University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Identify Neurobiological Changes Leading to Increase Release of the Brain Chemical Dopamine and Its Target Neurons Linked to Addiction-Like Behavior With the increased legalization of recreational cannabis, as many as 1 in 5 pregnant women in the U.S. are now using the drug to help with morning sickness, lower back pain or anxiety.

The interplay between the genetic makeup of crops and the conditions in which they grow is difficult to untangle. A research team led by an Iowa State University professor aims to help breeders analyze the interactions to make crops more resilient and productive.

Vulnerable populations without access to green space and exposed to higher temps were most affected

Results from a study in Malawi showed that chewing gum containing xylitol, a naturally occurring alcohol sugar, was associated with a 24% reduction in preterm birth. The findings were published today in Med (a Cell Press journal). Researchers found that the group of pregnant individuals randomized to receive chewing gum also saw a 30% drop in low-birthweight babies, when compared with the control group which did not receive xylitol gum, noted lead author Dr. Greg Valentine, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Community partnerships led to a specialized clinic delivering COVID and flu shots to individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism at the MIND Institute.

KRICT sets a new world record for large-area perovskite solar module efficiency and accelerates commercialization

The election is over, but conversations surrounding the outcome are sure to continue for weeks to come. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, knowing how to engage with friends and family members with differing political views may help keep tempers at bay - and relationships intact. Virginia Tech expert Todd Schenk shared his advice for how to keep the peace.

According to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, hateful and violent rhetoric in support of president-elect Donald Trump appeared online on fringe platforms within moments of Trump's... ...

New York City's 2019 ride-hailing surcharge cut overall taxi and ride-share trips by 11 percent in Manhattan but failed to reduce traffic congestion, a key goal of the policy, according to a new NYU Tandon School of Engineering study published in Transportation Research Part A."While this surcharge differs from the MTA's proposed congestion pricing plan, the study's findings can contribute to the current discourse," said Daniel Vignon, who led the research.

Discover the unique Gemini and Libra compatibility! Dive into how these air signs balance each other in love, friendship, and communication. Are they the perfect match?

Discover Taurus and Aquarius compatibility in love, friendship, and more. Uncover their unique strengths, challenges, and potential for a balanced relationship

[Politics] :
President Yoon Suk Yeol said his first official trip to Latin America carries great significance for the expansion of South Korea’s vision as a “global pivotal state” toward the Latin American region. The president, who is set to depart for Peru and Brazil to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic ...

[more...]

[Domestic] :
A group representing families of South Koreans abducted by North Korea plans to launch leaflets toward North Korea from waters off the coast of Goseong, Gangwon Province. The group made the announcement Thursday, having called off plans to launch leaflets last month due to opposition from local ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
A court review is underway for pretrial detention warrants for four people suspected of involvement in election nomination meddling involving first lady Kim Keon-hee, as well as illegal polling. The Changwon District Court started the warrant hearings Thursday afternoon for power broker Myung Tae-kyun, ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
A court has ordered a fine of one-point-five million won, or around one-thousand-100 U.S. dollars, for the wife of main opposition Democratic Party(DP) leader Lee Jae-myung upon convicting her of violating the election law during the 2022 presidential primaries. In its ruling on Thursday, the Suwon ...

[more...]

[Inter-Korea] :
People who suffer damages as a result of North Korea’s trash balloon campaign will eventually be eligible for government compensation. The National Assembly passed an amendment to the Framework Act on Civil Defense during a plenary session Thursday, allowing the government to provide compensation for ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
The ruling People Power Party has decided to take steps to ensure that the National Assembly recommends candidates for the post of special inspector to look at allegations against members of the president’s family. The ruling camp adopted the party policy during a general meeting for its lawmakers on ...

[more...]

[Politics] :
Four candidates have been shortlisted to succeed Supreme Court Justice Kim Sang-hwan who will retire on December 27. The top court’s committee on recommending candidates held a meeting on Thursday and decided to put forth four candidates out of a total 37 to Chief Justice Jo Hee-de.  The four ...

[more...]

[Economy] :
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said Thursday that the government will take “active measures” in the event of excessive volatility in the foreign exchange market, as the South Korean won weakened past the psychological threshold of 14-hundred won against the U.S. dollar. The minister made the “verbal ...

[more...]

How can Scotland re-establish its building stone industry?  British Geological Survey

The synthesis, crystal structure, and Hirshfeld surface analysis of N-(4-methoxyphenyl)picolinamide (MPPA), C13H12N2O2, are presented. MPPA crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/n, with a single molecule in the asymmetric unit. Structural analysis reveals that all non-hydrogen atoms are nearly coplanar, and the molecule exhibits two intramolecular hydrogen bonds that stabilize its conformation. Supramolecular features include significant intermolecular interactions, primarily C—H...π and various hydrogen bonds, contributing to the overall crystal cohesion, as confirmed by energy framework calculations yielding a total interaction energy of −138.3 kJ mol−1. Hirshfeld surface analysis indicates that H...H interactions dominate, followed by C...H and O...H interactions, highlighting the role of van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding in crystal packing.

