The Oscars ceremony is a night to celebrate the best the industry has to offer — but the nominated films are rarely box office hits, and viewership of the awards broadcast has declined. Will we see a rebound? Today, we talk about the future of the Academy Awards, and who might win Sunday. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times film and television reporter Glenn Whipp More reading: Oscar voting has begun. Do we have a winner? Three Oscar voters share their super-...
Mar 06, 2023•26 min
Californians have long moved to Nevada in search of new business and personal opportunities. But a massive business park near Reno is drawing in businesses like never before. Some long-timers aren’t happy. Today, we visit the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center to learn more. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times national enterprise reporter Noah Bierman More reading: Californians are pouring into Nevada. Not everyone is happy about it ‘Don’t move to Texas’: Billboard...
Mar 03, 2023•23 min
When California voters legalized cannabis, growers vowed a break from decades of worker exploitation in the state’s agricultural industry. A Times investigation found otherwise. Today, where it all went wrong and what’s being done to stop it. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times investigative reporter Paige St. John More reading: Dying for your high: The untold exploitation and misery in America’s weed industry The reality of legal weed in California: Huge il...
Mar 01, 2023•28 min
Faced with high levels of worker stress, anxiety and burnout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies pledged that employee mental health would become a top priority. But actions haven’t always followed promises. Today, we look into what bosses and employees can do to better the workplace. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times business reporter Samantha Masunaga, and The Times senior producer Denise Guerra More reading: Bosses say they care about me...
Feb 27, 2023•19 min
When you think of Black ballerinas, names like Misty Copeland or Janet Collins may come to mind. But did you know that a classical ballet dancer from L.A. named Bernice Harrison predated both of them? Today, the lesser-known story of Harrison’s rise to become the first Black prima ballerina, and the legacy of the First Negro Classical Ballet Company. Read the full transcript here. Host: L.A. Times producer Ashlea Brown Guest: Kenneth Marcus professor of history at the University of Laverne More ...
Feb 24, 2023•31 min
Drag performers are more visible than ever after decades in the underground, but will recent protests, threats of violence, and restrictive laws set them back? Today, we dive into the origins of the backlash and how drag performers are reacting to it. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times national correspondent Jaweed Kaleem More reading: Drag Queen Story Hour disrupted by men shouting slurs and threats at Bay Area library Children’s drag queen event at Costa ...
Feb 22, 2023•29 min
The first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is this month. L.A. Times global affairs correspondent Laura King has visited Ukraine at four key moments since the war started: Russia’s spring invasion, Ukraine’s summertime counteroffensive, Russia’s attack on civilians and infrastructure in the fall, and during the winter fatigue. Today, she tells us about what she has seen and what has changed. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times global affairs corres...
Feb 20, 2023•26 min
California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced this week she will not run for reelection next year, ending a legendary career that saw her go from San Francisco City Hall to Capitol Hill. With her upcoming retirement, there’s much speculation as to who will replace her. Today, we look back at the career of the storied politician and look ahead as to who’ll be running for Feinstein’s seat. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times political columnist Mark Z. Barab...
Feb 17, 2023•35 min
The historic Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles reopened in 2021 with a commitment to make it easy for low-income and unhoused people to occupy its rooms. So why have so few people taken advantage of this offer? Today, we examine why this well-intentioned and funded solution to L.A.'s homelessness crisis is having trouble fulfilling its original vision. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times Fast Break reporter Jaimie Ding More reading: A year after opening 60...
Feb 15, 2023•21 min
An earthquake as devastating as the one that hit Turkey and Syria this month has been forecast to hit Southern California for decades. What can residents and governments do to prepare?. Today, our Masters of Disasters talk to us about how to prepare. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times earthquake reporter Ron-Gong Lin II, and L.A. Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia More reading: California faces threat from the type of back-to-back mega-earthquakes that deva...
