Michaela Pereira, CNN's New 'Good Day' Anchor, Says Goodbye To The Southland

When she first came to Los Angeles, Canada-native Michaela Pereira had a difficult time pronouncing "Wilshire," "Sepulveda" and "Cahuenga."
Her role as co-anchor on the KTLA Morning Show quickly changed all that. Nine years later, the broadcast journalist ruled Southland media with Frank Buckley as anchors on LA's top-rated morning news show -- until she announced she was leaving for CNN.
Pereira will join co-anchors Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan on "New Day," CNN's third recent attempt at morning news programming. The show, set to debut June 17 from 6-9 a.m. EST, means that the California Girl has to move from her beloved neighborhood in the San Gabriel Valley to New York.
While she's excited about the national platform, Pereira is going to miss Los Angeles. In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, she rattled off the things she would miss about SoCal life:
"There's the Rose Bowl flea market. The Newport Beach Jazz festival. Going to Clippers games. Hanging out at The Grove with my girlfriends. Going shopping at all the boutiques and things we have around town. The after school programs I support," said Pereira. "I can't tell you, the list is so gigantic."
But most of all, said Pereira, she's going to miss the residents who welcomed an "outsider" with open arms.
"I've had a welcome mat to every single one of those events," said Pereira. "It feels a little like I've been given the keys to the city."
She chatted with HuffPost LA about the major change, and the interview turned into an impromptu counseling session for a certain Huffington Post editor who is still struggling with a Pereira-less KTLA show. Read the Q&A below to see the craziest things she's ever reported on and what she really thinks about her KTLA "work husbands."
HuffPost: I just want to start off by saying I'm a major fan of the show, and when I heard that you were leaving, I was seriously bummed out for a long time.
Aww, do we need to do a quick little therapy session? Because I've been counseling some of my friends and I've got some good words for you.
HuffPost: You've covered the Southland for nine years. What's the craziest thing you've seen on the job?
Given the fact that we are a three-hour, Monday-to-Friday broadcast, we have seen some crazy things. Just recently, we had this bear that we caught live from our helicopter. We followed the bear for 45 minutes and we were all kind of cheering on the bear and hoping that it's not going to get killed. Thankfully Fish and Game was able to tranquilize it and take it back to the Angeles Forest and release it back into its own natural habitat.
And then sadly, on the other end of it, one of the craziest things that we all watched and were shocked by in recent times was the whole Christopher Dorner case. That was like a movie script sadly playing out. It was horrifying and compelling.
HuffPost: If you had a work husband at KTLA, I'd say it was co-anchor Frank Buckley. But do you have another person in mind?
They kind of all are. It's kind of an oddly weird "Big Love" situation -- that's probably completely inappropriate to say. But I have three work husbands. So with Frank, he's my TV husband for sure because we're like the parents. We've got a couple of teenagers in Mark [Kriski] and Sam [Rubin]. We've got to make sure they make it in for curfew and what have you.
My relationship with Mark is that we have such a very strong bond, but I'm Mark's secretary! Mark never checks his emails, he never knows how to use his computer -- well, he's pretty good on his cellphone actually. I have to remind him of things, I have to put things in his schedule. I have to tell him when meetings are happening, if he has to find an autograph for somebody. I'm the one who has to handle Mark. He's going to be a mess when I go.
And for Sam, there's his personal grooming. You know, sometimes a haircut reminder, tuck in your shirt. It's really like being his mom.
HuffPost: You're going to be an East Coaster for the first time. What will you miss about LA?
There's so many things. I have some palm trees along our street and just the sound of those rustling in the wind.
I take a picture almost every morning when I'm walking from our studio in KTLA, or from our office's parking lot to the studio, with the Griffith Observatory in the background, palm trees in the foreground. The visuals of Southern California are stunning.
HuffPost: "New Day" is up against a lot of well-established morning news shows. On network there's ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today Show," while on cable you're up against "Fox and Friends" and "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.
I think we're joining some fantastic company nationally. We're going to be up against some fierce competitors doing a really great job, but we're hoping to do something a little different. We've said it time and time again: we're not trying to re-invent the wheel. Hello! It's TV, first of all. It's news, second of all.
It's morning TV. We know what people need. They need the right mix of information and to be updated. They want a little bit of buzz to share with friends around the water cooler and they want to feel good. It's their entry point to the day. I'm hoping to bring a refreshing new voice to that.
HuffPost: What advice do you have for others who want to get into broadcast journalism?
One of the things that always worries me when I see people get the stars in their eyes is not realizing that they have to put their back into it as well. There's research, study, late nights, early mornings. You have to sacrifice fun things with your friends, you might have to pick up and move across the country away from your family.
I would remind them that it's really important to know who you are and to have a really good sense of yourself. Keep your feet planted firmly on the ground, and build a really good support system around you. Because otherwise all of those other things will be impossible. You can't do it alone.
HuffPost: Anything you want to close with?
I want to say, "thank you" to you and to all the people who have chosen to spend their mornings with us at KTLA. It's been so great and I really do understand that I'm messing up the routine of the morning, but change is good and change is constant. And you're going to be fine, baby girl!
Interview was edited for length.

