AirTalk

Today on AirTalk, we break down the latest COVID-19 headlines. Also on the show, we discuss the news around the Newsom recall effort; talk with LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner; and more.

The Academy Awards television audience plunged to 9.85 million viewers on ABC, less than half of the Oscars' previous low and continuing a startling trend of viewers tuning out for awards shows.

The Nielsen company's preliminary estimate shows that the audience who watched “Nomadland” win best picture on Sunday was 58% below last year's tally of 23.6 million, which had set the previous record for least-watched Oscars telecast.

Following a year where movie theaters were mostly closed due to COVID-19, people were unexcited about or unfamiliar with movies they primarily streamed at home. Producers tried to fight through pandemic fatigue with a hostless program and a small, socially-distanced audience that didn't wear masks during the broadcast. The event drew mixed reviews, and renewed questions about the types of movies the industry makes and wants to honor.To be fair, all awards shows have been in a ratings free-fall. Both the Golden Globes (6.9 million viewers) and Grammy Awards (9.2 million) had record low audiences this year.The normal glitz, glamour and excitement of these programs have been muted by the pandemic. Instead, producers have had to deal with live audiences either limited or non-existent, presented to an audience already sick of seeing people on Zoom.

It wasn't long ago that the Oscars were often the second most-watched television program of the year after the Super Bowl. For most of the 2000s, the Academy Awards audience was in the 35 million to 45 million range each year. Only six years ago, in 2015, the Oscars reached 37.3 million people, Nielsen said.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll look at what these continued poor ratings mean for the future of the Oscars and the broadcasts of other awards shows as well. We want to hear from you -- did you watch the Oscars this year? Why or why not? What role did the pandemic play in your connection to this year’s movie releases? Do you think there is still a place for award shows in our society? What do you think would make the Oscars and other awards show broadcasts more generally appealing? Join our conversation by calling us at 866-893-5722.

With files from the Associated Press

Guest:

John Horn, KPCC arts and entertainment host; he tweets @JGHorn

Marine scientists say they have found what they believe to be as many as 25,000 barrels that possibly contain DDT dumped off the Southern California coast near Catalina Island, where a massive underwater toxic waste site dating back to World War II has long been suspected.

The 27,345 “barrel-like” images were captured by researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They mapped more than 36,000 acres of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast in a region previously found to contain high levels of the toxic chemical in sediments and in the ecosystem.

Historical shipping logs show that industrial companies in Southern California used the basin as a dumping ground until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, was enacted.

Resting deep in the ocean, the exact location and extent of the dumping was not known until now.

The territory covered was “staggering,” said Eric Terrill, chief scientist of the expedition and director of the Marine Physical Laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Underwater drones using sonar technology captured high-resolution images of barrels resting 3,000 feet (900 meters) below the surface all along the steep seafloor that was surveyed. They also were seen beyond the dumpsite limits.

“It really was a surprise to everybody who’s worked with the data and who sailed at sea,” he told reporters Monday.

The survey provides “a wide-area map” of the barrels, though it will be up to others to confirm through sediment sampling that the containers hold DDT, Terrill said. It’s estimated between 350 and 700 tons of DDT were dumped in the area, 12 miles (20 kilometers) from Los Angeles, and 8 miles (12 kilometers) from Catalina Island.

The long-term impact on marine life and humans is still unknown, said Scripps chemical oceanographer and professor of geosciences Lihini Aluwihare, who in 2015 co-authored a study that found high amounts of DDT and other man-made chemicals in the blubber of bottlenose dolphins that died of natural causes.

With files from the Associated Press

Guest:

David Valentine, UC Santa Barbara professor of earth science and biology who’s been researching the effects of DDT; he tweets @ExploringOceans

One year after the world began sheltering at home, washing hands raw and using Zoom like never before, we’re gaining more insight into the long-term impacts of the pandemic right here in Southern California. 

According to the new quality of life survey from UCLA, the impacts of the coronavirus have been felt significantly among L.A. County residents. About 25% of respondents say their income dropped. That’s worse than a national Associated Press poll, which shows only 15% of Americans saying they’re worse off than they were a year ago before the outbreak. The UCLA survey also revealed that more than half of respondents either contracted COVID-19 or had someone close to them test positive. And the majority of parents who responded say they feel distance learning hurt their children. Today on AirTalk, we discuss the various impacts of the pandemic, including health, quality of life and economics, on L.A. County and the Inland Empire. Do you have questions? Call 866-893-5722.  

Guests: 

Zev Yaroslavsky, director of Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, which released a new study looking at the broad impacts of the coronavirus in LA County, former L.A. County supervisor and city councilmember; he tweets @ZevYaroslavsky

Fernando Guerra, professor of political science and Chicano/Latino studies and director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University; emeritus member of the KPCC Board of Trustees

John Husing, Inland Empire economist and vice president of Economics and Politics, Inc.

Austin Beutner, who has led the Los Angeles Unified School District through a period of unprecedented tumult, will step down as superintendent after his current contract expires at the end of June.

In a letter sent last Wednesday afternoon, Beutner asked LAUSD board members to allow his contract to expire "as planned on June 30."

Beutner's decision will plunge the nation's second-largest school district into its sixth leadership transition in a decade. Beutner is LAUSD's third non-interim superintendent in the last 10 years. In his letter, though, Beutner suggested that board members won't have to look far for a replacement. "I believe," Beutner wrote, "the next superintendent of Los Angeles Unified can be found amongst the current team and she or he will be well placed to continue the progress at this critical time."

