LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy spoke at a press conference at South Region High School #2 in Los Angeles on February 6, 2012. Deasy joins AirTalk to talk about the recent "no confidence" vote.; Credit: Krista Kennell/AFP/Getty Images

Since he was hired in 2011, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy has shaken up the 2nd-largest school system in the nation and has thrust himself into the middle of a huge debate over how to fix the ailing school system.

His biggest aim has been to go after bad teachers, and in his first year the LAUSD fired 99 tenured teachers — a 30-fold increase from five years earlier. He’s also worked to speed up the process for dismissing teachers charged with serious misconduct, and earlier this year he adopted a teacher evaluation policy that rates teachers largely on student test scores.

Deasy points to improving graduation rates and API (Academic Performance Index) scores in his two years since becoming Superintendent, but the teacher’s union has taken serious issue with Deasy's cavalier approach. Recently union members voted overwhelmingly that they had "no confidence" in Deasy, and next month they plan to present to the school board demands to put less emphasis on teacher evaluations and focus instead on fully staffing schools, restoring money for preschool and adult education programs, and raising salaries.

Deasy also faces a growing national wave of criticism of heavy student testing, and a recent study also reports that the level of interest in the teaching profession is in decline in Los Angeles. John Deasy joins AirTalk to respond to his critics, address the teacher investigations and explain why there's a drop in people interested in teaching careers.

Guest:

John Deasy, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent

An official walks past a hazardous materials response team truck outside a mail sorting facility on April 16, 2013 in Hyattsville, Maryland. An envelope addressed to U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) tested positive for ricin at the facility where mail bound for the U.S. Capitol is sorted.; Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Suspicious mail that was sent to the White House and to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker both tested positive for ricin, a deadly poison. Both letters are postmarked from Memphis, Tennessee, and the police may have a suspect, according to The Associated Press (AP).

An intelligence bulletin obtained by AP reports that both letters say, “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," and both letters are signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."

RELATED: FBI: Suspicious letters mailed to President Obama, US senators may contain poisonous ricin (Update)

The letters were postmarked April 8, before the Boston bombings. Government officials are checking other suspicious mail, and the letters are currently under further testing because preliminary tests can show false positives.

Is there a connection between these letters and the Boston bombings? How do government officials screen for suspicious packages?  Where does mail get screened? What protocols are in place to protect the safety of those who screen mail?

Guests:
Justin Sink, a staff reporter for The Hill, who’s been covering the story

Leonard Cole, Director of the Program on Terrormedicine and Security at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; author of "The Anthrax Letters: A Bioterrorism Expert Investigates the Attack That Shocked America" (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009)

Should firefighters be reassigned to deal with medical emergencies? ; Credit: Photo by KristaLAPrincess via Flickr Creative Commons

The Los Angeles Fire Department announced a new plan to reassign dozens of firefighters from engines to rescue ambulances as the number of medical emergencies continues to rise. Fire Chief Brian Cummings' plan would shift 60 firefighters to ambulance crews, reducing the number of firefighters working on each engine.

The plan also would add 11 new ambulances to the city's fleet. The firefighters, who are emergency medical technicians, do not have the advanced life-saving skills of a licensed paramedic. Instead, they would staff non-paramedic units that respond to basic requests for medical treatment. The plan is opposed by labor groups representing firefighters and department commanders who claim reducing engine crews will put firefighters at risk.

Should firefighters respond to medical emergencies? What is the best way to utilize resources and skills? Is it dangerous to reassign firefighters to ambulance crews? 

Guest:

Captain Armando Hogan, community relations officer for the LA Fire Department

The American Medical Association recently published a letter online calling for more FDA oversight of dietary supplements, which are highly recalled.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

New research shows the majority of drug recalls by the FDA are for dietary supplements rather than pharmaceutical drugs. The popular products used for everything from weight loss to sexual enhancement sometimes contain unapproved ingredients, including trace amounts of pharmaceuticals.