The title compound [systematic name: 1,10-phenanthrolinium 6-hydroxy-5-(oxidoimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–6-hydroxy-5-(hydroxyimino)-1,3-diazinane-2,4-dione–water (1/1/5)], C12H9N2+·C4H2N3O4−·C4H3N3O4·5H2O, is a co-crystal salt hydrate comprising 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations, violurate anions, free violuric acid as co-former and five water molecules of crystallization per formula unit. The violurate and the violuric acid residues each form distinct N—H...O hydrogen-bonded tapes with a common R22(8) hydrogen-bond motif extending parallel to (103). Solvent water molecules connect the tapes to form a tri-periodic hydrogen-bonded network with channels extending parallel to the a-axis direction, which accommodate the N—H...Owater hydrogen-bonded 1,10-phenanthrolinium cations. Direct N—H...O hydrogen bonds between the 1,10-phenanthrolinium and violurate ions are not encountered.

'California Mountain Lions,' Episode 7: Human Interaction

Image modeling for biomedical organs

FIS has announced a partnership with

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Brunswick Exploration Inc. (BRW:TSX.V) announced an extensive expansion of its lithium exploration holdings in Greenland. Read more about the strategic land acquisitions set to drive future lithium exploration and development across the region.

MoonPay, a crypto payments...

Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion...

Camera brings unseen world to light

NSF documentary about the race against nature to understand and meet the challenges of the rapidly changing Arctic

NSF documentary about working toward a better life for everyone by solving the riddle of predicting phenotype

Mary Ann de Lares Norris is Chief Operating Officer of Oblong Industries. She brings her dog LouLou to Oblong's downtown LA headquarters.; Credit: Brian Watt/KPCC

KPCC recently reported on the tech world’s diversity problem. Technology firms face challenges in hiring diverse staffs of its coders, web developers and software engineers.

It’s also a challenge at nonprofits such as Southern California Public Radio,  parent of 89.3 KPCC, which has always sought to build a staff that reflects the region it serves. The section of that staff that develops the KPCC app and makes its website run is all white and mostly male.

But a small talent pool means the diversity challenge is even greater for nonprofits and even smaller tech firms.

“The first problem is that all of the people working for me are male,” says Alex Schaffert, the one female on KPCC’s tech team.  “I’m kind of focusing on maybe getting another girl into the mix.”

Schaffert can use the term “girl” because she happens to be the leader of the tech team:  KPCC’s Managing Director of Digital Strategy and Innovation. 

Why diversity is important

Schaffert recently launched the topic of diversity – or lack thereof – at a weekly meeting of her team. She expected a “stilted and awkward” discussion from the five white men on her team, but a few of them didn’t hold back.  

“Not having diversity represented on the team leaves us more susceptible to circular thinking and everyone sort of verifying each other's assumptions,” said Joel Withrow,  who was serving at the time as KPCC’s Product Manager. “It impacts the work. It limits what you’re able to build.”

Sean Dillingham, KPCC’s Design and Development Manager, said living in a diverse community is what attracted him to Los Angeles, and he wants diversity in his immediate work team, too.

“When I look at other tech companies, I will often go to their ‘about us’ page, where they’ll have a page of photos of everyone, and I am immediately turned off when I just see just a sea of white dudes, or even just a sea of dudes,” Dillingham said.

Big competition, small talent pool

Dillingham and Schaffert are currently recruiting heavily to fill two tech-savvy positions. When a reporter or editor job opens up at KPCC, Schaffert says close to 100 resumes come in.

"But if you post a programmer job, and you get three or four resumes, you may not get lucky among those resumes," she says. "There may not be a woman in there. There may not be a person of color in there."

In other words, the talent pool is already small, and the diversity challenge makes it even smaller. KPCC is competing for talent with Google and Yahoo and all the start-ups on L.A.’s Silicon Beach. 

Schaffert’s being proactive, mining LinkedIn and staging networking events to attract potential candidates. She’s also trying to make sure KPCC’s job descriptions don’t sound like some she's seen in the tech world.

"If you read between the lines, they’re really looking for someone who is male and is somewhere between 25-30 years old and likes foosball tables and free energy drinks in the refrigerator," Schaffert says. “So you read between lines, and you know that they’re not talking about me, a mother of two kids who also has a demanding career. They're talking about someone different.”

Pay vs. passion

Schaffert's challenges and approaches to dealing with them are similar to those of Mary Ann de Lares Norris, the Chief Operating Officer at Oblong Industries. Based in downtown Los Angeles and founded in 2006, the company designs operating platforms for businesses that allow teams to collaborate in real time on digital parts of a project.

“I think technology and diversity is tough,” Norris told KPCC.  She’s proud her company’s management ranks are diverse, but says only 12 percent of its engineers are female. “Pretty standard in the tech industry, but it’s not great,” Norris says. “We really strive to increase that number, and all of the other companies are also, and it's really hard.”

Like Schaffert at KPCC, Norris works hard fine-tuning job descriptions and communicating that her company values diversity and work-life balance. But sometimes, it just boils down to money.

"We have to put out offers that have competitive salaries,” Norris says, adding that she can’t compete with the major tech firms. "The Googles and the Facebooks of the world can always pay more than we can. So we attract people who are passionate about coming to work for Oblong.  And, of course, we also offer stock options."

KPCC doesn’t have the  stock options, but we’ve got plenty of passion. Could that be the secret recruiting weapon for both small tech companies and nonprofits?  

LinkedIn recently surveyed engineers about what they look for in an employer. Good pay and work-life balance were the two top draws. Slightly more women prioritized work-life balance and slightly more men chose the big bucks. 

Clinical Entrepreneurship professor Adlai Wertman says that, historically, nonprofits and small businesses actually had the upper hand over big companies in recruiting minorities and women.

