Zócalo Public Square

The World Economic Forum currently ranks the U.S. 52nd in the world in the quality of its math and science education. ASU science education scholar Dale Baker and Change the Equation CEO Linda Rosen discuss the importance of funding in improving American STEM education.

Can the arts make a city vibrant both economically and culturally? Artists and arts administrators in Visalia, California, think so. At a "Living the Arts" event co-presented by the James Irvine Foundation in front of a full house at Arts Visalia, Arts Consortium director Caroline Koontz, Visalia Opera founder Rosalinda Verde, and artist and College of the Sequoias professor Richard Peterson talked with Visalia Times-Delta senior lifestyle editor James Ward about their community’s thriving performing and visual arts scene and the support they’ve received from local government, businesses, schools, and individuals to make it possible.

Can the arts make a city vibrant both economically and culturally? Artists and arts administrators in Visalia, California, think so. At a "Living the Arts" event co-presented by the James Irvine Foundation in front of a full house at Arts Visalia, Arts Consortium director Caroline Koontz, Visalia Opera founder Rosalinda Verde, and artist and College of the Sequoias professor Richard Peterson talked with Visalia Times-Delta senior lifestyle editor James Ward about their community’s thriving performing and visual arts scene and the support they’ve received from local government, businesses, schools, and individuals to make it possible.

This year, GQ called downtown Los Angeles "America’s next great city" and "the cool capital of America"” and The New York Times included downtown on its list of "52 Places to Go in 2014"” Does downtown actually live up to this (admittedly East Coast) hype - and will downtown’s revival is shifting power and influence away from L.A.’s wealthy Westside? Architect Thom Mayne, restaurateur Bill Chait, Los Angeles Times arts & entertainment editor Laurie Ochoa, and UCLA urban planner Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris talk with New York Times national correspondent Jennifer Medina discussed at a Zócalo/UCLA "Thinking L.A”" event at MOCA Grand Avenue.

This year, GQ called downtown Los Angeles "America’s next great city" and "the cool capital of America"” and The New York Times included downtown on its list of "52 Places to Go in 2014"” Does downtown actually live up to this (admittedly East Coast) hype - and will downtown’s revival is shifting power and influence away from L.A.’s wealthy Westside? Architect Thom Mayne, restaurateur Bill Chait, Los Angeles Times arts & entertainment editor Laurie Ochoa, and UCLA urban planner Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris talk with New York Times national correspondent Jennifer Medina discussed at a Zócalo/UCLA "Thinking L.A”" event at MOCA Grand Avenue.

According to surveys, some 70 percent of Californians under the age of 40 expect they’ll never retire - and that makes sense, since few are saving money for retirement. Why is it so hard to convince young Californians to do essential long-term planning? Can the state’s existing programs be expanded to convince - or coerce - more people to save? City of Los Angeles financial empowerment initiative director Olivia Calderon, SagePoint financial advisor Alexander Cruz, personal finance columnist Liz Weston, and AARP director of financial security and consumer affairs Gerri Madrid-Davis visit Zócalo to ask how young Californians might be saved from elderly poverty - and themselves.

According to surveys, some 70 percent of Californians under the age of 40 expect they’ll never retire - and that makes sense, since few are saving money for retirement. Why is it so hard to convince young Californians to do essential long-term planning? Can the state’s existing programs be expanded to convince - or coerce - more people to save? City of Los Angeles financial empowerment initiative director Olivia Calderon, SagePoint financial advisor Alexander Cruz, personal finance columnist Liz Weston, and AARP director of financial security and consumer affairs Gerri Madrid-Davis visit Zócalo to ask how young Californians might be saved from elderly poverty - and themselves.

The L.A. Times has said that we’re living in a golden age of public transportation in Los Angeles. But try telling that to the people stuck on the 10 and 405 freeways at rush hour. Are new train and bus lines decreasing the number of cars on Southern California’s roads? Will technology speed up L.A. traffic? And how will Measure R investments in transit - funded by a sales tax increase - change how we get around? Metro Los Angeles CEO Art Leahy, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies director Brian D. Taylor, and Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic Executive director Hilary Norton answered these questions for KCRW traffic reporter Kajon Cermak addressed these questions at an event co-presented by Metro at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The L.A. Times has said that we’re living in a golden age of public transportation in Los Angeles. But try telling that to the people stuck on the 10 and 405 freeways at rush hour. Are new train and bus lines decreasing the number of cars on Southern California’s roads? Will technology speed up L.A. traffic? And how will Measure R investments in transit - funded by a sales tax increase - change how we get around? Metro Los Angeles CEO Art Leahy, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies director Brian D. Taylor, and Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic Executive director Hilary Norton answered these questions for KCRW traffic reporter Kajon Cermak addressed these questions at an event co-presented by Metro at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Private companies ranging from casinos and credit companies to the website of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page know much more about us than the NSA. What, if anything, can you do to control your personal information, and prevent people from using it against you? Harvard University Institute for Quantitative Social Science fellow Adam Tanner, author of What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data--Lifeblood of Big Business--and the End of Privacy as We Know It, explains how our information came to be harvested and manipulated, whether we like it or not, and what can be done to protect ourselves.