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Signage and merchandise is seen at Showtime's "Twin Peaks" Double R Diner Pop-Up on Melrose Avenue on October 20, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.; Credit: Paul Butterfield/Getty Images

There are pop-ups for everything now: museums, operas, restaurants, a Twin Peaks-themed coffee shop, pretty much everything.

This is all happening as cornerstones of physical retail—think malls, department stores, everything but Amazon—are struggling to attract physical visits rather than virtual ones. Big business is catching on to the hotness of pop-ups, and now there are two kinds of pop-ups. The first is the traditional kind: a small business owner wants to start out but can’t afford to lease a commercial space, so they pair up with or rent out the capital they need from another business. Business grows, and eventually, the entrepreneur is able open their own brick-and-mortar business. The other kind is a corporate co-opting of this model that’s designed to attract shoppers with a “limited-time only!” spiel. Google, Target, those Halloween and Christmas stores, and Amazon’s book stores (ironic much?) are just a few examples.

Why do shoppers love pop-ups? Are faux pop-ups working for big business? Is it squeezing out the little guy? What pop-ups work really well?

Guests:

Nick Schreiber,  co-owner of Belle’s Bagels, a bagel pop-up at a Highland Park music venue

Melissa Gonzalez, founder of The Lion’Esque Group, a retail strategy firm that specializes in pop-ups

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

KPCC meets Cassie at Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) advanced mobility lab.
; Credit: Susanica Tam/For KPCC

Last month, Caltech opened a new interdisciplinary center to study and develop the robots of the future – drones and machines equipped with artificial intelligence that will allow them to make their own decisions and partner with humans on sci-fi sounding projects like a fully automated flying ambulance and a bipedal robot that can help scientists explore Mars. That’s the dream, anyway.

AirTalk fill-in host John Rabe and Sanden Totten, co-creator of kids' science podcast “Brains On!” and a science writer for “Bill Nye Saves the World,” went inside the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies to see what’s being developed and talk to the researchers about their goals, as well as the limitations and ethics of autonomous robots.

Here are some of the most interesting things we learned and saw.

The aerodrome

This three-story tall drone arena is equipped with nearly 1,4000 fans that generate winds that go up to 45 miles per hour.

What’s it for? The fans simulate various wind and storm conditions so researchers can test how drones react in real-world weather. The aerodrome is also rimmed with 48 cameras that follow the motion of the drone.

Are the drones fully autonomous? Not yet. But according to Mory Gharib, director of CAST and head of the aerospace department at Caltech, the cameras capture information about how the drone is reacting to remote-controlled commands as it struggles against simulated winds. This information is used to develop the drone's software so it can learn "the ability to reason or negotiate the wind" and eventually become fully autonomous.

The flying ambulance

What’s it for? Rescuing people from hard-to-reach spaces and transporting them quickly to nearby hospitals, while monitoring some of their vitals. Its stretcher would be automated as well.

Fun fact: The design was based on a boxfish, whose shape is optimized to withstand water flow so it can maneuver and stabilize itself in currents.

The frictionless floor

This floor in the Space Robotics Lab operates like an air hockey table, with jets shooting a thin cushion of air that satellite simulators glide on.

What’s it for? The goal of the lab is to be able to send automated drones into space and have them communicate and coordinate with each other to build structures, such as a telescope. The frictionless floor allows researchers to simulate space-like conditions.

Fun fact: It takes a very special robotic vacuum to clean this floor without making it dirtier.

Prosthetic leg

What's it for? The prosthetic leg is powered, which means its wearer can expend less energy when walking. The goal is to have the prosthetic leg adapt to its user’s gait and help them be more symmetric and comfortable.

So what's going on inside the prosthetic leg? "It is actively looking at [the user's]...movements to decide how to move. So, every moment in time we have mathematical expressions that are evaluating on the device and deciding what to do next," said Aaron Ames, professor of mechanical engineering and control and dynamical systems.

Cassie, the bipedal robot

What’s the point of a bipedal robot? Wouldn’t a quadrupedal robot be more stable? Aaron Ames said bipedal robots have the capacity to explore certain areas that robots with other designs cannot reach. The goal is to one day send Cassie to Mars where it would have the capacity to explore spaces that a rover cannot.  Also, since our world was created for bipedal creatures (read: us), this type of robot will be able to navigate the human world more easily.