Feb 13, 2023•29 min
The Colorado River is supposed to end at the Gulf of California, but hasn’t done so for decades. A joint effort between the United States and Mexico seeks to change that. Today, we travel to the Colorado River Delta to see what’s happening. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James More reading: A pulse of water revives the dry Colorado River Delta The river’s end: Amid Colorado water cuts, Mexico seeks to restore its lost oasis Listen to ...
Feb 10, 2023•24 min
Teenager Piper Rockelle and her friends created a multimillion-dollar YouTube empire. A lawsuit threatens it, and brings up questions about whether what young influencers do for a living constitutes “work.” Today, we examine the history of child labor laws in California, and what might happen in this digital age. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times senior entertainment reporter Amy Kaufman, and L.A. Times arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt More reading: Ins...
Feb 08, 2023•21 min
For decades, NFL teams actively discouraged Black players from playing quarterback, the sport’s marquee position. Today, we go through this shameful history — and celebrate this year’s historic Super Bowl, which features two Black starting quarterbacks for the first time. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guest: L.A. Times opinion columnist LZ Granderson More reading: Column: The NFL should stop running from its racial history No one should forget about Doug Williams The Big...
Feb 06, 2023•28 min
California’s Imperial Valley has some of the lowest rainfall in the state, yet uses the largest allotment of Colorado River water. Why is such an arid part of the state an agricultural powerhouse? Today, we look into how the region secured its rights. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James More reading: In California’s Imperial Valley, farmers brace for a future with less Colorado River water Colorado River in Crisis: A Times series on ...
Feb 03, 2023•24 min
Black people have been part of the American West for centuries. But mainstream cowboy culture long downplayed their contributions, even as they exist in the present day. Today, we hear from some of them. Read the full transcript here. Host: L.A. Times national reporter Tyrone Beason More reading: Black Californians have long celebrated cowboy culture. We’re just catching up A proud group of Black Californians keep the traditions of the Old West and cowboy culture alive. Excerpt: Cowboys in Compt...
Feb 01, 2023•27 min
All across California, people are asking the same question: Why are eggs so expensive? Californians walk into grocery stores only to find them sold out, or that they’re going for $7 or more a dozen. Thanks to inflation, everything is more expensive right now. But when it comes to eggs, there’s more to the story. Today, how a history of California policy and a global bird flu scrambled the economics of a food staple. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times metro r...
Jan 30, 2023•16 min
For over a century, Native American tribes along the Colorado River have seen other entities take water that had nourished them since time immemorial. With the depletion of this vital source for the American West, Indigenous leaders see an opening to right a historical wrong. Today, we check in on one tribe doing just that. Read the full transcript here. Host: The Times senior producer Kasia Broussalian Guest: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James More reading: Colorado River in Crisis, Pt. 1: A D...
Jan 27, 2023•25 min
In a span of 25 hours, three men of color died after encounters with Los Angeles police officers. Could a change in tactics long asked for by activists have prevented the deaths? Today, we talk about the incidents, the aftermath — and what’s next. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times investigative crime reporter Richard Winton and L.A. Times metro columnist Erika D. Smith More reading: Column: MLK had a dream about ending police brutality. In L.A., we’re clear...
Jan 25, 2023•28 min
A gunman shot and killed 10 people just after a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, California. This attack, one of California's worst mass shootings in recent memory, is sparking concerns about public safety and conversations about anti-Asian hate — and renewing calls for gun control. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times Asian American communities reporter Jeong Park More reading: Authorities identify 72-year-old man as suspected gunman in Lunar New ...
Jan 23, 2023•17 min
The main way the American West harvests the Colorado River for its water use is by dams that create reservoirs, which are quickly drying up because of climate change. Can knocking some dams down help? Today, in our continuing series on the Colorado River, we go to Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell to talk to some people who think so. Read the full transcript here. Host: “ The Times” senior producer Denise Guerra Guests: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James More listening: Colorado River in Crisis, ...
