Health Care and College Admissions Scam Fixes
Lawmakers in Sacramento introduced a set of bills in response to the college admissions scandal involving Stanford, USC and other elite universities. One of the proposals would require three academic administrators to sign off on special admissions. Also this week, the Trump administration revealed it now wants the entire Affordable Care Act struck down, including the provision that protects people with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage. Meanwhile, measles outbreaks in California, New York and other states are intensifying the debate over vaccinations. Pediatrician and California state Sen. Richard Pan introduced a bill this week that would require the state health department to approve all medical exemptions, which have tripled in the state in the past few years.
Guests:
- Scott Shafer, KQED politics and government senior editor
- Lanhee Chen, fellow, Hoover Institution
- Alexei Koseff, state Capitol reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area Traffic and Housing Woes
Two polls released this week found 65 percent of Bay Area residents surveyed feel the quality of life in the region has gotten worse in the last five years. Forty-four percent are considering leaving the area in the near future. Among their top sources of frustration: homelessness, the high cost of living and traffic congestion. The second poll found that a large majority of respondents, however, were willing to help pay for transportation improvements.
Guests:
- Guy Marzorati, KQED politics and government reporter
- Carl Guardino, president and CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
“Mama’s Last Hug”
For more than 40 years, Dutch scientist Frans de Waal has been studying such primates as chimps, our closest biological relative. He has tracked and documented their social behavior, from acts of cooperation to fierce power struggles between rivals. But it was a poignant embrace shared between his mentor and an elderly chimp named Mama that inspired de Waal to write about emotions in the animal world. In his new book, he says it’s not just humans who are capable of joy, guilt and other complex emotions that have evolved across species and helped them to survive. KQED politics correspondent Marisa Lagos spoke with de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University and the author of “Mama’s Last Hug.”