You're listening to Wake Up Call on demand from kf I AM six forty k
KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your morning
wake up call. Here's Jason Middleton. Keep morning, everybody. This is
your wake up call. It's July twenty six. Okay, that opinion without
the preach thing. That's a new promo and I'm not making any problems,
just saying off the top. Let me see you look at my sheet here.
We have a heck of a show coming up. We have Ike Jochi
coming up talking about impeachment, not that one or that other one, fresh
impeachment talk. We're gonna talk about what happens if former President Trump is not
in the GOP primary. So we have somebody from five thirty eight coming on
to help us with that thought experiment. Jane Wells is here. Come on,
we're gonna talk some tech. She's going to bring some heat on snap
and Mike Dubuskie is going to be with us later this hour to talk about
Samsung's new tech. Apparently it's two new folding smartphones. So you hold in
your hand and you fold it open kind of like you know a book,
read a book, get some headlines, then we'll get into that first traffic
check and then our first interview for the morning. A federal judge is striking
down the Biden administration's new rules for asylum seekers at the southern border. The
judge ruled against the new rule that allows immigration authorities to deny asylum to migrants
at the US Mexico border if they did not first apply online or seek protection
in a country they passed through. New data shows a resurgence of COVID nineteen
and you can hear it in my voice. I tested negative again this morning.
The CDC says COVID hospitalizations have risen by more than ten percent across the
country. Their latest report shows more than seventy one hundred COVID nineteen patients were
admitted in the week of July fifteenth. That's up from sixty four hundred the
week before, so that's trending in the wrong direction. Harvard University is under
investigation by the Department of Education over its use of legacy admissions. A complaint
from an advocacy group alleges the university is potentially violating federal civil rights law through
legacy admissions, putting applicants of color at a disadvantage. Legacy admissions reportedly get
into Harvard at six x the rate of anybody else. Let's start with some
of the other stories coming out of the KFAT twenty four hour news room.
The LAPD says the number of homicides continues to fall, but crimes involving weapons
still remain high. We see reductions about one hundred and twenty three fewer shooting
victims this year verse last. The instances of gun violence in comparison to twenty
nineteen stillers are most pressing challenge. More told the Police Commission yesterday his officers
have seized more than forty one hundred guns since January. That's roughly twenty three
guns a day. He says property crimes remain high, especially those involving personal
property. Steve Gregory, a fine news an attorney from Newport Beach has pleaded
guilty to gambling away more than eight million dollars of investors money. US Attorney
spokesman Karen McAvoy says Sarah King told investors the loans were for sports players.
The loans supposedly were secured by the borrower's own assets, including designer handbags.
Watches, Luxury Automobile's yachts and earnings from guaranteed sports contracts. A lawsuit claims
King gambled the money away while living in a Vegas hotel for six months and
bought luxury items, including a one hundred and thirty two thousand dollars Porsche Nice
Ride. King pleaded guilty this week. Sentencing is set for January. Lebron
James's son Bronnie James, is out of the ICU in LA and in stable
condition. Officials say the eighteen year old basketball player was working out at USC
Monday when he went into cardiac arrest. E R doctor Benjamin Abella says the
early sides of his recovery are positive. It's pretty uncommon, actually for someone
to be so quickly out of the ICU after resustation from cardiac arrest, so
this is a very good side. Abella says bouncebacks are a lot faster in
young people, but it's too soon to speculate on whether James can return to
basketball or how quickly it could happen. LA County is facing a federal lawsuit
by a mother allegedly punched into face by a sheriff's deputy in Palmdale. The
deputy was attempting to arrest the woman and take control of her baby. Attorney
Jama Hicks says the excessive force lawsuit also takes aim at deputy's throwing out breast
milk for the baby and then the baby received regular mold against what she wanted.
So again we believe that goes to the culture. Deputy say the woman
was riding in a car last year that smelled like alcohol. They say the
woman's baby was one of several not in car seats. Sheriff Luna House called
the punching unacceptable in La Blake trolley kay if I Knews, the number of
Japanese citizens fell by eight hundred thousand in twenty twenty two. That's the biggest
annual decline since surveys began. That's according to new data out this morning.
The country's birthrate also plummeted to a record low last year, Yet the number
of foreigners resident in Japan rose to a record of nearly three million. It's
six minutes after five o'clock on July twenty sixth. This is Wake Up Called.