George W. Bush Bikes With Injured Vets, Reflects On White House

RAWFORD, Texas -- George W. Bush had been riding his mountain bike for almost four hours, and he was out of gas.
I was 12 riders behind the former president as we cycled, single file, along a winding trail cut through Bush's 1,500-acre ranch. We had been riding almost nonstop, in 90-degree heat, for 30 miles, over terrain that was at times technical, challenging and potentially hazardous. Rocky sections delivered a pounding to both bike and rider. Roots threatened to upend us. At one point, a narrow path along a ridge line dropped off steeply to the right, 50 to 75 feet to the gorge below. Bush had called the section "hairy."
It was the second day of Bush's third annual Warrior 100K, a three-day mountain bike ride that he has hosted at different locations since leaving the White House, to which he invites military veterans, many of whom had been seriously wounded in the wars he initiated. It's a ritual of thanks and bonding that might seem fraught from the outside, but that everyone who takes part seems to enjoy.
This year, 75 riders participated in the event over Memorial Day weekend, 13 of them veterans wounded physically or psychologically, or both. The rest of the peloton was made up of a few guests of the veterans, Secret Service agents, mechanics, medics, an assortment of people who have ridden with Bush over the past several years, and a few odds and ends, like me, the only reporter along for the entire ride.
There are 41 miles of mountain bike trail on Bush's property, and ranch staff, along with volunteers, had created 21 miles of those trails in the six weeks or so leading up to this event, his ranch manager told me. We saw most of them that day, and rode another 14 miles the day before and then 21 miles the day after.
Bush, who always rides at the front, pushed the pace, yelling and cajoling his fellow cyclists. At 66, he takes great pleasure in smoking riders who think they can hang with him. "Get moving, Stork!" he shouted at Ed Lazear, using the nickname he had given his former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
At rest stops, Bush was impatient to get going again. He'd pause, drink some Gatorade, chat, grin, bask in the endorphin rush, make a few jokes, and then hop back on his carbon frame Trek Superfly 100 Elite.
"Yah, baby!" he'd exclaim.
By the end, however, he was exhausted. "I was gassed," Bush admitted to me the next day. "Thirty miles is a long way on a mountain bike. I was tired."

10 Worst-Paying College Majors

 



You probably already know that college grads have an easier time finding jobs, and earn more those who only have a high school diploma. But that's not the whole story. Some college majors offer a much worse return on investment, with starting salaries that are no better than high school grads' pay, according to a new study released Wednesday. The study, conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, looked at 2010 and 2011 salaries and unemployment rates among college grads between the ages of 22 and 26. The startling conclusion: Some majors have starting salaries no better than the average salary of a high school graduate, which is about $29,900 a year, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

More: Employer's Tough-Love Letter To New College Grads

Low Pay And High Unemployment: The worst-paying majors tended to be in the arts, where the low pay in creative work is matched by high unemployment rates, with an average of roughly 9 percent unemployment for arts majors. In fact, the overall unemployment for all recent grads is 8.9 percent. Several arts disciplines, however, lead to double-digit unemployment, according to the study.
But that doesn't mean those who major in those fields are worse off in every way. In fact, as Forbes has reported, studies of college graduates show that liberal arts majors are "are as satisfied or more satisfied with their lives as their classmates in other disciplines." And several majors in technical fields have high unemployment rates, too, despite relatively high salaries.
Below are the 10 worst-paying majors, with average starting salaries and unemployment rates. (See also the 10 highest paying college majors.)
10. Music
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 9.2 percent.

Find a job now in music.

9. Film Video and Photographic Arts
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 12.9 percent.

Find a job now in film, video or photography

8. Liberal Arts
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 9.2 percent.

Find a job now in liberal arts.

7. Psychology
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 7.6 percent.

Find a job now in psychology.

