Good evening and welcome to kqed newsroom. They held the Board Meeting in San Francisco this week where janet that p napolitano gave her address. Well sdatart anexploring a tuition policy. Napolitano faces additional challenges. They speak 120 million more from the state. Governor brown calls that unrealistic. No stranger to tough challenges. The former Arizona Governor was president obamas secretary of Homeland Security when she was chosen as the first woman to head the uc system. Her surprise election set up protest for immigration policy during her tenure in washington. Shes focused on governoring a system with ten campus, five medical centers and nearly a quarter million students. Scott shafer sat down earlier with janet napolitano. President napolitano, welcome. Thank you. This has been a tough few years for the university of california, budget cuts, tuition increases. You had rare good news and tuition for the coming year but you need help from sacramento. What do you need for that to happen . We want the state to be a partner with the university. We would like sacramento to adopt the governors budget, which requests or would request another 5 for the university and treat the university with respect to pension the same way it treats the State University and colleges. That would help you out to the tune of how much . Any idea, a lot . It would be quite helpful. Well fight for the tuition freeze not just for this year but i want to look at tuition policy overall and our cost structure overall. So we can really look longterm not only at an amount but the volatility. The state commitment to the budget of uc is about 10 right now and its been dropping, not just because of the economy and budget cuts but there seems to be a shifting priority away from the university. Thats my interpretation. Do you see it that way . How concerned are you . As i said earlier, i think the state needs to be a partner, recognizing that, you know, california thrives on the fact that it has all this intellectual and creative firepower here. Its such a big diverse state. So much goes on here but california will thrive even more if the university is thriving. There is a direct connection. Is there a concern you think . The university is a terrific institution. There are noble prize winners, lots of books are written by professors on national and international tv. Is there a risk, do you think, of appearing almost too elite that the legislature that represents low income folks may not be able to relate . Lets back it up and say we are not elitest in that way and in fact, almost 40, 42 of our students get pell grants. They are from lower income families. Another 20 pay less than half of what the tuition is, so the doors of the university are wide open. I think we dont advertise it as well as she should. Many of those kids and families dont even know they are eligible for those grants. Thats right. Ive been to several high schools and asked for a show of hands, how many knew if their family made 80,000 or less they would pay no tuition at the university and hardly anyone knows that. So so they write off the university as a possibility . They do it early, ninth, tenth grade so they arent taking the prerequisite classes. It is challenging, so the students to success have to be prepared coming out of high school. You have not been met with open arms by everyone since youve come to california. There have been protests. Students in particular upset about the immigration policy, deportation when you were secretary of Homeland Security. Do they have a point . Down where they are coming from . I think so. The plain fact of the matter was is that i, as i was as the secretary of Homeland Security, the chief enforcement officer for the nations immigration law. We were moving and doing things we could administratively to make that law more fair. I created for example the Deferred Action Program so that young people could register and be allowed to stay in the country and to get work authorization, and i was very active with the administration and trying to get overall immigration reform. But in the end, i took that oath of office, and i was charged with enforcing the law. One of the first things you done since coming to california is set aside 5 million to help undocumented students with all kinds of resources. Tell me whats the importance of that, and how do you square that with the policy you had to enforce as secretary of Homeland Security . Well, a couple of things. One is they already qualify for in state tuition. So, they are in the student body. But they cant get the federal grants and work study that their colleagues can get, that the peers can get. So we want to provide some support, if we can, for that. Many of them will be doca eligible. What does that mean . Deferred action. You can be lawfully in the country and work in the country. You want to remark the university in someways. Looking ahead five years, what would you like to see different than what is existing now at the university of california . I want to honor the traditions and the really great history of the university, but this is the 21st century, so we need to have tuition as low and predictable as possible. We need to smooth the transfer of College Community students. We need to work on how the Research Done in the laboratories moves into the world, and can really be addressed to some of the fundamental problems that we face as a society. So those are the things that we want to drive the university towards. Before i let you go, i want to ask you a question, i know as governor, you were a huge Arizona Diamondbacks fan. Yes. Lat [ laughter ] now youre in california and they are in the same division as the padres and giants and dodgers, so i brought with me a giants hat. Very good. I want to see where is your loyalty. Are you going to be rooting for the giants or dodgers or padres . Do you think . I tell you what, ill root for the giants, dodgers and pat d padres in every game they are playing for. Ill root for the oakland as. There you go. Divided loyalties. