Trump Administration Threatens Endangered Species
The U.S. Department of Interior announced major revisions to the nation's premier wildlife conservation law, which is credited with bringing back the bald eagle and grizzly bears, among other species. The Trump administration says it’s a necessary change to balance economic considerations with the law’s intent to protect endangered wildlife. But science experts say that the new revisions could threaten the already 1 million plant and animal species that are already endangered. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in suing the Trump administration over the new changes. The next day California joined 29 states and cities in a lawsuit against another Trump roll-back of environmental regulations the Obama era restrictions on coal-burning power plants.
Guests:
- Kevin Stark, reporter, KQED Science
- Dan Kammen, energy professor, UC Berkeley
Controversial Mural-Voted to be Hidden not Destroyed
The San Francisco Unified District School Board voted this week to hide and not destroy the controversial mural at George Washington High School. The mural depicts George Washington’s slaves and white settlers stepping over a dead Native American. In June, the school board was leaning towards painting over the mural. The controversial paintings has caused national uproar, while those against the mural say the images are offensive and should not be seen by students every day and those who are for the mural say there must be preservation of history and art.
Guest:
- Chloe Veltman, arts & culture reporter, KQED News
- Arianna Antone-Ramirez, board member, American Indian Cultural Center
Facial Recognition Matching Lawmakers with Mugshots
This week, the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that it had ran a test on Amazon’s recognition software. 120 legislators had their faces ran through a public database of 25,000 suspect mugshots, resulting in 26 false matches. Assemblymember Phil Ting was one of the legislators misidentified in the first round of testing. Ting is among the California lawmakers calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition software in body-worn police cameras, warning that embracing such technology could put lives at risk.