You're listening to wake Up Call on demand from kf I AM six, forty
K five and kost H T two, Los Angeles, Orange County. How
bad your host, Amy King? It's five o'clock, straight up. This
is your wake up Call for Wednesday, October fourth. I am Amy King.
Good Morning. That opener reminds me the Major League Baseball playoffs are underway,
and I don't care until Saturday. Dodgers didn't have to do Wildcard.
They're already in it. Their Division Series starts this Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Hey, it's National Taco Day. I think I might have to a run
for the border. Do they still use that slogan for taco bell? I
don't think so. Probably not politically correct enough. Here's what's ahead on wake
Up Call. The US House is without a speaker now that Kevin McCarthy's been
voted out. Kevin McCarthy said after he was removed he will not try to
get the gavel back. An election for a new speaker is set for a
week from today if they can find someone who wants it. North Carolina Congressman
Patrick mckenry is now the acting speaker until the new speaker is put in place.
A shooter is still on the loose in Baltimore following a shooting at Morgan
State University last night. Five people were shot. All are expected to survive.
The shooting apparently happened after a homecoming event. We're going to be talking
more about this in just a couple of minutes with ABC's law enforcement reporter Luke
barn See. Where we are, if they've caught the guy, if they
know who it is. We'll find out more in just a minute. Three
scientists based in the US have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. It's for
their work on quantum dot. They release bright colored lights and are used in
everything from TV screens to LED lamps to medical imaging that can light up tumors.
At six oh five, it's handled on the news. Kaiser workers are
walking out. Bill's going to tell you the latest on the largest healthcare worker
strike in US history. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. As I just mentioned, the Kaiser
strike is starting. Kaiser Permanente employees have started walking off the job in some
areas. It's expected to start at six am. In California. Seventy five
thousand Kaiser workers are expected to take part across California in several states. Kaiser
has said the company has plans in place to ensure they can continue to provide
high quality care during the three day walkout. Negotiations broke down last night.
More than twenty three thousand of the seventy five thousand are here in the state.
I may have lost a vote today, but as I walk out of
this chamber, I feel four to have served the American people. The House
is voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The narrow vote yesterday, forced
by Florida Congressman Matt Gates, brought together a handful of hard right conservatives and
Democrats who say McCarthy is not worthy of leadership. He was removed for working
with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. I don't regret standing up for choosing
government over grievance. It is my responsibility, it is my job. I
do not regret negotiating. Our government is designed to find compromise. North Carolina
Representative Patrick mckinry will fill the seat until a new speaker is elected. McCarthy
said again he will not run again. The election of a new speaker is
set for next Wednesday. Members leaving the House Republican Conference yesterday confirmed a candidate
forum will be held on Tuesday, with the election the day after that.
The House is going to be in recess until next week. The man charged
with killing rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas twenty seven even years ago, is
doing court. Dwayne Davis was indicted last week. Police and prosecutors say Davis
orchestrated the drive by killing in nineteen ninety six and provided his nephew with a
gun to do it. Davis has publicly described his role in the killing for
years. LAPD Chief Morse is the number of homicides in the city continues to
drop, but the chief says property crime continues to climb. Those other types
and thefts account for a fourteen point four percent increase this year verse last,
which is twelve hundred additional crimes, and this is an area where our focus
continues to be working with organized retailer. More told the Police Commission yesterday.
