Patt Morrison for Friday, April 30, 2010

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Friday, April 30, 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 – 1:19

OPEN

 

 

1:30 – 1:58:30

Deadline looms for high school seniors’ college admissions

May 1^st is the big day, the day that high school seniors across the country must report back to schools on whether or not they’re coming in the fall.  It’s fair to say it was again the toughest year yet to get into college.  Waitlists trailed on, sometimes four times the size of the intended freshman class, and the University of California, for the first time ever, asked kids to take a number and get in line.  What’s the national picture and what are students near you deliberating between?  Patt checks in with some experts and some high school seniors on the ground.

 

Guests:

Susan Wilbur, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of California system

CALL HER:

 

• She is in charge of admissions policy for the entire UC system.

 

 

Katherine Harrington, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, USC,

CALL HER: 

 

Teri Greenbaum, certified educational consultant and college preparation expert with LA College Consulting. She is a member of the Western Association of College Admissions Counselors and the National Association of College Admissions.

IN STUDIO

 

• Many schools other than the UCs have waiting lists. Each school handles it differently. If on the waiting list, it’s important for student to send additional information, if the school will accept it.
• a letter of interest, new information about the student’s achievement, or an additional letter of recommendation.
• Most schools don’t rank their waitlists according students’ GPA and test scores.  Schools choose student according to the need of the institution  (i.e. need more business students).
• In general for applying: apply to variety of schools – from public to private
• Investigate financial possibilities.  Don’t assume the best aide will come from the public schools.
• Look at out-of-state options.  There are 3000 4-year schools in U.S. – most of them accept more than 70% of the applicants that they receive. 
• Time to look at lesser-known institutions.
• Schools look for economic and geographic diversity.

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

One million women stand against Wal-Mart: gender discrimination case goes forward

It’s been in the courts since 2001 and promises to be the largest class-action employment lawsuit ever filed, yet not a single argument in the actual case has been heard.  Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores was first filed by a female Wal-Mart greeter in California, along with five of her co-workers, alleging that women were paid less than, and were given few opportunities for promotion than, their male counterparts.  They were seeking back pay and punitive damages against the world’s largest retailer—in the nine years since then, as Wal-Mart has attempted to have the case dismissed outright, the class-action suit has grown to over one million female past and present employees of Wal-Mart.  On Monday the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals gave the green light for the case to finally begin.  We look at the daunting task of fighting Wal-Mart and proving organizational gender discrimination.

 

Guests:

Brad Seligman, executive director of the litigation public foundation Impact Fund & lead attorney in the class action gender discrimination suit Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores

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UNCONFIMRED, SO FAR…..

Ann O’Leary, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Health, Economic & Family

Security at the UC Berkeley School of Law; senior fellow at the Center for American Progress

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Representative from Wal-Mart

 

 

 

2:30 – 2:39

The expanding ranks of the “new uninsured”—looking for healthcare in Ventura County
As the Remote Area Media clinic is well underway at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, the combined crunch of a depressed economy and rising health care costs is having a similar impact up in Ventura County.  The USC Center for Health Reporting launches a 4-day series today on the “New Uninsured” in Ventura—the people who once had decent jobs and health coverage but are now showing up at free clinics across the county because they’ve lost their jobs and insurance.  This is the story of a struggling middle class, as most of these newly uninsured were making decent salaries and economically stable up until the past two years.  We look north to examine the combined pressure of health and economy on the residents of Ventura County.

 

Guest:

John Gonzales, senior writer at the USC Center for Health Reporting and lead author of the “New Uninsured” series

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2:41 – 2:58:30

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

What does a poor, tobacco farming, mother of five that died almost 60 years ago have to do with the fact that you don’t have polio? More than most people realize. HeLa cells may be common knowledge to scientists but few are aware of the woman, Henrietta Lacks, who served as the unknowing and unwitting cell donor of these amazing immortal cells that have been unarguably intrinsic in the productive research of so many diseases. Science writer, Rebecca Skloot tells the tale of Henrietta Lacks, her legacy, her family, explains why her cells were and are so unique and raises many an issue of biomedical ethics in her new book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

 

Rebecca Skloot,

IN STUDIO

 

 

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

626.583.5171, office

415.497.2131, mobile

jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org

www.scpr.org