Patt Morrison for Tuesday, February 1, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

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

 

ALEX COHEN FILLS IN FOR PATT

 

1:06 – 1:39

OPEN

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

Post Mortem: How America’s patchwork system of death investigations puts the living at risk

Over 7,000 people die in America every day, and when a death happens suddenly or under suspicious circumstances, the local county coroner is called in to investigate. We assume the investigation will be done thoroughly using sophisticated science, just like we see in television’s CSI, but the reality is very different. In a joint reporting effort, ProPublica, PBS FRONTLINE and NPR spent a year looking at the nation’s 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices and found a deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes. In 1,300 of those counties coroners are elected, many with no scientific or medical background. And the rate of autopsies across the nation has plummeted because of budget cuts to local governments. As a result, investigations are incomplete or botched, criminals go free and innocent people are incarcerated. We take a look inside the nation’s morgues with ProPublica’s A.C. Thompson and a private medical examiner who was an indirect victim of budget cuts in L.A. County. 

 

ALEX: Post Mortem was a joint investigation conducted by ProPublica, PBS FRONTLINE and NPR. You can watch the FRONTLINE documentary of the story tonight at 9pm on most PBS stations. NPR will continue to air reports today through Thursday on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.  And California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley will have additional stories in the coming days

 

Guests:

A.C. Thompson, reporter at ProPublica

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Vidal Herrera, medical examiner, founder of 1-800-AUTOPSY; former Field Deputy Coroner Investigator with the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Coroner

IN STUDIO

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:30

Childfree – and green?

I'm childfree and proud,” says Lisa Hymas, the high-energy senior editor at Grist.org, where she writes about environmental news and green life choices. One of those choices is not having children, which she believes is a sound option for environmentally conscious people. She says, "Making the green choice too often feels like a sacrifice or a hassle or an expense, but for people who don't want to have kids, there are a lot of perks to childfree living, not to mention a lot of green good that comes from bringing fewer beings onto a polluted and crowded planet." Are you a GINK? That’s her word for “green inclinations, no kids,” and even though many raise disapproving eyebrows at the childfree choice, it just might be the making of a new cultural revolution.

 

Guest:

Lisa Hymas, Senior Editor and Cofounder of Grist.org, an online environmental news organization. She writes and blogs about the green side of being childfree as well as other environmental issues.

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2:30 – 2:47

OPEN

 

 

2:47 – 2:58:30

Robert Ebert’s back with a new voice

Film critic Roger Ebert, who lost his ability to speak due to damage done during treatment and surgery for cancer of the thyroid and jaw, says he absolutely won’t go through another attempt to rebuild his jaw. His voice, however, is being digitally reconstructed by a Scottish company called CereProc, using recordings from his past TV shows. With a new prosthesis, and soon with a new voice, Ebert is launching his latest TV program, Ebert Presents at the Movies. Director Werner Herzog and newsman Bill Kurtis do voice-overs of his reviews and co-host Cindy Lemire of The Associated Press adds to the mix. To find out how the customized electronic voice will work we talk with the man creating it, and to Ms. Lemire on this new experiment in programming.

 

Guests:

Dr. Matthew Aylett (EYE-lett), Chief Technical Officer for CereProc, a Scottish company based in Edinburgh that conducts advanced speech synthesis research. They are creating a digitized version of Roger Ebert’s voice using recordings from his past TV shows.

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Christy Lemire, film critic for The Associated Press. She is co-host of the new show, Ebert Presents at the Movies.

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Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
Southern California Public Radio
NPR Affiliate for Los Angeles
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626.583.5171, office
415.497.2131, mobile
jserviss@kpcc.org / jserviss@scpr.org
www.scpr.org