KPCC: Stories by Kitty Felde

Mars rover Curiosity set for Saturday launch

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:27:21 -0800

File: In this handout image released January 13, 2004 by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the Mars rover Spirit is shown after it backed up 25 centimeters (10 inches) in the first of three maneuvers in preparation for leaving the landing pad for the Mars surface. The view shown is from the front hazard avoidance camera. Credit: NASA/Getty Images

The day after Thanksgiving may be “Black Friday” for American stores and shoppers, but this year, it’s a red letter day for scientists in Pasadena, as Saturday is blast-off for the next Mars rover, called “Curiosity.”

Curiosity’s two-year mission — or one Martian year — is to find proof that organisms could have lived on Mars. Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada says his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Lab are “super excited.” He says at its peak, more than a thousand JPL employees were working on the Rover. “And then around the world,” he says, “we have over 200 scientists as well."

When the Atlas V rocket lifts off Saturday, it’ll carry a mini-science lab in a new Mars rover, but no humans. Curiosity will be paving the way for future human exploration of the Red Planet.

Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Program, says we still need to figure out a lot of details before his agency sends settlers to Mars. Like radiation. Curiosity carries a radiation detector that’ll allow scientists to understand how much radiation exposure astronauts would face on the planet’s surface.

McCuistion says the new rover mission lets NASA practice a number of techniques necessary for future human missions: precision landing, handling soil samples with a robotic arm and moving a whole lotta stuff 354 million miles. “You have to resupply astronauts on the surface as well as feed them and water and other kinds of supplies,” he says. “This is a good landing system to do that type of thing. And just learning how to get through the atmosphere with much larger masses will take us to humans.”

Landing the jumbo-sized rover meant finding something stronger than airbags. Scientists borrowed something familiar to science fiction fans. NASA calls it an “aeroshell,” but it looks like your standard silver flying saucer.

About 10 minutes before touchdown on Mars, the saucer separates from the spacecraft, using its shell as a heat shield. A parachute deploys, and then the descent vehicle pops out the bottom, firing eight retrorockets to slow its descent.

Pete Theisinger, project manager at JPL, says then the nail biting starts: the 2,000-pound rover is suspended below the descent vehicle by thin nylon cords called bridles. “They’re pretty small, the size of a pencil,” he says. “But they are very strong, they can carry the load very easily. You need to remember it’s a third [of Earth's] gravity. Which is helpful.”

The rover uses its own wheels and suspension system as the landing gear. Scientists hope that after a safe landing, the Curiosity will be ready to roll and explore Mars.

The new rover is twice as long and five times as heavy as the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity. It’s not likely to break their Martian land speed record of a tenth of a mile an hour. But Theisinger says Curiosity will still cover more miles in a Martian day.

“We’re basically limited for safe driving on how far ahead we can see reliably and the rover, since it’s taller, will give us a better vision.” He says that for navigation, Curiosity will also use its eye in the sky, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, “so we could see things that might get in our way.”

Curiosity runs on rechargeable batteries instead of solar panels. Unlike the earlier models, Curiosity will be able to work through the dark and dusty Martian winters.

But there are dark days ahead for the American space program. Next year's House budget for NASA could be a billion dollars less than what the Senate has proposed. Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Program, says the good news is that no matter what funding crisis lies ahead for NASA, Curiosity’s trip and Martian research is already paid for.

Money is less than certain for two other unmanned Mars missions. The head of the American Astronomical Society says White House officials “were clearly not very keen on signing up” for the 2016 and 2018 missions.

House Democrats hold Alabama hearing on new immigration law

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:57:12 -0800

This is a week when most members of Congress make the rounds in their districts. But a trio of California lawmakers detoured to Alabama Monday to protest that state’s new immigration law.

Ten House Democrats from around the country traveled to Birmingham to campaign for the repeal of Alabama’s HB56, a recently-passed immigration law that allows police to check the immigration status of anyone they suspect may be undocumented.

"It’s not just pure symbolism," Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz, told the Boston Herald. "It’s about bringing attention to a rising climate of fear."

Grijalva joined Representatives Joe Baca of San Bernadino, Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, and Grace Napolitano of Norwalk as they traveled to Arizona. Each of the representatives listened to students and government workers testify about the effects of the new law at an ad hoc hearing.