Homicides are at two hundred thirty seven so far this year. That's down from
three eleven this time last year. Moore said, that despite a drop in
homicides, the number of crimes involving a gun continues to go up. Steve
gregorkaf I News. Federal authorities have started removing hazardous materials for the burn areas
on Maui. The Army Corps of Engineers is working with local officials who develop
a plan to dispose of about four hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand tons of
debris on the island. The fire that burned Lahinah in August killed at least
ninety seven people and destroyed more than two thousand homes and other buildings. Let's
take a first look at the roadways, Nick polio'keni, we got a crash
in Pomona on the ten hundred. Yeah, already looking pretty muy amy on
the westbound side of Folks are making their way right around fair Plex. It
is all lane shut down and you've gotta well, it looks like a crash
investigation underway for the drive right now, So westbound ten you're not gonna be
able to get through. As you make gay towards the fifty seven away from
the Pomona Fairplex area, checking in with CHP, looks like, yeah,
all lanes are still shut down. Seeing a busy one four years to come
away from White Planet ahead for the two ten or the sixty west as your
alternates. Both of those so far so good for your morning drive coming off
the fifteen, as yeah, the fifteen as you make your way toward the
fifty seven, but with the exception of a little bit of slong already for
you threw on terry on the westbound sixty and as you're coming away from the
fifteen toward about Archibald, also still seeing those delays that have been happening as
of late along the transition road of the fifteen southbound actually make gad toward the
sixty west westbound nine you wonder overside to Corona going to be stretches of slowing
for your drive from Tyler as you make your way beyond the fifteen and the
seventy one towards the two forty one toll road. Patrick Delaza, We're all
nothing too crazy right home about but definitely heads up for your drive in the
fifteen northbound to the Tabasco Valley area of Corona from Tobasco Canyon, still going
toward Dos Lagos or why Rick okay, I find this Guy Holmes gets you
there faster. I'm Nick Cole o'keeney. Thanks Nick. It is five six
on your wake up call. Let's say good morning now to ABC Law Enforcement
reporter Luke Barr. Luke, there's been another mass shooting at another college campus,
this one at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. What is the
current situation. Yeah, So what we know right now is that at about
nine twenty five last night, Morgan State University police were on patrol. I
heard gunfire. Within minutes, police officers from the Baltimore Police Department responding to
a report of multiple victims being shot. It turned out that four males and
one female was shot. They're all in non life threat in condition, and
as of now, police told this last night that they have not located any
shooter and they're still actively investigating this shooting. So they don't know who the
shooter is at this point, or they're not saying correct, correct, They
don't either. They don't know, they're not saying. But all the answers
we've heard last night just into the one am Eastern hour was that still an
acting investigation and that they're still looking for whomever sort of carried out these these
shootings. Okay, so for the people who are on campus, because it
happened on campus, correct, Okay, so for them, yeah it happened,
yeah, go ahead, yeah, no, No, it happened in
a sort of hall on campus just after there was an on campus event,
uh, sort of in a nearby building. And there's also the president of
Morgan State University said it's homecoming weekend this weekend, and so it's the third
weekend in a row at Morgan, at Morgan State University. So you know
last year, the year before that, now this year where shooting has taken
place on or near the campus during homecoming weekend, I would think that they
would be canceling homecoming at this point. So are there were there reports of
any fights or anything before the shooting? No, they weren't. And and
and that's so you know, what's so peculiar about a lot of these on
campus shootings is that, you know, police have to work backwards and interview
sort of everybody who you know was in the vicinity, which you know sometimes
can be hundreds of kids, and and then sort of figure out what precipitated,
what action precipitated If there was one you know what, what action precipitated
the actual shooting on campus? Uh, and sort of go from there.
But you know, as of right now, the authorities just aren't saying,
uh, you know what what actually transpired before shooting took place. Yeah,
and then at last night I saw on some of the news reports they were
showing video that there was a broken out window up like on the sixth floor
of one of the buildings, and they were they had people up there searching
it, and that just was scary because it was reminiscent, you know,
of that Las Vegas shooting where somebody was up just picking people off from the
hotel or the casino hotel window. Luckily that didn't appear to be the case.
