The Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos, may have been the result of a giant impact that sent rocks and debris into orbit around Mars, instead of asteroids that were captured by the planet’s gravity as previously thought.

The post Giant impact may explain origin of Martian moons Phobos and Deimos appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What Google is attempting for books, the University of California, Berkeley, plans to do for the world's vertebrate specimens: store them in "the cloud."

The post New “cloud-based” storage initiative to make vertebrate research collections available worldwide appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Accumulations of drifting snow are the most plausible explanation for the presence of a number of puzzling alluvial fan deposits found inside large impact craters on Mars

The post Melting snow likely created fan deposits inside Martian craters, geologists say appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As economic expansion and development fragments the forest landscape of central India, the species that rely on that habitat—including endangered tigers and leopards—face dwindling populations […]

The post Forest corridors essential to gene flow in India’s leopard and tiger populations appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

John Kovac of the Harvard-­Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. 

The post Kovac among Time’s most influential appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Throughout 2015 the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Md., has marked its 50th year of operation. Now there’s another reason for SERC to […]

The post Smithsonian lab receives GreenGov Presidential Award appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It is rare but not entirely uncommon to see a manatee swimming in the Atlantic waters of Maryland and Virginia. This one was dead, however, […]

The post In face of mass extinctions, Smithsonian’s Global Genome Initiative quietly saves world’s DNA appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

NASA’s InSight probe, scheduled to land on the surface of Mars in November 2018, will be boring. Boring a hole, that is. It will drill […]

The post ISO: a boring Martian landing spot for NASA’s InSight probe appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Cats are notoriously fickle—purring in your lap one second, then swiping you with an indignant claw the next. One thing is certain however when it […]

The post Eons before viral kitten videos, ancient Egyptians adored cats appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Bipasha Dey and Richa Rikhy

Cell shape morphogenesis from spherical to polygonal occurs in epithelial cell formation in metazoan embryogenesis. In syncytial Drosophila embryos, the plasma membrane incompletely surrounds each nucleus and is organized as a polygonal epithelial-like array. Each cortical syncytial division cycle shows circular to polygonal plasma membrane transition along with furrow extension between adjacent nuclei from interphase to metaphase. In this study, we assess the relative contribution of DE-cadherin and Myosin II at the furrow for polygonal shape transition. We show that polygonality initiates during each cortical syncytial division cycle when the furrow extends from 4.75 to 5.75 µm. Polygon plasma membrane organization correlates with increased junctional tension, increased DE-cadherin and decreased Myosin II mobility. DE-cadherin regulates furrow length and polygonality. Decreased Myosin II activity allows for polygonality to occur at a lower length than controls. Increased Myosin II activity leads to loss of lateral furrow formation and complete disruption of polygonal shape transition. Our studies show that DE-cadherin-Myosin II balance regulates an optimal lateral membrane length during each syncytial cycle for polygonal shape transition.

Olga Kopach, Noemi Esteras, Selina Wray, Dmitri A. Rusakov, and Andrey Y. Abramov

Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism (FTDP-17) caused by the 10+16 splice-site mutation in the MAPT provides an established platform to model tau-related dementia in vitro. Human iPSC-derived neurons have been shown to recapitulate the neurodevelopmental profile of tau pathology during in vitro corticogenesis as in the adult human brain. However, the neurophysiological phenotype of these cells has remained unknown, leaving unanswered questions over the functional relevance and the gnostic power of this disease model. Here we used electrophysiology to explore the membrane properties and intrinsic excitability of the generated neurons to find that human cells mature by ~150 days of neurogenesis to become compatible with matured cortical neurons. In earlier FTDP-17, neurons, however, exhibited a depolarized resting membrane potential associated with increased resistance and reduced voltage-gated Na⁺- and K⁺-channel-mediated conductance. The Na_v1.6 protein was reduced in FTDP-17. These led to a reduced cell capability of induced firing and changed action potential waveform in FTDP-17. The revealed neuropathology may thus contribute to the clinicopathological profile of the disease. This sheds new light on the significance of human models of dementia in vitro.

