Menendez Case Moves Forward, Paramount Gains, and the State Bar Fallout

Headlines From The Times

L.A. Times Studios

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, The Times, California

4.1 • 544 Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Menendez brothers take a major step toward a potential resentencing as legal fights escalate. California’s State Bar faces financial fallout after a failed exam rollout and controversial AI-generated questions. U.S. farmers begin to feel the pinch of Trump’s new tariffs, with equipment delays and profit losses hitting hard. Meanwhile, Paramount Global beats expectations, thanks to growth at Paramount+ and ongoing merger talks with Skydance.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is an LA Times Studios podcast.
0:09.9	Hi, I'm Angelica Cornado at LA Times Studios. Here are some of today's headlines from the Los Angeles Times.
0:17.4	After more than three decades in prison, Eric and Lyle Menendez are one step closer to a possible
0:23.4	road to freedom. Richard Winton and James Cuelly report a judge ruled their resentencing hearing
0:28.7	will move forward on Tuesday. Their case was one that shocked the country. The brothers were
0:33.5	convicted of murdering their parents in 1989 and sentenced to life without parole.
0:38.5	But changes in the law for youthful offenders, along with allegations of abuse by their father,
0:43.4	could now open the door to parole.
0:45.2	The case has been tied up in legal battles between former DA George Gascon who supported
0:49.8	resentencing and new DA Nathan Hawkeman who opposes it.
0:53.7	A family coalition backing the brothers has accused Hockman of bias, but he denies the allegations.
0:59.1	The highly anticipated hearing is expected to last two days.
1:04.5	The California State Bar tried to save money by launching a new bar exam, but that move
1:09.3	backfired big time. Jenny Jarvey reports the launch caused
1:12.8	technical failures, proctor disruptions, and a flood of complaints from test takers who struggle
1:18.0	to complete the exam. Now the state bar expects to spend $5.6 million to fix the mess. That cost
1:24.6	includes free retakes, in-person test sites, and a return to its old multiple
1:29.4	choice format. A Senate hearing revealed that some questions were written using chat GPT without
1:34.8	any lawyers or editing. The February pass rate spiked to 55.9%, the highest since 1965, which fueled
1:42.8	questions about fairness and grading. One test taker called the
1:46.7	February exams a systematic failure. The state bar is now facing a lawsuit against the testing vendor
1:52.8	and a full audit by the state. President Trump's tariffs are shaking up U.S. agriculture,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from L.A. Times Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of L.A. Times Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.