6. Philosophy/Religious Studies
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 10.8 percent.

Find a job now in philosophy or religion.

5. Social Work
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 6.6 percent.

Find a job now in social work.

4. Fine Arts
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 12.6 percent.

Find a job now in fine arts.

3. Physical Fitness / Parks Recreation
Starting Salary: $30,000.
Unemployment Rate: 8.3 percent.

Find a job now in physical fitness or parks recreation.

2. Anthropology / Archaeology
Starting Salary: $28,000.
Unemployment Rate: 10.5 percent.

Find a job now in anthropology or archaeology.

1. Drama / Theater
Starting Salary: $26,000.
Unemployment Rate: 7.8 percent.

Boston Benefit Concert Features Aerosmith & Other Local Favorites

BOSTON — Aerosmith, James Taylor and Jimmy Buffett are joining other artists for a benefit concert for victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Tickets for the show scheduled Thursday at the TD Garden sold out in minutes after they went on sale May 6. Proceeds will benefit One Fund Boston, the compensation fund established by Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to help those injured in the April 15 bombings and the families of three people killed.
Other confirmed acts include Jason Aldean, Boston, Extreme, Godsmack, The J. Geils Band, Carole King and New Kids on the Block.
Comedians Dane Cook and Steven Wright are also included in the lineup.

PHILADELPHIA — The wife of a Philadelphia abortion doctor

PHILADELPHIA — The wife of a Philadelphia abortion doctor, a cosmetologist who admitted helping him perform very late-term abortions at his corrupt, grimy clinic, said Wednesday that she was sorry for trusting her husband and was sentenced seven to 23 months in prison.
Pearl Gosnell had pleaded guilty to racketeering and performing an illegal abortion past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit. She said her husband, Kermit, told her the abortions were all performed within the legal limit and she believed him. He was convicted this month of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants born alive.
"I am the wife of Kermit Gosnell, I am not happy about that now and I haven't been for a long time," Pearl Gosnell, 51, told Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner at her sentencing hearing.
She said her husband took the "cowardly" path for not speaking at his trial or apologizing for his crimes.
The judge gave her time credit for nearly three months she spent in jail after her arrest.
Former employees testified that Kermit Gosnell routinely performed illegal abortions past the 24-week limit; delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing; and dispatched the newborns by "snipping" their spines, as he referred to it.
Gosnell was also convicted in the death of patient Karnamaya Mongar, who was given a fatal overdose of painkillers.
The case became a flashpoint in the nation's polarized abortion debate. Foes said it exposed the true nature of abortion in all its disturbing detail. Abortion rights activists warned that Gosnell's practice foreshadows what women could face if abortion is driven underground with more restrictive laws.
A former clinic employee, who pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges, was sentenced Wednesday to time served after being jailed for 28 months.
Adrienne Moton, 36, had pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges. Lerner said he was sending Moton home and she has shown remorse for her crimes.
In an emotionally wrought statement, Moton told the court she thought she was helping women but never thought about the babies at Gosnell's clinic.
The judge rescheduled the sentencing dates for clinic workers Lynda Williams, 43; Sherry West, 53; and Tina Baldwin, 47, because the women still have unresolved federal drug charges.
West and Baldwin are now scheduled to be sentenced June 24. Williams is due in court July 1.

Also on HuffPost:

RICHMOND, Va. -- Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. has agreed to buy Smithfield Foods for approximately $4.72 billion

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

RICHMOND, Va. -- Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. has agreed to buy Smithfield Foods for approximately $4.72 billion, the largest acquisition of a U.S. company by a Chinese company.

Hong Kong-based Shuanghui owns a variety of global businesses that include food, logistics and flavoring products and is China's largest meat processing enterprise. Smithfield, the world's biggest pork producer, owns brands such as Armour, Farmland and its namesake label.

Shareholders of Smithfield will receive $34 a share under terms of the deal announced Wednesday -- a 31 percent premium to the Smithfield, Va., company's closing stock price Tuesday of $25.97.

Both companies' boards have unanimously approved the transaction, which still needs approval from Smithfield's shareholders. The transaction may also be subject to review by the U.S.'s Committee on Foreign Investment.
 The companies put the deal's total value at about $7.1 billion, including debt. Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) has about 138.8 million outstanding shares, according to FactSet. Smithfield's stock will no longer be publicly traded once the deal closes.

Its shares surged $7.23, or 27.8 percent, to $33.20 in premarket trading Wednesday.