"There’s a feeling that they’re safer, more caring environments, less killer environments, and we know that corporate America has been the bastion of white males," said Wertman. 

But Wertman says that advantage disappears in the tech world because of the "supply-and-demand" problem with talent. When big firms decide to focus on diversity – as some have recently — they have plenty of resources.

"They’re always going to be able to pay more, and in truth they’re getting access to students coming out of these schools in ways that we as nonprofits and small companies never will," said Wertman. 

Wertman worked 18 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, then left to head a nonprofit on L.A.’s skid row. Now he heads the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab Enterprise Lab at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He believes that, early on, the big companies have the best shot attracting diverse tech talent. But in the long run, much of that talent will turn back to smaller firms and nonprofits.

"I think ultimately people vote with where they’re most comfortable, where 'my values align with my employer's values, and if I don’t feel those values align, then I’m going to leave,'" Wertman said. "Ultimately, I think, for a lot of women and minorities, there’s a lot of value alignment within communities that are doing good in the world." 

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Walter Flores was unemployed for 8 months in 2014 but is now working in sales for Workforce Solutions in Compton; Credit: Brian Watt/KPCC

California's unemployment rate continued its decline in December, ending the year at 7 percent, according to figures released Friday by the state Employment Development Department.

But in Compton, Willowbrook and the Florence-Graham section of Los Angeles County, it remains about double that, data show.

“You might have work this week. But next week, you won’t have work,” said James Hicks, 36, 0f Compton. He's worked in warehouses through staffing agencies, but said the jobs have always been temporary.

Statewide, California has added jobs at a faster rate than the United States for three straight years, according to Robert Kleinhenz, Chief Economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. He pointed out the statewide unemployment rate is now where it was June 2008. 

"All in all, with the recession now five years back in our rearview mirror, we’re finally at the point where we can say that we have shrugged off quite a bit of the pain that occurred back during those times," Kleinhenz said.

The Los Angeles County metro area saw a net gain of almost 71,000 jobs in 2014.  The County's overall unemployment rate has fallen to 7.9 percent from 9.2 percent a year ago.

But Compton's unemployment rate was 13 percent in December.

“I’d rather have a  full-time type of gig, working 40 hours a week, but right now, even if you get 25 hours, it’s a blessing,” said Hicks, the warehouse worker in Compton.

On Thursday, he interviewed to be a guard with a security firm, but was told there weren’t any positions available. He had another security guard job six months ago that he thought might become full time and permanent. 

"It was going all right for about two to three months, until they cut my hours and days," Hicks said. 

Walter Flores lives in La Mirada but currently works as an account executive in the Compton office of Workforce Solutions. He was unemployed for about eight months last year after a car accident.

"Losing what you love to do is a tough one, but I'm back," he said. "2015 is going to be a great year."

Flores said most major warehouse and logistics companies prefer to hire temporary workers through industrial staffing firms like the one where he's working because their needs are sporadic.  

But he said it's still a potential opportunity.

"It doesn't matter that it's a temporary position, as long as you put your foot in the door, and then you let the employer know how much value you are for the company," Flores said.  

Hicks, who's earned a GED, wants to find a program to study physical therapy. But first, he’d like to find a job. 

He said you can't judge Compton’s residents by its unemployment rate.

"Some of us out here who [are] looking for jobs, but sometimes it’s the luck of the draw," he said. "It’s kind of scarce out there.” 

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

People using a coworking space.; Credit: Cross Campus

In a sign of increased desire of professionals to work remotely, the successful Santa Monica shared workspace Cross Campus is opening a second location in Pasadena later this month, and the company hopes to open eight others in Southern California and beyond in the next two years. 

Dubbed by one user as  the “nerve center” of the Silicon Beach tech scene, Cross Campus opened its membership-based workspace facility in Santa Monica in 2012.   

But co-founder Ronen Olshansky said the shared workspace phenomenon isn't limited to coders. 

"Fewer and fewer people are making the traditional drive into the corporate office," Olshansky said. "They're working remotely as professionals, going off on their own as freelancers, or they're starting their own companies as entrepreneurs."  

A forecast from Forrester Research says that 43 percent of workers will telecommute by 2016, compared to estimates of about a quarter of the workforce telecommuting last year. 

Olshansky said that, for many people, working from home or in a coffee shop isn't productive. 

That's led shared workspaces to pop up in Los Angeles, Culver City and Santa Monica. Among them: Maker City L.A., WeWork, NextSpace, Coloft and Hub LA.  

Los Angeles-based tech investor David Waxman said these kind of shared spaces are crucial for the early stages of tech ventures.

"When you’re just starting out, and capital is very scarce, having not to commit to an entire office but having part of an office is very important," Waxman said.  “There comes a collective energy when a bunch of entrepreneurs get together in the same space, even if they’re not working on the same project."

And he said Pasadena is a good choice for a shared workspace.

"It is the home of Caltech, the Arts Center, and IdeaLab — probably the world’s first tech incubator — started there," he said.

But he said the need isn't limited to Pasadena.

"In Silver Lake, in South Pasadena, in Glendale, you see a lot of little pockets of  people getting together, and as soon as there’s a critical mass, we’ll see co-working spaces like Cross Campus come into being," said Waxman, who named his investment firm TenOneTen after the two freeways that connect Santa Monica and the Westside to Pasadena. 

Alex Maleki of IdeaLab in Pasadena is happy a well-known company is opening up in his city. 