Americans spend billions a year on supplements, but the products are not required to go through any approval process by the Food and Drug Administration. Should that change? Would the FDA process unfairly slow or inhibit development of supplements? No adverse events were noted in the list of recalls, but are side effects too hard to track?

Guests:

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, M.D., Founder and Director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group; Member of the Food and Drug Administration's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee since August 2008

Marc Ullman, Attorney specializing in food and drug law with a concentration on natural products; his firm Ullman, Shapiro & Ullman, represents several supplements companies

Muhammad Mamdani, Researcher on the JAMA study; Researcher, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

What can victims of revenge porn do if photos and information were posted without their consent? ; Credit: iStockPhoto

Revenge porn websites, where an angry ex posts sexually explicit photos or videos of a former lover, have fallen into a legal gray area for decades. Victims often find private photos of themselves posted on websites with their name, links to social media sites and even their address or phone number. But because current law protects the right to post these photos, there is often no recourse to get the content removed.

Now, Florida is close to passing a bill to make it illegal to post nude pictures of someone online along with identifying information without written consent. The bill would subject violators to a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a $5,000 fine.

Would a bill that bans this type of post online be violating the constitutional protection of free speech? What can victims of revenge porn do if this kind of content was posted without their consent? How can you protect yourself and your personal information so you don’t end up a victim of revenge porn?

Guest:
Mary Anne Franks, Law professor at the University of Miami School of Law

US President Barack Obama is accompanied by former lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords (L), vice president Joe Biden (R) and family members of Newtown school shooting victims as he speaks on gun control at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2013.; Credit: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

When the Manchin-Toomey bill to expand background checks on gun buyers failed to make it through the Senate yesterday, gun control advocates were left angry and frustrated and wondering where to go from here. The vote on the amendment fell six votes short of passing with a final tally of 54 to 46.

President Obama gave an impassioned speech from the Rose Garden, calling it a "shameful" day in Washington. Emotions on both sides of the aisle are running high as negative ads and name calling are taking the place of reasoned dialogue.

Do gun control advocates have a new strategy to move forward? How can both sides tone down the rhetoric in order to come to an agreement?

Guests:
Adam Winkler, law professor at UCLA and author of "Gun Fight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011)

Roger Pilon, Director of the CATO institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies

Army recruits perform exercises as part of a demonstration for tourists in front of the military-recruiting station in New York's Times Square.; Credit: Mark Lennihan/AP

If one thing is undeniable about the U.S. military, it's the power of hierarchy. If a brigadier general tells a full-bird colonel to jump, the only answer is "how high?" But as part of an effort to reform the training of top military brass -- generals and admirals, specifically -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has put into effect a review system similar to that used on much of corporate America to root out some of the recent scandalous behavior of high-ranking military officers. This will include taking into account the opinions of lower-ranking soldiers and sailors about how their boss does his/her job.

Should the military adopt the way of corporate America? Is the political correctness enforced by HR review processes useful in a military constantly engaged in bloody conflict?

Guests:
Tom Ricks, Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security; contributing editor to Foreign Policy magazine; author of “The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today” (Penguin Press, 2012)

Jeffrey Addicott, Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas; he's a retired Army Lt. Colonel.

James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets shoots over Dwight Howard #12 of the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on April 17, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers won 99-95 in overtime. ; Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

After a wild ride of a season for Angelino basketball fans, both Lakers and Clippers qualified for the NBA playoffs, though in an unusual order. The Lakers, who’ve only missed the playoffs a handful of times since moving to Los Angeles, limped into the NBA postseason last night, beating Houston by two baskets in overtime, while the Clippers, historically the doormat of the league, won their seventh game in a row, clinching home-court advantage for the playoffs.

Though they barely made postseason play, the Lakers showed mettle in the final games of the 2013 season, battling back from a mountain of adversity, including injuries, win droughts, the death of their iconic owner Jerry Buss, and the loss of Kobe Bryant to an injury that could sideline him for as long as half a year.