The law also forbids the state from providing death certificates or drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.

HB 56 was written by Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, who also authored Arizona's controversial SB 1070. is modeled after Arizona’s SB 1070.

Alabama’s law, like Arizona’s, has been challenged by the Justice Department. A provision that would have required public schools to report students’ immigration statuses has been put on hold, but courts have let stand the practice of local law enforcers questioning people’s immigration status.

Rep. Napolitano, D-Calif, released a statement on the law.

"Workers are leaving the state, agricultural crops are dying in the fields," said Rep. Napolitano, D-Calif. "[The] local economy is losing millions of dollars. This is a law that hurts all of Alabama, not just immigrants."

Congress considers legalizing Internet poker

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:13:05 -0800

A House subcommittee heard testimony today on legalizing online poker.

The bill would let gamblers place bets and collect winnings via the Internet. Republican Congressman John Campbell of Irvine told the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee that Americans are gambling now unprotected on offshore websites. "There’s no regulation," he says. "There’s no oversight. They don’t know if they’re going to get the money they’re betting. They don’t know if the game is fair."

Gamblers who lost $150 million when the online site Full Tilt Poker went bust may have a shot at getting their money back. The Justice Department and a French investment group reached an agreement yesterday that would let U.S. poker players sue the offshore gaming company. It doesn’t guarantee the gamblers would get reimbursed. Campbell says the Full Tilt case shows that trying to outlaw online gambling is a bust. "Many Americans don’t drink. Most drink responsibly. Some have a problem. We tried making that illegal. We tried prohibiting it. It didn’t work. We forced a lot of honest Americans, because they were going to do it anyway, into a dishonest and illegal practice. And so prohibition was ended."

Subcommittee chair, Republican Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, says she wants everyone “dealt a fair hand.” She says she's taking a "very careful approach when it comes to this issue and I want to examine all of the relevant facts before deciding whether or not to proceed."

Bono Mack’s Palm Springs district includes seven Indian casinos. Indian gaming earned more than $26 billion nationwide last year. Bono Mack says she wants to know how Internet poker would affect that revenue.

Balanced budget amendment fails in House

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:58:31 -0800

While the supercommittee struggles to find agreement on cutting more than a trillion dollars from the federal deficit, the House of Representatives tried something else: An amendment to the Constitution that would require a balanced budget. In this case, majority didn’t rule.

The vote was 261-165, a clear majority, but not the two-thirds required to pass a constitutional amendment. Republicans pushed for the vote as part of this summer’s deal to avoid a government shutdown.

Twenty five Democrats voted “yes” on the amendment, including California Central Valley Congressmen Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa. Four Republicans voted “no,” including Congressman David Dreier of San Dimas. Dreier says having a balanced budget doesn't guarantee job creation and economic growth. "Yes, of course, having a degree of fiscal solvency goes a long way towards generating a climate that can make that happen," he says, "but we need to have pro growth economic policies and fiscal restraint is only one of those tools," Dreier says.

Also voting “no” was Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, the man behind the House GOP budget. Ryan wanted to include language that says all tax increases require a two thirds majority.

House leaders propose Alaska drilling to pay for infrastructure

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:05:25 -0800

House Republican leaders today unveiled their solution to paying for transportation projects: drill, baby, drill.

The multi-year transportation bill has stalled for years, mostly because there isn’t enough revenue from the federal gasoline tax to pay for bridge and road repairs and transit projects. House Speaker John Boehner says he’s found a fiscally responsible way to tackle those needs: "expand American energy production and use those revenues to repair and improve America’s roads and bridges." In other words, drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

That idea is unlikely to fly in the Senate. Democrat Barbara Boxer of California heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; it just approved its own two-year transportation bill. Boxer says the House proposal “would mire a very popular surface transportation bill in controversy.” Boxer has been an outspoken opponent of drilling in the refuge. She led the battle to strip a similar drilling provision in a budget measure eight years ago.

A White House spokesman says, "while we are encouraged that Speaker Boehner is taking up the surface transportation bill, we need to do more to invest in our nation's infrastructure. And we need to do that in manner that does not undermine the administration's plans to safely and responsibly expand development of our domestic oil and gas resources. The President continues to urge Congress to stop playing politics with this issue and get America's construction workers back to work."