What’s the short-term goal for Cassie? Currently, CAST is working on getting Cassie to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. The goal is for Cassie to be fully autonomous and capable of sensing and adjusting to different kinds of terrain.

Fun fact: Cassie and other bipedal robots fall over a lot, which is why Caltech's Advanced Mobility Lab is padded with gym mats. 

AI anxiety 

We also talked to Anima Anandkumar, a machine learning expert who describes her job as putting the brains inside the robots, about some of our concerns regarding AI.

Will the robots become smart enough to take over?

What is intelligence? How adaptive can the AI systems be? Is it able to understand the underlying meaning of the tasks? Is it able to then learn better, teach itself new skills? We are still very far from that.

Is the concern about automation taking jobs justified?

That part is justified, because many industries are ripe for disruption and this is where the social aspect and having the right support systems makes a huge difference, because if done wrong then in the short term you will see many people out of work.

So what concerns you most about an AI- and drone-filled future?

Anandkumar said she is most concerned about AI reinforcing and multiplying the biases of humans. 

The primary concern is that we should be aiming to democratize AI. It should not be only accessible to few... The other aspect is the kind of data we feed into the system, because the biases that can build up [in people and society] get multiplied several times more [in AI].

What do we do about it?

We come up with principled approaches to data collection. What does it mean to collect balanced data? Can we have fairness measures for our algorithms and can we prove that they satisfy these requirements?

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A Horizon Zero Dawn machine character takes interest in a street vendor on opening day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 13, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

It’s been four years since the debate over street vending in LA began. Now, a new set of restrictions has been proposed.

City lawmakers are considering banning vendors near venues like Dodger Stadium, Staples Center and Hollywood Boulevard – all places where street vending has become part of LA culture.

A victory for vendors was put in place earlier this year, when city lawmakers voted to limit penalties for them, essentially decriminalizing vending as a safeguard against the Trump Administration’s push against illegal immigration.

But there has long been push back from local businesses and residents on where street vending should happen. The new restrictions aim to ease congestion in the city, especially in crowded areas of tourism like Hollywood Boulevard.

The proposal also asked for sidewalk vending operations to be limited from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and no vending permitted during and one hour after special city authorized events.

John Rabe speaks to two stakeholders working to find consensus on the issue.

Guests:

Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance; she was at yesterday’s hearing on street vendors

Rudy Espinoza, executive director at the Leadership for Urban Renewal Network; he is part of the steering committee for the L.A. Street Vending campaign

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Roy Moore, GOP Senate candidate and former chief justice on the Alabama Supreme Court speaks during the annual Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit at the Omni Shorham Hotel on October 13, 2017 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Four women have said Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore pursued sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Moore has denied all of the allegations.

The scandal has split lawmakers. Some are calling for Moore to withdraw from the race (though his name will remain on the ballot, no matter what), whether the allegations are true or not. Others have come to his defense. The big question is how the base in Alabama will react to this news about Moore, who has campaigned on evangelical Christian values.

Moore is on the ballot in the special election to fill the Alabama senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, when he became Attorney General. In the September primary election, Moore beat Lester Strange, who was appointed to the seat in February and embraced by establishment Republicans, with an especially strong backing from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. President Trump also favored Strange, though many voters saw Moore as the more “Trumpian” candidate. For the run-off, Moore’s Democratic opponent is Doug Jones.

Before the Washington Post’s story was published, Jones was trailing Moore by 6 points (some context to consider: Donald Trump won Alabama by 28 points.)

Election Day is Dec. 12.

Guest:

John Hammontree, managing producer of Reckon Alabama, the investigative and in-depth reporting unit at AL.com, the news site that covers the state of Alabama; he tweets @johnhammontree

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) speaks as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) (R), and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (L) listen during a meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee November 9, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, DC.; Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

On Thursday, one week after House GOP released their draft of the tax proposal, Senate Republicans unveiled their version of the tax-cut plan.

The Senate version preserves seven individual tax brackets, which the House version cut down to four. The Senate bill also delays the corporate tax-rate break by one year and gets rid of state and local tax income as well as property deductions, which will have significant implications for California.

What are the differences between the tax bills? What would each version mean for Californians? And how do these bills move forward?

Guest:

Eric Wasson, congressional reporter at Bloomberg News; he’s been following this story; he tweets @elwasson

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Mario Tronti, a member of the 42nd Infantry Division of the U.S. National Guard, performs 'Taps' as an American flag is raised on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), November 10, 2017 in New York City.; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Veterans Day arrives Saturday, and for many people, it’s a day to honor friends and family who’ve served in the military.