My name is Jason Milton, and right now we have ABC's Ikeajachi on
the line with us. The talk impeachment, not that one or the other
one. You might remember, it's noise from Capitol Hill about the Speaker of
the House regarding President Biden. Good morning, Ike, Good morning, how
are you. I'm good. I'm looking at Washingtonpost dot com and I'm not
saying impeachment headlines above the fold here. How are things playing out on Capitol
Hill? Oh, we're actually starting to see some Republicans really questioned the move
by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Now I remarks on Capitol Hill yesterday. McCarthy says
Republican lawmakers may consider an impeachment inquiry into the Biden family finances, but so
far. He also acknowledged that the House is probes, they haven't proven any
wrongdoing, but that an impeachment inquiry will allow Congress to get the information to
be able to know the truth. Now, all this stems from a largely
debunked theory from the first impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump about Barisma,
Ukrainian energy company. An unnamed confidential FBI informant claimed that Barisma officials in twenty
fifteen and twenty sixteen essentially salts to pay the Biden's five million dollars each in
return for their help asking the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the company. The
Justice Department launched a review of the information of the informants claims back in twenty
twenty under Trump's Attorney General William Barr. That probe was closed eight months later
with insufficient evidence of wrongdoing. So the only thing we know right now in
terms of the Biden is Hunter Biden reaching an agree or prosecutors to please guilty
to misdemeanor charges of having fail to pay income taxes for several years. He
set the period of court leader this week in that case. Now, that
tax play is not exactly fresh news. So why the sudden heat from McCarthy
on this, Well, essentially we're seeing this entire escalation coming shortly after Senators
Chuck Rassery and House Oversight Committee Chair James Kohmer published the FBI document that included
unverified allegations of corruption surrounding the words of Biden's son Hunter Biden in Ukraine for
that energy company, Barisma. But the Republican have long said the Biden administration
is weaponizing the government by launching investigations into former President Trump, Obery's handling of
classified information, and even his efforts to overturn the twenty twenty elected But McCarthy
essentially is appeasing his confidence by voicing support for the possible impeachment in creates other
administrations and figures as well, like Homeland Security Secretary Alhanda Mayorcis. But we're
seeing Republicans in the House and in the Senate pushed back the number two Senator
John Too from South Dakota saying that the best way to change the presidency is
to win an election looking forward and not bafford. And there are also eighteen
House Republicans who are pushing back against the idea of impeachment. Eighteen Republicans who
are in district that President Biden one back in twenty twenty, who are also
facing reelection. Many many reasons why Republicans are pushing back on this, which
is showing that McCarthy may not have the support from this impeachment inquiry as he
initially figured he would. Right. Yeah, this morning on CNBC that a
member of the Oversight Committee said that it was a fair minded and appropriate way.
But what I'm hearing from you, and we're speaking with ABC News correspondent
Ikejachi that the Republican side is maybe not necessarily holding ranks to an extent that
Kevin McCarthy may have anticipated. Now. On Monday, the White House Karine
Jean Pierre said that there's no there's no business dealings between President Biden and Hunter
Biden back in Ukraine. Is this going to have legs through the rest of
this week? Do you think this new cycle with Ukraine and impeachment talk is
going to last through the rest of this week into the Sunday Yacht shows.
Well, you know, there is one thing that's happening right now pet may
derailed this, and that is the third indictment of former President Donald Trump.
We know Special Counsel Jack Smith hasn't been investigating his efforts to overturn the twenty
twenty elections, specifically with the Capital insurrection being the paramount of those efforts.