No high speed rail money in federal budget

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:03:21 -0800

File photo: An artist's rendering of California's high speed rail. The House of Representatives passed a temporary measure that does not mention funding for the future bullet train. Credit: California High Speed Rail Authority

The House of Representatives passed a temporary measure to pay for several government agencies through mid-December on Thursday. Funding for high speed rail has no part in the measure.

Democratic Congresswoman Laura Richardson of Long Beach says zero funding for high speed rail is a step back, but it's also an opportunity to put the "right" plans forward.

"We’ve got time," she said, "but we’ve gotta get going and do it right."

California's plan to build a 200 mph train route between San Francisco and San Diego has hit several speed bumps of late, including court rulings over its route and a price tag that's more than doubled. Richardson, a member of the House high speed rail caucus, says California's lawmakers want an update from rail authorities so everyone's on the same page. And even though dedicated funding for high speed rail is also missing from the federal transportation budget, Richardson says it still has strong support from the White House.

"What the President has shown us is that high speed rail, I think, is a key to his legacy," she said.

California has already received nearly $4 billion from the federal government for high speed rail, plus $9 billion approved by state voters. The current cost estimate is $98 billion.

Democrat Jackie Speier introduces military rape bill

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:26:15 -0800

A California congresswoman has launched a campaign to combat military rapes.

Democrat Jackie Speier has been making weekly speeches on the House floor, telling the stories of rape victims in the military. Now she’s introduced a bill that would take rape cases out of the usual military chain of command and transfer investigations, prosecutions, and victim care to an autonomous sexual assault office.

Speier says that when a Marine reported her superior officer had raped her, she was told to take an aspirin and go to bed. "That kind of advice might be good for a headache. But when that’s a prescription by the military to one of its soldiers that has been a victim of an assault or a rape," she says, "we’ve got a problem."

The Department of Defense says there were 19,000 sexual assaults last year in the military. Fewer than 3 percent of the perpetrators were punished. Speier says allowing assaults to go unpunished compromises the effectiveness of the military. "Members of military units survive on the code of watching out for each other. When sexual assaults and rapes are hushed, ignored, or treated lightly, trust in a unit is compromised along with its collective readiness to engage the enemy," Speier said.

Speier’s lined up more than three dozen co-sponsors for the bill. They don’t include the Republican head of the House Armed Services Committee, Buck McKeon of Santa Clarita. His office says “it would be premature to comment” on the bill because it hasn’t been referred to the committee.

Also missing as a co-sponsor is Democrat Loretta Sanchez, who also sits on the Armed Services Committee. Sanchez says sexual assault in the military is "deplorable," but she doesn't believe cases should be removed from the chain of command in the military. She says it would "further take accountability away from the Commanders who should be held fully accountable for the safety and well-being of their units."

Congress tackles online piracy, pitting Hollywood against Silicon Valley

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:02:33 -0800

The U.S. Capitol Building's dome is seen in Washington, D.C. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

It’s a bill that pits Hollywood against the Silicon Valley. The House Judiciary Committee today heard testimony about a measure that cracks down on Internet sites that distribute bootleg movies and counterfeit prescription drugs.

Katherine Oyama of Google has serious concerns about the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA. She says SOPA would "undermine the legal, commercial and cultural architecture that has propelled the extraordinary growth of Internet commerce over the past decade."

Hollywood backs the measure. Michael O’Leary of the Motion Picture Association of America says the entertainment industry supports small businesses around the country. "Hard work, innovation and creativity are not solely the province of people who live in northern California."

He told members of the House Judiciary Committee "every time Congress protects intellectual property, the Internet flourishes. Every time the United States stands up for legitimacy over illegitimacy, the Internet gets bigger and stronger. More things are available to consumers, more products are available to consumers, we make more movies, they see more television. Protecting legitimacy is a positive thing for the economy and for innovation."

The Senate passed its own bill and most members of the House Judiciary Committee back it. But not Republican Darrell Issa of Irvine and not Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who represents Silicon Valley. The two are talking about an alternate approach.

Lofgren says, "There are sites that are illegal and something should be done about them. And the thing that should be done about them is cutting off their money." Lofgren says taking down Internet poker sites didn’t work; what did was making it impossible to process payments.

