John McMullen Show

The State of California has empaneled a 9-member committee of experts to consider the impacts of slavery and study and make recommendations about Reparations to descendants of people who were slaves. Jackie Botts is a journalist with CalMatters and published a story entitled California reparations committee confronts harms of slavery, debates direct payments that appeared in the Desert Sun.

She talks with John McMullen in this podcast about the objective of the reparations committee, who it comprises, the difficult questions they must answer, the process over the next couple of years, what transpired at the first meeting, and some of the Golden State's atrocious, egregious history towards African Americans.

There is a race against time to mitigate an environmental and economic disaster in the Southeastern corner of the Coachella Valley. The Salton Sea, the largest lake in the State of California, has been disappearing for decades. The combination of pollution, toxic runoff from the agriculture industry, diversion of the water resources being sucked up by the city of San Diego, and the drought conditions that plague the Golden State, has left the one-time watersports and recreationally rich body of water turning into a vast wasteland featuring noxious air quality problems for the entire Southland. There are several entities that are advocating a "sea to sea" solution that would restore the Salton Sea to its once glorious state by connecting it via canal to Mexico's Sea of Cortez. On this episode, John McMullen talks with Chuck Parker, one of the grassroots coordinators from the Salton Sea Coalition, who is an advocate for this solution.

Dr. Grethe Cammermeyer, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.) spent many years as an advocate for equality and inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the United States Department of Defense. She talks with John McMullen about her take on a decision by the Pentagon to preclude the flying of the rainbow Pride Flag at Military Bases in the U.S. and around the world, during Pride Month (June). While the State Department will permit the flag to be flown at U.S. diplomatic institutions around the globe, Col. Cammermeyer believes the decision by the Defense Department is consistent, and appropriate. She also has some thoughtful remarks about the ongoing effort to eradicate the Coronavirus. She is, after all, a lifelong nurse!

Barry Dayton, spokesperson for Desert Oasis Healthcare visits the John McMullen Show to talk about the organization's upcoming 40th Anniversary and how they are using the occasion to make an additional $40,000 in charitable contributions to ten community service organizations in the Coachella Valley. Area residents get to vote and that will determine the level of grant each of the ten recipients will receive in addition to the philanthropic benefits that DOHC already provides.

He also talks about the success of the mobile healthcare clinic operated by DOHC, and gives us the details on an upcoming virtual workplace wellness symposium that DOHC is sponsoring with HARC.

Vist the DOHC Website for additional information.

Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (CA-56) visits with John McMullen and shares important news from the State Capitol about critical funding to help with the housing crisis, including legislative authorization for $30 million in funding to deal with getting residents in the Oasis Mobilehome Park into safe and sanitary housing conditions and necessary upgrades to make the park, situated on tribal land, inhabitable.

Assm. Garcia also addresses a $25 million appropriation for valley-wide housing relief, and steps that are being taken to relieve financial burdens on family's who have had to make final arrangements for loved ones who have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They also discuss actions taken by the Assembly to make sure that California's agriculture producers are not being overlooked as a priority for state institutions to purchase California-grown fruits and vegetables, and more.

Official Website for Assemblymember Garcia

Journalist Christopher Damien from the Desert Sun talks with John about two breaking stories early this week capturing the attention of the Coachella Valley.

The first is a tangled web of intrigue involving the murder of a man who was free on bail who was killed in Palm Springs by a Bounty Hunter... who was a twice-convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

The second story is about a former Cathedral City Police officer. who also worked until April 2021 for the Palm Springs Unified School District who was under investigation and has been charged in federal court for unlawful ownership of an assault weapon. He became a person of interest to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force because of his online postings that were in support of creating domestic terror for the Biden inauguration in D.C. on January 20, 2021. He has also professed the gospel of QAnon. And, he was working for the School District?!

Listen to this episode as Christopher brings us up to speed on both cases.

Visit the Desert Sun website for more information.

He arrived in the Coachella Valley just a decade ago and he's been serving on the Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Club of the Coachella Valley and the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, which he is the most recent-past Chair. Randy Florence has taken on a new challenge as he begins on June 1 as the new CEO of the Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce.

Randy, who also in his spare moments produces the iHub Radio local history show and podcast (Coachella Valley Chronicles) talks about the many opportunities he looks forward to driving with the Palm Desert business community and working all across the Coachella Valley to continue driving economic development.

Visit the Chamber's Website.

Desert Oasis Healthcare's Dr. Brian Hodgkins, Clinical Operations executive and our resident go-to guy for the facts on how fighting the pandemic is going at home in the Coachella Valley, is back to give us the latest update on why it is necessary for many to remain masked up, the state of getting out of the mask mandate in California, the status on vaccine efficacy and vaccines for adolescents, and more.

Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP) Vice President of Innovation Laura James appeared on the John McMullen Show on Monday, May 10, to talk about this being Economic Partnership Week. What is it for? Why does it matter to everyone in our community? And, how can economic development personally inspire and affect you? That's what Laura is here to share.

Meet Andrew Thiessen. In June 2020, he had a silent heart attack. So silent that his doctors couldn't figure out what was going on with his seeming-COVID symptoms for four months until he checked himself into a Seattle-area emergency room. What happened from there changed his life forever. His outlook on living, loving and forgiving are an inspirational tale filled with hope and positivity. Beyond and Back, hear this incredible story of dying - twice... only to get a second opportunity to live life to the fullest. It's an extraordinary story and he shares it with the John McMullen Show on iHub Radio.