In this episode of “This Week”, podcast contributor Izzy Greig and correspondents cover local elections and ballot measures, as well as UCLA’s men’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and men’s water polo. Additionally, the Latino Theater Company’s opening theater series and Tyler, The Creator’s new album “CHROMAKOPIA” are discussed. The episode also explores updates from the presidential election, North Korean troops in Russia and the deadly flood in Spain.

Izzy Greig: It is Friday, November 1st, and you’re listening to “This Week” by Daily Bruin podcast. This is the Daily Bruin’s weekly news podcast. Thank you for joining us for another episode. My name is Izzy Greig, and I’m a Daily Bruin podcast contributor and the host for today.

Dylan Winward: My name is Dylan Winward. I’m the news editor and I’m the news correspondent today.

Connor Dullinger: My name is Connor Dullinger. I’m an assistant sports editor and I’m the sports correspondent today.

Reid Sperisen: My name is Reid Sperisen, I’m the music fine arts editor and the arts correspondent today.

Reese Dahlgren: My name is Reese Dahlgren. I’m a podcast contributor and the national and international correspondent today.

IG: It is week five, which means it is midterms week. How is everyone’s midterms going?

CD: They’re going well, I killed my management midterm the other day, but the math one on Friday is very scary.

IG: Okay, yeah.

DW: I’m midway through my midterms. It’s a difficult time to be doing them with everything that’s going on with the election and the news cycle, but I’m getting through them.

RD: I have not had any midterms yet, but they’re coming up this week and next week, so I just have to prep myself for them.

IG: Okay. Well, wishing everybody luck. Now, let’s get into the top stories of the week. Dylan, what is the Daily Bruin news covering?

DW: The election is coming up next Tuesday, and as a result, we’ve been covering all the measures and races that are on the ballot for a Westwood voter this year. We’ve got a special issue coming out this Sunday that’s going to preview all the races that are on the Westwood ballot, and that’s going to be in print and online as well.

IG: Awesome. Anything else?

DW: Yeah, so as part of that coverage, we’re really going to zero in on some of the races in LA. It’s particularly tight. The race for District Attorney—incumbent George Gascon, a Democrat, is running against Nathan Hochman, who’s a Republican. Unusually, Hochman is leading in the polls at the moment, which we wouldn’t expect to see from LA. Gascon is trying to claw back momentum. He has sent the Menendez case, a famous case of two brother murderers, for review on whether or not they should be released. He claims that it’s worthy of review because there might be a self-defense motive related to the case. In terms of what we’re looking at here in Westwood, we also have our incumbent state assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur up for re-election. He’s appeared on campus in the last year at several pro-Israel rallies and has been an influential speaker there. But we’re not expecting that race to be close—it’s looking like he’s going to win re-election. Apart from that, there’s a number of measures and propositions that voters are going to have to decide on. Some of them relate to electoral ethics, some of them relate to funding, and then some of them relate to rights in California.

IG: Thank you, Dylan. And what are some of the political decisions that voters are gonna have to choose this upcoming Tuesday?

DW: Yeah. So there’s a number of measures on the ballot, particularly in LA that relate to the political process and transparency in the political process as well. We’ve seen that in 2022 there was a big scandal on the city council to do with redistricting. There were accusations that redistricting happened on racialized lines, and the council members were gerrymandering in order to keep themselves in control. And there’s a number of measures that have come in response to this. Measure DD on the LA City ballot is going to put redistricting in the hands of an independent commission, if passed – it doesn’t have any opponents, so that’s something we’re expecting to see. In addition, Measure ER is proposing to expand the powers of the Ethics Commission. We also see administrative measures like HH and II propose to give more power to people like the city attorney and the city controller to investigate potential instances of corruption and to ensure people appointed as commissioners in LA City are going to have to declare their conflicts of interest. Measure LL is going to also make school board redistricting happen independently as well, and even at the county level, we’re seeing changes. Measure G is going to expand the size of the County Board of Supervisors, create a directly elected executive, which people are hoping is going to increase accountability and also establish an ethics commission at the county level. And if passed, these are going to be some of the biggest changes that we’ve seen to the composition of the way that LA city and county governance is run since the city was created.

IG: Interesting, so voters are going to have a lot of decisions.