Aparna Sherlekar, Gayatri Mundhe, Prachi Richa, Bipasha Dey, Swati Sharma, and Richa Rikhy

Branched actin networks driven by Arp2/3 collaborate with actomyosin filaments in processes such as cell migration. The syncytial Drosophila blastoderm embryo also shows expansion of apical caps by Arp2/3 driven actin polymerization in interphase and buckling at contact edges by MyosinII to form furrows in metaphase. Here we study the role of Syndapin (Synd), an F-BAR domain containing protein in apical cap remodelling prior to furrow extension. synd depletion showed larger apical caps. STED super-resolution and TIRF microscopy showed long apical actin protrusions in caps in interphase and short protrusions in metaphase in control embryos. synd depletion led to sustained long protrusions even in metaphase. Loss of Arp2/3 function in synd mutants partly reverted defects in apical cap expansion and protrusion remodelling. MyosinII levels were decreased in synd mutants and MyosinII mutant embryos have been previously reported to have expanded caps. We propose that Syndapin function limits branching activity during cap expansion and affects MyosinII distribution in order to shift actin remodeling from apical cap expansion to favor lateral furrow extension.

A peek inside the gates at the Goodman Games late summer 2017. Held in the heart of Anacostia’s historic Barry Farm, the Goodman League hosts […]

The post Anacostia’s Goodman League games appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The partial federal government shutdown is one week old, but economists are still saying that its impact in Southern California and elsewhere will be limited.

Susanne Whatley: Business analyst Mark Lacter, why is that?

Mark Lacter: If you look back on the history of these things, Susanne, you see that the disputes are resolved before too much damage gets done.  As for Southern California, I notice that KPCC's Alice Walton was asking around over the weekend about the shutdown, and most folks gave it a shrug.  The regional economy is just too diversified - and not especially tied to federal employment.  You have about 46,000 federal workers employed in L.A. County in one capacity or another - that's out of a workforce of nearly 5 million.  And, now it appears as if the federal employees who have been furloughed are going to receive their back wages whenever the shutdown finally ends.

Whatley: That still might make things dicey when it comes time to pay the monthly mortgage...

Lacter: ...but at least money will be available before most folks run into serious liquidity issues.  That's what the shutdown really comes down to - inconvenience rather than dislocation.  And, you see this with the various government services affected: the E-Verify website is down - that lets business owners know whether the people they're wanting to hire can work legally in the U.S., which obviously is important.  The Small Business Administration has stopped processing loan applications, and the Federal Housing Administration is reporting delays in its loan processing, which could mean a home buyer might not complete his or her paperwork all that quickly.

Whatley: But, what if this were to go on for months?

Lacter: Well, then it would create problems, but nobody really thinks that's going to happen.  The real issue, not just nationally and regionally - but globally - is the refusal by Congress to raise the debt ceiling.  The deadline is a week from Thursday, and - of course - there's been all sorts of debate about what this would mean for the economy.

Whatley: All right, so what would this mean for the economy?

Lacter: Well, no one knows exactly.  But, then again, no one knows exactly what would happen if you fell out of a airplane without a parachute.  I just wouldn't want to test it out.  And, of course, let's keep in mind that these are manufactured crises - not reflective of anything that's going on with the real economy.  It's certainly not reflective of anything that's going on in L.A., which saw a big jump in payroll jobs for 2012 - actually it was the sharpest increase since 2005, and nearly double the national rate (that's despite an unemployment rate that remains very high in certain parts of Los Angeles).

Whatley: What about some of the big locally based companies?

Lacter: Well, if your company is publicly traded, there's a good chance your shares took a dip these past few days.  Going back to September 18, the Dow has lost almost 700 points, which - percentage-wise - is not very much, but it is reflective of how uneasy Wall Street has become.  Public companies based in the L.A. area are taking it on the chin - Disney, Amgen, Mattel, DirecTV - their stock prices are all down going back to the middle of September.

Whatley: Even so, hasn't this been a good year for the stock market?

