UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.
Cast representation for people of color on TV achieves parity | TheWrap
Over the course of the 2021-2022 TV season, the most progress for diversity across cable, broadcast or streaming series was found in main cast representation for people of color, according to UCLA’s 2023 Hollywood TV diversity report. (Also: Deadline, CNN and KCRW 89.9-FM.)
Seeking solutions to an increasingly hate-filled world | KCRW 89.9-FM
For the past year, researchers at UCLA have been working to understand hate — one of our most complex emotions — by way of neuroscience, sociology, social media, music studies, and more. (UCLA’s David Myers was interviewed.)
Rally cry of ‘from the river to the sea’ inflames debate | New York Times
“The reason why this term is so hotly disputed is because it means different things to different people,” said Dov Waxman, a professor of Israel studies at the University of California in Los Angeles, adding that “the conflicting interpretations have kind of grown over time.”
Israel agrees to maintain daily pauses in fighting | NBC News
Dov Waxman, director of UCLA’s Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, said the development appeared to signal the Israeli government was “gradually moving closer to what the Biden administration has been seeking.”… “I think clearly the Israelis have recognized the concerns of the Biden administration and obviously they value greatly the administration’s, you know, continued support for Israel,” Waxman said.
Why Palestinian Americans believe Rep. Rashida Tlaib spoke the truth | Los Angeles Times
(Commentary by UCLA’s Saree Makdisi) “I can’t believe I have to say this,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said during the debate over the motion to censure her in Congress this week, “but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else.”
An invisible killer | Washington Post
“I cannot think of any other infection that is so closely entwined with climate change,” said Rasha Kuran, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of California at Los Angeles who is one of McIntyre’s doctors.
Foster, homeless youth lose more instruction to suspensions | EdSource
Students in precarious living situations — especially foster and homeless youth —are much more likely to be suspended and lose instructional time vital to their academic success, according to a report released by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the National Center for Youth Law. In the 2021-2022 academic year alone, California students lost more than 500,000 days to out-of-school suspensions, where students are sent home as a form of discipline, the study said. (UCLA’s Dan Losen was quoted.)
From the classroom to the courtroom: culture wars on trial | Capital & Main
“Litigation can be expensive,” said Christy Mallory, legal director of the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, which researches policies and legislation concerning LGBTQ issues. The institute’s goal is to help policy makers make informed decisions; it is not an advocacy or lobbying group, Mallory said. She has kept an eye on relevant lawsuits in California and in other states, including Wyoming, Maryland and Wisconsin.
Schools sued over student suicide incidents are paying | Washington Post
Suicide prevention efforts are critical, too — especially as students increasingly report suicidal thoughts and plans, said Ron Avi Astor, a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, who studies bullying and school violence. “Schools need to know that’s a separate and really important thing to do,” he said.
Census Bureau sees an older, more diverse 2100 | Associated Press
By the end of the century, the U.S. population will be declining without substantial immigration, older adults will outnumber children and white, non- Hispanic residents will account for less than 50% of the population, according to projections released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau … The projections can help the U.S. prepare for change, from anticipating the demands of health care for seniors to providing insight into the number of schools that need to be built over the coming decades, said Paul Ong, a public affairs professor at UCLA.
Study questions the ability to be ‘functional alcoholic’ | KABC-TV
Dr. Timothy Fong with UCLA health, a specialist in addiction psychiatry, says this became more common during the pandemic. “During the pandemic we saw more people drinking to cope with the stress,” Fong said. “We also saw alcohol being delivered to homes.”
Caltrans provides update on world’s largest wildlife crossing | KTLA-TV
“We know there are costs of isolation,” said Dan Blumstein, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “We mess with mother nature at our own risk and the solutions are often expensive, but wildlife crossings and wildlife corridors has been very successful in other places, and I expect at some level, will be successful here.”
Why it’s so tough to reduce unnecessary medical care | California Healthline
“That wasn’t the case here in L.A. County. Doctors didn’t make more money,” said John Mafi, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA. “It suggests that there’s many other factors other than finances that can be in play.”
Step uncovered in cholesterol absorption in the gut | Medical Xpress
UCLA researchers have described a previously unknown step in the complex process by which dietary cholesterol is processed in the intestines before being released into the bloodstream — potentially revealing a new pathway to target in cholesterol treatment. (UCLA’s Dr. Peter Tontonoz was quoted. Also: Scienmag and Science Daily.)
DeSantis leads Republican states’ attacks against unions | The Guardian
“What we see in Alaska, what we see in other conservative states where Republicans have control, the state legislature and governor’s office or both, is a proliferation of attempts to roll back the ability of the unions to collect dues and to sap their financial resources,” said Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.
L.A. County’s bail policy isn’t threatening public safety. | Daily Breeze
(Commentary by UCLA’s Aaron Littman, Alicia Virani and Nicholas Shapiro) More than 6,000 Angelenos are currently incarcerated pretrial in our county jails — around half the population of the nation’s largest jail system, a dangerous, dysfunctional network which has seen at least 40 deaths this year. The majority are there not because they pose a risk to public safety, but simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. In October, the Los Angeles County Superior Court took a small first step to address this injustice with a modest change to county bail practices.
Report says hate crimes are low, but experts issue warning | LAist
“Is tearing down a flier vandalism? I don’t think a law enforcement officer would say they’re going to waste their time on that,” said Edward Dunbar, professor of psychology at UCLA and author of “Hate Unleashed: America’s Cataclysmic Change.” “Is it a message and is it a statement to people of a community and of a larger community like a university? Of course it is,” he said. “Does it have an impact upon people feeling safe? Of course it does. Does it affect the attitudes of people trying to attend university? Absolutely.”
Is Biden taking climate change seriously? | Salon
“Global heating is an emergency — the greatest emergency humanity currently faces, despite ongoing public apathy — so it’s incredibly foolish that President Biden still hasn’t declared a climate emergency,” explained Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an associate project scientist at UCLA’s Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science & Engineering, in an email to Salon.
‘Selling Sunset’ agents are worried about L.A.’s new mansion tax | Insider
Shane Phillips, a UCLA housing researcher whose work helped inspire L.A.’s mansion tax, is worried about the mansion tax depressing new development, particularly of multi-family buildings. He pushed for the policy to exempt first sales within 10 years of construction so that the tax doesn’t disincentivize developers, who often sell apartment buildings soon after construction is completed.
Debate or not, Trump still commands the 2024 Republican race | Al Jazeera
Lynn Vavreck, an American politics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, indicated that choice was strategic. “If he were to go to the debates, he would be reinforcing the idea that, in some way, these people are the same as him,” she told Al Jazeera.
Rain forecast for Bay Area next week | Bay Area News Group
“As far as autumns go, 2023 has been mercifully calm,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain wrote in a blog post Wednesday. But, he added, with next week’s storm system developing: “that relatively quiet weather pattern won’t last much longer in California.”
California’s young workers face low wages, bleak future | Xinhua
More than 2 million workers aged 16-24 are working in California, making up a large part of the state’s labor force and playing a critical role in the state’s economy, said the study released by the Labor Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. However, the young workers are mostly working in low-wage service jobs with little room for growth or skill development, and facing many barriers to achieving financial stability and career advancement, said the study.