Human rights groups also oppose the bill. Lofgren says imposing a strict firewall is an "extraordinary remedy" similar to what China has done. "We're now actually funding efforts for human rights groups to get around repressive government firewalls," she says. "We'd be in the weird position of funding for human rights groups what we'd impose in the United States."

The bill also has the support of pharmaceutical companies and the Registrar of Copyrights at the Library of Congress.

Is the rover Curiosity the last mission to Mars?

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:24:42 -0800

Engineers finish installing six new wheels on the Curiosity rover, and rotate all six wheels at once on July 9, 2010, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Credit: Courtesy of NASA

The day after Thanksgiving, NASA launches its newest Mars rover to explore the Red Planet. Today On Capitol Hill, lawmakers asked whether this mission to Mars may be the last.

The new rover “Curiosity” will cruise around Mars, looking for places that might have supported life. Two more missions, scheduled five and seven years from now, would do much more: Retrieve soil samples from the Red Planet.

Steve Squyres of the National Academies of Science said the best science is always going to get done in laboratories on earth since instruments in earth labs are better than anything researchers could send to Mars on a rover. He told members of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee that gravel from beyond is a gift that keeps on giving.

"The very best science ever done with samples collected from the moon during the Apollo program forty plus years ago is being done today by scientists who had not been born at the time those samples were collected, using instruments that had not been conceived of," Squyres said.

The two Mars missions are supposed to be joint ventures with the European space agency. But the White House has yet to sign on. Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo of Mississippi said that hesitation makes NASA look like an unreliable partner. "Meanwhile, other international space agencies will collaborate and in time," he said, "they may well be able to fly space missions that were once the domain of NASA," Palazzo said.

Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee say they support future Mars missions. But Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach said NASA wasn’t helping its own case. He noted that the price tag for a new space telescope to replace the Hubble jumped from one-and-a-half to nearly $9 billion dollars.

"Cost overrides of this nature are certainly a greater threat to a viable space program than the asteroid belt or anything else that you would face up there that God has presented as an obstacle for us to moving forward into space," Rohrabacher said.

Project managers said they’d underestimated the complexity and true costs of for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Jim Green, Director of Planetary Science for NASA declined to answer another tough question: What’s the likelihood of finding life on Mars? Green reminded panel members about the nature of science. "If we don’t have the opportunity to look, we’ll never know," Green said.

Squyres warned that canceling missions to Mars or to Jupiter’s moon Europa would harm cutting-edge science and American know how. "The ability that we have to do things like orbiting Europa or landing and roving on Mars, that’s something that we know how to do in this nation. And if we give that capability up, the people who know how to do that, they’re going to go off to other jobs, they’re going to do other things. These are smart people who are in demand and you simply cannot reconstruct that instantly," Squyres said.

A White House spokesman declined to discuss long term budget details, but said that “even in these times of fiscal restraint,” Obama supports robotic missions and “the ultimate goal of a human mission to Mars.”

Have a post office mail tub? Time to bring it back

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 07:58:31 -0800

Post office mail tub, Jan. 11, 2010 Credit: Sean Nash/Flickr (Creative Commons-licensed)

They’re fabulous for toting dirty laundry, stacks of books — oh, and mail. But now the U.S. Postal Service is asking you to bring its white plastic mail tubs back, no questions asked. The amnesty period ends just after Thanksgiving.

Each mail tub costs the Postal Service $4. Patrons have also “borrowed” mail trays and $20 wooden pallets.

The agency spent close to $50 million last year replacing the items. The Postal Service reminds patrons it’s in a financial crisis and can’t afford to lose so much property.

Stealing it, by the way, is a federal crime: Violators could spend up three years in prison and/or pay up to a quarter of a million dollars in fines. Postal inspectors found 7,500 valued at more than $200,000 at a recycling company in California. Prosecution is pending.

But the Postal Service is now offering two weeks of amnesty, no questions asked. It’ll even pick up larger stashes of waylaid postal property. The offer ends on Nov. 26.

Congress no closer to passing any immigration measures

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:00:04 -0800

With an election year ahead, Congress is unwilling to tackle another major immigration reform measure. Lawmakers might not even put one small but important piece of the immigration puzzle in place.

It was 25 years ago this month that President Ronald Reagan signed into law the last sweeping immigration reform legislation passed by Congress. It included amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants. President Reagan said, "I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here even though some time back, they may have entered illegally."