"Anything that helps attract talent and capital to the region," Maleki said, "is absolutely fantastic."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

A large The Actor statue is placed on stage during 21st Annual SAG Awards Behind The Scenes At The Shrine Auditorium Jan. 23, 2015 in Los Angeles.; Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Click here for KPCC's Awards Tracker

This Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards aren't as high profile as the Academy Awards, or even the Golden Globes, but they serve as one of the best predictors of who's going to take home a gold statue come Oscar night. Here's why.

Who votes for the SAG Awards?

SAG Award nominees are chosen by a committee of about 2,100 of the guild's members, according to awards news site Gold Derby. Then, all of the 111,228 members of the Guild have the chance to vote for their picks.

Meanwhile, the acting nominees for the Academy Awards are chosen by the 1,100 members in the Academy's actors branch, before being voted on by the Academy's full 5,700 members. Those actors are all part of SAG, so you're likely to see a strong correlation most years between the awards, particularly in the acting category.

How often do the SAG Awards predict the Oscar winners?

The SAG Awards have proven to be the best Oscar predictor in the acting category of any other major awards season prize since they began in 1995, both in nominations and winners. Of the 20 nominations and four winners from each shows, the overlap between the SAG Awards (aka "the Actors") and the Academy Awards in the last few years:

• 2009: 18 nominations; 3 winners
• 2010: 19 nominations; all 4 winners
• 2011: 17 nominations; all 4 winners
• 2012: 16 nominations; 3 winners
• 2013: 15 nominations; 3 winners
• 2014: 14 nominations; all 4 winners

This year, 17 nominees crossed over between the awards shows, with the Oscars matching up on all five nominations for best supporting actor and four of the five nominations in the other three acting categories.

Where have the SAG Awards differed from the Oscars?

SAG voters have lined up with the Academy on Best Actor 16 out of 20 times. The last time they differed from the Oscars was 2003, when Johnny Depp won at the SAG Awards for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" before Sean Penn took the statue home at the Oscars for "Mystic River."

For Best Actress, SAG last split from Oscar in 2011, going with Viola Davis for "The Help" over eventual Oscar winner Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady." They've matched up 14 out of 20 years.

In the supporting categories, the SAG Awards haven't fared as well. They went 12 for 20 in Best Supporting Actor, and 13 for 20 in Best Supporting Actress. That one also has an asterisk — one of those was a tie, so if you don't count that one, they're also only 12 for 20.

What does this all mean for the Oscars?

The SAG Awards remain the ones to watch when it comes to the acting awards — though their Best Ensemble category, the SAG Awards version of Best Picture, doesn't have a particularly strong correlation to the Oscars Best Picture winner. (For that, you'll want to watch for the Producers Guild Awards.)

We're tracking awards season and what experts are predicting; see KPCC's Awards Tracker below or click here to see the full page. You can watch the Screen Actors Guild Awards this Sunday at 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern on both TBS and TNT.

Disclosure: Mike Roe, along with other members of KPCC's staff, are members of the Screen Actors Guild as part of their employment with KPCC.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

An image from a teaser for Marvel Comics' 2015 "Civil War," part of crossover "Secret Wars." Could Spidey appear in the new Captain America: Civil War film now that Marvel and Sony have worked out a deal?; Credit: Marvel

Spider-Man is coming home to join the rest of the Marvel movie family (um, except for the Fantastic Four and the X-Men) in upcoming films under a new deal struck between Sony, the home for Spider-Man movies, and Disney's Marvel Studios, home of Iron Man and the Avengers

It's been a bumpy road for Spidey for almost a decade, but now he's set to be part of the largely critically and financially successful Marvel Cinematic Universe films. He's already made history, and he could make more history soon. 

Here's a brief history of cinematic Spider-Man, looking ahead to his new adventures with Marvel's large and growing stable of movie superheroes.

Coming out of the superhero dark ages

Spider-Man was one of the catalysts for the current superhero movie boom. Superhero films were seen as potentially dead following the bomb of "Batman & Robin" with George Clooney, a critical failure and a mixed bag commercially.

Marvel dipped its toes in superhero movies with 1998's "Blade," which was a big hit, followed by 2000's "X-Men," but they both tried to distance themselves from their comic book source material (and the Joel Schumacher Batman movies) by putting their heroes in black leather and grounding them as much as possible in real-life aesthetics.

Sony's first "Spider-Man" movie came out in 2002 and showed that there was still room for an optimistic comic book take. The Sam Raimi-directed film also had a huge cultural impact as one of the first big summer movies following 9/11 — an early teaser that showed Spidey trapping bad guys between the two towers had to be pulled following the disaster.

Spider-Man 9/11 trailer

The movie ended up pulling in almost $822 million at the box office, including almost $404 million domestically, helmed by genre director Raimi, who had previously been best known for the horror-comedy "Evil Dead" films.

Spider-Man trailer

Tobey Maguire surprised as the star, pulling off the nerdy, earnest Peter Parker while also being believable enough as an action star in the Spider-Man suit. Maguire starred alongside Kirsten Dunst as love interest Mary Jane and Willem Dafoe as the villainous Green Goblin, and the film included the not-yet-a-superstar James Franco as Harry Osborn and now-Oscar-nominated J.K. Simmons as Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson.

A sequel, 2004's "Spider-Man 2," continued the success of the first, with only a slight dip in overall box office while proving that the first film's success wasn't just a flash in the pan, that there was room for a relatively bright superhero in a dark time.