Shuanghui has 13 facilities that produce more than 2.7 million tons of meat a year. Under the agreement, there will be no closures at Smithfield's facilities and locations, including its Smithfield, Va., headquarters, the companies said.

Smithfield's existing management team will remain in place and Shuanghui also will honor the collective bargaining agreements in place with Smithfield workers. The company has about 46,000 employees.

"This transaction preserves the same old Smithfield, only with more opportunities and new markets and new frontiers," Smithfield CEO Larry Pope said in a conference call. "This is not a strategy to import Chinese pork into the United States ... this is exporting America to the world."

With China and U.S. being "the most important markets," Zhijun Yang, managing director of Shuanghui, said in a conference call with investors, "together we can be a global leader in animal protein. No other combination has such a great opportunity."

In recent months, Smithfield's second-largest shareholder, Continental Grain Co., has been pushing Smithfield to consider splitting itself up, saying it was time for the company to "get serious about creating shareholder value." Following a March letter from Continental Grain, Smithfield said it would review the suggestions "in due course." Representatives from Continental Grain did not immediate provide comment regarding Wednesday's news.

In its most recent quarter, in March reported its net income rose more than 3 percent, helped by gains in hog production, its international business and its packaged meats such as deli meats, bacon, sausage, and hot dogs -- a large growth area for the company.

Still pork producers like Smithfield have been caught in a tug of war with consumers. The company needs to raise prices to offset rising commodity costs, namely the corn it uses for feed. But consumers are still extremely sensitive to price changes in the current economy. By raising prices, Smithfield risks cutting into its sales should consumers cut back or buy cheaper meats, such as chicken.

---

AP business writer Michelle Chapman in New York contributed to this report.

TED Stage Let's Talk About Suicide

My sharing of John's story was my first attempt to spark a conversation about the taboo subject of suicide, and in particular the challenge of coming back from an attempt and choosing life. It worked well enough to bring more than a half million viewers to see it. It's been lovingly translated into 39 languages by volunteers and shown at numerous TEDx events around the world. I said in the talk that I was trying to "start a conversation worth having about an idea worth spreading." That idea is determining how best to support the many people who attempt suicide but fail and seek to return to life.
What I've learned since the privilege of delivering this talk and then having TED put it online has been profound.
1) Breaking the silence is not an event, but a process. Through hundreds of emails and thousands of comments on various websites, it is clear that attempt survivors don't just break the silence one time, but over and over and over again. Or they don't, and live in the silence after once having a bad experience with sharing their secret with another.
2) Tough questions don't have easy answers. I'm a layperson with no training in the healing arts. I attempted to start a conversation, but then could mostly just listen (or rather) read as others were inspired to share about their journey. Where possible I pointed people to the best resources I knew but felt inadequate to do more.
3) Conversations are a crucial, but slow path to change. In my own life I've witnessed the self-inflicted deaths of several people I've loved and known. While I wanted their closest friends and family members to share their stories too, I was powerless to cause that. I simply remained open to the conversation, replied to each email or invitation to chat, and urged strugglers to find or build the network of committed listeners in their own lives to further the conversation.

My TEDTalk may have begun a conversation, but the challenge now is how to continue that dialogue. JD Schramm

My TEDTalk may have begun a conversation, but the challenge now is how to continue that dialogue. The first book I know of that treated this topic directly was Richard Heckler's 1996 Waking Up Alive. Just this month he published a second edition and in the preface he offers encouragement for all of us to continue this conversation:
"Perhaps no other life-threatening condition on the planet can be so positively impacted by honest, forthright and intimate conversations with friends, loved-ones, clients and colleagues. As we do this, we demystify suicide. We render it approachable by creating a net of understanding so strong and a willingness to intervene imbued with such resolve, that people can no longer fall through the cracks."
And yet no conversation, no matter how meaningful and powerful, can bring back the millions we've already lost to suicide. The loved ones of these victims also have a thirst for conversation and our efforts to engage with them may very well prevent the next loss to suicide if we can all continue to break the silence and share our journeys. For it is in the sharing of these journeys that we become vulnerable and open to healing.
In my mind ending the taboo of suicide remains a conversation worth having and an idea worth spreading. Join me in continuing to make that possible for others.
Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TEDWeekends will highlight some of today's most intriguing ideas and allow them to develop in real time through your voice! Tweet #TEDWeekends to share your perspective or email tedweekends@huffingtonpost.com to learn about future weekend's ideas to contribute as a writer.