Latest On Sheriff’s Department’s Probe Into LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered the Sheriff's Department to stop searching computers seized from L.A. Metro on Tuesday as part of a corruption investigation into County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and others. In his order responding to a request from Metro, Judge William Ryan scheduled a hearing for next Thursday on the matter, and said he wants answers to several questions

Today on AirTalk, we get an update on where things stand with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s probe in county supervisor Sheila Kuehl with KPCC & LAist civics and democracy correspondent Frank Stoltze, and discuss the legal proceedings with Ambrosio Rodriguez, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

With files LAist; read Frank’s latest piece on the LASD probe here.

The World Remembers Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II

Britain and the world said a final goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II at a state funeral Monday that drew presidents and kings, princes and prime ministers - and crowds who thronged the streets of London to honor a monarch whose 70-year reign defined an age. In a country known for pomp and pageantry, the first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s was filled with spectacle: Ahead of the service, a bell tolled 96 times - once a minute for each year of Elizabeth's life. Then, 142 Royal Navy sailors used ropes to draw the gun carriage carrying her flag-draped coffin to Westminster Abbey before pallbearers bore it inside the church, where around 2,000 people ranging from world leaders to health care workers gathered to mourn her.  

Today on AirTalk, Los Angeles Times Columnist and British Royal Family Expert Patt Morrison is with us -- she has been watching the funeral and events surrounding it, and she’ll tell us what you might have missed if you didn’t make the 2:00 a.m. wake up call here on the West Coast of the U.S. to watch it yourself.

Addiction Psychologist Explores Ways To Stop The ‘Digital Madness’ In New Book On Young People And Screen Time

The ubiquity of smartphones and social media means we have the ability to connect with people all over the world, share text, sound and video, and access pretty much any information at any time. But as society becomes more technologically advanced in this way, so too do the risks of spending too much time using one’s phone for social media. This is especially true for teens and young people, says psychologist Nicholas Kardaras, whose latest book “Digital Madness: How Social Media Is Driving Our Mental Health Crisis--and How to Restore Our Sanity” looks at how excessive screen time is contributing to already high levels of anxiety, loneliness and depression among young people, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns and distance learning.

Today on AirTalk, Larry talks with Kardaras about his new book, where he shares his insights on how excessive social media use can deteriorate the mental health of teens and young adults and some of the ways he thinks principles of classical philosophy can clue us in to how to fix this problem.

A Father’s Journey Dropping His First-Born Son Off At College

KPCC/LAist higher education reporter Adolfo Guzman-Lopez recently found himself smack dab in the middle of his own reporting beat as he grappled with his emotions over dropping his first-born son off at college. To help make sense of them, Adolfo decided to go out and talk to other dads about how they handled the emotions of sending your first-born son to college. “There are all kinds of gender and caregiver variations,” Adolfo writes, “with the relationship between a father and his eldest son being just one of them. But researchers say the father-first son relationship is worth spotlighting because of how common it is, the little attention it has been given, and the potential it holds for helping turn around recent trends that show significant drops in male college enrollment and degree completion.”

Today on AirTalk, Adolfo joins us to share some of the stories of the fathers and sons he talked to in his reporting, and talk about how he is dealing with the uncertainty of his relationship with his own son as he begins his first semester of college this fall.

Mortgage Rates Are Now Reaching 6% On Average, What’s This Mean For The SoCal Housing Market?

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed over 6% this week threatening to sideline even more homebuyers from a rapidly cooling housing market. Rising interest rates — in part a result of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive push to tamp down inflation — have cooled off a housing market that has been hot for years. Sales of existing homes in the U.S. have fallen for six straight months, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Today on AirTalk, we discuss the impact of this interest bump for the real estate market in Southern California with USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate director & chair, Richard Green, and Eddie Urrutia, production manager at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in South Gate.

California Makes Way For Human Composting Burial Method. How Does It Work?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill over the weekend that approves a new method of burial starting in 2027. Assembly Bill 351 creates a regulatory process for human composting, or natural organic reduction. With this method, human remains can naturally decompose over the course of 30-45 days, according to the Los Angeles Times. Advocates of human composting say it’s a sustainable and eco-friendly end of life option. Joining AirTalk to discuss the process is Katrina Spade, founder and CEO of Recompose, a Seattle-based funeral company that provides human composting services, and Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, professor of soil science and sustainable agriculture at Washington State University and research advisor for Recompose.