AirTalk

We sit down with KPCC health reporter Jackie Fortiér to discuss her coverage of the pandemic in the last year: the major stories she’s followed, the challenges and her personal and professional takeaways. 

Guest: 

Jackie Fortiér, health reporter at KPCC and LAist; she tweets @JackieFortier

Law enforcement was on high alert Thursday around the U.S. Capitol after authorities said intelligence had uncovered a “possible plot” by a militia group to storm the iconic building again. The alert came two months after Donald Trump supporters smashed through windows and doors to try to stop Congress from certifying now-President Joe Biden's victory.

The threat appeared to be connected to a far-right conspiracy theory, mainly promoted by supporters of QAnon, that former President Trump would rise again to power on March 4 and that thousands would come to Washington to try to remove Democrats from office. March 4 was the original presidential inauguration day until 1933, when it was moved to Jan. 20. There were no signs of disturbance Thursday at the heavily secured building, with Capitol Police and National Guardsmen on duty and a large fence around the perimeter that was put in place after the Jan. 6 riot. The Pentagon is reviewing a request to extend the Guard deployment 60 days beyond its current expiration date of March 12. 

Lawmakers, congressional staffers and law enforcement officials are still on edge after the attack on Jan. 6, even as security around the Capitol remains at an unprecedented level.

The U.S. House wrapped up its work for the week Wednesday night, but the U.S. Senate still had a busy day scheduled for Thursday with votes into the evening planned on its own COVID relief package. Under the current Senate bill, the Biden administration estimates that 158.5 million households will receive direct payments, according to the White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. The official stressed that almost everyone gets a check twice as large as in December, although 3.5 million households that received some payment from the $900 billion December package would no longer qualify.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll talk with California Congressman Ted Lieu about the cancellation of today’s session amid security concerns, the last several days of debate in the House over the COVID relief bill, and talk about what’s in the Senate version of that bill that’s being voted on today.

With files from the Associated Press

With guest host Libby Denkmann

Guests:

Anna Edgerton, politics editor for Bloomberg; she tweets @annaedge4

Ted Lieu, Democratic congressman representing California’s 33rd district, which includes many Los Angeles County coastal communities; he tweets @tedlieu

LA journalists Jimmy Recinos and Samanta Helou Hernandez are hosting a new Zoom event series on East Hollywood, covering topics including gentrification, redlining and housing.

The first event: “Past: Redlining, Internment, and Resilience,” taking place March 4, will explore inter-ethnic solidarity before and during World War II. The next, “Present: Documenting Gentrification,” will gather journalists, community organizers, and activists to talk about gentrification and displacement, while the last installment, “Future: The Fight for Housing” will convene local leaders to discuss what the future of East Hollywood might look like. The events will offer English to Spanish translation.

Today on AirTalk, we’re learning more about the event series and East Hollywood. Questions? Give us a call at 866-893-5722.

For more information and tickets to the events, click here.

With guest host Libby Denkmann

Guests:

Samanta Helou-Hernandez, multimedia journalist and photographer covering culture, identity, and social issues in Los Angeles; her visual archive "This Side of Hoover" documents gentrification and resilience along the East Hollywood/Silverlake border; she tweets @SamantaHelou

Jimmy (J.T.) Recinos, editor-in-chief of jimbotimes.com and host of J.T. The L.A. Storyteller Podcast; he tweets @JIMBO_TIMES

In recent years, medical schools have been producing more doctors, but hospital residency programs— a crucial step doctors must take to become fully licensed in the states— can’t keep up.

The result is that many young doctors are “chronically unmatched” and hold degrees that are effectively useless. Many residency programs use filters to sift through applications, which may automatically eliminate Americans who hold degrees from international medical schools or who have taken breaks (no matter the reason) between school and residency. The pool of doctors unable to get into residencies began growing in 2006, when the Association of American Medical Colleges instructed medical schools to increase first year enrollment by 30 percent, but federally supported residency positions were capped by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. The issue is exacerbated by the fact that the United States is facing a physician shortage, which the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates will mean the U.S. is short 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033. What can be done to ensure more doctors are able to get into residency programs?

Today on AirTalk, we are hearing more about residency programs and chronically unmatched doctors. Are you in this position? We want to hear from you! Give us a call at 866-893-5722.

With guest host Libby Denkmann

Guests:

Emma Goldberg, writer for the New York Times and author of the recent piece ‘I Am Worth It’: Why Thousands of Doctors in America Can’t Get a Job; she tweets @emmabgo

Katherine Julian, professor of medicine at UCSF and associate dean for Graduate Medical Education in the School of Medicine, which oversees UCSF’s many residency and fellowship programs

The beating of Rodney King by police officers took place 30 years ago on this day, March 3, 1991. 