With both teams in the postseason, talk has turned to a Clippers-Lakers “hallway series,” (which would happen in Round 3 of the playoffs), but with both teams facing stiff opposition in the first round, and Oklahoma City and Miami waiting down the road, could a hard-fought season end unceremoniously for Los Angeles’ teams?

Guest:
Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times sports reporter

What's next in fad food? ; Credit: Ari Perilstein/Getty Images for Stella & Dot

The cupcake bubble has burst, or so say dropping stock prices for gourmet bakery Crumbs, which fell from $13 a share in 2011 to under $1.50 this year. The decline in cupcake popularity may be a reflection of changing taste – in recent years fad foods have come and gone. Are morphing American appetites a sign of moral and ethical shifts?

Trends towards local, organic, and sustainable foods have made things like raw, cold pressed juice immensely popular. Other fad foods – gourmet coffee, bacon, grilled cheese, ice cream sandwiches – have become increasingly sought after. Health fads have introduced coconut water, acai berries, and kombucha to wider audiences, and childhood favorites and traditional cultural foods have been revived and reappropriated with creative, whimsical touches.

American chefs are ushering in an era of ever-changing menus, pop-up shops, and roving restaurants on wheels, how are tastes adjusting to trend? Why do we eat the things we eat? What drives food culture? What will replace the craft cupcake?

Guest:
Allison Carruth, author of “Global Appetites: American Power and the Literature of Food” (Cambridge University Press), assistant professor in English at UCLA and faculty member at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Institute for Society and Genetics

A roadside memorial set up for victims of the Colorado theater shooting massacre across the street from Century 16 movie theater July 29, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado. ; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

A federal judge declined to dismiss lawsuits against Cinemark, the owner of the Aurora, Colo. movie theater where 12 were killed and 70 injured in a shooting last summer. Judge R. Brooke Johnson ruled that wrongful death and liability suits against Cinemark could move forward, but dismissed separate suits claiming negligence.

"Cinemark owed a duty to the invitees to not unreasonably fail to protect them from dangerous conditions about which they knew or should have known," said Heather Salg, a personal injury attorney at Harris, Karstaedt, Jamison & Powers, P.C. in Englewood, Colo. "So the question here is going to be can the plaintiffs come forward with evidence that Cinemark should have known this could occur because that door was allowed to be propped open?"

Three of the injured victims of the shooting brought the suit against the property, arguing that the unlocked, unmonitored exit through which alleged shooter James Holmes entered is cause for a suit. 

"Plaintiffs in these types of cases have to overcome two hurdles. First they have to prove that the defendant knew or should have known of this potential danger," said Salg. "Then they have to show that the defendant failed to use reasonable care."

The judge says that the cases against Cinemark, "present difficult questions of interpretation and application of law," and noted that the decision to proceed was “a close call.”

"We generally feel that it's harder for plaintiffs to prove a premises liability case than just a general negligence case," said Salg. "Part of that is because our premises liability law has been subject to very thorough investigation by our courts … we have a lot of case law on this." 

Should the theater be liable for death and injury? What responsibility do property owners have in these types of situations?

Guest:
Heather Salg, a personal injury attorney at Harris, Karstaedt, Jamison & Powers, P.C. in Englewood, Colorado

Firefighters check a destroyed apartment complex near the fertilizer plant that exploded earlier in West, Texas, in this photo made early Thursday, April 18, 2013.; Credit: LM Otero/AP

A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas leveled a four-block area and sent a mushroom cloud into the sky. Authorities say between 5 and 15 are dead and more than 160 injured. It's not known how the initial fire started last night at the West Fertilizer Company plant in West, Texas. Amateur video shows the fire raging then a powerful explosion that registered as a small earthquake.

Here's the audio of the dispatch call:

The town uses volunteer firefighters - three to five are missing after responding to the emergency. According to the Associated Press, the plant was cited in 2006 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for failing to obtain or to qualify for a permit - the citation came after a complaint about strong ammonia odor. Explosions at fertilizer plants are rare. In 2001, a similar plant in Toulouse, France killed 31 and injured more than 2,000.