But for the people who are on campus, are they just sheltering in
place or have they evacuated campus or what are they doing? So right now,
you know, shortly after the shooting took place, you know, when
the press conference was going on, authorities lifted the sheltering place, they lifted
the lockdown, and you know, during the press conference they were actually asked,
hey, you know, why were you why'd you lift the lockdown,
and they said it they felt it was safe at this point that you know,
the situation was not an active situation at that point, so it allows
for students and you know, others to sort of freely move about. And
they also sort of established a safe stone where parents could go, a concerned
parents could go. And so yeah, I'm sure that was a sigh of
relief for parents when that last lockdown was lifted. They could sort of reunite
with their you know, their child. And you know, I saw a
first hand account from our our affiliate and and they had said that you know,
one of the parents that was actually at that on campus event, so
that he wasn't going to leave until he had laid eyes on his daughter.
Uh and uh, you know eventually that happened once the lockdown was lifted.
But certainly a scary situation in Baltimore. Yeah, especially because they don't have
the guy. They don't know where he is, and they're not telling people
to shelter in place still, so he could still be just kind of lying
in wait. That's kind of freaky. Hopefully that's not the case. Luke
bar thank you so much for your time and insket this morning. I appreciated
a time. Thanks. All right, let's get back to some of the
stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. People in Westchester say
LA's plans to up zone in neighborhoods haven't been carefully considered. One neighbor,
Josley Delia, says the city made plans to build high rise apartments near homes
without including some of the community's most vulnerable members. These are the folks that
this plan is going to impact the most, and no one had a place
at the table who were actual homeowners, residents, seniors. The city plans
to add about two hundred and fifty five thousand units across LA, with several
multifamily units being proposed in Westchester. Councilwoman Tracy Park said yesterday she is committed
to listening to public concerns. Merchants on historic Alva Streets say the areas surrounding
the market is riddled with homeless people and rats. Vendors have captured multiple videos
of the homeless drugged up, fully naked, and sometimes defecating on the sidewalk.
Edward Flordes is a fourth generation business son Ronald Vera Street, who says
the city only cares about politics and so it's really unfortunate. That it gets
so nasty, sometimes are sticky, and it just the ugly. At least
the public doesn't get to see. Councilman Da Leon's office said yesterday. The
councilman introduced a motion last month to try to create more housing in the downtown
LA area. Chris Adler k FI News, the judge in New York hearing
the civil fraud case against former President Trump has imposed a limited gag order because
Trump disparaged a court staff or. Aaron Katurski says the order came with a
stern warning to the former president, telling him personal attacks on members of my
court staff are unacceptable and inappropriate. Trump deleted the disparaging post yesterday after the
judge called him and all of the lawyers into a closed door session. Saudi
Arabia says it's going to maintain a production cut of a million barrels of oil
a day through the end of the year. Production cuts, first and bounced
by Saudi Arabia and Russia in July have driven up prices by a lot.
Here in California, oil is hovering around ninety dollars a barrel. The Saudi
Energy Ministry says the Kingdom will review the production cut again in November. Pope
Francis has opened a big meeting at the Vatican on the future of the Catholic
Church. He says the church is in need of repair to make it a
place of welcome for everyone. He says the church should not be a rigid
barricade driven by fears and ideology. ABC's and as Dela Kotera says, on
Monday, Pope Francis suggested there could be ways to bless same sex unions,
which he says would have to be decided on a case by case basis and
should not be confused with sacramental marriage for heterosexuals. Francis presided over a mass
in Saint Peter's Square this morning to formally open the meeting. Seattle Seahawks head
coach Pete Carroll is called for a ban on the hip drop tackle. The
hip drop tackle following the takedown of starting quarterback Jino Smith on Monday night.
The move is when a players full body weight falls on the player being tackled.
Carol says it's dangerous, it has no place in football. New York
Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons, who was responsible for the hit on Smith, says
it's part of the game. Part of the game if you just want a
two billion dollars jackpot, is spending money, and that's what Edwin Castro appears
to be doing. So you'll remember that the guy from southern California who lives
or lived in Altadena one the two point zero four billion dollars Jack Pott for
Powerball in November of last year. He took the cash option, which is
nine hundred ninety seven point six million dollars. Not a bad haul, And
since then he's been criticized by some for the way he's spending money. But
I'm like, you got a billion dollars in cash, mant however you want.
