Patt Morrison for Wednesday, January 19, 2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 19, 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

 

 

 

1:06 – 1:39

OPEN

 

 

1:41 – 1:58:30

New California driver’s licenses driving people crazy with delays

“New and improved” always comes with a hitch, and this time it’s the new  California’s driver’s license. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) says the new license—with its raised signatures and California icons—is more expensive and more secure. That’s because they’re harder for scammers to counterfeit, but they’re also more complicated for manufacturers to make and make correctly the first time; early renew-ers found themselves waiting up to six weeks. The DMV has a five-year, $63-million contract with Connecticut-based vendor L-1 Solutions, which has struggled to produce correct color accuracy and the raised lettering and positions of state icons like Yosemite’s El Capitan and the Golden Gate Bridge—up to 80% of the cards in early batches were returned with errors. That doesn’t bode well for an agency that produces more than 8.25 million licenses and ID cards annually, sometimes up to 40,000 per day.  The DMV promises they’re curbing the wait, but with the cost, manufacturing delays and furloughs, is it worth the upgrade and how can you avoid the lines?

 

Guests:

Mike Marando, Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Department of Motor Vehicles, Sacramento Office

OR

George Valverde, Director, Department of Motor Vehicles

CALL HIM @

 

TBA, Forgery expert

 

 

• The new license became available in September 2010

 

 

 

2:06 – 2:39

Ask the Chief –LAPD top cop Charlie Beck takes your questions

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has been in the job for just over a year, and he can point to a decline in crime, with a homicide rate for 2010 that has dropped to the level of 1967, as a validation of his policing methods. But diminishing budgets, charges of racial profiling on the part of LAPD officers and controversies over the use of deadly force continue to dog his efforts to raise morale and keep crime rates low. You can ask the hard questions about these issues and more as the chief joins Patt for our regular Q&A.

 

Guest:

Charlie Beck, Chief of the LAPD

IN STUDIO

 

 

 

2:41 – 2:58:30

OPEN

 

Jonathan Serviss
Senior Producer, Patt Morrison
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