Patt Morrison for Wed, 6/15/2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, June 15, 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

 

1:00 – 1:30

OPEN

 

1:30 – 2:00
Who will run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
There has been a lot of hubbub in Washington over the possible nomination of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The President gave Warren the power to set up the agency, but many believe she won't get the nomination in spite of strong support from Democrats and consumer advocates. The Harvard law professor and banking expert is perceived to be a threat to the banking industry because of her pro consumer stance and Republican senators have vowed to block her confirmation. Republicans are opposed to a single-figure head and are pushing for a five-person committee to run the agency, but the Obama Administration doesn’t seem to be backing down. The White House is contemplating the idea of nominating Warren’s key advisor Raj Date to the top post. The showdown between the White House and Senate Republicans has some wondering if Obama will circumvent the confirmation process altogether and appoint someone while Congress in out on recess. Will Obama appease his liberal base and choose consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, despite a Republican backlash that is sure to follow, or will he cave to pressure from the financial industry and appoint a commission?

 

Guests:

HE WILL GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF THE POLITICS SURROUND THE NOMINATION

Stan Collender, budget expert and partner at Qorvis Communications (a corporate communication consulting firm), he has worked on the House and Senate Budget Committees, and edited the Federal Budget Report, a newsletter that was published for almost two decades.

CALL HIM

 

HE SUPPORTS WARREN

Joe Nocera, Op-Ed columnist, New York Times

CALL HIM

 

HE SUPPORTS A FIVE- PERSON COMMISSION

Scott Talbott, senior vice president for government affairs, The Financial Services Roundtable

CALL HIM

 

 

2:00 – 2:40

Superintendent John Deasy with the latest at the LAUSD

In the nation’s second-largest school district, where graduation rates struggle to reach 60%, LAUSD officials, teachers and parents all feel that change is necessary—but how will it be accomplished? A recently released report by the National Council on Teacher Quality has analyzed the district’s teacher performance policy and practices, identifying systematic problems and exorbitant expenditures: for example, the $500 million spent annually on teacher completion of graduate coursework, an academic strategy proven ineffective in improving classroom performance. The Council’s recommendations for reform include changes in evaluation procedure, tenure acquisition, the weight of seniority in employment decisions, and increased salaries for those who produce the greatest learning gains. But not everyone is happy with the proposals. Will the district implement the Council’s recommendations? Join Patt for her monthly check-in with LAUSD superintendent John Deasy, with the latest on the education budget, teacher employment policy, the elimination of chocolate milk from school cafeterias, and more -- and weigh in with your education questions and comments.

 

Guest:

John Deasy, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District

IN STUDIO

 

2:40 – 3:00

Jurassic Park 2.0 or, Once and Future Giants: What ice age extinctions tell us about the fate of earth’s largest animals

Archeologist Paul S. Martin was obsessed with extinct animals in a kind of Jurassic Park sort of way. His “Pleistocene rewilding” theory argued that the extinction of megafauna (large creatures of the past, including saber-toothed cats, mastodons and short-faced kangaroos) had drastically knocked North America’s ecological equilibrium off balance and that one way to correct that imbalance would be to reintroduce those creatures back into the modern environment. His followers wanted to bring old world elephants, lions and cheetahs to North America to be ecological stand-ins for their extinct relatives.

When science writer Sharon Levy heard about this, she thought it was crazy. Then she started researching it. She joins Patt to talk about what it might entail to bring back mastadons, saber-toothed cats and even dinosaurs to our current world.

 

Guests:

Sharon Levy, science writer for OnEarth and New Scientist magazines; she is the author of Once and Future Giants: What ice age extinctions tell us about the fate of earth’s largest animals

ISDN from KPBS