He started by buying a twenty five and a half million dollars home in
the Hollywood Hills. He then bought a four million dollars Mpanese inspired house in
Altadena, which was his hometown and not far from the mobile gas station where
he about the ticket. But now he has purchased a forty seven million dollar
mega mansion in la It has eleven bathrooms, seven bedrooms, a coy pond,
an infinity pool. It has a panoramic view of the entire city of
La It has DJ turntables, one of those built into the walls or something,
a champagne room, which every good millionaire needs, a glass walkway,
a wine cellar, and a home theater. The bedrooms all have walking closets,
oversized tubs, and relaxing sitting areas. Real estate is never a bad
investment, though, so he's not making all bad choices. About seventy five
thousand Kaiser employees nationwide are expected to walk off the job and hold a three
day strike after contract negotiations broke down last night. Doctors and nurses aren't expected
to take part in the strike, but nursing assistants and pharmacists and several other
groups are. Actors in Hollywood studios sit down for more negotiations today in an
effort to end the two and a half month long actors strike. They met
four first time since the strikes started on Monday. The International Space Station is
going to be visible in the skies above southern California, Nasi says Tomorrow and
Friday nights, look about ten degrees above the horizon. The space station will
look like a shiny ball bearing moving across the night sky. I remember I've
seen it before. It's kind of cool to watch. At six oh five's
handle on the news. What's next for the US House now that Kevin McCarthy
has been removed as speaker. Bill's going to dive into that. Right now,
let's dive into tech talk. It's the host of Rich on Tech on
KFI and KTLA's tech reporter. It's Rich Demiro. Good morning, Rich,
Hey, good morning to Amy. Happy test message day from FEMA. I
know happening at eleven twenty. What's going on with that? Well, you
know, they test this system every couple of years, and they're going to
send a message to all of our smartphones and TVs and radios apparently starting at
eleven twenty. Like you said, the time is going to span for thirty
minutes. You're not going to get a whole bunch of messages, but in
that thirty minutes that's when you may receive it. So you may not get
it right it. You know, eleven twenty, if your phone is on,
even if you have it on silent, you're going to hear this thing.
Because you cannot turn off these messages, you cannot block them, and
basically the only way to not get it is to turn your phone off.
During that time. But I have a feeling even if you turn your phone
off, when you turn it back on, you may still receive it,
so you'll get it late. I don't know. This is a test.
This is only a test, and it's it's good that they do this,
and it's it's interesting too that they said that they were going to do it
on television. But it used to be that it would run like on the
broadcast stations, but now they're putting it out over the satellites and the streaming
and everything. Yeah, which you know, look, I think that's actually
really smart because yes, we grew up as kids you saw these alerts.
I mean it felt like they did them every week versus one every three years.
But now we've got Netflix, now we've got streaming, and so we
need a way to get a hold of people nationwide if there is something of
urgency, and this is the test to do that. But I will tell
you, Amy, if you saw the comments on my Facebook page, Oh
my gosh, the conspiracy theories are flying hot and fast this morning. I've
never seen a post go so viral, and all I do is post that
this is happening, and people are going nuts. Okay, so what are
the conspiracy theories that we have an alien invasion coming so we're getting ready for
it. Yep, that's one of them. It's activating the whatever they injected
us for the COVID vaccines. This is now the signal that activates whatever they
put in us. I mean, is it is really wild? I just
I'm just I can't get through these, you know, six thousand shares I'm
seeing on this thing and reading all the comments. It's pretty wild. Okay,
Well, if everybody starts walking around like zombies at eleven thirty, we'll
know that they actually were injecting things into us. Yeah. Well, you
know, people are zombies anyway. Have you seen them on their phones?
They look at their phone, They almost fall into like anything that's in front
of them. They don't even notice. We're already zombies. I know.