We know that last Sunday, Jack Smith's office has sent former President Donald Trump's
a letter saying that he's the target of this investigation. And it's largely considered
that the announcement of these indictments could come at any moment this week. So
in this entire issue right now, could be derailed by the announcement of the
former president Donald Trump's third indictment. And again the White House they're firing back,
saying Republicans continue to focus on these non issues, what they call non
issues, rather than focusing on what they're calling real issues for Americans, like
continuing to lower inflation or even creating jobs. And again, President Biden himself
has repeatedly denied any kind of business dealing with China or Ukraine, Who's also
denied discussing any kind of business with his whole family. We've been speaking with
ABC News correspondent Ike Jachi Ike always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us
this morning. Thanks you for having me. Take care absolutely. Let's get
back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour news
room before we take a break. Santa Anna says it wants police to enforce
a state public intoxication law amid complaints of people passing out at city libraries,
parks, sidewalks. The idea with this is not to be punitive, Councilman
Phil, but Sarah says, once even he called about a guy, I
got a call from the chief of police informing me that that person was actually
dead, So we literally have folks suffering from substance abuse that are dying on
our streets. Sarah says, first, the city will hire more jail medical
staff so people who are arrested can immediately get enrolled in addiction services. Critics
say last week's proposal is a return to over incarceration policies that primarily impact minority
communities in Santa Anna Corbin Carson kf I News LA is creating temporary housing for
homeless people on the West Side LA Family Housings. Stephanie Claskey, Gamer says
people are living on the streets because there aren't enough shelters. We run the
risk of people dying outside unnecessarily. So when we create more opportunities for people
to come indoors safely on their journey into permanent housing, we ensure that we
are saving lives. The city is expected to break ground on the project later
this year and open thirty beds in early twenty twenty four. The Biden administration
has announced a new plan to expand access to mental healthcare. Biden says mental
health should be treated with the same level of attention as physical health. I
don't know what the difference between breaking your arm and having amount of breakdown is
it's health. There's no distinction. It's health. Biden says it can cost
people two hundred dollars or more for a single therapy session, which is beyond
the reach of most Americans. He says the new regulations announced yesterday will encourage
more professionals to offer in network care and reduce the red tape to qualify for
coverage. The family of Malcolm X says they believe his killing was a conspiracy
planned by the FBI and NYPD. The family introduced a new witness yesterday who
was at the Audubon Ballroom in New York the night Malcolm X was killed in
nineteen sixty five. Despite my presence inside and outside of the Audubon on the
day of the assassination, law enforcement never attempted to interview or attain a statement
from me. Mustafa Hassan says he was working security that night and remembers there
being no police presence. He says when officers finally showed up, they held
back a group of black Malcolm X supporters instead of chasing after one of the
shooters. More than thirty drugs may face supply chain issues after a tornado ripped
through a North Carolina Fiser plant. The Rocky Mount facility makes close to a
quarter of Fiser's injectable medicines used in hospitals across the country. Now, this
blistering heat wave that's been broiling much of the south and Southwest in southern California
in other places, is now invading the Midwest, pushing afternoon highs above one
hundred degrees. Forecasters are warning that the heat and humidity could last for days,
if not another week. Cities like Saint Louis, which aitall Kansas City
roasting and temperatures ten to twenty degrees above average, and Snoop Dogg is canceling
two nights of shows at the Hollywood Bowl in solidarity with striking actors and writers.
The shows were to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the rappers hit Doggie Style
album. Coming up at the bottom of the are we have Jane Wells.
Jane Wells Yeah, CNBC and kifis Jane Wells special correspondent based here in Los
Angeles. We're going to cover a lot of stuff, including Samsung and Snap.
But first we have Amelia Thompson Davot on the line. She's a senior
writer at five thirty eight dot com. This week's podcast out of five thirty
eight dot com is a thought experiment what if former President Trump was not in
the GOP primary? Good morning, Amelia, thank you for joining us,
Thanks for having me. Absolutely well, let's start at the very beginning.
What would happen? I mean, who would win if Trump was not in
this Trump primary? I have no idea who would win because it would be
such a chaotic I know you try to get me, but curiously, I
mean, Trump dropping out of the primary would be such a chaotic, seismic
event because he's polling right now in our polling average at fifty two percent,
and the candidate who was closest to him as Florida Governor Ronda Santist, who's
just down at nineteen percent. So Trump is very much the leader, and
Trump Trump picked out would create huge opportunities for many of the candidates who are
polling much lower right now, not just a Scantist. So okay, Amelia,
I imagine The podcast subject came up this week because of the two indictments
under the belt of former President Trump. Right now is a possible third indictment
going to have any impact on the race well of Coursians, I even have
to happen, and we have to see what the charges are. But from
what we've seen in the first two indictments, I wouldn't expect it to have
a huge impact on the GOP primary itself. With the first indictment, Trump
actually got something of a bump. It's not clear if that was all because
of support that came after the indictment. Ronda Santis had also been declining around
the same time, so it could be a combination of forces that happened there.