Spider-Man 2 trailer

Maguire almost ducked out of filming during negotiations, complaining of back pains following injuries while filming "Seabiscuit," and Jake Gyllenhaal almost stepped into the role — but Maguire recovered and held onto his spot. The escapist entertainment of superhero movies was starting to take hold in a growing way, but the superhero train was about to come off the rails for a few years.

The twilight of Tobey Maguire

As "Spider-Man 2" was hitting theaters, 2004 also brought "The Punisher," "Blade: Trinity" and "Catwoman," none of which showed superheroes as particularly promising movie saviors.

Marvel turned out more superhero movies that weren't loved by critics, including "Elektra," "Fantastic Four" and "X-Men: The Last Stand," though the latter two still did well at the box office (all were released by 20th Century Fox). DC Comics made the critical and commercial hit "Batman Begins" in 2005, but stumbled in 2006 with the underperforming "Superman Returns."

In 2007, "Spider-Man 3" dropped, and while it did great at the box office — it was the series' most popular film worldwide, though it dipped domestically — it was slammed by fans and critics. They took that Spider-Man optimism and tried making him emo, while overstuffing the bad guys — going from one villain in the previous films and upping it to three — and turning the campy dialogue up to 11.

Spider-Man 3 trailer

Trying to be 'Amazing' in a new superhero era

While Spidey stumbled, the next year Marvel released its first film from its own studio, the groundbreaking "Iron Man." It showed that you could make a franchise from a hero who was big in the comics but didn't have the same mainstream recognition.

It revitalized Robert Downey Jr.'s career and put Marvel Studios on the map, with a post-credits sequence laying the seeds for completely tying the films together in a way that hadn't been done on this scale ever before.

While Marvel started to crank up their self-produced film, Spider-Man lay dormant. Eventually, it was decided to reboot the character with Andrew Garfield taking over the role in 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man." It scored the lowest domestic take of the series, while still excelling overseas.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer 1

Sony quickly followed up with a sequel, while announcing their own plans to ape Marvel and try to create their own cinematic universe.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 villains trailer

The second "Amazing Spider-Man" movie set up other potential villains, and holding off the payoff of what exactly happened to Peter Parker's parents as Marvel tried to stretch Spider-Man into a female-led film, one focused on the villains, a movie led by Spidey character Venom and more.

Amazing Spider-Man first 10 minutes

The sequel showed diminishing returns, though, and plans for further sequels and spinoffs began to seem up in the air.

Hacked

In the midst of the Sony hack, documents revealed that Sony and Marvel had been negotiating over Marvel using Spider-Man in its own films — despite Sony having the rights to the character in perpetuity as long as they kept producing films, a deal worked out before Marvel had the resources and the belief in their own filmmaking capabilities. Still, the documents also showed that the talks had fallen apart, and hopes for Spider-Man appearing with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the rest of his Marvel friends appeared dim.

Then, Monday, Marvel shocked everyone by announcing that Spider-Man was coming home and would be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after all. There had been reports that they'd wanted Spider-Man for the third Captain America film, and with that film set for 2016, that may still happen. They also pushed back four of their "Phase Three" movies to make room in 2017 for a new "Spider-Man" movie, with reports indicating that the movie will feature a new actor taking over and Andrew Garfield getting pushed aside.

Spider-Man comes home

Andrew Garfield will likely go down in comics movie history as the right guy at the wrong time. He was a likable lead with a strong supporting cast, but Marvel looks ready to turn the page. Those on the Marvel side have previously indicated they'd avoid doing another origin story, so we'll probably skip seeing Uncle Ben killed to inspire Peter Parker once again.

"The new relationship follows a decade of speculation among fans about whether Spider-Man – who has always been an integral and important part of the larger Marvel Universe in the comic books – could become part of the Marvel Universe on the big screen," Marvel said in the announcement of the new deal.

Fans online have been largely ecstatic over the announcement of Marvel getting control of the character. Reports indicate that Sony still gets final say over Spider-Man, but that they're letting Marvel take the creative lead. Marvel also announced the possibility that other Marvel characters could appear in future Spider-Man films.

While Sony's Amy Pascal stepped down as the motion picture head of Sony following the hacking scandal and its associated public embarrassments, she's staying on as a producer — including co-producing the next Spider-Man film with Marvel creative film leader Kevin Feige.

Some fans have also asked for an even bigger step away from the traditional Spider-Man by introducing Miles Morales, the popular half-black/half-hispanic Spider-Man from an alternate universe in the comics, but the official Marvel press release does mention Peter Parker, and Marvel executives have previously taken a strong stance against moving away from Parker as the secret identity.

Still, as Badass Digest's Devin Faraci notes, the executive who'd taken the strongest stance against Miles Morales — Avi Arad — isn't mentioned in the press release about the new film, so maybe Marvel will surprise fans once again. Also, relations have apparently been icier between Marvel and Fox, with fans speculating that Marvel is trying to ice out the X-Men and the Fantastic Four from their comics — but if the companies could work out a deal to use those heroes in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film, it could prove to be an even bigger surprise.

The new Spider-Man film is set for July 28, 2017, and he may appear in another Marvel film sooner.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Jerry "The King" Lawler with Jim Ross.; Credit: WWE

Jim Ross is the most famous pro wrestling play-by play commentator of all time. He's a native Californian, but grew up in Oklahoma and took his trademark drawl into doing commentary. He's worked in wrestling for more than 40 years, calling matches on shows seen by millions of people around the world.