According to Beutner's letter, board members had asked him to consider extending his current contract. He wanted to take the opportunity to leave on what he deemed a high note. "In the meantime," he added, "I will remain focused on the task of ensuring that schools reopen in the safest way possible while helping in a seamless leadership transition."

LAUSD board members responded with a warm, joint, unsigned statement thanking Beutner for his three years of service and promising a “robust and equitable search process to find our next leader.” On Friday, the board announced that Megan K. Reilly, who’s been a top financial officer in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 12 of the last 14 years, has been selected to succeed Austin Beutner as superintendent — at least temporarily.

Today on AirTalk, Superintendent Beutner stops in to chat with Larry Mantle about his time as LAUSD superintendent, the lessons he learned along the way, the biggest challenges he faced during his time in office and what he hopes his legacy will be as a school administrator.

For more on this story from KPCCLAist’s Kyle Stokes, click here.

Guest:

Austin Beutner, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District; he tweets @AustinLASchools

In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, we speak with UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. 

Topics today include:

CDC says Americans can go outside without masks, except around big crowds

Biden expected to announce update on outdoor mask guidance 

Michigan implements mask mandate for kids ages 2-4 

Can you drink alcohol after the covid vaccine? 

How safe are summer parties or weddings? 

The UK’s dexamethasone success story

Hospitals in India remain in critical position, low on oxygen

Experts say COVID-19 deaths in India are undercounted  

Guest:

Peter Chin-Hong, M.D., infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center; he tweets @PCH_SF

California, for decades a symbol of boundless growth and opportunity that attracted people from across the country and abroad, has seen its population growth stall and is losing a U.S. House seat for the first time in its 170-year history. Census Bureau population data released Monday is used to determine how the nation’s 435 House seats are allocated. California remains the most populous by far with nearly 39.58 million people but it is growing more slowly than other states and will see its House delegation drop from 53 to 52. California's loss of a House seat also means a possible dip in federal funding for Medi-Cal, the health insurance program for low-income people, as well as less money for highways, schools and a wide array of social services that are based on population. Now that the number of congressional seats is known, states can embark on the decennial process of redrawing congressional maps, known as redistricting. That process won’t start until late summer or fall because of a delay in releasing neighborhood-level population data. 

Meanwhile, organizers of the recall effort against California Gov. Gavin Newsom have collected enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The California secretary of state’s office announced Monday that more than 1.6 million signatures had been verified, about 100,000 more than needed to force a vote on the first-term Democrat. People who signed petitions now have 30 days to withdraw their signatures, though it’s unlikely enough will do so to stop the question from going to voters. 

An election is likely in the fall where voters would face two questions: Should Newsom be recalled and who should replace him? The votes on the second question will only be counted if more than half say yes to the first. If Newsom survives the recall he will be up for reelection in 2022. Among the most prominent Republicans running to replace Newsom are former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, who has never run for elected office. Businessman John Cox, who lost badly to Newsom in 2018, and former Congressman Doug Ose, also are running. 

Today on AirTalk, we’ll look at what happens next with both the redistricting process that this new Census data triggers and the effort to recall Governor Newsom.

For more on this from KPCC/LAist reporter Caroline Champlin, click here.

Guest:

Libby Denkmann, KPCC/LAist senior politics reporter; she tweets @libdenk

Today on AirTalk, we talk about President Biden's recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Also on the show, we get the latest COVID-19 headlines; analyze two major Supreme Court cases; and more.

Many humanities-minded historians think that human beings and the course of human history are too complex to analyze broadly or to examine using predictive models - but one evolutionary anthropologist believes that mathematical models could be used to understand the past, and to predict the future. 

In his recent Atlantic piece “The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse”, Graeme Wood dives into the research of evolutionary biologist Peter Turchin who coined the term and discipline “cliodynamics” -  statistical modeling and analysis of the rise and fall of human societies. He explores Professor Turchin’s methods, as well as his dire predictions for the next decade in American history.

We dive into the academic endeavor to use big data and mathematics to analyze and predict history, Turchin’s predictions for the next decade and the larger tensions between science and humanities-minded academics over the validity of this approach. 

Guest: 

Graeme Wood, staff writer at The Atlantic, where his recent piece is “The Next Decade Could Be Even Worse”; lecturer in political science at Yale; he tweets @gcaw

Leaders of California’s massive public university systems announced on Thursday that students and employees will need a COVID-19 vaccine to return to campus in the fall.

“Receiving a vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19 is a key step people can take to protect themselves, their friends and family, and our campus communities while helping bring the pandemic to an end,” said UC President Michael Drake in a written statement sent out jointly with a statement by CSU chancellor Joseph Castro. The UC and Cal State vaccination policies have a big condition: the requirement will be enforced after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves at least one vaccine. None of the three vaccines have FDA approval yet, and there’s no set date for that to happen.

The university systems said students planning to return to campus in the fall should tell their universities whether they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine. Additionally, campuses will help people who haven’t been vaccinated find a place to get the shot. Together, CSU and UC enroll and employ more than one million students and employees across 33 major university campuses. The universities said the announcement is a big deal. So far, Cal State universities had taken a by-campus approach to vaccinations, which did not sit well with all campus employees.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll look at what these new requirements mean for students returning to campus in the fall and get a broader picture of how other colleges around the country are approaching vaccination requirements this fall.

For more on this story, click here to read Adolfo’s story at LAist.

Guests:

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, KPCC/LAist reporter covering higher education; he tweets @AGuzmanLopez

Alex Kafka, senior editor at The Chronicle for Higher Education who has been following college vaccination requirements nationally; he tweets @AlexanderKafka