But Trump rose in the polls after the first indictment and he didn't drop
in the polls after the second one. Again, we're talking about GOP primary
voters here. Now. I'm not saying that the indictment will not hurt him
among Americans overall. We have seen that his favorability dropped and hasn't returned to
where it was. You know, we're talking about a fairly small drop,
but his favorabilities are stable, So it's not worthy after that second indictment.
But we're looking at the primary right now, and it's hard for me to
believe that the third indictment would hurt him substantial among Republican primary voters. We're
speaking with Amelia Thompson Davote. She's a senior writer at five thirty eight dot
com. I'm looking at five thirty eight dot com right now, and you
have a headline out this morning, which Republican will drop out of the twenty
twenty four primary. First, it's a great question headline, But let's stay
with this thought experiment just for a moment. Who gains in the field for
GOP primary voters if there's a third indictment that's passed down to former President Trump,
Well, you know, potentially round the Scantists, he's the person who
is best positioned right now to pick up from any failing by Trump or any
boss of support because he is second in the polling average by quite a bit.
He's again, he's at nineteen percent, and all the other candidates are
in single digits. Right So he's also the candidate that Republican primary voters consistently
stay or are most likely to stay, is their second choice. So it's
not that the Scantists is at this kind of low second position because he's widely
disliked among Republican primary voters, they just like Trump more so, if something
were to happen and Trump was no longer in the race or his standing fell
significantly among GOP primary voters for some reason, the Santist would be an obvious
one to benefit. But there are also opportunities for other candidates who are poland
really low right now but have some upside. One of the candidates that we've
been keeping an eye on a South Carolina at Senator Tim Scott's following at three
percent in our average right now, but has a lot of money, has
a lot of institutional connections to the Republican Party, has the kind of amazing
good fortune or skill to have managed to stay on the good side of both
the trumpy side of the Republican Party and the more conventional traditional Republican side of
the party. So he's one I would watch in this hypothetical scenario right on.
Okay, well, my money was on Tim Scott gaining a little bit
there too, so I'm glad to have the confirmation bias going on. Also,
the big money donors seem to be following De santis anydotally speaking, and
the smaller donors. Smaller money donors seem to be following President Trump. Now,
would a third indictment had any influence on fundraising because we are coming out
of culling of the herd when it comes to the DeSantis campaign having cut about
thirty eight of its staffers. Yeah, it's an interesting question. I think
because Trump is DeSantis is getting more money, as you mentioned, according to
the latest fundraising reports from larger donors. I wouldn't expect an indictment to necessarily
change that unless it really hurt Trump's standing in the polls. It is something
that desantist is going to have to fix because the problem with those big money
donors is that usually when they show up in the report, they've maxed out
in how much they can donate, So DeSantis can't go back to them and
say, over and over again, please give me more money. They've given
him all the money that they're legally allowed to do, at least directly to
his campaign. Superpacks obviously are a different story. So this is potentially an
issue for Dispantus down the line, but I think it's something that he has
to fix on his own. I would not rely on Trump stumbling and a
significant number of small dollar donors moving to Despantis. As a result, I
can't imagine small money donors really liking the idea that Ron DeSantis is flying on
private planes, it's staying at five star hotels all the time. I just
can't see that helping his fundraising moving forward. That's just me. That's an
opinion with him preaching. Amelia, thank you so much for joining us this
morning. Amelia Thompson devote she's a senior writer at five thirty eight dot com.
Some great insights. Thank you again, thanks so much. Take care.
Let's get some more news coming out of the KFI twenty four our newsroom
before we get to the bottom of the hour, and we welcome Jane Wells.
In attentative agreement has been reached to keep three hundred and forty thousand UPS
workers from going on strike. The teamsters had said the workers would walk off
the job August first if a strong contract was not reached. It needed to
get done by the end of the month. Now there is time for the
union to ratify it, and more than three hundred thirty thousand members still need
to ratify it. But it does seem to avert that kind of dire scenario
for the economy. ABC's Elizabeth Schultz says UPS is crucial for countless American businesses.
The new five year contract increases wages, guarantees more air conditioning and drivers
trucks, and stops requiring UPS employees to work overtime hours on their days off.