Lacter: It has - those local companies are up anywhere from 13 percent 30 percent year to date, and the Dow is up 14 percent year to date.  Of course, the stock price of a company doesn't always match the amount of money it makes, and this year, even before worries about the debt ceiling, the numbers haven't been as good as they should be at this stage of a recovery.  And, that's why there's particular concern about next week.  You do have to wonder whether a default could have ripple effects involving trade, consumer spending, the dollar - who knows what?  Now, it's still a pretty good bet that saner heads will prevail, although there are no guarantees - and again, if worse came to worse, do you really want to be jumping out of that plane?  Guess we'll find out.

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.

For the first time researchers from the Smithsonian, South Dakota State University and the University of Nebraska described the immature stages of the switchgrass moth, first collected in Denver in 1910.

The post Potential biofuel pest, the switchgrass moth, under renewed scrutiny of entomologists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Now the Global Plants Initiativeis catapulting biodiversity research to a new level by sharing these historic plant collections in a massive online database of high-resolution scans.

The post Online initiative makes massive database of herbarium specimens accessible worldwide appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

They’ve got no roots or veins and grow in hanging pendants or tightly packed mats attached to stones, soil and wood. Called by some “the […]

The post Mosses have strong potential to acclimate to global warming, study indicates appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

According to a new study by biologists at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and Virginia Tech the offspring of a certain songbird, the wood thrush, […]

The post Study: Large shady forest plots essential to survival of post-fledgling songbirds during drought appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This work presents a technique for extracting the detailed shape of peaks with extended, overlapping tails in an X-ray powder diffraction pattern. The application discussed here concerns crystallite size broadening, though the technique can be applied to spectra of any origin and without regard to how the profiles are to be subsequently analyzed. Historically, the extraction of profile shapes has been difficult due to the complexity of determining the background under the peak, resulting in an offset of the low-frequency components of the Fourier transform of the peak known as the `hook' problem. The use of a carefully considered statistical weighting function in a non-linear least-squares fit, followed by summing the residuals from such a fit with the fit itself, allows one to extract the full shape of an isolated peak, without contributions from either the background or adjacent peaks. The extracted shape, consisting of the fit function recombined with the residuals, is not dependent on any specific shape model. The application of this to analysis of microstructure is performed independently of global parametric models, which would reduce the number of refined parameters; therefore the technique requires high-quality data to produce results of interest. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated by extraction of Fourier transforms of peaks from two sets of size-broadened materials with two differing pieces of equipment.

Quaternion methods for obtaining solutions to the problem of finding global rotations that optimally align pairs of corresponding lists of 3D spatial and/or orientation data are critically studied. The existence of multiple literatures and historical contexts is pointed out, and the algebraic solutions of the quaternion approach to the classic 3D spatial problem are emphasized. The treatment is extended to novel quaternion-based solutions to the alignment problems for 4D translation and orientation data.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines commented Thursday on teacher contract talks that have been ongoing since July.; Credit: Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC

A budget deficit is preventing the Los Angeles Unified School District from offering teachers more than a 5 percent raise, Superintendent Ramon Cortines said Friday.

"I want some resolution," Cortines told reporters, but he said the district is now projecting a shortfall of $160 million heading into the next school year.

United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing 31,000 teachers, declared an impasse Thursday in the contract negotiations. The two sides have been bargaining since July.

The teachers haven't had a pay increase in eight years, and their salaries are below that of neighboring districts. 

"You are not going to recruit and retain the quality teachers you need," UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told KPCC's AirTalk this week. The union is seeking an 8.5 percent raise as well as smaller class sizes, more counselors and nurses, and revised teacher evaluations.

Cortines said the district's pay raise offer of 5 percent, retroactive to July 2014, would help make salaries more competitive. But he said the projected deficit is why LAUSD can't afford more.

Projections for the deficit have changed over the months. Last October, it was $365 million; in January, $88 million; and this month, $160 million. 

Teachers union representatives said California schools are receiving more money this year than any time since the recession. Gov. Jerry Brown's Local Control Funding process, which gives local districts more resources for education, is projected to garner the district $240 million more next school year. 

Cortines said he hopes to reach an agreement and he cautioned against any walkout.

"You talk about a budget deficit? It will exacerbate the budget deficit, because parents have other options," Cortines said. "They can go to other schools, private, parochial schools, they can go to charter schools, etc."

Cortines said a mediator is being called into the talks to help resolve the impasse.

