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TV Corner: “APB” on FOX Network

The premise of the FOX network new drama “APB” is that a hard-charging tech billionaire turns a high-crime urban police precinct into a revamped, privately-financed police force armed with the best technology money can buy.

Of course, this being television, you would expect this new police procedural to be a product of wildly speculative fiction.  Surprisingly, it is inspired by events that occurred in New Orleans.

Producer Matt Nix (“Burn Notice”) told the winter gathering of the nation’s TV critics that “APB” was fact-based by what happened when “a wealthy individual paid for a small police force to help patrol the streets of New Orleans and actually did end up solving a problem there.”

Even more interesting than the TV show is the New York Times Magazine article “Who Runs the Streets of New Orleans?” authored by David Amsden, which recounts how rich entrepreneur Sidney Torres persuaded the city to let him create his own high-tech police force.

The article hones in on the New Orleans police department’s inability to protect an upscale neighborhood less than a square mile in size. As a result, the entrepreneur’s private patrol of the French Quarter Task Force came into existence.

“APB” is set in the fictional 13th District of Chicago. The parallels between the authentic New Orleans and the fictional Chicago are stark and foreboding. Today’s Chicago is reeling under a homicide rate that is wildly out of control.

It’s no longer a stretch of fiction to suggest that sky-high crime, officer-involved shootings, cover-ups and corruption have rendered the over-extended and under-funded Chicago Police Department into an institution under siege.

Enter the brash, confident billionaire engineer Gideon Reeves (Justin Kirk) to confront intransigent Mayor Michael Salgado (Nestor Serrano) and clueless aldermen about the sad state of policing affairs after witnessing his best friend being gunned down in a drugstore.

Reeves makes an offer to the city that only deep pockets can buy and that a police union may be too impotent to stop.

He takes charge of the troubled 13th District and reboots it as a technically innovative police force, with everything from drones and fancy tasers to supercharged police cruisers and crime apps. 

Naturally, it’s not all smooth sailing for this super-rich interloper who meets resistance from beat cops and old timers.

But he does find his match in street-smart cop Theresa Murphy (Natalie Martinez) who’s willing to give him a chance, even as she educates him on real police work.

“APB” seems to lack the gritty toughness of NBC’S “Chicago P.D.” and the more brutal aspects of a few police shows on CBS, but the FOX concept is at least worthy of giving a chance if for no other reason than Justin Kirk’s Gideon Reeves is fascinating to watch in action.

TV Corner: ‘24: Legacy’ on FOX Network

Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer is no longer around to step into a new “24” franchise, but that’s not stopping FOX from returning to familiar ground in the new drama series “24: Legacy,” with the clock once again ticking in real time hourly increments.

The Jack Bauer role of a terrorist fighter now falls to Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins), a former member of an elite squad of Army Rangers first seen as living in federal witness protection with his wife Nicole (Anna Diop).

Having been the leader of the team that killed terrorist mastermind Sheik Ibrahim Bin-Khalid in Yemen, Carter and his squad are targeted for assassination. An attempt on his life suggests that there is a mole within the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) once in the capable hands of Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto).

Former CTU director Ingram has been sidelined because she’s helping her husband, Sen. John Donovan (Jimmy Smits) in his presidential campaign. But now, Carter needs her help to thwart further attacks that seem so likely from the Sheik’s radical Middle Eastern cohorts.

Carter discovers that he and Ben Grimes (Charlie Hofheimer), an unstable drifter coping with addictions, are the only members of the elite squad still alive and being pursued by attackers apparently more interested in retrieving a stolen strong box.

Much like its predecessor “24,” which had a long run, “24: Legacy” thrives on running several story threads, often overlapping or seeping into auxiliary plot lines, to the point that the show commands your attention to details.

Former CTU director Ingraham, who had guided Carter and his fellow Rangers on the Yemen mission, is now juggling politics while trying to keep Carter out of harm’s way and at the same time to keep her successor (Teddy Sears), an officious bureaucrat, from mucking up covert actions.

Another story touches upon a high school girl from Chechnya who just might be the link to a sleeper cell. The least compelling storyline might be how Carter had to leave his wife in the temporary care of his drug lord older brother (Ashley Thomas).

What matters most to fans of the “24” franchise, if indeed “Legacy” is a continuation of it, is that Corey Hawkins’ soldier has the smarts and tenacity to carry on the Bauer tradition of hunting down bad guys. You may have to tune in for a few episodes to see for sure.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

SACRAMENTO – Caltrans has released for public review the draft State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, which lays out the policies and actions Caltrans and its partner agencies should take to achieve the department’s ambitious statewide goals to double walking and triple bicycling trips by 2020.

“Active transportation is at the nexus of many of our state’s goals, from public health and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fostering economic development and a sustainable multimodal transportation system,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “In this plan we are identifying the strategies and actions we can take to create better opportunities for bicycling and walking to thrive across California.”  

The draft plan, entitled “Toward an Active California, State Bicycle + Pedestrian Plan,” describes four objectives – safety, mobility, preservation and social equity – with corresponding strategies to bring the plan to reality.