A wildfire started during a training exercise at Marine Corps air Station Miramar in
San Diego County has burned more than one hundred acres. It took firefighters more
than three hours yesterday to stop the fire from spreading. Temporary living units are
being built for homeless people on the west side of LA. Thirty short term
beds will be offered early next year to people already living on the streets near
the future Center LA Family Housing. Stephanie Klasky Gamer says her organization will be
the on site operators to help residence with resources including security, to delivery of
food, to access to supportive housing navigation meaning case management services. A facility
would help the homeless living in areas like bel Air, Beverly Glen and Palms
and neighborhoods further east including Fairfax and Libreya. Chris Adler KFI News, so
the Biden's Dog is a biter. Records from the Department of Homeland Security show
Commander has bidden or attacked agents at the White House ten times between October twenty
two and January of this year. At least one bite by the German shepherd
required a trip to the hospital. First Lady Jill, Biden's communications director,
says the White House is a unique, often stressful environment for family pets,
and the Biden families working through ways to make the situation better for everyone.
Commander is the second dog of Biden's to behave aggressively. A German Shepherd named
Major was sent to live with friends in Delaware after it bit Secret Service agents
and White House staff. The Bidens also have a cat named Willow Amy King
KFI News. A woman who was this is a wake up called My name
is Jason Middleton. That's Jane Wells. We're gonna be right back with her.
Woman who was punched twice by a deputy while holding a baby is suing
the La County Sheriff's Department for excessive force and wrongful arrest. The Agua Fire
has now burned sixty acres of land in Santa Clarita and is ten percent contained.
The fire started at about two o'clock yesterday afternoon near Solidad Canyon and aguadul
Say Canyon roads. The CDC says COVID hospitalizations have risen by more than ten
percent across the country. Their latest report shows more than seventy one hundred COVID
nineteen patients were admitted in the week of July fifteenth. That's up from sixty
four hundred and it's the largest percent increase in COVID hospitalizations since December. News
is brought to you by American Vision Windows. Coming up at five fifty,
we're gonna talk Samsung with Mike Debuskie from ABC. Bright. Now, of
course KFIS and CNBC's Jane Wells is on the line with us and man,
do we have a line up today? Where do you want to start?
You start with FED? Why not? Because that'll be the big news today.
The Fens probably gonna raise interest rates another quarter point today. That'll be
the eleventh time, the eleventh time since they started sixteen months ago. Gets
the upper end of the FED funds rate to about five and a half percent,
which is the highest in over twenty years. But the markets want to
know if Chairman Powell suggests that maybe they're going to pause for a while on
hikes, though he has indicated there will be more this year. I mean,
the whole point of all this is to bring down inflation. If you
make things cost more with higher interest rates, people spend less money. It
is working, Inflation is coming down. But Visa and American Express and their
earnings reports, Jason keep talking about how resilient the consumer is, that we
keep spending, especially on travel and entertainment, despite higher prices. And there
are two women to think for that. Taylor Swift, whose concert dates are
driving up hotel prices and helping the economy. And Barbie. We all went
to I didn't, but I'm gonna go, are you. I'm gonna get
dragged. But everybody else went to see Barbie last week. I haven't seen
it yet either, but I do have a lot of pink in my closet,
so it turns out okay. So yeah, Taylor Swift, Barbie definitely
economic forces. Now let's bet aventy on this one. Is j Powell and
the Fed going to raise rates in September another quarter point? Probably he has
indicated in the past. I'm sorry, probably he will. Well, what
do I know? You know, you're CNBC right, Yeah, that's right.
He may. I think the thinking is he's going to skip in September,
but been at the meeting after that they'll raise again, although he has
said in the past they're not going to do this every other thing. But
I was looking at our actually CNBC was looking at and I take credit for
it. How much everything else has gone up since the FED started raising interest
rates? How much things went on? Mortgages have gone up on mortgages and
credit card and Carlos A thirty year mortgage in March of twenty twenty two was
going for four point three percent. Now how much do you think. I
don't know if you've looked. Jason wasn't mortgage today? Well, okay,
here's my guess. I'm going to because I did cheat a little bit.
I had to look for a story I did earlier this week. I think
it's right around six point eight nine percent. It just went back up over
seven percent yesterday. So from point four point three to seven percent in sixteen
months. It hasn't doubled, but it's gone up significantly. Home equity line
of credit was for in a quarter now it's eight and a half two more.
The average credit card rate sixteen months ago was sixteen point three. What
do you think it is now that one? I don't know for sure.
Twenty point four, so it's gone up a little over four points and a
use car loan sixteen months ago nine percent, now it's eleven percent. So
not all was already high. Now it's just a little higher. Okay,
well, okay, so the cost of money, the cost of debt,
is going up, but consumers are still spending. Yeah, Jane, I
mean our cumulative credit card debt is more than a trillion dollars right now.