The superintendent also repeated his doubts that the district can currently afford to put a computer in the hands of every district student. The program, a key initiative of his predecessor, John Deasy, used bond funds to pay for iPads and other devices.

Cortines said a statement elaborating on his remarks to reporters that "as we are reviewing our lessons learned, there must be a balanced approach to spending bond dollars to buy technology when there are so many brick and mortar and other critical facility needs that must be met."

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

Marijuanas active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting, and other symptoms, and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials.

The numerous technical and operational breakdowns that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico suggest the lack of a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks.

The National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine are launching a major initiative to guide decision making about controversial new research involving human gene editing.

Cognitive training, blood pressure management for people with hypertension, and increased physical activity all show modest but inconclusive evidence that they can help prevent cognitive decline and dementia, but there is insufficient evidence to support a public health campaign encouraging their adoption, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

In an August 18 letter, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that it should cease all work on a study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia.

The number of patients in the U.S. awaiting organ transplantation outpaces the amount of transplants performed in the U.S., and many donated organs are not transplanted each year due to several factors, such as poor organ function, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Consumer access to effective and affordable medicines is an imperative for public health, social equity, and economic development, but this need is not being served adequately by the biopharmaceutical sector, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are launching a major initiative to more effectively enable their extensive body of work on climate science, impacts, and response options to inform the public and decision makers.

While the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides mental health care of comparable or superior quality to care provided in private and non-VA public sectors, accessibility and quality of services vary across the VA health system, leaving a substantial unmet need for mental health services among veterans of the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are launching an Academies-wide initiative to transform how the nation addresses the complex issues associated with environmental health—a field that examines how the environment affects human health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program has made “substantial progress” in implementing recommendations outlined in past reports by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, improving the program’s overall scientific and technical performance, says a new Academies report.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines evidence on whether providing permanent supportive housing (PSH) – a combination of stable housing and supportive services -- to individuals who are experiencing homelessness improves their health.

In recognition of the need for a national coordinated and collective response to the epidemic of opioid addiction in the U.S., the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), in partnership with the Aspen Institute, launched a public-private partnership made up of more than 35 organizations representing federal, state, and local governments, health systems, associations and provider groups, health education and accrediting institutions, pharmacies, payers, industry, nonprofits, and academia.

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is pleased to announce the recipients of three $500,000 NAKFI Challenge awards. A 15-year, $40 million dollar program funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation, NAKFI was initiated in 2003 to break down barriers between fields and to promote interdisciplinary research.

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) is pleased to announce the publication of Collaborations of Consequence - NAKFI’s 15 Years of Igniting Innovation at the Intersections of Disciplines.

Along with participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project – a large, international burning plasma experiment – the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) should start a national program of accompanying research and technology to build a compact pilot plant that produces electricity from fusion at the lowest possible capital cost, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Following recommendations from a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report released earlier this year, the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program (GRP) is developing a long-term research campaign to improve understanding and prediction of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current System (LCS).

The National Academies established the Climate Communications Initiative (CCI) last year to enable their extensive work on climate science, impacts, and response options to inform decision-makers and the public more effectively.

Healthy People 2030 (HP2030) – which will set national objectives for improving the health of all Americans from 2020 to 2030 – should include in its Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) voting as a measure of civic engagement, the health effects of climate change, and indicators of racial and ethnic residential segregation, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

In light of the present situation in the U.S., we believe that it is essential to explore a wide range of options for treating the increasing numbers of very ill patients with COVID-19 respiratory illness.

A new rapid expert consultation from a standing committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine responds to questions from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) regarding survival of the COVID-19 virus in relation to temperature and humidity and potential for seasonal reduction and resurgence of cases.

Ron Struthers of Struthers' Resource Stock Report details the value proposition of Bam Bam Resources and its flagship prospect.

Visit the aureport.com for more information and for a free newsletter

Sen. Mitt Romney is proposing a temporary pay bonus — up to $12 an hour — for front-line employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase would be paid, in part, by employers and offset via a payroll tax credit.; Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Sen. Mitt Romney is proposing a way for workers in front-line and essential jobs to get a temporary pay bump during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Released on Friday, Patriot Pay is a proposal from the Utah senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate aimed at providing bonus pay — up to $12 an hour on top of normal wages — for employees in eligible jobs. The increase would extend through May, June and July and would be paid out by employers and the federal government via a payroll tax credit.