This weekend, he's in the Bay Area for Wrestlemania weekend (the first Wrestlemania in Northern California, and the first in California in 10 years). Ross no longer commentates for WWE, but he's still a storyteller, online and in person. He hosts regular live storytelling shows with stories from his decades-long career and a bit of comedy, along with a live guest, and he also has a huge online presence including a podcast that went to number one in sports its first week out.

Ross has been watching wrestling since he was a kid.

"My dad wasn't a big fan of it. He missed the point. The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not? And I was," Ross said.

He's been at ringside for numerous historic matches, helping the wrestlers to tell their stories ever since he got his first job in wrestling out of college at 22.

"The greater the star, the easier it is to tell their story," Ross said. "Those participants make music. They make different kinds of music, and the announcers, the broadcasters, have to be able to provide the adequate lyric to the competitors' music."

Ross's voice is so powerful that it's become a meme online to pair his voice with another dramatic footage, from sports and beyond — you can even find it paired with dramatic moments from shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones." Ross says that the first time he saw someone do that was with a hit by Michigan running back Jadaveon Clowney, a video which went viral and sparked others to do likewise.

The JR Treatment

"I get sent these memes all the time. 'Hey JR, check this one out.' Or people will say, somebody will make a great dunk at an NBA game, and somebody will say 'I can't wait to see this get the JR treatment.' And now there are major sports websites that will send out a tweet, 'Here's a great play from Sunday's 49er-Charger game that's got the JR treatment.' So now it's got a name. 'The JR Treatment.'"

Those viral videos have even helped him land new commentating roles since leaving WWE. He did a call of a fight between NASCAR drivers for the Daytona 500 for a special pre-show video, and it's led to him having opportunities in traditional sports.

"It's been done in boxing, and MMA. Believe it or not, I've gotten feelers that we're entertaining now from a variety of combat sports entities that actually heard what my call would sound like doing their product," Ross said. "It had my tone, had my inflection, had my level of enthusiasm."

Ross also played a huge role behind the scenes, working as WWE's executive vice president of talent and signing future stars like the Rock, Mick Foley and more. He says that Mick Foley's match against the Undertaker in 1998's Hell in a Cell match was his most memorable to call.

"I have people walk up to me and start quoting my commentary when Undertaker threw Foley off the Hell in a Cell, this massive cage with a roof on it, that was about 17 feet high from the roof to the floor," Ross said. "It looked like no human being, quite honestly, could survive that fall. You don't practice falls like that in wrestling school."

Ross has managed to stay relevant with the help of a popular podcast and 1.3 million followers on Twitter, where he regularly dispenses his thoughts on wrestling and beyond. He started doing that podcast after being lobbied to do it by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and continues to try new things.

"I was very reluctant to engage in social media, and primarily because we sometimes get set in our ways, especially the older we get," Ross said. "But change, for any of us, in any walk of life, whether it's your diet, it's your relationships, the way you approach your job, or any changes that you need to affect, whether it's on doctor's orders, your significant other's suggestions — change is not always a negative thing. So I got on Twitter, and then Twitter connected me to so many people."

While some may feel that pro wrestling, given its predetermined results, doesn't need real athletes, Ross disagrees and says there are plenty of reasons to want real athletes.

"They're competitive. They don't want to be on the second team. They want to be in the game. And they've been in that mindset since some of them were in little league, or Pop Warner football, or elementary school wrestling, or whatever it may be."

He says they also understand how to be coached and how to play well with others, as well as handling the bumps and bruises that come with the territory and the difficult travel schedule.

"I don't know that anybody in any entity, unless you're the most well-traveled comedian or entertainer, has that. Because the thing about pro wrestling is it doesn't have an off-season, so you don't get a chance to really go recharge your batteries. You've got to maintain that competitive edge to survive."

Ross says there's one match he wishes he had another shot at calling: Ric Flair's retirement match against Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. While Ross has traditionally been a play-by-play commentator, that night he was assigned to be a color commentator, which gave him some different challenges.

"I thought I had great stories to tell because of my relationship with Ric — I've known him for 25 years — and I didn't think that I contributed as much to that match from an emotional standpoint as I could. I was obligated to get in soundbites and get in, get out," Ross said. "That's the biggest match at the biggest stage, and I love both those guys, and I really wanted to be extra special that night, and I just don't know in my heart that we got there."

He says California has its own wrestling legacy to be proud of. The California Wrestlemania match that Ross says he'll always remember: Bret Hart versus Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12 in Anaheim, where two now wrestling legends wrestled for more than an hour.

He also thinks the economics of Wrestlemania make a lot of sense for whichever city hosts it, thanks to the travelers it draws in from around the world. Cities now bid to try to bring in Wrestlemania, Ross says. With Los Angeles gearing up to build a new stadium, Ross has a Wrestlemania prediction for that stadium.

"I will bet you money — I will bet you some of my barbecue sauce — if L.A. builds a stadium, that Wrestlemania will be one of the first non-football events in that stadium. And they will sell it out. They'll fill every seat. And it'll be great for the city, and the businesses of Los Angeles.

Ross says that what made him a great broadcaster is the same thing that can make someone a success in wrestling or anywhere else — most importantly, don't talk down to your audience.

"You have to be a fan of the genre, or a fan of the game, and you have to be willing to prepare and be ready for your broadcast," Ross said. "You have to be willing to tell the story that the average fan — not the hardcore fan, but the average, casual fan can understand and relate to. ... You know, we're storytellers, and some people are just natural-born storytellers."