Earlier this fall, by a party line vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed the E-Verify bill. It requires all U.S. employers to log into a government database and confirm that the people they hire have valid work visas or are legal residents of the United States.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that won't work for agriculture "because of the nature of the agricultural work and where that work is done, and how much of it is done obviously outside. It just is really, really hard to have an E-Verify system and to impose that cost on a lot of the smaller producers."

Many Democrats hate E-Verify. San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren says it sure won't work for farmers or growers. "The idea that you could schedule an individual interview for a million-and-a-half people and still get them to the fields in time, it doesn't pass the laugh test. It's not gonna happen."

Even some Republicans, like Congressman Dan Lungren of Folsom, doubt that the House GOP leadership will ever bring the bill to the floor for a vote. "E-Verify will not move unless we do something to take care of the legitimate concerns of agriculture and their need for labor."

In September, the Western Growers Association surveyed farmers in California and Arizona about the workforce they need to harvest crops — 62 percent said they weren't able to hire enough field workers. The solution might be a "guest worker" program.

Lungren proposes one to let guest workers stay for 10 months. Lofgren and other Democrats prefer to let them stay in the U.S. longer and maybe apply for citizenship.

Lofgren says neither guest worker proposal is getting traction in the House. "It's a measure of how extremely dysfunctional and right wing the Tea Party has made the Republican majority in this House," she says, "that they cannot enact a bill that had bipartisan support for years and years on ag, which is their constituency."

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack says Congress should pass a bill to provide more agricultural workers, but he says the real issue is comprehensive immigration reform. "Really what it requires is for Congress to stand up and say, 'This is a problem that affects the United States for decades. We're going to be courageous enough, politically courageous enough, to tackle it, and we're not going to make people fearful about this.'" That's a lot to ask of a divided Congress in an election year.

The countdown to Rover's launch

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:12:30 -0800

In this handout image released Jan. 13, 2004, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the Mars rover Spirit is shown after it backed up 25 centimeters (10 inches) in the first of three maneuvers in preparation for leaving the landing pad for the Mars surface. While the Spirit explored possibilities of water on the planet, the Curiosity will look for evidence of a habitable environment. Credit: NASA/Getty Images

All systems are "go" for the launch later this month of the new and improved version of the Mars Rover.

The mission of the first two rovers Spirit and Opportunity was to follow the water. The next rover “Curiosity” will search for “evidence of habitable environment” - proof that something could have lived on Mars.

“Curiosity” will drill into rocks to find organic matter; it’ll use lasers to analyze the chemical composition of Martian soil. JPL project scientist Ashwin Vasavada says Curiosity can also measure high-energy radiation. "This kind of radiation is critical to measure for the day we do send humans to Mars."

The new rover is the size of an SUV and it sports a robotic arm.

Vasavada says his colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Lab are “super excited.” He says at its peak, over a thousand JPL employees were working on the Rover. "Currently now, we’re in the few hundred range and that will continue on through the operations. That’s all at JPL. And then around the world, we have over 200 scientists as well."

The rover with a 6-foot arm will be tucked inside a sphere that resembles a flying saucer as it makes it descent to the Red Planet.

Launch is scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving with touchdown on the Red Planet in August.

Senate committee votes to repeal DOMA

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:41:55 -0800

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Feinstein sponsored the bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Credit: Matt DeBord/KPCC

A key U.S. Senate committee voted today to repeal a federal law that defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman. But gay marriage advocates have a long way to go before declaring victory.

The bill, introduced by Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, would allow legally married same sex couples to file joint tax returns and collect a dead spouse's Social Security benefits. "If a state takes action to legalize same sex marriage, then that is a valid marriage and the federal benefits that would accrue to any other couple would accrue to a same sex couple."

The 10-8 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was along party lines. Still Feinstein, who sponsored the measure, called it a big step forward. She said when the full Congress voted on the act 15 years ago, only 14 Senators said "no."

"Time marches on," she said. "Time does bring change, and in this case it really stops a pernicious discrimination."

Feinstein acknowledged she doesn't have the 60 votes necessary to override a filibuster by Republicans in the Democratically controlled Senate. The measure has no chance in the GOP held House. But the senator said she’d reintroduce it next session, after the 2012 elections.

