Patt Morrison for Thursday, 10/29/09

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, October 29, 2009

1-3 p.m.

 

CALL-IN @ 866-893-5722, 866-893-KPCC; OR JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE ON THE PATT MORRISON BLOG AT KPCC-DOT-ORG

 

 

 

1:06 – 1:19

Future of the LAPD, from the bottom looking up

 

 

1:21 – 1:45

Que Pasa? Are LAUSD ESL students taking too long to learn English?

Nearly 30% of LAUSD students placed in English language learning programs are not reclassified as English-proficient by the end of middle school, according to a new public policy report.  The findings are especially significant for LAUSD, which is the nation’s second largest school district with huge numbers of English language learners.  How long should it take students to pick up English?

 

Guests:

Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute & professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning & Development; author of the report “Que Pasa? Are English Language Learning Students Remaining in English Learning Classes too Long?”

CALL HIM

 

TBD:

Representative of LAUSD ESL programs

 

 

 

1:45 – 1:58:30

Should we be nervous? Flurry of Islamic-extremist arrests in U.S.

Yesterday an imam from an extremist mosque in Detroit was killed in a shoot-out with FBI agents coming to arrest him; earlier this week an American citizen in Boston was picked up on charges of plotting terrorist attacks against shopping malls; and last month two men were arrested, one in Denver, one in Dallas, that were already well into the planning stages of major terror attacks inside the U.S.  Are these arrests just eye-catching coincidences, or are Muslim extremists especially determined to pull off an attack inside the U.S.?

 

Guest:

Karen J. Greenberg, executive director of the NYU Center on Law & Security

CALL HER:

 

2:06 – 2:30

New civil rights czar at U.S. Department of Justice

In an effort to reshape the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Holder nominated and this month the Senate confirmed Thomas Perez as assistant attorney general.  Perez faces criticism of his department as being politicized, as he and Eric Holder work to roll back controversial actions by the Bush administration and push for a return to a basic approach to civil rights issues.  Also on the table are greater  financing for indigent defense, elimination of sentencing disparity between crack and power cocaine crimes and passage of the federal hate crimes law, which was signed by President Obama yesterday.

 

PATT: Mr. Perez is in Los Angeles for the 2009 Advancing Justice Conference:  "Asian American and Pacific Islanders Building New Foundations for Civil Rights," which runs today and tomorrow. 

 

Guests:

Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice

WILL CALL IN ON LINE 10

 

• He does cover census issues as the Civil Rights Division is the chief enforcer of the Voting Rights Act and other voting laws. 
• He will soon be testifying before the senate on the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) (don't ask don't tell)
• Asst. Attorney General Perez's priorities are to restore the Division to its long-held stature as the leading civil rights enforcement agency in the federal government.  He also will discuss his transformation agenda, which essentially is to prepare the division to enforce laws on every front available, including: fair housing and lending, bias motivated (hate crimes), employment discrimination, human trafficking and the whole range.

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

CHA-CHING! Credit card companies engaged in deceptive practices?

A new Pew study examined over 400 credit cards and found that all of them engaged in one or more practices PEW categorizes as “unfair and deceptive”.  According to their research, credit card companies are hiking fees and raising interest rates (the median interest rate last year was 27.99%).  Congress is working to push up the effective date of new regulations designed to help, but will they be enough?

 

Guests

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

SHE CALLS US ON LINE 10

 

She is the author of the credit card reform bill signed by President Obama

She co-authored a bill with Rep. Barney Frank to push up the effective date of the legislation to Dec. 1 (It is currently scheduled to take effect in February)

 

Representative from the American Bankers Association

Not confirmed

 

Representative from Pew Charitable Trusts

Not Confirmed

 

 

Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

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626.585.7821, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

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