Patt Morrison for Wednesday, 1-6-10

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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 – 1:39

The People’s “State of the State”: How California is coping with past, future budget cuts

After Gov. Schwarzenegger delivers what promises to be a bleak “State of the State” address, in which he will outline yet another $20 billion budget deficit and the latest round of painful steps needed to close it, Californians will begin bracing for the worst.  Universities and community colleges, already hard hit, will probably have to slash more from their budgets; safety-net social services that were badly cut in the last budget fight could be eliminated completely this time; and the neediest of Californians will increasingly be left to their own devices.  After the Governor’s turn, we hear the state of the state from the most heavily impacted Californians.

 

Guests:

Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access California (a state-wide health care advocacy coalition)

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Janlee Wong, executive director of the California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers

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Jack Scott, Chancellor of the California Community Colleges

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Senator Darrell Steinberg, President Pro-Tem of the California Senate

WILL CALL IN

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

Will the green energy revolution be a big one, or lots of little ones?

2010 is supposed to be the year of green energy, and in California in particular there is the possibility of dozens of new renewable energy power plants being built and many megawatts of renewable energy coming onto the grid.  But there is a debate underway about how to best employ renewable energy generation, and with solar panels in particular there’s a question about the wisdom of building several huge, sprawling photovoltaic power plants in the middle of the desert.  Might it be better to encourage smaller scale construction of solar panels on the roofs of businesses, warehouses and skyscrapers?  We debate the shape and size of the green energy revolution.

 

Guests:

Bill Powers, environmental & energy engineer at Powers Engineering

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• Powers has prepared several reports for energy utilities on various ways to generate energy from renewable sources; he also consulted on the San Diego 2020 project.
• Remote renewable energy generation plants have several disadvantages:  transmission of the energy is expensive and inefficient; environmental concerns, preserving open spaces; huge developmental costs, from building to environmental reviews.
• Powers is a big believer in businesses utilizing their rooftops for solar panels, which has more potential then residential rooftops.

 

Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute & professor of business administration & public policy at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business

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2:06 – 2:30

CA takes step towards resuming executions

California hasn’t put a prisoner to death in four years, since a judge ruled the state’s three-drug method of lethal injection posed an unconstitutional infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger named a special panel to rewrite the procedures behind closed doors, which was ultimately ruled illegal. Since then, corrections officials have sought the public’s input and rewritten the protocols. Their proposal, released yesterday, kicks off a 15-day period for public comment, and what is the beginning of a process to find a constitutional means of execution.

 

Guests:

Judge Jeremy Fogel, U.S. District Judge in San Jose; in 2006 Judge Fogel’s ruling halted state executions. He’ll be asked to review and approve the Department of Corrections’ protocol revisions before executions can resume

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Kent Scheidegger, Legal Director & General Counsel for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation

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PATT: (He is pro-death penalty and believes the current standards are humane)

 

NOT CONFIRMED:

Charles Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School

 

 

2:30 – 2:58:30

OPEN

 

 

Jonathan Serviss

Producer, Patt Morrison Program

Southern California Public Radio

NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles

89.3 KPCC-FM | 89.1 KUOR-FM | 90.3-KPCV-FM

626.585.7821, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

www.scpr.org