Patt Morrison for Wednesday, January 18, 2012

PATT MORRISON SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

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 – 1:30 OPEN

 

1:30 – 1:58:30

Can we train the next generation of football players to avoid brain injury, or is the problem the sport itself?

The news keeps getting worse when it comes to the long-term side effects of head injuries in sports like boxing and football. The specter of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and its symptoms – depression, memory loss, irritability, aggression, and confusion – has haunted the NFL for the last few years, but recent studies have revealed that even amateur players at the high school and college level can develop the disease.  In 2010, early CTE, or the long-term swelling of the brain due to repeated concussions, was discovered during the autopsy of Owen Thomas, a 21-year-old junior lineman at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas had committed suicide by hanging himself. Even without CTE, the risks of high school football are high: just ask Greenville, North Carolina’s J. H. Rose High School Rampants, who lost their running back, Jaquan Waller, in 2008 after he was allowed to play with a mild concussion and received another hit. J.H. Rose changed their medical policy to reflect their growing concern, making sure to have certified sports trainers at every practice and game.  While this is an option for J. H. Rose, which has access to Greenville’s universities and sports medicine programs, is it financially affordable in other, smaller towns? Do you want to see teams train and play more safely? How have you witnessed your own teams making changes to the way they train and play?

 

Guest:

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon

IN STUDIO

 

2:06 – 2:39

Big Man on Campus – LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy on the latest challenges facing the district

This is an inopportune time for school districts in California and the Los Angeles Unified School District is no exception. At the first board meeting of the year, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy disclosed a $543 million budget shortfall for the next academic year, the possibility that thousands of employees could face layoffs, and that months of school could be lost. Furthermore, even if Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed tax hikes are approved, some analysts insist that school districts will still have to make spending cuts. Also the board is asking the superintendent to look at district boundaries and consider greater flexibility for students to attend different schools within their districts. LAUSD board president Monica Garcia said her colleagues are concerned about a recently published study of the district by The Education Trust – West, which indicates that lower-income, Latino, and African-American students are unintentionally being educated by less effective teachers. Accordingly, losing out on good teachers is doubly detrimental in light of findings released by joint researchers at Harvard and Columbia that demonstrates good teachers, in addition to raising test scores, have a wide-ranging and longer-lasting positive effect on the lives of pupils in terms of teenage-pregnancy rates, college matriculation, and adult earnings. Truant students could be given a break after Judge Michael Nash, the presiding judge of L.A.’s Juvenile Court, has put in place new guidelines that dismiss truancy citations for students who were late to class and can prove they were on their way to school when they were cited. Patt discusses all of this and more with LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy.

 

Guest:

LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy

IN STUDIO

 

2:41:30 – 2:58:30

Boing Boing, Wikipedia, the list goes on: Websites black out to protest SOPA

With debate heating up over pending controversial anti-piracy House bill Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), websites such as Wikipedia and Boing Boing claiming the legislation promotes censorship have decided to take action by blacking out their content in protest for one day. The 12-hour blackout Wednesday, between 8 a.m. EST and 8 p.m. EST, is also a resounding critique of Senate piracy bill the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act, or PIPA. Both bills intend to stop the illegal copying of movies or music, which Hollywood companies and organizations such as MPAA say have threatened their industry. MPAA head Chris Dodd on Tuesday criticized the growing list of websites blacking out as “a disservice to people who rely on them for information.” A House committee is expected to resume working on the SOPA bill on Jan. 24. Do you agree or disagree with the goals of SOPA and PIPA to crack down on piracy?  Do you side with websites such as Wikipedia, Boing Boing and Reddit that “going dark” is an effective way to protest the bills?

 

Guests:

Karen North, director of the online communities program at USC’s Annenberg school of Communications and Journalism

Rob Beschizza (Beh-SKIT-zah), managing editor of blog BoingBoing.net, one of a growling list of websites blacking out their content to protest SOPA and PIPA.