SoCal Connected: In the Studio

The year is almost over, and soon it'll be time to bury regrets and start anew -- with fresh New Year's resolutions. Madeleine's choice for "person of the year," TIME Magazine contributor Joel Stein, has been thinking a lot about his promises for 2013.

Over the past few years, we've done a lot of stories about all those billboards that mar the L.A. skyline, but nothing like this. An artist by the name of Stephen Glassman has a plan to turn some of those signs into art with his project "Urban Air." And not just any kind of art, but natural, growing, sustainable art -- out of bamboo. He put his idea on Kickstarter and has already raised over $100,000.

Almost immediately after Friday's mass shooting, the discussion across the country turned to gun control. California Senator Dianne Feinstein is promising to introduce an assault weapons ban the moment the next Congress convenes in January. But some experts say that as terrible as these killings are, they don't usually lead to new gun laws. Will it be different this time? Val talks to UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler, who specializes in the Second Amendment and authored the book "Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America."

What is in the mind of a person who commits an act of mass violence? Are there warning signs the rest of us can detect? Madeleine speaks with UCLA Psychologist Stephen Diamond, who has studied these questions for decades. Dr. Diamond has written several books on the subject. Diamond also writes a blog called "Evil Deeds" in Psychology Today.

Every tragedy stands on its own, but it also becomes a link in a long, sad chain of similar events. "SoCal Connected" correspondent Judy Muller covered the Columbine shootings in 1999. She followed the Virginia Tech story eight years later. She speaks with Madeleine and Val about the experiences.

Pairing mental health professionals with cops, the LAPD hopes to lessen the threat of violence during encounters with people with mental illness.

Reporter David Haldane had to make the difficult choice of institutionalizing his son Drew, who suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, after several violent episodes. He tells Madeleine his powerful story of reaching that decision, and how he thinks the mental health system subsequently failed his family and his son.

Author and screenwriter John Ridley has worked in Hollywood for a long time, and he understands why some claim it is responsible for violence in our society. However, he believes there is much more to our "culture of violence" than simply watching shoot-'em-up movies and bloody video games. He tells Madeleine and Val what the United States, in particular, can do to address what he sees as apathy towards violence in our culture as whole.

A month after the election, there are already murmurings of Hillary Clinton running for office in 2016. Madeleine talks to Jodi Kantor of The New York Times to find out how viable this is, and whether the current Secretary of State will even consider the proposition.

Correspondent Vince Gonzales covered the massacre at Columbine back in 1999. He talks to Val about his experience as a journalist in Littleton, and what the small community of Newtown, Conn., can expect from the media in the wake of their tragedy.

The shooting in Connecticut will undoubtedly have a deep psychological impact on those directly affected by the tragedy. But as the whole nation reels in its wake, the mental trauma to children is of particular concern, given that the majority of the victims were children as young as 5. Psychologist and co-director of UCLA's Child and Family Trauma Service, Dr. Catherine Mogil gives some advice about what to tell your children.

The holiday season is the giving season, a time when charities get nearly half of their annual contributions. We all want our donated dollars to do the most good and help the most people. But how do you make sure? Madeleine talks to Tina Rosenberg, a columnist for The New York Times who has looked into that very question.

Topping the list in 2012? Whitney Houston and South Korean pop star Psy, with his infectious music video, "Gangnam Style."

There are few laws that Californians consider untouchable, and Prop 13 is one of them. That's the constitutional amendment passed more than 30 years ago that slashed property taxes. There have always been rumblings about revising this sacred cow, but now Democrats, with gains from the November elections, may have the numbers to pull it off. They're going after a provision that appears to favor some businesses over others. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of USC's Price School of Public Policy joins Val to talk about the prospects for change and the politics involved.

A disturbing story in the L.A. Weekly points to what it calls an "epidemic" of hit-and-run crashes in the City of Los Angeles -- 20,000 a year. In fact, nearly half of all the crashes in L.A. are classified as hit-and-run. Some drivers are calling it a war zone out there. And according to the article, the Los Angeles Police Department is either unaware of how serious things are, or unwilling to talk about it. L.A. Weekly editor Jill Stewart discusses with Val and Madeleine.