This is why the Fed's going to keep raising rates. I mean, we
still have really relatively low unemployment, and so the economy is still hot.
The fact that inflation is starting to come down while the economy is hot has
more and more people saying, gee, maybe we're not going to have a
recession. So who knows? Who knows? I mean, I think it's
great that people are still spending. I don't think it's great that are that
they're spending on credit, which is now going to cost them over twenty percent
a year, which is why we're going to have that recession in Q one
next year. You can mark my, oh everybody, but but a pen
on that. Jason Middleton, recession Q one twenty four. All right,
shallow, shallow and short. That's my that's my call for recession Q one.
Okay, all right, Um, let's go around the infield, Jane,
let's talk about that UPS deal. Um, So that was kind of
a big deal because I was watching CNBC. I'm a big fan by the
way of CNBC, and six percent of GDP is moved every year by UPS.
This was a huge deal. Well, first of all, God bless
you. Keep watching you and John you and John Ford, you guys,
you guys, keep it real. Oh thank you. Well, this would
have been the granddaddy of all strikes. I mean, we've had so many
strikes this summer, and not to diminish any of them. This would have
been huge. You got three hundred and thirty thousand workers that would have walked
off the job. Uh, FedEx, the United Post Office would not have
been able to pick up the slack people trying to send stuff, vendors,
customers, everybody would have really really suffered. But they're the teamsters are saying
that this new contract is worth thirty billion dollars. That's about one hundred thousand
dollars per employee when you break it down, and that money is going to
have to come from somewhere. So some analysts are now predicting that UPS is
going to raise its costs per package by maybe two and a half percent.
So we are going to pay for this new contract. And the question is
then will some people take their business to FedEx or somewhere else? Okay,
and that might tip us into recession in Q one. Okay, let's go.
Okay. I have in my notes here that you want to bring some
heat to snap Why, Oh my gosh, do you use you? Who
do you use a Snapchat? Anyone? Bueler? Do you use the chat?
No? I don't have to. Okay. The good news is almost
four hundred million people do. They had growth in their daily active users last
quarter. Most of that was outside the US. But it is continuing to
lose money. It's forecast on ad sales were were missed Wall Street expectations.
For the most part, it's facing rivals like TikTok and so after it reported
earnings yesterday, the stock fell seventeen percent. But Jason, this has happened
every quarter for the last five quarters. After they report report earnings, the
stock dives the quarter before it was ten percent, that it was on twenty
eight percent, it was down thirty nine percent a year ago. Who doesn't
sell before earnings because overall over the last year, Snap stock is up six
percent, but it tanks after any earnings report. And I just can't figure
out, why aren't you selling the day before earnings so that you can capture
some of the profits. There you go, that's my take on it.
By the fact that you know, Snap has major issues. Yeah, I
mean remember that time they tried to do a hardware with ray bands. Remember
that, Yeah, it's that didn't float very well. They had a billion
dollars in ad revenue last quarter that I found that shocking. And they're still
losing money. I don't get it. Yeah, their gross margin is down
fifty nine percent quarter over quarters. So h okay, one more I have
to do. I have to do one more Mega Millions jackpot eight hundred and
twenty million dollars. Nobody won, No, nobody won. It could be
a billion dollars again by Friday when if you don't play, no, well,
absolutely, And I'm in the Michelle Cube Lottlepool, which if you're not.
You better get in because we're gonna win. Okay, I'll follow your
lead on that one. Always a pleasure CNBC's and kfis Jane Wells, thank
you so much for giving us some time. Take care, get a couple
of quick stories. A lawyer from Newport Beach has admitted to convincing investors to
put up more than eight million dollars to provide loans for rich people. It
was all one big fraud. US Attorney spokesman Kieran macavoy says Sarah King told
investors the loans were for sports players, in reality, as she never initiated
or funded any alone. Instead, she just used their money to go gamble
at Las Vegas casinos and to purchase a Porschet electric sports car. A lawsuit
allegis King gambled away millions while living in a Vegas hotel for six months.