How are firefighters trained to handle chemical accidents? Do volunteer firefighters have the same expertise? How common or rare are industrial explosions? Should there be a wide perimeter around such plants prohibiting residential buildings?

Guest:

Rick Jervis, Staff Reporter, USA Today reporter from West, Texas

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (L) speaks to the media at a shopping mall on the perimeter of a locked down area as a search for the second of two suspects wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings takes place on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts.; Credit: STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

Stay up to date with on the ground coverage of the search for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as reporters from WBUR check in with law enforcement. We'll also consider the way the bombings and manhunt have affected local communities, including the Islamist and Chechen communities. How could a city like Boston be effectively shut down? What's it like to be under seige? 

KPCC's up-to-date coverage on the Boston Marathon bombings

Guests:
Steve Brown, reporter and anchor at WBUR in Boston.

Erroll Southers, Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Public Policy Associate Director, Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, USC

Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the greater Los Angeles office at the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations (CARE)

Olga Oliker, Associate Director, RAND International Security & Defense Policy Center and author of "Russian Foreign Policy." Born in Russia and fluent in Russian, Oliker's expertise includes Russian foreign policy and deterrence strategy.

Thomas Wieczorek, ICMA Center for Public Safety Management

Phil Mattingly, Justice Department Reporter, Bloomberg News

Tom Cruise stars in the Universal Pictures film "Oblivion."; Credit: Universal Pictures

Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Wade Major and Henry Sheehan to review this week’s releases, including Oblivion, In The House, and Antiviral, and more. TGI-FilmWeek!

Oblivion

In The House

Antiviral

Guest:

Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and boxoffice.com

Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and dearhenrysheehan.com

Brandon Lampert, right, receives some advice on how to complete a project from Scoutmaster Larry Turner.; Credit: Grant Slater/KPCC

The Boy Scouts of America is proposing to end its ban for gay youth members, but will continue to forbid gays as adult leaders. The proposal still needs to be voted on by its nearly 1,400 members of its National Council at a meeting in Texas in May.  Gay rights groups want to see a wholesale lift, but some conservative groups want the ban to remain in place in its entirety.

In January, the Boy Scouts of America announced that it wanted to let local Scout chapters decide whether they want to include or exclude gay members. "While perspectives and opinions vary significantly, parents, adults in the Scouting community and teens alike tend to agree that youth should not be denied the benefits of Scouting," the statement released by the Boy Scouts of America said.

Guest:
Kate Sheppard, a staff reporter at Mother Jones

In Eagle Rock, California, Occidental College's Thorne Hall; Credit: victoriabernal/Flickr (Creative Commons-licensed)

A case brought against Occidental College by several current and former students alleges that the school failed to respond adequately to sexual assault on campus. The group of Occidental students and alumni includes some who say the college failed to protect against sexual assault – their attorney, Gloria Allred, argues Allred that 37 students were “raped, sexually assaulted, battered, harassed or retaliated against for speaking out against sexual violence."

Occidental is in the process of reviewing its policies on sexual assault, and recently updated its approach to sexual misconduct cases on campus. The school is not the first to deal with allegations of inappropriate responses to sexual assault – female students at UNC Greensboro and Vassar have notably spoken out about the mishandling of cases in recent years.

How should schools handle sexual misconduct cases? Who is responsible for carrying out prosecution, the university, or local law enforcement? How can colleges better protect their students from sexual assault? Should they be liable for crimes committed on campus?

A plane passes the Whiteman Airport control tower as it takes off on March 22, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Furloughs of air traffic controllers at the Los Angeles International Airport began yesterday as part of the across-the-board government cuts known as "sequestration."

Flight delays are widely expected. The Federal Aviation Administration says the wait at LAX, the country's third busiest airport, will average about 10 minutes, but could balloon up to over an hour.

The reduction in air traffic controllers' hours is just one of many cost-saving measures the FAA is enacting. The agency is also going to close control towers at 149 smaller airports, including at Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster and Whiteman Airport in Pacoima.