Jan 20, 2023•26 min
For decades, Republicans across the country looked to California for conservative stars and ideas even as the GOP lost its way in the state. Not anymore. Today, we talk about how how Kevin McCarthy’s tortuous path to become Speaker of the House was yet another loud death rattle for the California GOP. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times politics columnist Mark Z. Barabak More reading: Column: Kevin McCarthy ‘won’ the House speakership. Now the country will pa...
Jan 18, 2023•23 min
Something unexpected is going on in traditionally conservative Saudi Arabia. Over the last few years, the kingdom has been announcing a loosening of social restrictions at a surprising rate. Movie theaters are reopening, new professional opportunities for women are popping up and the country is hosting Western-style music festivals. It’s all part of a plan by the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who says he wants to dramatically transform his country. Today, how the p...
Jan 16, 2023•23 min
The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountain snowpack, which provides the water that starts off the river on its epic journey. But as the American West gets hotter, that snowpack keeps getting smaller and smaller. Today, the second in our six-part special on the future of this vital waterway. New episodes will publish every Friday through Feb. 10. Follow the project here . Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times water reporter Ian James and L.A. Times video jo...
Jan 13, 2023•18 min
This month’s record-setting rain and snow across California also comes with terms many of us know but can’t explain. Today, we do that with our Masters of Disasters. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times earthquake reporter Ron Lin, L.A. Times Fast Break disasters reporter Hayley Smith, and L.A. Times water reporter Ian James More reading: California snowpack is far above average amid January storms, but a lot more is needed Deadly results as dramatic climate w...
Jan 11, 2023•26 min
The Golden Globes is going to air this week on NBC after a year-long hiatus in the wake of a scandal over its parent company, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Can its comeback stick? Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times Company Town reporter Stacy Perman, and L.A. Times film business reporter Josh Rottenberg More reading: ‘It took a crisis in order to make changes,’ says new Golden Globes owner Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. approves sale of Golden Glob...
Jan 09, 2023•26 min
The Colorado River is the water lifeline for tens of millions of people across the American Southwest, which couldn’t have developed the way it is today without it. But all the damming and diversion done to the Colorado has put it at a tipping point where a future with no water is no longer just fantasy but perilously possible. Today, “The Times” kicks off “a six-part special on the future of this vital waterway. New episodes will publish every Friday through Feb. 10. Follow the project here . R...
Jan 06, 2023•30 min
The Supreme Court appears ready to abolish affirmative action later this year. The case seeking to declare it unconstitutional has schools that consider race in admissions worried about how they can continue to build diversity among their students without affirmative action. Here in California, though, we already know what happens when programs like affirmative action are banned. In 1996, voters passed a first ballot initiative in the country to ban the consideration of race or gender and public...
Jan 04, 2023•20 min
A new Republican-led House of Representatives convenes tomorrow, and after decades as a Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi is stepping away from the helm. Undoubtedly, her strength was in unifying her caucus — something that Kevin McCarthy, the G.O.P frontrunner for the speakership, has already struggled to do. Today, we look back on Pelosi's career — and what could be ahead for House leadership. Read the full transcript here . Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times Justice Department reporter S...
Jan 02, 2023•26 min
This year, Beyonce blessed fans with her album, “Renaissance,” the Daniels — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — released the surreal trip of a movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” and Bad Bunny released banger after banger after banger. And those were just some of the brightest cultural moments that we couldn’t stop talking about. 2022 had its dark side, too — who could forget Will Smith’s slap or the racist rants of Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West? Today, we review both the hi...
Dec 30, 2022•29 min
Ukraine, abortion, midterms, racist tape leaks — 2022 was a lot, politically. We gather our newsroom experts to break down the year. Read the full transcript here. Host: Gustavo Arellano Guests: L.A. Times U.S. Supreme Court David G. Savage, California politics columnist Mark Barabak, and L.A. city politics reporter Julia Wick More reading: News Analysis: Supreme Court likes separation of powers, but not of church and state Hate grows, L.A. politics go berserk and Gen Z saves democracy: Columnis...
Dec 28, 2022•23 min
