Today on AirTalk: L.A. mayoral race, update on the Colorado River, new book on Stanford, standardized testing in college admissions, regional dialects, and TV Talk.
Days ahead of election day for Angelenos, new polling finds that the race continues to be a three-person race. Although L.A. City mayor Karen Bass leads at 26%, she’s only one point ahead of councilmember Nithya Raman, and 4 points ahead of Palisades community activist Spencer Pratt. With the poll finding 10% of voters are undecided, we dig into the data’s significance.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll, a non-partisan survey of California public opinion, and Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and former L.A. County supervisor and city councilmember
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A statistical tie: The poll’s margin of error sits at roughly 3% for likely voters, meaning that Mayor Bass and councilmember Raman are in a statistical tie. Pratt sits just outside of the margin.
Who conducted the poll: The poll was conducted by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, an organization a part of UC Berkeley, whose research focuses on public opinion and policy. The funding for this data comes from the Los Angeles Times.
The Colorado River flows past public and private lands near Parachute, Colorado, on May 15, 2026.
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Back in February, the Western states that rely on the Colorado River missed a deadline to decide how to allocate water resources. The tension, due to diminishing water supply, grew worse this year thanks to an exceptionally low snowpack. Today, we look at the state of our water.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Felicia Marcus, Visiting Fellow, Stanford Water in the West Program and former Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, and Ian James, L.A. Times reporter
The latest: Now, a coalition of Southern California conservation organizations is proposing a bond measure to fund local water solutions and mitigate the region's reliance on the Colorado River.
Background: California saw record heat this past March, which diminished snowpack levels. Even so, the Department of Water Resources has increased water allocation from 30% to 45% for the 29 public water agencies across the state. This is because rainwater capture has kept the reservoirs at near capacity, allowing the state to increase water allocation without diminishing its supplies.
Stanford University's campus in March 2026
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Theo Baker entered Stanford University as a 17-year-old prospective computer science major and ended up reporting an investigation that led Stanford’s president to resign. Today, we have him on the program to discuss the book he wrote in the aftermath.
Listen to the conversation:
Guest: Theo Baker, author of How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University
The book: How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University chronicles Baker’s time at Stanford as a reluctant investigative journalist observing the excesses of Silicon Valley while experiencing more typical coming-of-age moments, including the loss of his grandfather.
More about our guest: Theo Baker is a senior at Stanford University majoring in history. In 2023, he became the youngest recipient of the George Polk Award.
Should standardized testing be required again for colleges?
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Over 700 UC faculty members are calling for SAT test scores to be reinstituted as part of the application process for STEM majors, saying that recent cohorts of students are struggling with college-level math and professors are having to reteach students middle school level concepts.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Jaweed Kaleem, higher education reporter at the L..A. Times, and Mina Aganagic, professor of mathematics and physics at UC Berkeley and one of the signatories of the letter
Background: UC regents voted in May 2020 to phase out SAT and ACT requirements over five years for California applicants, with the tests to be eliminated by fall 2025 if no UC-designed replacement test was ready in time. A California state court judge injunction in 2020 caused the consideration of scores to be dropped altogether before this deadline.
The argument: In the letter, faculty members cite statistics they say correlate this policy to a direct decline in incoming student capabilities, such as 20-30% of UC Berkeley first-semester calculus students who participated in mathematical diagnostic testing displaying severe preparation deficits for three consecutive years.
Yes, but: Critics have called SAT scores inequitable, saying that wealthier students disproportionately do better on the tests and that they are not adequate predictors of future college success.
However: A 2020 UC faculty task force report argued the tests helped predict student success for some disadvantaged applicants. That report was contested by other UC researchers, and the Regents ultimately moved in the opposite direction.
Are regional accents disappearing?
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A recent Washington Post piece described how the Bostonian and Appalachian accents have found virality on social media platforms like TikTok. Although some have believed that our media diets could lead to the end of regional accents, these viral moments show that at least the interest in such dialects hasn’t gone away.
Listen to the conversation:
Guest: Jennifer Cramer, professor of linguistics at the University of Kentucky and director of its Appalachian Studies Program
Regional dialects going viral: One example comes from the Boston Globe, with reporter Emily Sweeney having gone viral for a social media post she did, in which she discussed a car for auction that was allegedly involved in a vehicular manslaughter case.
Are regional accents disappearing? Research from The Word Finder surveyed 3,000 individuals, asking them what accents they heard less often. That study found the dialects of the Appalachian Mountains and Pacific Southwest are being phased out, or toned down by speakers.
What should you watch over this weekend?
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Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network TV and numerous streaming platforms. This week, listeners will get the latest scoop on what’s worth watching.
Listen to the conversation:
Guests: Angie Han, TV critic for The Hollywood Reporter, and Saloni Gajjar, staff writer covering TV at the A.V. Club
TV shows:
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