You know. I was driving through downtown and lay somewhere last week and a
guy walked out into the street, was crossing in a sidewalk, and about
halfway through started looking down at his phone. I'm like, there's cars all
around you. What are you doing. I mean, like people are just
inviting problems. Survival of the fittest, Yeah, right, right right.
Hey, you mentioned next Netflix a little bit ago, and I mentioned right
before that that the striking actors are going to be talking again today. But
how is Netflix and the actors strike tied to higher prices? Well, according
to the Wall Street Journal, they have sources that say as soon as this
strike is over, Netflix is going to increase prices because people are getting back
to work. All these streaming services want to make money. Prices have been
raised about twenty five percent in the past. Your Netflix was not one of
those, although I don't know if you remember this. They got rid of
their lowest priced plan that had no ads, which was ten bucks a month.
They forced people to either jump to the fifteen dollars a month plan or
fall back to the seven dollars a month plan that has ads. So Netflix,
like all these other companies, I say, the free ride is over.
They have all been raising prices. Amazon now going to charge three dollars
extra a month for Prime Video if you don't want ads there. And then
Warner Brothers Discovery announced that they're raising the price of Discovery Plus, which I'm
not sure if anyone in the world subscribes to, but if they do,
that's going from six ninety nine a month to eight ninety nine a month.
Well, I'm going to check in. If I do, I'm going to
stop. Yeah, you know what, I'll tell you this Amy, I
canceled my Disney subscriptions. They raised the price by five bucks, and I'm
not kidding. The backlash I'm getting in the demureau household is real, and
all I want to do here's my plan. All I want to do is
hold off for one month because that saves me twenty five dollars over the whole
year, and then I will resubscribe because I feel like that's a hack.
You say, twenty five dollars a year just by getting rid of it for
a month, Well, you totally can. Because for the streaming, if
you want to binge like Asoka, but which I'm finding out, I don't
know why you want to, but if you want to do that, just
wait until the whole series is out and then restart your subscription and watch it
all exactly. But my kid has a new show that apparently he wants to
watch and he was very sad last night when he couldn't tune into it.
Okay, so real quick, you're talking about raising prices, but Samsung is
doing something to lower prices. Yes, they're coming back out with a lineup
they called the SE the Fan Edition. I love this because now they have
their top of the line devices but at a much lower price. You can
get the S twenty three Fan Edition starting at six hundred dollars versus like twelve
hundred for the real top of the line as twenty three Ultra. They've got
new earbuds called the buds SE. Those are one hundred dollars and they have
up to eight and a half hours of playback on a single charge. And
I will tell you when I was on the plane yesterday, I never had
a problem with my earbud. It's like not lasting, And yesterday it was
the first time they went dead in the middle of the flight and I had
to recharge them. So I guess I've been listening to them longer. But
anyway, this is Samsung's attempt to, you know, please everyone, because
they've got the real high end stuff and now they've got this isn't low end.
These are really good specs on stuff that does not cost as much money.
And by the way, Samsung stuff is typically discounted, so even though
these phones start at six hundred dollars will probably be able to get up for
closer to four fifty or five hundreds. The android crowd's got to be excited.
I think so. And by the way, Android crowd today, I'm
in New York City for Google is launching their new Pixel phones today. So
that is very exciting if you're a Google Pixel fan, because they do a
lot of stuff with AI and it's always kind of fun to see what Google
cooks up. Okay, so you'll have to tell us about that next week,
all I will. People, I love it too, all right,
well, have fun in the Big Apple. That's the KTLA tech reporter Rich
Demiro, Thank you so much for your time. He is, of course
the host of rich on Tech right here on KFI Saturdays from eleven to two.
I would imagine you'll be talking about the new Pixel phones on Saturday.