The plan’s intent is to complement local and regional efforts already under way to create and implement their own active transportation networks.

The plan also highlights best practices from places around the world where active networks are increasingly popular.

Caltrans encourages stakeholders and the general public to review the plan and provide feedback on the document. Stakeholder feedback is critical to ensure that the policies developed through this plan reflect the diverse needs of all communities throughout the state.

Feedback can be provided during February meetings and webinars that will be held online and around the state. In addition, the public may review the plan and submit feedback electronically via a simple online comment tool. The comment period will close on March 10.

The final plan is anticipated to be completed in April of 2017.

For more details about the meetings, webinars and comment tool please visit www.cabikepedplan.org .

SACRAMENTO – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has become a legislative leader when it comes to the unique hurdles that occur with legalization of recreational marijuana, will kick off Tuesday’s State Senate Oversight Hearing on cannabis taxes and regulatory timelines.

The Senate Oversight Hearing, “California Cannabis in a Turbulent Time,” will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 1:30 p.m. in Room 2040 of the State Capitol.

The hearing will be livestreamed at www.senate.ca.gov .

Sen. Mike McGuire, who has been voicing concern over the last several months about the tight timelines associated with Proposition 64, will chair the Senate Governance and Finance Committee hearing next week focused on cannabis business taxes, implementing California’s Cannabis tax collection system and the “track and trace” system which verifies cannabis taxes and product safety – all critical elements of the structure for cannabis that is being developed, and that is slated to go live on Jan. 1, 2018. 

Gov. Hickenlooper will discuss his experiences, the challenges and lessons learned when his state faced implementing recreational cannabis with Colorado’s original taxing system.

“We’re grateful that Gov. Hickenlooper will be sharing the unique experiences Colorado has witnessed since passing recreational cannabis. We look forward to hearing his perspective and we hope to learn from the governor about what works and what California can improve upon in the months to come,” McGuire said.

Leaders from the Board of Equalization, California Department of Food and Agriculture, local elected leaders, industry professionals and public safety officials will talk about some of the difficulties in regulating an industry that has been operating essentially unregulated for 20 years.

“The California Cannabis industry is worth an estimated $7 billion, and we’re only bringing in a small fraction of taxes the state is due, about 20 to 30 percent. The state’s tax collection system is not in place and it will be near impossible to get it up and running by the new year,” McGuire said. “We are building the plane while it’s being flown and we need to start developing a backup plan sooner rather than later.”

There are significant unanswered questions as the state moves into a new era of cannabis under Proposition 64 and those questions will be asked and answered at the hearing.

Topics include current and future tax compliance rates; obstacles and hurdles retailers will face as they come into the system; how the Board of Equalization will handle the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars in cash; how long it will take the state to get the tax collection and track and trace systems up and running; how the state intends to sign up the hundreds of thousands of growers and cannabis related businesses to start paying their mandated tax and setting some realistic timelines for the track and trace system to be up and running.

“Proposition 64 put a massive requirement on state marijuana regulators and very little time to accomplish the landslide of rules and regulations mandated by the initiative. Some departments who have been working on the licensure issue for the last year may well be ready by Jan. 1, 2018. But we have to face the facts – it’s not realistic that all of the Prop 64 rules and regulations will be in place by the New Year,” McGuire said. “The all-important Track and Trace program, which verifies taxes and ensures product safety, will not be in place by January 1 and we have to resolve the massive and uneven tax collection process that currently exists throughout the state. I think it’s important that we are transparent and realistic, and that is why we are holding this hearing to ensure an implementation timeline is put into place over the next several months.”

McGuire, who represents California’s North Coast, is chair of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Redbud Audubon’s February meeting will host a talk by guest speaker Gordon Beebe.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Lower Lake United Methodist Church Social Hall, 16255 Second St.

Refreshments will be available at 7 p.m., with the program starting at 7:15 p.m.

All are welcome to attend this free program.

Beebe’s presentation is titled “Three Short Weeks in the Ecuadorian Andes, from East to West."

Experience the visual beauty and unique songs and calls of the birds of the varied mountain habitats of Ecuador, from Wildsumaco Wildlife Sanctuary on the eastern slopes, to the páramo of Las Cajas National Park high in the Andes, and then over to the western slopes to Maquipucuna Reserve, in the famous Mindo birding area.

Along the way, learn the meaning of derrumbe, a word Beebe and his group encountered frequently on the first days of his exploration.

Ecuador is said to have the highest biodiversity per acre of any country in the world. More than 1,660 species of birds have been recorded in the country; however, many have a very limited range.

Rather than attempting to collect a huge species list in a short period of time, Beebe focused instead on two ecolodges, plus a visit to Cuenca, a World Heritage site, third largest city in Ecuador, and gateway to Las Cajas National Park.

With the help of knowledgeable local guides from Beebe’s travels, revel in the sight and sound of the Toucan Barbets’ nasal honking duet.

Meet more than 80 other species of birds, including hook-billed kite, hummingbirds of every shape and color, singing antpittas, tanagers and more in photos and video.

Several more reclusive species that declined the offer to appear, such as the musician wren and the spotted nightingale-thrush, provide the audio background for the presentation. Not to be outdone, the variety of caterpillars and butterflies encountered rival any bird species seen.