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. California has made sweeping changes to the criminal Justice System and the effects are still beiing measured. Two years ago to reduce prison overcrowding, Governor Brown pushed a policy calling realignment, transferring low lying offenders and last year voters approved changes to the three strikes law. Reducing life sentences for minor offenses. But the state still faces a looming deadline. By january 30th, the prison population must come down by another 9,000 prisoners. To help us understand the impact on Public Safety and the Justice System, im joined by Michael Montgomery, reporter for kqed and the center for investigative reporting and sanford law professor reporter, robert, let me begin with you, you and your colleagues recently did a series of studies and in your reports, you call california a high stake test kitchen for criminal justice. What does that mean . First, many parts of the United States now are having to deal with having put too many people in prison for too long. So there is an overall fa no, maam anyo phenomenon. The path california has taken through realignment, the matter of devalving a great deal of control of felons from the state to the county is essentially causing the counties to recreate criminal Justice Systems and readjust complex relationships between the moving parts, the sheriffs that control the jails, the local police and prosecutors and judges. Its a natural experiment for reconfiguring criminal justice in america. One of the interesting things the report reported out is how quickly they had to do this. When realignment came into play, you had hundreds and thousands of felons that would go into prison that are coming into the jail system and people getting long sentences but going to jails instead of prisons. Thats been another issue. Jails are not built for housing inmates for five or ten years and thats definitely been another issue weve seen. So were the counties ready do you think . They got 4. 4 billion in grants spread out. How has that money been spent . The way the money is spent has varied from county to county. That was inevitable at the beginning and its fine in the short run. Certainly one of the longterm motivations behind the law, the realignment law is that we would see a greater emphasis of rehab bill daytive programs and they can be done better at the local level than state level but because realignment was such a sudden shock to the counties, they had to use the money in the conditions they happened to be in when it happened. Some suffered from huge under Funding Crisis in the courts and the police and so on, often for reasons that had nothing to do with realignment, just the financial met dolt down. How has this affected communities in crime rates and how offenses are charged . Have some counties decided not to charge low level offenses so they could have more room in the jails for the diverted state inmates . Yes, there is a great deal of pressure on the county jail. Some county jails, by the way, were already under their own overcrowding orders, independent of the prisons. To some extent, the police and prosecutors are giving a pass on extremely low level property crimes because there isnt any room in the jails. But again, id emphasize that a lot of the problem was independent of realignment, namely the Police Departments were so severely cut in many cities for reasons that had nothing to do with realignment. There is information there is a creeping upward in the property go ahead. Its hard to know because, you know, there is a recession, some cities and counties laid off a lot of law enforcement. So its impossible to say, even probably moving forward that realignment was responsible for the crimes, the crime spikes that weve seen in some communities. Speaking of crime rate. I want to ask you about proposition 36, the proposition that voters approved last november changing the three strikes law, allowing for reduced sentences for people who commit lower level offenses for their third strike. Have affected crime rates in local communities with people getting out sooner . No, not yet at least. Thats data coming from stanford, as well. Stepping back, this has never been done before, that is a Voters Initiative that works retroactively to let some people file petitions for release and get out. Ive been following inmates who got out under proposition 36 for the last year. Its obviously a bittersweet experience, these men were in for 15, 18 years for shoplifting other crimes but its working in the sense they are not getting going back to jail or prison. Its difficult