DW: Yeah.

IG: And are there any economic measures that are going to be on the ballot?

DW: Yeah, so there’s a number of instances in which voters are going to be asked whether or not they want to approve a bond. So the way bond funding works is, whatever the government authority is will take out a loan, they’ll sell these bonds, and then to pay it back, they’re going to have to levy taxes against citizens. So we see a couple of these educationally—Prop 2 on a state level, is proposing a new school bond to focus on repairs on a more localized level. The LA Unified School District has asked for $9 billion that would be repaid through an assessed tax on property owners in places served by the LA Unified School District. School board members are hoping that that will be used to pay for repairs and technologies, including fixing leaky classrooms, installing climate conditioning, interactive whiteboards and things like that.

There are some opponents to those measures. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says that with declining school enrollment in LA, the school board should find ways of cutting costs. I know as well that Measure US, the school bond in LA has been controversial because it was submitted close to the deadline. The Bond Oversight Committee suggested that this was done to avoid getting scrutiny, so that’s been very controversial recently. On the county level, Measure E is also asking voters whether or not they want to approve another bond that would increase funding for the County Fire Department that doesn’t actually serve Westwood—Westwood is served by the City Fire Department. So it’s not going to be on the ballot in Westwood, but many County voters are going to be asked whether or not they’re willing to pay an increased parcel tax of six cents a square foot in order to fund the fire department.

IG: Interesting. And what about measures relating to civil rights?

DW: Yeah, so there’s a couple of rights-based measures as well on the ballot. Prop 3 is looking to codify protections for same-sex marriage in the state constitution—same-sex marriage is already legal, it’s happened for a number of years. So really that’s a symbolic campaign to put that into writing. We also see Prop 6 is prominent on the ballot this cycle that specifically relates to rules around prison labor and whether or not people in prison can be forced to engage in labor. There’s implications here about whether or not in future, prison laborers are going to have to be paid a minimum wage as well. So that’s also something that’s controversial on this cycle’s ballot.

IG: All right, thank you Dylan, sounds like voters have a lot of decisions to make.

DW: Thank you.

IG: Now let’s turn to Connor for sports stories of the week. Connor, what’s been happening this week?

CD: Yeah, I think the main highlight is our men’s basketball team starts their season off tonight at 7 p.m. —really exciting first game of the season. They’re coming into the season ranked 22nd nationally, which honestly is very significant considering the fact that they did not make March Madness last year and also lost in the second round of the PAC-12 tournament, following two or three straight years of great runs in March Madness.

IG: And how would you say the new players are doing starting the season off?

CD: Yeah, I mean, it’s very well known that Mick Cronin is a very intense coach. He puts the best guys on the floor, and it doesn’t really matter where they are on the team. Obviously bringing in a lot of talent, he’s been throwing out a lot of different lineups in a closed-off scrimmage against San Diego State where we ultimately lost, which honestly isn’t a good look considering their 22nd national ranking. But at the end of the day, he did say that that was on purpose, and we were using it as a practice more than a game.

Really, for me, I think the most interesting part is they’re not only bringing in nine very good players—players who started at other Power Five teams, and players who almost all averaged double-digit points. Seeing how they come in, who continues to start, and who gets into that lineup, I think we’ll see tonight. He’ll use it as a practice as well, filtering in different lineups with different players.

I think the main people to watch out for are Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack, two guards, two starting guards from last year. I’m curious to see which one starts, which one doesn’t. I’m definitely imagining one of them will, because they were two of the leading scorers last year. However, Skyy Clark, an incoming transfer from Louisville, a top-ranked player when he was in high school, will most likely be one of the other starting guards. And I think they’ll definitely start Tyler Bilodeau as well, a transfer from Oregon State.

I’m excited to see how all these guys mesh together. You have all the talent on the floor, but we still need to see how that talent works together, and how the chemistry builds. Another really important thing to note is, not only did Cronin bring in scorers and offensive players, but all these guys played both sides of the ball. Mick Cronin has been a defensive-minded coach throughout his career, ever since when he was basically a Rick Pitino prodigy at Louisville. So that’s been his coaching philosophy for his entire coaching career, and it has been at UCLA.

