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A person reacts after the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, in the death of George Floyd, in front of Hennepin County Government Center, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., April 20, 2021. Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters.

Melina Abdullah on George Floyd and Community Safety

Yesterday afternoon Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, an outcome Melina Abdullah says would not have arrived without the massive uprisings of the last year. The Black Lives Matter-LA co-founder explains her reasoning behind reimagining public safety, reallocating police funds to public services, and why she’s protesting Mayor Garcetti’s budget proposal.

”ACTIVISM WAS EVERYTHING”
Academy Museum
“Government doesn't have to pick winners and losers, but what it does have to do is lay out policy goals and the rules for the marketplace to follow,” says Mark Hertsgaard. “Instead of incentivizing more destructive behavior by developing more fossil fuels, we incentivize more helpful behavior: making it easier to purchase electric vehicles, for example, or even more importantly, to get to a place where you don't need a vehicle to get around in the first place.” Photo by Shutterstock.

Governments Must Shift Incentives

President Biden will convene a summit of 40 world leaders tomorrow (Earth Day) to discuss the threat of climate change and what they can do to address it. This represents an opportunity to do what Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of Covering Climate Now, tells KCRW is necessary to tackle climate change –– cooperate. He says we can take a lesson from what was called on in addressing the pandemic, broad national and international cooperation, and apply that to the climate crisis.

TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE
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Homeless encampments line a street by the freeway in downtown Los Angeles. Mayor Eric Garcetti’s spending plan for the next fiscal year includes nearly $1 billion to fight homelessness. Photo by Getty Images.

Eric Garcetti’s $1 Billion to Fight LA Homelessness

In his State of the City address on Monday, Mayor Garcetti outlined a fiscal budget that would include nearly $1 billion to address homelessness. KCRW housing reporter Anna Scott says that the city has come a long way in understanding the urgency of homelessness, and allocating funding towards it. But she points out that initiatives like Prop HHH, aiming to create more affordable housing, have been “very slow going.”

IS IT ENOUGH?
Academy Museum
Lisa Przekop, director of admissions at University of California, Santa Barbara, says that many high schoolers this year wrote their application essays about depression and anxiety during the pandemic. Photo by Patricia Marroquin - Moment Editorial/Getty Images

Changes in College Admissions Selection Process

Like most other facets of society, the college admissions process was thrown completely out of whack over the last year. Lisa Prezekop is the director of admissions at UC Santa Barbara and says in her 36 years there, this was “definitely the craziest.” All of her staff has been working remotely, they have not had standardized testing scores to look to, and they saw a 16% increase in total applications. The process was thus “more nuanced” and slower going.

PANDEMIC DISRUPTOR
KCRW Live Tweets the Oscars! Photo by Libreshot.

KCRW Live-Tweets the Oscars

This Sunday, join KCRW on Twitter as we live-tweet the Oscars! Yes, it’s been a weird awards season with most people not seeing any of the nominated movies in theaters, making it hard to gauge the buzz around certain films. But, we have each other and KCRW has hosted a few choice screenings + conversations, so gather up what you know, grab a beverage and your phone, get comfy, and let’s make it a thing from 5-8 pm. Yeah? Great!

FOR THE LOVE OF FILM
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