Ross plans to continue telling stories for the foreseeable future, on stage, online, calling matches in the legit sports world and wherever else his life takes him. He's even gotten into acting — you can see him in the new film "What Now."

"I think retirement is overblown. How many days can you go fishing? How many rounds of golf can you play?" Ross said. "I had the idea when I left WWE after 21 years, I'm going to reinvent myself. I'm not going to become a trivia answer. ... I don't think you're going to read anywhere, anytime soon, that Jim Ross has finally retired — until you read my eulogy."

Listen to the audio for the full hour-long interview with Jim Ross, talking his career past, present and future — along with the origins of his signature barbecue sauce.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Across the country, the sale of electric cars is sluggish.

Susanne Whatley: But business analyst Mark Lacter, that's not quite the case in California...

Mark Lacter: Well, comparatively speaking, Susanne.  L.A. and San Francisco alone made up 35 percent of the electric cars sold in the entire U.S. during the first half of the year - 35 percent!  Keep in mind that statewide just 9,700 electric cars were sold in that six-month period, which translates to a little over 1 percent of all car sales in California.  So, they're not exactly lining up around the block, even in a region that's known for its early adopters.  Of course, electric cars were always going to be a tough sell -

Whatley: I've been driving one for about half a year now... and I absolutely love it.  But they ARE expensive, and I'm sure that's a factor.

Lacter: - and that's even after a federal tax credit, but they also require drivers to learn about recharging the battery - sometimes in not-very-convenient places - and, from a design standpoint, most of them don't stand out (one of the automakers that's now out of business had been selling what was a basically plain vanilla Mitsubishi sedan).  Now, the one notable exception is the Tesla - so long as you have at least $90,000 to shell out, and are willing to wait a while to get your car delivered.  In affluent sections of L.A., this is truly the hot car - just 600 or so Teslas have been sold in Southern California during the first seven months of the year.  It's also received rave reviews from all the big automotive publications.

Whatley: And perhaps most surprising of all, Tesla has been making money…

Lacter: That's right, although the stock price is ridiculously overvalued at around $20 billion (that's one-third the market value of General Motors, even though Tesla cranks out all of 21,000 vehicles a year while GM sells almost 5 million).  People seem to love this car almost in spite of it being battery powered, which gets us back to the challenges in trying to sell these things.  Elon Musk, who founded the company (he's also behind SpaceX and he co-founded PayPal), has managed to win over customers because the car itself is so much fun to drive.  The other makers of electric cars - not so much.

Whatley: So, for the folks still on the fence... might it be better to wait until driverless cars become available?

Lacter: That's going to be quite a wait, although all the automakers are working on their versions of self-driving cars.  The Mercedes people just announced plans to launch in 2020 - the same year that Nissan wants to bring out its car - and Google, which has had self-driving cars tooling around California for several years, is looking at 2017.  So, what we're seeing is real, but the question is what sort of real it'll turn out to be.  Certainly, the possibilities are nothing short of revolutionary - you're looking at, potentially, faster commute times because cars will be able to travel closer to one other (reaction times would be faster than with a human behind the wheel); in addition, fewer accidents and injuries (also a function of reaction times).  But, how well the vehicles work once they get beyond the testing phase is anyone's guess.  California does allow self-driving prototypes car for testing purposes, but that's far different than full-scale authorization.

Whatley: What if something goes wrong?

Lacter: That's one of the big concerns - liability, but the real issue is public acceptance.  Already, surveys are finding reluctance to buying a driverless car, or even having them on the road.  That's not a huge surprise considering how novel the concept still is - and all it takes are a few mishaps to affirm the skeptics.  All of which points to a lengthy transition period - not unlike the early days of the passenger plane, when most folks couldn't imagine getting into a flying machine.  Eventually, they got used to them, but it took time.

Whatley: And finally, some thoughts on Cal Worthington?

Lacter: Certainly one of the great showmen in the annals of L.A. broadcasting - Cal Worthington wasn't the first auto dealer to discover the benefits of commercials, but he lasted longer than anyone else, selling more than a million cars (that according to his count), and grossing billions of dollars.  The Worthington ads are sometimes considered the first infomercials - that might be a stretch, but three factors really made it all come together: Southern California's appetite for the automobile, the ease by which Cal could deliver his schtick (remember when he was strapped to the wing of a biplane?), and the fact that there was so much available air time to sell in L.A.. Definitely a legend in his own time.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Sign ups for the Affordable Care Act start in a week, and the program is leading to changes in the way employers handle health coverage.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, what's the most noticeable adjustment?

Mark Lacter: Steve, once you get beyond the squabbling over efforts to defund the new law, what's happening is quite remarkable: businesses are finding new ways to administer and pay for coverage - and some would say it's long overdue.  One interesting example: the grocery chain Trader Joe's, which is based in Monrovia, employs over 20,000 people, and shells out millions of dollars a year in helping provide its people with health insurance.  Well, Trader Joe's has decided to end coverage for part-timers working fewer than 30 hours a week - under the new law businesses are not obligated to provide benefits to employees who work less than that amount.  However, the company is giving those people $500 to go towards the purchase of premiums at the new public exchanges.  And that, along with the tax credits available, could make the new arrangement cost about the same or even cheaper than the current health care package.

Julian: How did TJ's explain this to its employees?