King pleaded guilty this week. Sincencing is set for January. In Orange County,
Corbin Carson k if I knew another freeway shooting in the Bay Area,
and this time the suspect is a naked woman. The California Highway Patrol says
she flashed a gun near the Baybridge Toll Plaza last night during rush hour,
then stopped, got out of the car twice. Once was to yell at
drivers, but witnesses say the second time, without any clothes on, she
fired a gun into the air. No one was hurt, the woman was
arrested, Traffic was delayed more than thirty Drugs may face supply chain issues after
a tornado ripped through a North Carolina Fiser plant. The Rocky Mount facility makes
close to a quarter of Fiser's injectable medicines used in hospitals across the US.
Morgan Stanley is downgrading Israel's credit rating to a dislike stance. In making the
move yesterday, the US Investment Bank added that recent developments pointed to continued uncertainty
and significant risk posed by the ongoing crisis over controversial judicial changes in Israel.
It's five fifty one on your wake up call and we're about to nerd out
with ABC's Mike Dubuskie. Let's get Samsungy up in here. Mike. Good
morning, Good morning. Yeah no, it's Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Day. Happy
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Day to all those who celebrate. This is Samsung's second hardware
event of the year, and it's all about foldables. Jason. So,
Samsung's been in the foldable game since twenty nineteen. They were one of the
sort of founding members of the foldable club. They've got two flavors of foldable.
There's the Galaxy Z fold, which is kind of opens and closes like
a book. It sort of splits the difference between a smartphone and a tablet.
And then there's the Galaxy Z Flip, which opens and closes kind of
more like your traditional clamshell flip, like the old school motor rolla razor.
That's kind of what we're talking about right on. Okay, well, let's
talk about the form factor there. You mentioned the razor. What's the Galaxy
Z flip like? Is it heaviers, a thickers, it stronger, faster,
right, So this is the fifth generation that we just got to look
at this morning. The big news here is basically two folds, no pun
intended. There there's a bigger front facing screen, so if you imagine a
foldable, there's an interior screen when you have it sort of unfurled, and
that is sort of your traditional smartphone experience. With the Z flip and then
when you fold it closed, you still have a screen. There's an exterior
screen that's a little bigger this year, it's three point four inches, up
from one point nine inches. Kind of brings the flip more in line with
competitors in this space, namely the motor Rolla Razor Plus, which just got
a big refresh this year. Very well reviewed, very kind of nerdy tech
device, but like people kind of took to it. People really liked it,
and part of that was this big front facing screen. And you can
sort of imagine the functionality for a front facing screen like this. When you
fold a phone closed like this, your rear facing cameras are now pointed at
you, if you can kind of conceptualize that in your mind. So the
nice rear facing cameras, the cameras that they throw all the hardware technology at,
are now pointed at you, which means things take really good selfies,
and a lot of people take selfies. So having a screen so you can
see what you're looking at that is important to a lot of people. You
take a lot of selfies. Mic I personally don't, but you know,
I know a lot of people who do. You know, the Instagram age
and all that kind of stuff. But that is one that is one of
the benefits of the Z flip, or one of the improvements of the z
flip this year. The other kind of big update with the foldable Samsungs is
the hinge design. Up until now, if you folded one of these devices
closed, whether it was the flip or the fold, there was still a
little gap in between where kind of where the hinges came together. So if
you imagine like a notebook and you have a pen in it and then you
flip it closed, there's still like a gap there. That's kind of what
it was like operating a Samsung foldable. Now they've redesigned the hinge. They
call it the flex hinge, and it's it's completely flat, So that is
sort of an effort to improve durability, stopped dust from getting in there,
and all that kind of thing, and to bring these devices more in line
with competitors. Earlier this year, I think Jason new and I talked about
this. Google revealed the pixel fold, right that thing folded completely flat as
a very thin device, and when you folded it closed, it was completely
sealed. Now Samsung kind of catching up to that design form factor We're speaking
with ABC's Mike Dbusky, and we're celebrating quote unquote air quotes happy Galaxy Unpacked
day. Hey, you mentioned Samsung has been in this game since twenty nineteen
with the foldables. Google you just mentioned as well, had earnings this week
and it's banging this morning as thoughts are well up anything going to come out
of Samsung event that we didn't necessarily see or anything you might anticipate, So
it not so far, right, I mean, there's always the potential that
a tech company could surprise us at the end of their events. Apple is
renowned for having a one last thing, a kind of surprise announcement at the
end of their events. Samsung has done similar things in the past. This
time around, the event's been over for about an hour an hour or so.
They held it in South Korea, so that's very early our time.