But tomorrow may not strike a chord for those who aren’t connected to veterans. According to Pew Research Center, 2015 marked the lowest number of active-duty members since 2001, and less than 1 percent of the population serves in the military.

The lack of understanding between the military and civilians has become more apparent in recent years. In national news headlines, there was the controversy over President Trump’s allegedly botched condolence phone call to Sgt. La David Johnson’s wife. Johnson was one of three American soldiers who were killed in Niger last month.

The phone call led to a speech by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, whose son recently died serving in Afghanistan made a speech in St. Louis and addressed the disconnect between civilians and people in the military. The Washington Post reported that Kelly discusses his son to shed light on the burden of military families.

Do you feel the civilian/military gap? If so, what would help you better understand the other side?

Guests:

Libby Denkmann, KPCC veterans and military reporter

Morten G. Ender, sociology professor the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York where his focus includes armed forces and society

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Standardized test scores are plateauing in California schools, and some are calling for a fundamental shift in teaching strategies.; Credit: Stock photo by Shannan Muskopf/flickr Creative Commons

California implemented new standardized tests in 2015, so it was expected that scores would dip before rising once students acclimated to the new format.

But three years later, scores in English and math have plateaued.

Testing expert Gregory Cizek, who advised the company that created the new exams, told the Los Angeles Times that scores haven’t improved because the necessary classroom changes haven’t occurred. According to Cizek, a fundamental shift in teaching methods is needed.

So what makes these exams different? What kind of teaching shifts do they require? And what do you or your kids think about the new standardized tests?

Guest:

Kyle Stokes, KPCC’s K-12 education reporter; he tweets @kystokes  

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A person looks at documents next to a box filled with pills on October 28, 2009 at French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis' site in Lisieux, France. ; Credit: MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. examines whether over-the-counter drugs are as effective as opioids in relieving pain.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, researchers found that a combination of two non-addictive drugs had the same or better pain relief results as a trio of opioids. Medications were administered in a Bronx emergency department to 416 patients with acute pain. Patients had injuries including bone fractures, sprained ankles and a dislocated shoulder. They were divided into four groups, each with a different medication or set of medications: Percocet, Vicodin or Tylenol No. 3. which have combinations of opioids and acetaminophen, and one group with an ibuprofen/acetaminophen combination.

With the ongoing conversation about opioid addiction, how could this study shed light on how pain relievers are prescribed? Larry speaks to the author of the study today to find out more about its results.

Guests:

Dr. Andrew K. Chang, M.D., M.S., a professor of Emergency Medicine and Vice Chair of Research and Academic Affairs at Albany Medical College; he is lead author on the recent study, “Effect of a Single Dose of Oral Opioid and Nonopioid Analgesics on Acute Extremity Pain in the Emergency Department A Randomized Clinical Trial”

Dr. Howard Fields, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology and physiology at UC San Francisco; his research focus includes pain management and opioid pharmacology

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

In honor of World Kindness Day this Nov. 13, what is the kindest thing a stranger has done for you?; Credit: Photo by DIBP images via Flickr Creative Commons

Yes. There’s a day of observance for everything. And today belongs to kindness.

November 13 is World Kindness Day. It was first minted in 1998 by a coalition of NGOs to spread the good deeds in the world.

To honor this special day, AirTalk wants to hear your stories of ordinary kindness from a stranger you’ve experienced.

The number to call is 866.893.5722.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

German machine gunners wearing gas masks during a WWI gas attack.; Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The 1993 discovery of a chemical weapons dump next to American University stunned Washington, D.C. residents, but decades of ongoing cleanup still offered little details of the facility that left it there.

It was known that the grounds had been leased during World War I for testing by the research division of the army’s Chemical Weapons Service, but journalist Theo Emery went on to research the American University Experiment Station, encountering terrifying accounts of the young soldiers, chemists and engineers who secretly experimented and trained with toxic gasses in the first wartime use of chemical weapons.

Emery’s years of research and hundreds of interviews have now been published in his new book, “Hellfire Boys: The Birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Race for the World’s Deadliest Weapons.”

Host Larry Mantle speaks to Emery about his findings and how they revolutionize our understanding of WWI and the destructiveness of man’s ingenuity.