You can also follow Rich absolutely. You can follow Rich on Instagram at rich
on Tech. His website is rich on Tech dot TV. The US House
is without a speaker now that Kevin McCarthy's been voted out on a two sixteen
to two ten vote. McCarthy said after he was removed he will not try
to get the gavel back. We're gonna be talking more about this with ABC's
Stephen Portnoy in just about fifteen minutes. To stick around for that. The
Biden administration is forgiving another nine billion dollars in student debts. One hundred twenty
five thousand borrowers who've been making payments for more than twenty years will have their
debt forgiven, along with people who've worked in a government or nonprofit job for
more than ten years. Three scientists based in the US have won the Nobel
Prize for chemistry. It's for their work on quantum dots that release bright colored
lights. They're used in everything from TV screens to LED lamps to medical imaging
that can light up tumors. At six oh five, it is handle on
the news, guys, are workers are walking out? Bill's going to tell
you the latest on the largest healthcare workers strike in US history. What am
I on? I'm on streaming shows, movies, documentaries. Sometimes TV shows
might want to talk about Survivor, but not today. Today, I want
to talk about a documentary put out by Sean Penn. So Sean Penn sents
out to make a lighthearted movie about the comedian turn president Volodimir Zelenski, but
ends up with front row seat to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The documentary is
called Superpower and Love Him or Hate Him, because I know there's a lot
of strong feelings both ways about Sean Penn. This is a really really interesting
watch and it's a far cry from Jeff Spicoli, let me tell you so.
But he literally goes over to Ukraine and he's like, oh, that's
really cool. Like Zelenski gets it. He was a comedian and an actor
and he was in a show about how an actor or about how this guy
became a president, Like he did a TV show about it, and then
he actually does it in real life, and he thought that would be really
interesting. So he goes over there and as he just ends up there at
the time when Russia is ramping up for its invasion, he ended up going
to Ukraine like seven times. He was there on the day that Russia invaded,
and he still went back to Ukraine after that, and it was super
super interesting hearing like his insights how he was seeing it. He talked to
a lot of people who didn't support Zelensky, like at the start of the
invasion, they were like he's a comedian's you know, he's like a figurehead
president. There's no way we don't support him. And there was a lot
of our language. And then he went back and talked to them again later
and it was sort of interesting to see how, you know, a year
and a half later, they've changed. So they say that Sean Penn says
that Zelenski did this for his country, he did it for the children,
he did it for our children. He's really passionate about it. After meeting
Zelenski, he actually, like I said, met Zelenski on the day that
Russia invaded, and Zelenski said at that time, you know, it's really
important for people to see this and to hear the people of Ukraine and to
see what's happening. What I thought was really weird about it is that this
just came out like a couple of weeks ago, and the war has now
been going on for year and eight months. And he did show the strength
of the people, their unity, their courage, their will to win.
They're like, how are the Ukrainians so strong? But boy are they they
are, and they're holding that strength and it's really like something that we've lost
in the US, like they're they're willing to fight for their country, and
I think a lot of people in the US are like, oh, I
hope everything goes okay. So it's it's a really interesting perspective. I think
that if you have any inkling, you should watch it, because we don't
see what's happening in Ukraine every day. We hear about it sporadically. It's
not in the news cycle right now, so but for the people of Ukraine,
it's their reality. It's what they're living every day. And as I
mentioned, it's been going on for a year and eight months. I wish
that Sean would have hurried this up and maybe started it a year ago.
It just seems like there was a sense of urgency then, not so much
now. But maybe it's a good reminder, and so I definitely recommend that
you watch this. It's called Superpower. It's on Amazon Prime, and it's
really a riveting couple of hours to watch and see what's going on inside the
borders of Ukraine. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. About twenty three thousand Kaiser Permanente employees in
southern California are planning to walk off the job today. The expected three day
strike would involve more than seventy five thousand employees nationwide. Workers walking include nursing
assistants, eer techs, respiratory therapists, dietary workers, home health aids,
and more. The employees have been without a contract since Saturday. Kaiser is
saying they're going to make sure that people who are under their care are still
getting good care and doctors and nurses are not expected to be involved in the
strike. Sag After and the major studios are set to meet again to talk
about ending the actors strike that started in July. Sag Afters demands include general
wage increases, protections against the use of actor images through artificial intelligence, higher
company station for successful streaming programs, and better health and retirement benefits. Immigrant
rights groups have gathered in downtown LA to push for a pair of bills aimed
at helping illegal immigrants. They say they want Governor Newsom to sign two bills,
one that would give cash to undocumented senior citizens and the disabled. The
other would allow undocumented high school students free access to Dreamer resources on college campuses.