But there was there was It was pretty much what we expected it to be.
There were the two foldables. They also unveiled the latest generation of their
smart watch. There's the Galaxy Watch six and the Galaxy Watch six Classic,
and a new tablet, a new lineup of tablets, so kind of iterative
updates there. But you know not no surprises. Okay, I have you.
I'm lucky to have you for another minute if I could. Let's look
into the future. What other form factors, what other hardware can we expect
from any tech company coming out later this year? Are we going to get
on one of those surprises from Apple? Maybe? So, I don't think
Apple's going to jump into the foldable market this year. I think that's safe
to say. Apple again, as we talked about earlier this year when they
unveiled the VR headset Vision pro, Apple is rarely the first mover, and
really they're not even like, you know, middle of the pack. When
it comes to getting into a new segment. They are generally the last to
arrive. But that's part of their strategy. Right. Apple is the most
valuable company in the world. They just hit a three trillion dollar valuation not
that long ago, and they can afford to kind of wait it out,
see what everybody else does, see what the market responds to and what it
doesn't respond to, and then if they think it's a worthy cgory to get
into, they'll build a device, a folding iPhone, and they'll charge you
more than everybody else for it. But it will generally be the best and
most polished of the market out there. Yeah, that's kind of how they
approach things. So I don't think we're at that point with foldables yet.
We are expecting to get a foldable phone from one Plus later this year,
though in fact, there's been some pretty heavy leaks out of that company of
a new foldable phone, and that's significant because one Plus has long made a
name for it on building quality devices, like flagship level devices for a sort
of mid range level prices, right, and that has sort of changed in
one Plus's calculation in the last couple of years. But generally speaking, if
these things can maybe come down in price, these foldables can come down in
price, I think that's going to open them up to a newer market.
That being said, still not cheap. It seems like they are planning something
more in the fold realm than the flip realm, which means that we're probably
looking at something more than twelve thirteen hundred dollars. But again, we're just
gonna have to wait and see what one Plus does. Yeah, that's that's
a cool point you make right there, because the Apple seems impervious to price
points when entering any market. And then you mentioned one plus right there,
which is coming in and maybe we're normalizing twelve hundred dollars phones all of a
sudden, when it used to be MacBooks were twelve hundred bucks. Sure,
sure, but again, I mean this is something that Samsung brought up in
its presentation, is that your phones can do more now. I mean the
amount of things you can do on a laptop that you can't do on like
a really nice flagship phone, that list is getting smaller. And with the
rise of foldables where you can change the form factor, you can change the
state of a phone. In the case of the bigger ones, you can
make more phone if you want, Like that is even going to make that
list shrank more. So I think that's sort of an interesting proposition, this
idea that as phones become more powerful, you know, the sort of larger,
more traditional computers that we think about, you know, they're going to
become more niche devices. And I mean if you look globally, you know,
here in the United States, we're used to getting on to websites and
getting online via desktop computer because we were early adopters in the Internet. If
you look at sort of markets that got online later in their tenure places like
China, Latin America, Africa, they came up and got online. The
widespread adoption of the Internet happened with the rise of the mobile phone. So
that's sort of another calculation here that I think is interesting to make is that
you know, as these phones get more expensive, they do more. But
also, you know, the sort of cheaper mobile phones of allowed more people
to get online and develop habits more related to the mobile internet. So it's
a really interesting moment that we're at right Yeah, absolutely, Mike, thanks
a lot for all the updates. I appreciate it, of course, take
care. ABC's Mike Tobuskie right there with just a panoply of news for us.
A House subcommittee a couple of headlines before we get to handle on the
news. A House subcommittee is about to hold a hearing on UFOs or UAPs
as they're now called. The hearing this morning will look at how those flying
mysteries could impact national security and public safety. That gets started in about an
hour. Southern California weather from KFI. Let's start with a dense fog advisory
for the OC coastline. That fog advisory, who's going to last until eight
o'clock. This morning. Highs Inland will hit the upper eighties to the mid
nineties again Today, Tonight mostly clear with lows in the mid upper sixties,
and tomorrow another day of late July heat. Right now, your Belinda sixty
six, Anaheim sixty seven, Hollywood sixty eight, and Torrance is at sixty
six. We lead local live from the KFI twenty Fire Newsroom. I'm Jason
Middleton. This has been your wake up call. You've been listening to wake
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