It wasn’t until several days later that the world saw the attack which was videotaped by a private citizen and brought the attention of the whole city to the hearing of the four officers involved. After three of the officers were cleared by a mostly white jury, the city ignited into six days of protest and violence. 

We look back at the beating and the events that followed. Plus, if you remember watching the tape for the first time or have memories of that time in Los Angeles, share your story by calling 866-893-5722.

Guests:

Jody Armour, professor of law at USC; he tweets @NiggaTheory

Brenda Stevenson, professor of History and African American studies at UCLA; author of numerous books, including “The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins:  Justice, Gender and the Origins of the L.A. Riots” (Oxford 2013)

In our continuing series looking at the latest medical research and news on COVID-19, Larry Mantle speaks with Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the UCSF Medical Center.

Topics today include:

Biden says U.S. will have enough vaccine doses to vaccinate all adults by the end of May

C.D.C. says small, maskless gatherings of vaccinated people will soon be allowed

How CA virus numbers compare to TX as the latter lifts its mask mandate and opens up 100 percent

COVID-19 vaccine rates in Brentwood, Santa Monica twice as high as poorer L.A. County areas

How much of an impact does the state tier system have on the disparity in vaccine rates

COVID side effect enlarged lymph nodes can be mistaken for cancer

Night clinics for single moms in Black communities who can only get vaccinated at night & other ways that providers, governments are trying to reach people where they are

Brazilian virus variant infected people who already had COVID-19

Let’s do the numbers -- the vaccine efficacy numbers, that is, and explore what they really mean

CalMatters: When might nursing homes reopen for visitors?

Blue Shield officially takes over COVID distribution for California

Guest:

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

Early in the pandemic in Los Angeles, an elderly Korean woman who'd been verbally harassed and pelted with rocks in Koreatown went to her local police station to report the incident in her limited English.

But as the woman later told community advocates, police opted not to take a report and provided no follow-up or referrals to organizations that provide counseling or legal advice. A year later, the woman cries talking about the attack and sought counseling on her own, according to Connie Chung Joe, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA. "When victims are brave enough to come forward and share their experiences with the police," Joe told the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday, "having the police say that nothing can be done discourages victims and their communities from relying on the police again, particularly for immigrant victims who face language and cultural barriers." 

Verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans have been taking place in Los Angeles for the last year, but recent violence against Asian elders captured on video around the country, and last month's assault in the heart of L.A.'s Koreatown on a 27-year-old Korean American man, now has leaders like the mayor and city attorney speaking more forcefully about the problem. L.A. police commissioners spent more than an hour at their meeting Tuesday discussing anti-Asian incidents and taking input from civil rights leaders, who said officers needed to get better at recognizing hate crimes and being sensitive to victims but they also made clear they were not calling for more policing. LAPD recorded 15 hate crimes against AAPI community members in 2020 — up 114% from 2019. Three cases of anti-Asian hate crimes have been documented so far in 2021. By contrast, civil rights organizations received reports of more than 100 incidents in L.A. between March and December of last year.

Today on AirTalk, we’ll explore why this trend has persisted and what local leaders are saying about how law enforcement is and should be handling these types of incidents.

For the full story from KPCC/LAist’s Josie Huang, click here.

Guest:

Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center that tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States; tweets @KulkarniManju

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic (a year ago, sigh), some wondered whether a baby boom would be inevitable. But research is now showing that it may be a baby bust instead of a boom. 

Birth rates have declined across the country. Experts say, there’s no “perfect” time to have a baby. But it’s not hard to imagine why the current times may be throwing a wrench into plans to start or expand a family. Today on AirTalk, we want to hear from you! How has the pandemic impacted decisions around family planning? Have you decided to hold off on having kids? Has the pandemic solidified your choice to not have kids at all? Maybe you intentionally decided to start a family or have a child during the pandemic. Maybe you’re going through the adoption process. What challenges are you facing? Tell us your experience by calling 866-893-5722. 

With guest host Libby Denkmann 

Guest: 

Nell Frizzell, author of the new book “The Panic Years: Dates, Doubts, and the Mother of All Decisions” (Flatiron Books 2021), she’s also the host of a podcast called “The Panic Years;” she tweets @NellFrizzell

Today on AirTalk, we look back at the beating of Rodney King, which took place 30 years ago. Also on the show, we update you on the latest COVID-19 news and answer your questions; discuss the prevalence of hate crimes against Asian Americans throughout the entire span of the pandemic; and more.

Today on AirTalk, we talk to LA Mayor Eric Garcetti about the city's vaccination plan and with councilmember Curren Price about funding for a universal basic income pilot program. Also on the show, we answer your questions on CA's COVID-19 relief package; answer your COVID-19 questions; and more.