Workers in industries designated by Congress and the Department of Labor as essential, including hospitals, grocery stores and health manufacturing, could qualify for the hazard pay, according to a one-page summary of Patriot Pay.

"Health care professionals, grocery store workers, food processors, and many others — the unsung patriots on the frontline of this pandemic — every day risk their safety for the health and well-being of our country, and they deserve our unwavering support," Romney said in press release announcing the plan. "Patriot Pay is a way for us to reward our essential workers as they continue to keep Americans safe, healthy, and fed."

Romney is not the only lawmaker to propose a form of hazard pay for essential employees.

Last month, Senate Democrats revealed their own proposal — a federal fund offering payments of up to $25,ooo, or $13 an hour and retroactive compensation for qualifying workers dating back to late January, when the public health emergency was first declared.

Their plan also proposes a one-time payment of $15,000 to draw new workers into essential fields.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has also called for some form of hazard pay.

Unlike the Democratic proposal however, Romney's plan opts to offer employers a refundable payroll tax credit for paying out the bonuses to eligible employees. The plan states that employers would be refunded for up to three-quarters of hazard pay bonuses to employees making less than $90,000 a year.

"This form of hazard pay would complement, not replace, an employer's responsibility to pay their workers — it is designed to quadruple any bonuses an employer gives to essential workers," Romney's office said.

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

A scene from Tomislav Mrisic's "Cowboys (Kauboji)," which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival.; Credit: Kino films

It has escaped the average filmgoer's notice, but Eastern Europe has been in the midst of a cinematic renaissance for quite a while now. A few individual titles and filmmakers have bubbled to the surface in U.S. cinemas, including Danis Toanovic's Serbian antiwar satire "No Man's Land," which won an Oscar in 2001, and Cristian Mungiu's Romanian abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days," which nabbed the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2007.

Those are both great movies, but they are also the small tip of a very large iceberg. This year, Estonian filmmaker Zaza Urushadze's "Tangerines" — a humanist drama about the Georgian civil war of 1992 — is a leading contender for a foreign film Oscar.

As of now, its main competitor for the trophy would seem to be the Polish film "Ida" by Pawel Pawlikowski, which has taken most of the top critics prizes for foreign film this awards season. And who has heard of Radu Jude, the witty Romanian director of "The Happiest Girl in the World," or Kamen Kalev, Bulgaria's great hope for the cinematic future? Among so many others.

A sort of "Waiting for Guffman" with a Croat twist, the delightful Croatian Oscar entry "Cowboys (Kauboji)" isn't in the same league as the best Eastern Europe has to offer, and in an odd way this is one of its strengths.

Tomislav Mrisic's film utterly lacks pretension, which is not to say that it has no point to make. If there's an Eastern European precedent for "Cowboys'" assured mix of satire, drama and farce, it's probably the "Loves of a Blonde"-era Milos Forman.

Mrisic shares with Forman an acute eye for the foibles of small town bureaucracy and a soft humanism that simultaneously allows "Cowboys" to embrace its rag-tag ensemble of eccentrics and to spoof them mercilessly.

(A screen shot from Croation Oscar entry "Cowboys (Kauboji)")

The plot sees Sasa (Sasa Anlokovic), a failed and hangdog theater director with health problems, returning to his small and economically desolate Croatian town, where he is enlisted by an old friend-turned-local-bureaucrat to bring Big City "culture" to the sticks.

Aware that his lung cancer may have fallen out of remission and that time may be running out for him, Sasa sets about the task of creating what may be his last opus with the clay available to hand: a half dozen unskilled, uneducated and, in most cases, un-hygienic misfits, culled from the dregs of the town. They decide to create a Western stageplay based on their shared love of "Stagecoach," "High Noon" and John Wayne. Something decidedly unlike "Stagecoach" is the result.