Guest:
Mike Foote, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association LAX chapter

Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of the suspected Boston Marathon bombing suspects, spoke to a sea of reporters in front of his home April 19, 2013 in Montgomery Village, Maryland.; Credit: Allison Shelley/Getty Images

The manhunt for Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a big week for social media but unfortunately much of the information being passed around was wrong.

Redditors listening in on police scanners quickly broadcast the names of innocent people as suspects. They even fingered an innocent missing Brown University student as a suspect. Much of Twitter confused Chechnya with the Czech Republic.

But even the mainstream media fell down on the job. CNN and AP incorrectly reported that a suspect had been arrested. The New York Post published a front page photo of the wrong suspect.

If breaking news can't be trusted to be accurate, should we even bother with it? When news is breaking quickly, is it better to be behind the mainstream conversation or in the stream and risk being wrong? What are the limits of crowdsourcing information via Reddit and Twitter? Aside from entertainment value or curiosity, does following breaking news step by step add any value to our lives?

Guest:
Alexis Madrigal, senior editor for The Atlantic magazine

Items are placed by people visiting a makeshift memorial for victims near the site of the Boston Marathon bombings at the intersection of Boylston Street and Berkley Street two days after the second suspect was captured on April 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against persons and property resulting in death. He made his first court appearance from his room at Beth Israel Hospital where he is in stable but serious condition.

Tsarnaev was apprehended Friday after a manhunt that shut down the city of Boston for an entire day, and has been hospitalized and in serious condition since. Conscious, but unable to speak due to wounds to his neck, Tsarnaev is reported to be answering questions from investigators in writing. The Obama administration said Tsarnaev will not be charged as an enemy combatant.  

Meanwhile, Boston has begun the mourning process for the victims of last Monday’s attacks, with memorials for the three dead, and a moment of silence planned for this afternoon at the time of the first bomb went off. Law enforcement officials say that evidence discovered since last Monday points to plans for future attacks.

Guest:
Mark Degon, reporter and editor for WBUR in Boston

This combination of photos provided on Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, left, and the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, right, of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspect in custody for the Boston Marathon bombings.; Credit: Uncredited/AP

After a weekend spent hospitalized, sedated, and in serious condition, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awake and answering questions from investigators in writing. During his arrest on Friday, Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights – his 5th amendment right to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning, and a warning that whatever he says can be used against him in a court of law.

The reading of Miranda rights can be waived in the event that a suspect poses an imminent threat. Precedent for waiving Miranda rights in the past has been immediate danger – in one example, a rape suspect with an empty shoulder holster was asked where his gun was. Another example is “Which wire do I cut to disarm this bomb?” Miranda rights can be waived in order to gain critical intelligence – in cases involving terrorist plots, such as Tsarnaev’s, these distinctions can become more abstract.

What qualifies critical intelligence? Is Tsarnaev an immediate threat? Is waiving Tsarnaev’s Miranda rights setting a potentially dangerous precedent for waiving these rights in the future?

Guests:
John Eastman, Professor of Law & Community Service at Chapman University School of Law; he is the Founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute

Baher Azmy, legal director at Center for Constitutional Rights

Cyclists took to the streets for CicLAvia on Sunday, April 21, 2012.; Credit: Tony Pierce/KPCC

Yesterday, tens of thousands of Angelinos abandoned their cars, pumped up the tires of their bikes, and rode en mass the fifteen miles from Chinatown to Venice Beach as part of CicLAvia, which was inspired by Ciclovia, Bogota, Colombia’s cycling festival which doubles as a peaceful protest against the oppressive traffic of the city.

The city blocked the streets so bike traffic would rule the day, and riders gathered near Venice Beach to celebrate a day without gasoline motors.

Did you participate in CicLAvia? Were you caught in traffic related to the celebration of cycling? Do you think this could be a long-lasting tradition for Los Angeles?

Guest:
Aaron Paley, executive director of CicLavia