and one of the huge ironies about 36 is that these people served so long, so much extra time in the end that they are not on parole and probation and they do not have access to programs that normal parolees would have. They are getting a sort of double whammy. They serve the extra time and not getting the support now that they are out of prison you talked to them and did a chomp hence sie comprehensive report . They get 200 dollars, clothes on their back. I met a gentleman that was given 200 and left at the gray hound station. It happens at the worst possible time, friday evening. Just getting back to prop 36, the interesting thing michael emphasizes is the rate is low. Thats not surprise. First of all, anybody whose in for a long, long time, this would be true of lifers under three strikes, even truer of old fashionened lifers c. They are older. The three strikers that get out are on a downward trajectory. The judges have done a pretty good job of screening things. I dont think prop 36 so going to play a role in prison pressure or jail pressure. The problem is going to be realignment and how we cope with the pressures. What is interesting about realignment and prop 36 they point to a larger issue, how do we reform the prison crisis that were in thats really resulted from decades of tough punishment and we should point out interestingly enough, a lot of the tough on crime laws that were passed were signed into law in the 70s by then governor jerry brown. Right. Well, first an irony about california is though it became known as having the most dysfunctional prison system in america, first one that was pretty much entirely put under federal court control, the prison rate in california was never that high. It was always about average per capita. But we did it in very bad ways. We built prisons quickly but we didnt use them very well. We stuffed prisons too quickly, and we didnt have any kind of rehab bidaytive program. A debt is being paid in ways. Prop 36 is a way to pay the debt. Realignment is the more drasticy. Well see how it shakes out because we have the january 30th deadline looming and 9,000 inmates over the limit still. Thank you for being here Michael Montgomery and weiss burg. Some local startups are trying to change the game in the space industry where the stakes and the awards are sky high. Profit companies is demonstrating the final frontier is not only the government, in our report of kqed since, we look how Silicon Valley is going to space. 100 miles north of los angeles in the dusty desert town, the worlds first commercial rocket ship is gearing up to launch with astronauts to the edge of space. No, this isnt a movie, its real. For 50 years, the space is domain of russian astronauts, chinese astronauts. What we want to do is make Space Available and open to other people. But to experience the thrill of a few minutes of weightlessness, you have to pay 250,000 for a 2. 5 hour ride 60 or so miles above earth. Sure, its a luxury, but Virgin Galactic thinks that price will fall eventually. In long term, i think the price will come down around suv price point you get down to the level. Its still expensive but i think a lot of people would be willing to do it once in their lives. Since billionaire Richard Branson founded it in 2005, more than 600 people placed deposits for the first commercial super sonic flight and they are scheduled to lift off in 2014. Today its ranging from Space Tourism to mining the moon, filled by the risk taking startup culture of Silicon Valley. Bob richards is the ceo of moon express, a startup in mountain view. He and his team of young engineers are planning a mission to the moon at a cost of 50 to 100 million. So in getting to the moon like any business is really above balancing risk and cost. This is a super computer in my pocket. A billion times more powerful than what nasa designed to land the first landers on the moon. We can use that technology today, and we can use technology largely for the commercial sector. Sure, a privately funded mission to the moon sounds risky, but richard thinks its a gold mine of an opportunity. Well eventually be mining the moon. Astroids have been bombarding the earth and moon for years and every astroid contains billions or trillions of dollars worth of valuable resources. Metals or gold or silver. But before moon express can mine the moon, it has to get there, which its trying to do with a lunier lander being tested and developed inside a hanger at nasa aims Research Cente center. This is kind of like drivers ed for the spacecraft. Were teaching it over and over how to land safely. The lander is scheduled to launch to prospect and mine the moon but can accompany even legally do that . The law isnt entirely clear according to aviation and space flight attorney griffin. The space trade of 1967 is addressed to nations, it says nations cannot own the moon. It doesnt say anything about whether private companies can sit along the moon or extract the moons resources because people werent thinking about that back then. One minute, 35 seconds. The forprofit space ventures of today are a far cry from the big efforts that thurs the nation to exceptional new heights. The eagle has landed. During the space race, nasa as a Government Entity would farm out projects to many companies, many a single use mission and they