At Maquipucuna, a locally-owned and run ecological preserve, see some of the myriad uses for bamboo, learn how to open a cacao pod, and see coffee production, from flower to bean to drying. A note for prospective travelers: Beebe tells us that by visiting in June, he was able to catch the end of the (very) rainy season on the Amazonian side, then experienced drier, though still showery, weather to the west.

Gordon Beebe is a project coordinator for the Sonoma County Breeding Bird Atlas, the Saturday bird walk leader and Web site editor for Madrone Audubon. He lives with his wife Judy in Santa Rosa.

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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County has a time machine that lives at the Lake County Library.

If you’re expecting a flashy, nuclear-powered DeLorean, this isn’t it. It’s just a spindly, knob-covered apparatus attached to a computer, but, oh, the stories it can tell when a microfilm reel rolls under the lens. Week by week, decades of Lake County history flash across the time portal screen.      

Small-town newspapers were the hot social media of the day in earlier times. Through the time machine’s microfilms modern readers can discover who had a new car, who was in the hospital, who had company from out of town and almost anything else you could want to know about someone. Political scandals and natural disasters play out before your eyes.

Sharon Ford and Kathi Alvey are frequent time-travelers at the library, spending hours at a time looking for historical gold. Ford is following her family saga and Alvey is compiling an index for genealogists.

While searching for local obituaries, Kathi Alvey a volunteer with the Lake County Genealogical Society realized that Marge Ingebretsen’s Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Lake County Newspapers 1863-1949 was incomplete, so Alvey took on indexing the obituaries that Ingebretsen hadn’t.

She soon realized that there’s “no such thing as a short-term project.”

Alvey searches the newspapers several hours each week to locate and copy obituaries, a project that has taken years and is not yet complete. She plans to make her index available either online or as a printed book.

“It is very easy to get distracted when reading newspaper microfilm and find yourself looking at other articles, especially if you have an interest in local history, buildings, crime or families,” Alvey said.

Sharon Ford has discovered seventeen years of detailed family history in the time machine, all chronicled by her great-grandmother Mary Catherine “Kate” Butler who covered the Big Valley beat for the Lake County Bee from 1921until her death in 1938.

In Ingebretsen’s Index Ford found Kate’s obituary listed and from there learned of Kate’s employment at the Lake County Bee.

As Ford read Kate’s Big Valley news articles she realized that Kate was documenting the daily life her own family and their neighbors. Sharon has found out where relatives worked, when and why family members and friends visited the Butler Ranch, and has found stories about birthdays, holiday get-togethers, family reunions and illnesses of various family members.

She has started collecting Kate’s articles to share with her relatives. Ford now feels a special closeness to the great-grandmother she never met and is delighted to learn about the roles that Kate Butler played in the family and in Lake County

Ford said, “This project has brought me great joy and an appreciation of the role that my family has played in the history of Lake County. I know that I have so much more to discover. The microfilms have been invaluable to my research. It is my wish that this resource be preserved and protected.“

The Lake County Library receives several queries a month from people hunting for obituaries or other stories.

Some people are working on their own family histories, other queries are from businesses trying to find missing heirs.

Most queries are routine, others not so much. The library has answered questions about several murders.

Another query was for the obituary for Douglass Cross who wrote the lyrics for “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” and lived for a time in Lake County.

The library collaborates with the Lake County Museum by locating articles pertinent to museum exhibits.

The time machine is available to the public and the library staff is happy to show patrons how to use the machine which can scan, print, email or save images from the microfilm. The machine is free to use, there is a small charge for printing.

Research queries can be submitted through the library’s Web site http://library.lakecountyca.gov .

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Bird watchers in Lake County will take part in the President’s Day Weekend Great Backyard Bird Count.

The 20th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is taking place Feb. 17 to 20 in backyards, parks, nature centers, on hiking trails, school grounds, balconies and beaches – anywhere you find birds.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way for people of all ages and backgrounds to connect with nature.

Participation is free and easy. Bird watchers count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then enter their checklists at www.birdcount.org .

All the data contributes to a snapshot of bird distribution and help scientists see changes over the past 20 years.

Bird watchers from more than 100 countries participated in last year’s count, documenting over 5,000 species – nearly half the possible bird species in the world – on more than 147,000 bird checklists.

A lot has changed since the first Great Backyard Bird Count was held in 1998. Each year brings unwavering enthusiasm from the growing number of participants in this now-global event.

Since 2006, tens of thousands of stunning images have also been submitted to the event’s photo contest.

For the 20th anniversary, the public is invited to vote for their favorite top photo from each of the past 11 years in a special album they will find on the Great Backyard Bird Count Web site. Voting takes place during the four days of the count.

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to introduce people to participation in citizen science," said Audubon’s chief scientist Gary Langham. "No other program allows volunteers to take an instantaneous snapshot of global bird populations that can contribute to our understanding of how a changing climate is affecting birds."

To learn more about what scientists discovered the past 20 years and how to take part, visit www.birdcount.org .

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society with partner Bird Studies Canada and is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.