Senate committee passes transportation bill, but big challenges remain

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:35:56 -0800

Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. Credit: Andreas Adelmann/Flickr

By a unanimous vote, a key Senate committee today passed a multi-year transportation bill. There are big challenges ahead before road construction and bridge repairs can begin.

Democrat Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, praised the multi-year transportation bill.

"The bill before us is completely bipartisan," she said, "and therefore nobody will think it is perfect, but it is a very strong commitment to our transportation system and to the health of our businesses, workers, and communities who depend on it."

But the measure is for two years rather than the customary five. And as ranking member Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma reminded the committee, the $109 million measure isn’t fully funded by the gas tax.

"Everything we’re doing today is predicated on finding an additional $12 billion," he said. "We’re going to have to do that."

One compromise in the bill allows states to decide how to spend a percentage of the transportation money previously set aside for "enhancements" like bike lanes, walking trails, highway beautification, museums and, as Inhofe put it, "all that stuff." Instead, states could choose to spend the money on unfunded federal mandates such as complying with the Endangered Species Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act or historic preservation.

There’s another challenge to passing the transportation bill: the six-year House version caps spending at what the gas tax brings in. That’s about a third less than the amount in the Senate bill.

The committee vote was good news for L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has made almost monthly lobbying trips to Washington to push for transportation loans. The mayor said he's "particularly proud that this bi-partisan bill included America Fast Forward," the proposal that would help L.A. County build transit projects in 10 years instead of the 30 years it will take to pay for it out of a half cent sales tax.

"It can create one million new, good-paying, private sector jobs nationwide, including 166,000 jobs in Los Angeles alone," he said.

This story has been updated.

US Supreme Court hears California 'downer cattle' meatpacking case

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:39:03 -0800

In a Jan. 30, 2008, file photo a worker throws a piece of meat among cattle carcass scraps dropped into a truck at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif. Credit: Damian Dovarganes/AP

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today on a California law that bans meatpackers from using “downer cattle.” Lawmakers passed the ban after an undercover video at a Chino slaughterhouse showed fallen dairy cows dragged with chains and rammed with forklifts. The meat industry says the California law interferes with federal rules.

Attorney Steven Wells argued for the National Meat Association, saying the federal law kicks in at the slaughterhouse gate. "And the problem with California’s law is it attempts to tell California slaughterhouse operators that are federally inspected what they can and cannot do with respect to humane handling and meat quality on their premises."

Deputy State Attorney General Susan Smith argued the California law deals only with animals that would otherwise become meat. But Justice Antonin Scalia said the federal law says “no additional regulation.”

Outside the court, Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said federal animal cruelty laws aren’t strong enough. "If they win, it is really a usurpation of the state’s authority to protect animals from malicious cruelty." Pacelle said the agriculture industry is too strong on Capitol Hill to pass tougher anti-cruelty laws.

This is only a test: 1st national test of Emergency Alert System to be held Wednesday

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:16:06 -0800

Santa Clara Emergency Alert System tsunami warning Credit: Tim Bonnemann/Flickr (Creative Commons-licensed)

Wednesday, the entire country will test the Emergency Alert System.

You know the phrase, "this is a test of the Emergency Alert System." The emergency broadcast system has been around since 1963.

But Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says this is the first time it’s been tested nationwide. "And it’s an opportunity to check and make sure our systems are working if we have a national emergency."

The test is set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. But he says anyone with hearing or vision problems might not know that. "Because of the system design, not all of you will see the crawl that says 'This is a test.'" FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission are working on a new alert system that’s “more relevant.”

FEMA boss Fugate says the test is for more than just broadcasters. "If you don’t have a plan," he says, "this is a good reminder: go to Ready.gov and get your disaster plan now."

KPCC will participate, so don’t be alarmed if Larry Mantle is pre-empted for 30 seconds by those familiar emergency alert buzzers.

Supreme Court to hear CA meat and immigration cases

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 06:00:04 -0800

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments this week on two California cases. One is an immigration case; the other involves the meat packing industry.

The latter was prompted by undercover Humane Society video at a Chino slaughterhouse. The video shows cows being beaten, pushed by a forklift, and dragged with chains to get them to stand for slaughtering.