There are titters and belly laughs abounding in "Cowboys" — a film that may actually be even funnier to an American audience than it is in Croatia, given Mrisic's deft mangling of the worn-out genre cliches of old school horse opera.

The performances are all solid and specific: This is no undifferentiated cluster of cliche yahoos, but rather a broadly drawn ensemble, in which each character has a specific logic and an unspoken need he or she is trying to fill.

WATCH the "Cowboys" trailer in the original Croatian

Mrisic finds much to mock in his small town provincials, but also much to celebrate. "Cowboys" is a smart film that still sees goodness everywhere it looks, which makes it a refreshing change not just from the American school of rote affirmation comedy but also from the relentless bleakness we associate with so much European fare.

For all the farce on hand, "Cowboys" is in the end a covertly passionate defense of the creative act: Its imperishability and its importance for its own sake, excluding aesthetic considerations. It is also a plea for that hoary old chestnut, the healing power of laughter. While that may read like a cliche, with "Cowboys," Mrisic's point is made.

Off-Ramp contributor R.H. Greene is covering the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival and will be posting regularly from there.

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

Home State restaurant sells groceries to stay afloat in reaction to the coronavirus on April 16, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. ; Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

This Friday, California will take the first steps toward easing its statewide stay-at-home order.

In Stage 2 of Newsom’s reopening plan, lower risk workplaces like schools, childcare facilities, retail businesses (curbside pickup) and offices where working remotely is not possible will be allowed to reopen. For counties and cities, the reopening will be slightly adjusted according to regional demands. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that some low risk businesses will be allowed to reopen this Friday, as will city-owned hiking trails and golf courses (excluding Runyon Canyon). In Orange County, many beaches have already been reopened. The county has also seen some businesses open up in defiance of Governor Newsom’s stay-at-home order.

Today, California restaurants are submitting a plan to Governor Newsom to reopen sit-down service with safeguards.Under these guidelines, only family members or people who live together would sit at the same table. Buffets, salad bars and shared bread baskets would be out. Salt and pepper shakers could be replaced by bottles of hand sanitizer. And meals could arrive from food servers sheathed in face masks.

What will the partial reopening look like in Southern California? And how will reopening progress in the weeks ahead? We speak with an epidemiologist, restaurant industry advocate, barber and hair salon advocate and economics commentator to learn more.

With files from the Associated Press

Guests:

Richard Jackson, M.D., pediatrician, epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, he’s served in many leadership positions with the California Health Department, including as the State Health Officer, for nine years he served as director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health

Jot Condie, president & CEO of the California Restaurant Association, an advocacy organization for the restaurant industry that has submitted an reopening plan for the restaurant industry today to Governor Gavin Newsom

Ted D. Nelson, president and CEO of the Professional Beauty Federation of California, which represents barbers and salon professionals; the organization says it will sue California Governor Gavin Newsom this week over the statewide stay-at-home order

Greg Ip, chief economics commentator for the The Wall Street Journal; he tweets @greg_ip

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

; Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP

The U.S. Supreme Court has once again punted on the question of gun rights, throwing out as moot a challenge to New York City's strict gun regulations on transporting licensed guns outside the home.

New York City, in the name of public safety, has very strict gun regulations. It allows people to have a permit for guns in their homes, but those regulations originally barred people from transporting their guns anywhere except shooting ranges within the city. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association challenged the regulation as a violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms and lost in the lower courts.

But, after the Supreme Court agreed to review the case, New York state and New York City changed their laws to allow gun owners to transport their guns outside the city to shooting ranges, to competitions, and to second homes. That gave the challengers exactly what they asked for in their lawsuit, and so on Monday, the court, by a 6-to-3 vote, dismissed the case as moot--in short, it no longer presented a live controversy.

The unsigned opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court's four liberals, and Trump appointee Brett Kavanaugh.

But Kavanaugh wrote separately to stress that while he agreed with the majority on procedural grounds, he agreed with the dissenters--Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch--on one key issue.

Those three said that the lower courts were using the wrong test to evaluate gun laws, a test that is far too deferential to gun regulators. The dissenters mainly argued however, that the court essentially had been gamed on the mootness question, and that the justices should have decided the case, and decided it for the gun owners.