Is well Mental, she arrived in this country as a young person,
as many persons did, as she thinks that they that all of our folks
deserve, that they all deserved to age with dignity. Yesterday, one group
rallied in front of the State Building in downtown LA. Another group marched and
rallied at the State Capitol. Steve Gregory king if I knew. At least
five people have been hurt in a shooting during a homecoming event at Morgan State
University in Baltimore, Maryland. University police were on patrol, they heard discharge
and responded to the scene. Located multiple victims within seconds or minutes. Our
BPD fire and police resources were on scene. Commissioner Richard Worley said yesterday the
injured are four men and a woman between the ages of eighteen and twenty two.
Classes have been canceled today and an emergency meeting it's being held to decide
whether to hold other Homecoming week events. Speaking of events, you heard me
say it's a National Taco Day. And usually when they have National Taco Days,
like they just had National Coffee Day and a lot of places had free
coffee. Well, National Taco Day means free or discounted Tacos Del Taco is
doing talk. Can't even say it, taco Nope. Yeah, Taco Berfest.
Okay, everybody say it with me. Taco Berfest. It's actually going
on all month and you can get like a bundle of five steak snack tacos
for three bucks on Wednesday. That's starting today, but they have different deals
going on all month. Elpoil Loco. If you buy any two tacos today,
you get an extra taco free El Trito. If you want to sit
down and have a nice meal, they have free free street taco trio plate
if you buy an entree. Taco Bell is bringing back their Taco Lover's Pass,
so you can get for ten bucks a taco a day from a choice
of eight different tacos for thirty consecutive days. That's a lot of tacos.
But happy National Taco Day. Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's
Steven Portnoys. Stephen. Eight Republicans took the speakership away from Kevin McCarthy,
and we've never seen it before in American history, a successful vote on the
floor of the House to alista sitting speaker. It happened yesterday, and what
a solemn moment. It was that all the members of the House, voting
from their chairs, the final tally being read, the Speaker pro temporaree designated
by McCarthy to succeed him, taking the Speaker's rostrum and slamming the gavel so
hard it looked like he was going to break it. The House Republican Conference
is now devolved and is decamped. There's no more business that will be done
for the rest of the week. As members of Congress who now want to
put their their names forward to be the next speaker start putting out feelers.
We understand Steve Scalise, the current House Majarity Leader, is one of them.
It's also been suggested that maybe Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Chair,
is also indicating that he would not turn down the opportunity to be the next
speaker. Kevin Hearn, who leads the Republican Study Committee, is right,
and most most Americans haven't, and so there are a couple of others who
may wind up being floated. But this next week, in a vacuum of
leadership, offers an opportunity for Republicans to feel out one another as to who
might be the next Speaker. But no matter who is chosen by the conference,
and we expect that there'll be a vote or some sort of you know,
decision to nominate someone by let's just say a week from today, that
person will always have to worry about the threat of an ouster unlesser until the
rules are changed, because Matt Gates will insist and his allies will insist on
certain pledges from whoever the next Republican Speaker is. With respect to appropriations measures,
he opposes additional funding for Ukraine. He expects that somehow miraculously, in
the next few weeks, the Congress will return to the regular appropriations process of
passing a dozen individual appropriations bills and reconciling them with a dozen appropriations bills passed
in the Senate. And the Senate has no interest in doing that. So
we'll see how likely it is that government shutdown happens in mid November, something
that Kevin McCarthy worked to avoid, isn't it. So it's so bizarre that
that small group has that much powered, sort of like on the Democratic side
when Joe Manchin, everybody was like, oh, he's disrupting the whole everybody
because he had that vote that was needed, where it doesn't matter if it's
ninety five or ninety six percent, you just need the majority so that one
or two votes become so key. Well, we live in a divided country.