Guest:

Theo Emery, longtime journalist of many publications; his latest book is “Hellfire Boys: The Birth of the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service and the Race for the World’s Deadliest Weapons” (Little, Brown and Company, 2017); he tweets @temery

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

People take photographs outside the U.S. Supreme Court, October 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. ; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

(AP) The Supreme Court is stepping into a free speech fight over California’s attempt to regulate anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.

The justices said Monday they will hear an appeal from centers that complained that a new state law forces them to provide information about abortion and other services.

Read full story here.

We reached out to the office of Attorney General Xavier Becerra, but he was unavailable for comment. To read his defense of California’s Reproductive FACT Act, visit here.

Guests:

Brad Dacus, president and founder of Pacific Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in religious issues headquartered in Sacramento, California

Amy Everitt, state director for NARAL Pro-Choice California, the advocacy group that sponsored the original Reproductive FACT Act (AB 775) signed into law in 2015, which requires California pregnancy centers to provide information regarding low-cost and free abortion services

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

US President Donald Trump (L) listens to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during their bilateral meeting on the side line of the 31st Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila on November 13, 2017.; Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore says he’s going to sue the Washington Post over the report it published last week in which four women, one of whom says she was a minor at the time of the alleged incident, accused Moore of sexual misconduct in the late 1970s, when he was a young assistant district attorney.

Moore has denied the allegations, calling the Post story “another attack on my character and reputation” aimed at damaging his Senate campaign. Some Senate Republicans have already reacted in the wake of the story, and on Monday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said during a press conference in Louisville that he believes the women in the story and that Moore should step aside. We’ll look at the developing story and how it impacts Moore’s Senate campaign.

Meanwhile, President Trump is wrapping up his trip to Asia. His final stop is the Philippines, where he has been attending the annual Association of Southeast Nations economic summit. All eyes have been on Trump and Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, whose war on drugs has led many to accuse him of human rights violations. President Trump has praised Duterte’s toughness on crime in the past. We’ll look at whether the President accomplished his goals for this trip and find out why Duterte sang President Trump a Filipino love song during a dinner Sunday night.

We’ll also compare the Senate and House GOP tax reform plans, introduce newly-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and update the latest on the sexual harassment investigation in California’s state capitol.

Guests:

Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of “Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age” (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets @carolineheldman

Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Retired Astronaut Scott Kelly signs his new book for guests at Breitling Boutique on October 14, 2017 in New York City. ; Credit: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Breitling

If you are an astronaut, what happens when you get a toothache at the international space station?

Who cuts your hair? What do you do when there's an orbital debris collision? These are some of the questions Scott Kelly, a veteran of four space flights, answers in his book “Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery”. Kelly recounts his childhood as a struggling student, to his training as an astronaut, to his year in isolation during a space mission.

Host Larry Mantle sits down with Scott Kelly on the pain and gain of living in space. You can watch the replay of our Facebook live stream below.

Scott Kelly will be discussing “Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery” with Bill Nye Tuesday, Nov. 14, in a sold-out Vroman’s Bookstore event at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The event starts at 7pm.

Guest:

Scott Kelly,  retired astronaut who has the record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space; he is the author of “Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery” (Knopf, 2017)

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A man has his blood pressure checked July 9, 2003 at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California.

New guidelines lower the threshold for high blood pressure, adding 30 million Americans to those who have the condition, which now plagues nearly half of U.S. adults.

High pressure, which for decades has been a top reading of at least 140 or a bottom one of 90, drops to 130 over 80 in advice announced Monday by a dozen medical groups.

Read the full story here.

Guest:

Gina Kolata,  a science and medicine reporter at The New York Times who’s been following the new guidelines; author of several books, including her latest, “Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them” (St. Martin’s Press, 2017); she tweets @ginakolata

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on November 14, 2017, in Washington, DC, on oversight of the US Justice Department.; Credit: AFP Contributor/AFP/Getty Images

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is denying he misled Congress about meeting a Trump campaign advisor trying to set up a meeting with Russian officials.

Right now, Sessions is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.

Larry and our panel of political observers analyze the AG’s testimony today, as well as other political news happening on the Hill.

Guests:

Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent on the Washington Desk at NPR; he tweets @NPRrelving

Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of ‘Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age’ (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets @carolineheldman

Lanhee Chen, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and former policy director for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign; he tweets @lanheechen

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.