Patt Morrison for Thurs, 9/29/2011

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Thursday, September 29, 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 – 1:40    

Realignment begins: California counties prepare for influx of state parolees

Beginning this Saturday, California’s “realignment” plan takes effect. In order to alleviate overcrowding and comply with a US Supreme Court order, the inmate population at state prisons must be reduced by 40,000. To meet that mandate, prisoners who get parole will be monitored at the local level, by county officials. That translates to thousands of additional cases for county probation departments over the next few months. Additionally, anyone convicted of a non-non-non felony—that is, non-violent, non-sexual, and non-serious—will now be sent to a county jail, rather than a state prison. What preparations have counties made? What will it mean for already-crowded prisons in Southern California? And what will housing convicted felons in county jails mean for people accused of a crime, who are locked up, awaiting trial?

 

Guests:

CONFIRMED

Frank Stoltze, KPCC’s political reporter

 

Robert Weisberg, director of the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford Law School

CALL HIM:

 

NOT CONFIRMED – DO NOT PROMOTE

Lee Baca, LA County Sheriff

 

NOT CONFIRMED– DO NOT PROMOTE

Stanley Sniff, Riverside County Sheriff

 

NOT CONFIRMED– DO NOT PROMOTE

Reaver Bingham, LA County Probation, Department of Adult Services. Overseeing implementation of the probation department’s realignment plan

 

NOT CONFIRMED– DO NOT PROMOTE

Charlie Beck, Chief of the LAPD

 

 

1:40 – 2:00

Scientists see what’s in your mind and reproduce it on screen

Have you ever wondered what’s in someone else’s mind? Researchers at U.C. Berkeley have developed a technology that allows them to reproduce the moving images a person is looking at by tracking their brain activity. The hope is to be able to then reproduce the moving images that a person isn’t seeing, but rather thinking—say, in a dream, thought or memory. The implications of this technology could eventually mean being able to use a computer to read the minds of people who are unable to communicate their thoughts, such as stroke victims, coma patients and people with neurodegenerative diseases. Even further, there’s hope that it could lead to enabling people with cerebral palsy or paralysis to guide a computer with their minds. If visually producing thoughts, dreams or memories becomes a reality, could there be practical implications in the field of psychology or criminology? Would you want to watch your own dream on YouTube?

 

Guests:

Jack Gallant, neuroscientist and professor of psychology, UC Berkeley; co-author of brain imaging study

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Martin Monti, Ph.D., assistant professor, cognitive psychology, UCLA; researches consciousness and cognition in coma, vegetative and minimally conscious state

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2:00 – 2:30

Who’s had the worst recession? Boomers, Millennials and Gen-Xers debate

Gen-Y has the worst unemployment. Boomers have the least time to recover their lost savings before heading into retirement. Gen-Xers are in the doldrums—stuck between paying off debt in a stagnant economy and taking more on. But who’s had the worst recession? Millennials will point to the long-term effects these downturns can have on  recent graduates—as lower starting salaries beget two-tiered wage systems, downsized pensions and possibly even shorter life-spans. But then again, millennials have their whole lives to make up lost wages. It’s the boomers (they’ll argue) who’ve been hit worst; they took massive hits to their 401(k)s and nest eggs just as they needed them most. And what about the 46 million Americans in the 33-46 year-old range? In the prime of their careers, they now find few promotions or options in sight—both exacerbated by boomers lingering in their jobs. There’s no clear winner in sight and arguments to be made for each. Patt takes a look at employment, income and overall wealth.

Call in with your experience.

 

Guest:

Derek Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic and author of “Who’s Had the Worst Recession: Boomers, Millennials, or Gen-Xers?”

 

2:30 – 3:00

Governor Jennifer Granholm with “A Governor’s Story”

Several years before the Great Economic Collapse of 2008, Michigan’s economy was already sputtering along in the wake of a struggling auto industry – the state’s main economic engine.  When the recession hit in force, Michigan was already a microcosm of the new normal…with high unemployment, a crumbling infrastructure, and health care and educational systems in chaos.  Michigan had elected its dynamic first female governor, Jennifer Granholm, in 2002.  A forward thinker, Granholm instituted some revolutionary programs in order to try and pull the state out of the ditch and back onto the road to the future – including some unprecedented private-public partnerships and a “No Worker Left Behind” jobs program.  In her new book, “A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future,” the former governor outlines the challenges she faced and steps she took to attempt to revitalize Michigan.  What can cash-strapped California learn from Michigan’s example?  Can similar programs work in other states?  And how much influence can an elected leader have in moving a state’s economy forward?

Guests:

Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan; author, with her husband, of “A Governor’s Story”

 

Dan Mulhern, professor in the business and law schools at UC Berkeley; Governor Granholm and he are married.

IN STUDIO