I’m really not worried about the defensive side of the Bruins. I think they’ll excel, especially even with losing Adam Bona, one of the best defenders in the country. With Bilodeau, with Dailey, with the guards, they have Lazar Stefanovic—they will have defenders that can play a lot of minutes and have played a lot of minutes. So they got veteran players, and they’ve also brought in freshmen too, including former McDonald’s All-American Trent Perry. But ultimately, I think it’ll be a good season.

IG: Got it, good to know, looking out for the game tonight. And so coming to wrap with fall and the fall sports ending, how are those teams doing that are going to be ending their season?

CD: Yeah, great question. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams are ranked top 25 in the country currently. I think the women’s team is ranked 9th and the men’s team is ranked in the 20s. Both of them have had kind of up and down seasons. Usually women’s soccer—national champions two years ago—were the number one seed last year and lost early in the tournament. They’ve lost a lot of pieces and have really struggled with injuries this year. But I think that’s almost been kind of looking at it in a glass-half-full mindset. It’s taught them how to deal with adversity. They’re a very defensive-minded team, haven’t scored as many as they should, in my opinion. But I think they will make a big run in the Big 10 tournament, and I think they’ll be very successful in the national tournament as well.

Moving on to men’s soccer—they have also had an up and down year, pitching a clean sheet in four of the first five games and then ultimately losing 3-1 to unranked Cal State Fullerton, tying Penn State 2-2 when they were up 2-0 with 15 minutes left, tying Michigan 3-3 when they were winning by one with 15 minutes left. But then ultimately also beating then #2 ranked Ohio State 2-1 when they went down 1-0 with 20 minutes left. So it’s been very inconsistent, a lot of highs and a lot of lows.

I think their record isn’t indicative of the team they have. They have one of the deepest teams in the country. They have a lot of veterans, but also a lot of young players who have contributed in the spotlight—to highlight Shakir Nixon, freshman defender, and then freshman midfielder Tamir Ratoviz. They have both excelled in their positions and honestly, have looked fantastic, especially considering Coach Ryan Jordan hasn’t particularly played his freshman players in the past.

Men’s water polo obviously lost in the national championship last year to Cal—they’re looking great. Freshman Ryder Dodd has looked fantastic, scoring a lot of their goals. But I think they have a very real chance to get that championship this year. Coach Adam Wright, the coach of men’s and women’s water polo, is a fantastic coach, and has really helped not only them deal with adversity, but also has shown time and time again that he can beat those great teams.

IG: Got it. Thank you. And Reid, what are the top UCLA art stories of the week?

RS: The Latino Theater Company is holding its annual “Encuentro” theater series through November 10th at the Los Angeles Theater Center, with this year’s theme being “We Are Here: Presente!” to encourage Latino involvement in theater. One of the featured performances is a comedy-drama called “The 22+ Weddings of Hugo Multiple” that is primarily told in Spanish. The play was written by Venezuelan playwright Gustavo Ott and addresses topics such as classism, xenophobia and immigration policy.

IG: Sounds exciting. And what else happened this week?

RS: Tyler, The Creator released his seventh studio album “CHROMAKOPIA” on Monday, and my colleague Eric Sican published a five-star review of the LP. The 14-track project follows Tyler, The Creator’s previous Grammy-winning album, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” which was released in 2021. “CHROMAKOPIA” incorporates a wide range of genres, including hip-hop, industrial rock and psychedelic soul, while touching upon lyrical themes such as anxiety, loneliness and the fear of the unknown.

IG: Wow, wish I was there. It looked really exciting. Well, thank you, Reid. Now we turn to Reese for our national stories of the week. Reese, what’s happening this week?

RD: This week, Trump and Harris each wrapped up their closing arguments ahead of the vote on November 5th.

IG: And what appearances have the former President and current Vice President made this week?

RD: Harris had a rally yesterday in D.C. And on Monday, Trump had his rally in Madison Square Garden.

IG: And what’s happening internationally this week?

RD: So internationally, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that North Korean troops were seen wearing Russian uniforms and moving equipment in the direction of Ukraine. Also, other news that’s happening—a massive flash flooding in Spain killed at least 95 people as of Wednesday. Emergency responders are looking for survivors as the rain destroyed towns and flooded communities.

IG: Thank you Reese and thank you for joining us today. Come back next Friday for another episode of This Week.