Gun-safety advocates breathed a sigh of relief that there was no decision adverse to gun regulations. But they worry that gains they are making in some state legislatures may be taken away by a conservative court majority.

"The reality is that the gun-safety movement is winning in state houses and at the ballot box, so the NRA is turning to the court to try to change the tide," says Eric Tirschwell, managing mirector of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Monday's decision was the first in a major gun case in 10 years, the first since a landmark set of decisions in 2008 and 2010. In those cases, a sharply divided court ruled that the Second Amendment right to bear arms is an individual right, not a right associated with the militia, as the court had previously implied. Those decisions marked a huge victory for the NRA and other gun-rights organizations.

In the decade following that decision, however, the court did not agree to hear any of the dozens of challenges to gun restrictions in cases appealed to the court. In part because the composition of the court made outcomes uncertain.

The previous big gun cases were decided by 5-to-4 votes, with Justice Anthony Kennedy casting the fifth and decisive vote. Kennedy, according to court sources, insisted, as the price of his vote, on adding limiting language that likely would have resulted in some, maybe even most, gun restrictions being upheld. With neither side of the court sure how Kennedy would vote on most regulations, neither the pro-gun, nor the pro-gun-control side wanted to risk an adverse ruling.

That changed when Kennedy retired in 2018 to be replaced by Justice Kavanaugh, who has a much more gun-friendly record than Kennedy did.

Nothing Kavanaugh said in his concurring opinion Monday would dissuade anyone from thinking he has changed his mind.

Bottom line here is that when it comes to gun control, there look to be four pretty solid votes against a lot of the measures enacted in recent years after mass shootings. Specifically, laws that bar carrying weapons in public places, and bans on assault weapons and large ammo magazines. All these, plus so called red-flag laws and other measures could be in jeopardy.

The question is where Chief Justice Roberts will be on these and other gun-control questions. To date, he has never been much of a supporter of gun-control laws, but he hasn't been an outspoken opponent, either. All we really know is that he was part of the 2008 and 2010 majority that for the first time declared that the Second Amendment is an individual right, not, as the court had previously implied, a collective right that was attached to the colonial militia.

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

Brad Bird accepts the Best Animated Feature Award for Incredibles 2 during The National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on January 8, 2019 in New York City. ; Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for National Board

Brad Bird has made a name for himself as the director of new age, animated classics, like “The Iron Giant” and “The Incredibles”. Now he’s teaming up with Turner Classic Movies to share his picks for classic movie watching that will keep you busy and entertained while you’re stuck at home.

Bird has curated a list of his favorite films which will air on this season’s “The Essentials” with TCM Primetime host Ben Mankiewicz. Every Saturday from May up to January of next year, TCM will air one of twenty movies chosen by Bird. His list includes big-name classics that any movie buff will recognize, like “Casablanca” and “Dr. Strangelove”. But Bird throws in a few surprises, one being that there are no animated films on his list. Another surprising thing viewers will notice is that about a third of the films included are musicals, like “Singin’ In The Rain” and “Guys And Dolls”. With TCM’s seemingly infinite library of movie classics to choose from, Bird says narrowing it down to only twenty favorites was a challenge. According to Bird, his list comprises movies that are not only entertaining but “transcend time” and “speak in a language that is still in many ways current”.

“The Essentials” was filmed in early December, but Bird’s list is coming out during a time when movie-going is looking very different these days. The virus has put the entire film industry on pause, with studios halting production and theaters closing their doors indefinitely. In lieu of new movie releases and regular theater-going, many are taking the opportunity to revisit the classics and Bird’s list provides a starting guide for which ones should be on your watch-list.

Today on FilmWeek, Brad Bird joins us to talk about his favorite movies, what projects he has lined up, and his thoughts on how the film industry is adjusting to and getting through the pandemic.

TCM’s “The Essentials” will air on Saturdays at 8 p.m. beginning May 2. For the full list and schedule of films, click here.

Guest:

Brad Bird, animator, director and screenwriter whose directing credits include Pixar’s “Ratatouille” and “The Incredibles” films and Disney’s “The Iron Giant”; he tweets at @BradBirdA113

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