Georgetown Law School professor Irv Gornstein says California has said "there is a humane way to deal with cattle who have fallen and that is to slaughter them immediately and not sell them for human consumption." Gornstein says the issue before the high court is whether federal law pre-empts California’s more stringent law.

The immigration case involves permanent residents from Japan who pleaded guilty to tax fraud. The Supreme Court will decide whether lying on corporate taxes is an “aggravated felony”- and, therefore, a deportable offense.

Boom time for California small farms and farmer's markets

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 06:00:04 -0800

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California’s larger farms are shrinking. But smaller farms are booming, especially so-called pocket farms. Seventy-five percent of the state’s farms are less than 100 acres, and it’s a trend the federal government is trying to promote.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says over the past five years the nation has seen the creation of more than 100,000 small farms. The trend is fueled, in part, by a 30 percent jump in the number of local farmers markets.

Vilsack says the federal government can help find new buyers for local produce, "working with local schools and other institutional purchasers of food to understand what is grown and raised in their area so they can potentially contract for those goods rather than buying processed food from far away."

The small farm boom isn't only for regions blessed with Southern California’s weather, says Vilsack. The USDA is helping small farmers finance hoop houses, also called hoop tunnel systems, that allow crops to grow in less hospitable weather. This system, built from arced PVC pipe covered in heavy plastic, helps to lengthen the growing season in colder climates.

Long Beach Rep. Laura Richardson faces ethics investigation

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:44:28 -0700

Rep. Laura Richardson and Michael Copon attend the 'Children Uniting Nations' 4th Annual National Conference at The House Capitol Building on June 9, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Getty Images

The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into whether U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson of Long Beach used her congressional staff, people who work for her on the government dime, to work for her personal political campaign, which is not allowed. Richardson says race could be the reason she’s now the target of another House Ethics Committee investigation.

Rumors about the investigation have been swirling around since spring.

A former scheduler for Richardson told the Long Beach Press-Telegram newspaper that Richardson would call congressional staffers and demand they show up at her campaign office to “volunteer.” The scheduler also told the newspaper that another staffer was “being paid from her government job” while she worked on the campaign.

Richardson released a statement going on the offensive, charging the Ethics Committee with discrimination for pursuing two investigations against her while not investigating fellow members of Congress.

The African-American congresswoman said the Committee has chosen to "unjustly target" some members and has failed to apply the same standards to her colleagues, "of whom the overwhelming majority are white males."

She questioned why they were looking at her, saying the Committee was overlooking "well-publicized misuse" by House members who've turned their congressional offices into personal apartments, sleeping in their offices "in some cases for years, saving tens of thousands of dollars personally at taxpayers' expense." She noted that this use of House resources was equally inappropriate to what she's being investigated over.

This isn't the first ethics investigation Richardson has faced; she was investigated a couple years ago due to allegations she got preferential treatment on a mortgage when she was trying to save a house from foreclosure. She was just exonerated last year.

Richardson faces a tough re-election campaign. Due to the way that the citizens redistricting commission redrew district lines, she's running in a district that newly elected Rep. Janice Hahn is also running in. They face off in the June 2012 primary. The new district runs from South Bay up to Southgate.

A subcommittee is being formed to conduct the investigation against Richardson. There's a strict line drawn between resources for government business and for personal political campaigns. Members of Congress will often walk away from Capitol Hill down to their campaign headquarters offsite due to that separation in order to make calls to raise money.

The Ethics Committee has yet to confirm the allegations, but something is expected to be released on their website soon.

KPCC's Mike Roe contributed to this story.

Senate Judiciary Committee approves gay LA lawyer as judge

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:13:00 -0700

The Judiciary Committee offered a unanimous “thumbs up” on Fitzgerald’s nomination to the bench on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. That’s the federal court that serves Los Angeles.

Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, who recommended that President Barack Obama nominate Fitzgerald, called him “a highly respected attorney whose sharp intellect and experience as a former federal prosecutor and attorney in private practice will make him an outstanding judge.”

Fitzgerald is currently a partner in the L.A. firm Corbin, Fitzgerald & Athey. If he clears confirmation, Fitzgerald would be the fourth openly gay judge on the federal bench, but the first in California. Obama nominated all four.

About two dozen judicial nominees await confirmation votes by the full Senate. Lawmakers have been busy whittling down that list; last month they approved 15 judicial nominations.