Lacter: The company cited the example of an employee with one child who makes $18 an hour and works 25 hours a week.  Under the old system, she pays $166 a month for coverage; under the new system, she can get a nearly identical plan for $70 a month.  Now, there are cases in which workers will end up paying more - usually it involves having a family member who makes more money, but who doesn't have access to coverage (good example would be an independent contractor or freelancer).  By the way, other companies - including the drug store chain Walgreen's - are also moving part-timers to the public market, and offering some sort of a subsidy.

Julian: I imagine not all companies are being as conscientious...

Lacter: No.  We've seen a number of corporations cut worker hours and not offer a supplemental payment.  Steve, it's worth remembering that administering health insurance is something that businesses fell into quite by accident 60 years or so ago - premiums cost next to nothing at the time, and it was seen as way of attracting workers without having to jack up wages.  The arrangement became more attractive over the years because of certain tax benefits.  But, it's far from ideal - workers move from job to job more often than they used to, and not all businesses are capable of handling the extra costs, especially small businesses.

Julian: Doesn't L.A. have a higher percentage of uninsured than elsewhere?

Lacter: Considerably higher - the Census Bureau show that 21 percent did not have coverage in 2012, which is higher than the overall national number.  Now, there are a bunch of reasons for this: L.A. has a large percentage of households that simply can't afford health insurance or don't have access to government programs, among them undocumented immigrants.  You also have big numbers of people who are self-employed and don't get covered - we're talking about freelancers or consultants of some sort.

Julian: …Or, they work for small businesses whose owners either can't afford, or don't want to provide coverage…

Lacter: That's right - the new law only requires businesses with more than 50 full-time workers to offer health insurance, and a lot of small businesses don't meet that threshold.  The Census Bureau says that in the L.A. area, one in four people with jobs do not have health insurance - and, by the way, there's been a drop-off both in the percentage of businesses in California that offer coverage.

Julian: Sounds dire.  Who picks up the cost?

Lacter: Well, we all do in one way or another - and that, of course, is the problem.  What the Affordable Care Act offers is a start in getting some of the uninsured onto the rolls.  Clearly, it's an imperfect solution that will require all sorts of adjustments, and even though everyone and their uncle seems to have formed a definitive opinion about the new law, it's going to be years before there's any real sense of how it's going.  And, let's remember, signing up for these programs is not some political act.  It's just a way for people to get health insurance for themselves and their families.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

We've been reporting on the city of Los Angeles approving major developments without seismic studies attached.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, why is this?

Mark Lacter: Steve, this is a real gotcha moment for the L.A. Planning Department, the City Council, and everyone else at City Hall who signed off on these projects.  The latest revelation, which was reported by the L.A. Times, shows that a planned 39-story residential tower in Century City is just 300 feet from the active Santa Monica fault.  And, we're only learning about this because the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did its own seismic testing near the site when it was looking for potential subway stops, and officials decided that it was too close to the fault.  This also comes after three large-scale projects in Hollywood were found to be located quite close to the active Hollywood fault.

Julian: The concern is that if any faults were to rupture, the foundation of a building could be split apart.

Lacter: Kind of an inconvenient truth both for the developers, who have millions of dollars riding on these projects, and for L.A. city officials who are betting on a future that will include many more high rises.  And, we should note that more than two-dozen high rises are either in the process of going up, or are at least on the drawing board.  In case you're wondering why there aren't regulations that monitor this sort of thing, the answer is that there are regulations.  California has a law that requires state geologists to map active earthquake faults, and then set zones on either side of the fault line.

Julian: Has the state done this?

Lacter: The state says it hasn't had the time nor the money to map areas within the city of L.A., though the faults have been known to be in the general vicinity of these projects - and so, you'd think the city would want them tested extensively.  Of course, that would mean more delays, which the developers wouldn't be happy with.

Julian: Of course, seismic studies are not always definitive.

Lacter: They're not - and it's possible that different geologists would come up with different findings.  But so far, most of the information seems to be coming from the developers, and you have to wonder whether it's a great idea to rely on folks who have a financial interest in a project to tell us what's safe and what isn't.  Probably not.

Julian: Your article in the new issue of Los Angeles Magazine raises a broader point about the city's business climate.

Lacter: Steve, for many years, L.A. has been branded as a terrible place to do business because of government interference, but that's largely a myth.  If anything, city officials have been too accommodating.  Frankly, the anti-business rap never made much sense when you consider the thousands of companies that start up here each year.  A study by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers ranks L.A. particularly high when it comes to ease of doing business, which runs counter to the conventional wisdom.

Julian: You're not saying it's truly easy, are you?

Lacter: Easy, no.  There certainly are plenty of reasons for business owners to pull out their hair.  And those hassles, along with an unemployment rate that remains quite high, has given developers and others the leverage to ask for various giveaways.  All they have to do is say that their projects will generate more jobs, and city officials tend to respond favorably - no matter how questionable those proposals might be.  And, by the way, job creation doesn't always determine economic growth, certainly not in the short term.

Julian: We all remember during the mayoral campaign, candidates were talking about how their policies would lead to lower unemployment...

Lacter: ...right, almost like they could pick up jobs at Ralphs.  Well, it doesn't work that way.  Thing is, the city of L.A. doesn't need to cut so many deals - the local economy is rich enough and broad enough to keep prospering.  Which is why city officials would be much better off laying off the incentives, and focusing on the basics - public safety, transportation, the parks, and libraries.  Do that right, and the business climate will take care of itself.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.