would fund it. In the new model, companions look for business opportunities. Steve invested tens of millions of dollars in space x, a rocket maker, musk, nasa is paying space x more than a billion dollars, resupply missions to the International Space station. In may 2012 space x was the first to launch a mission into the space station and proved the company could build and launch rockets reliably and cheaply. Capture is confirmed of this dragon spacecraft. Many of these news Space Companies are being built by Software Engineers and folks like the founder of space x, they can come from aerospace and conpewter scientist. Silicon has proven it invents new industries and part of it is the culture, willing to take risks. Part of it may also be a high tech approach to invite industries. Thats dan and his team trying to do with satellites. A typical imaging satellite today costs between half a billion and 1 billion with a b, they are about the size of a suburban, and they take five to eight years, roughly to build. Were trying to build the iphone of satellites. We take it off the shelves to fly the latest and greatest components in space that are available from the commercial marketplace. The beauty of the approach is for less than the cost of a single imaging satellite in todays world, we can launch an entire consolation of satellites. What excites us is really taking the very Good Foundation of the mapping industry of today and helping turn that into the monitoring industry of tomorrow where were not just getting the picture once a year, once every couple years, were getting the picture every day or multiple times per day. The satellites we build at sky box are about the size of a dorm room refrigerator and weigh about 100 kilograms and we try to pack as much High Performance into the smallest box possible. With the first sky box satellite to launch in 2014, they think there is a big market for on demand earth monitoring. Over San Francisco this would be awesome. See the bay bridge, the golden gate bridge, how is your commute to work . All the shipping traffic throughout the channel. Sure. All the various ports throughout the bay. Big bold ideas carry risk, especially in the high stakes unforgiving frontier of space. There were times when this nation took some risks and lives were at stake flying humans in or bit that would lead to statements like fact your is not an option. Failure has to be an option. You cant invite if its not. How much risk do you want to take to push the ball forward . In the digital age, that push may be a leap to expand our presence in space. For more on these space entrepreneu entrepreneurs, you can catch Silicon Valley goes to space here on channel 9 and at kqed. Org science. We have lost a dear friend raul ra meer ma ramirez. He was 67. Raul ramirez, editor, teacher, newsroom leader, mentor, always urging us to aim high for important untold stories. Deeply committed to diverse view points, raul inspired us for two decades and well surely miss him. And im joined by scott shafer and i know you were closely with raul for 15 years in the Radio Department but knew him before then. Hes the reason im here. 15 years ago he gave me a call and asked me to consider coming to kqed and hes been a real, the conscience of the newsroom. Hes had a tremendous sense of principle and if there was an ethical question, he went to him to check should we do it this way . Should we do it that way . He was a tremendous leader. Raul was my first newsroom director and taught me the importance of getting the story and communities digging deep and do it thoroughly and accurately. He inspired people and taught for 30 years, mentoring, teaching, instructing people about journalism and a Scholarship Fund created in his name that will continue to live on and inspire new generations of students, im sure. He did like young people, didnt he . I was only 25 when i worked for him and there was a great journalism fellowship that came up to study asia and he encouraged me to go for it. I said i dont think im ready. He said do it. He coached me through the process and i got it. He was born in cuba in 1946 and came here as a young man. He saw himself in young people starting out in that career, and, you know, i dont want to forget his sense of humor. Raul was funny. There was a pun to be found and he told it in meetings. Ill miss his sense of humor and he was one to lightening the mood at the moment. And he had that great cuban accent. I loved to hear him talk. And hot temper i heigmight s for the right reasons. He was a colleague, a friend and inspiration to us both. Absolutely. And on that note, we leave you tonight. Thanks for watching. I. Im scott shafer, good night. Brian say what you like about bob ruxton, but he never kept you waiting. He was a good man. Always had time for a chat. And he always bought a round. The nights ive been on the hitandmiss with him. That kind of behavior might account for his having been being suspended. Its a hard thing for a man to be publicly pilloried after a long and distinguished career. Hes not being pilloried, jack. Hes facing charges of negligence and incompetence. Nobodys perfect, sandra. Superintendent pullman. Shall we go through . Thank you. So, what have you got for us . Back in 2001, dr. Ruxton found
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