We are operating with a divided government. We have very small majorities for
both Democrats and Republicans in the respective houses, House and Senate. And this
is the risk in a polarized political environment, where the small faction can create
a lot of mischief. And that's what happened yesterday in the House of Representatives.
What is really striking is the fact that all the Democrats were unified to
facilitate it. And already you're seeing the Republican leaders now exacting some revenge on
Democrats. Nancy Pelosi and Denny Hoyer have been advised that they have today vacate
the small offices that they were granted as a courtesy by Kevin McCarthy as the
former speaker and minority leader, sorry speaker and majority leader of the Democrats in
the House. And so that is one emblem of the anger frustration that Republican
leaders feel toward Democrats for having this happen. Remember, they're only eight Republicans.
They couldn't do it by themselves. They did it aligning with the Democrats
to have this chaos happen. And the Democrats position is to say, look,
we don't owe any allegiance to Kevin McCarthy. He said plenty of bad
things and done a few bad things that they disagree with, and so they
weren't going to try to save him. Yeah, was it you and I
talking about this that we thought maybe that the Dems would kind of throw McCarthy
a carrot since he helped keep the government open. There were a couple of
options they could have taken. They decided not to. One of them would
have been a voting president or not voting at all. And so in the
end they decided to line up with Matt Gates against him. Yeah, they
were all in for that. Okay, so we have no speaker, we
can't do any business at all, and the Speaker pro tem he's just there
as a ceremonial thing or doesn't have any power right now. So, because
this has never happened before, there's no clear You don't know, but I'm
then put it this way. The Speaker pro temporary is holding the gabble as
a function of a rules change, right, after nine to eleven for continuity
of government purposes. The Speaker itself is an office that exists in the Constitution,
and it's a function of a vote of the House as a body.
The Speaker pro temporary as a designate of a former speaker, So there'd be
a question as to whether any action taken by the House would even be lawful.
So the smart course, I think is the one that Patrick McHenry is
choosing, which is to see about electing a new speaker before anything else is
done. And does mckenry maybe want to be in the running is his name
has not been mentioned, and it doesn't mean listen. He holds the gabble
now on a temporary basis, and he has instructed the House to go about
seeking a leadership choice. The thought would be if something needed to happen sooner,
if an emergency measure needed to be adopted by the House, well that
that could happen, perhaps with the Speaker pro temporary presiding. But you know,
I think, I guess, I say the wisest course is for the
House to choose a speaker. And but the problem for the House is that
right now there is no clear choice, and this is a leadership crisis for
the country that's playing out in real time. We've seen similar leadership crises in
the House before. Most recently it was when well, first of all,
when Speaker McCarthy was trying to get himself elected at the start of this year,
we saw a pretty elaborate leadership crisis playing out in real time. But
I remember in twenty fifteen when John Bayner suddenly resigned that you know, there
was quite an extended saga for a few days where no one was sure who
was going to emerge, and ultimately it was Paul Ryan, who was drafted
by his colleagues so well, he would really wanted either right, well,
he was reluctant, he sa he expressed reluctance. But let's see what happens
here. Okay, it's sort of real life succession perhaps House of Cards.
But yeah, okay, I'll go along too. Okay, And just my
final thought too, it's I thought McCarthy's speech after he lost the gavel was
good, and I think it played to our better angels, which doesn't happen
very often in DC. Well, I think you know what we have to
remember at the end of the day, as the Constitution sort of presumes that
they'll be compromised between the two sides. It's the only way to have measures
passed. Either clear majorities, which we don't have in the Congress, or
compromise. Those are the two options. Yeah, all right, Stephen Portnoys,
thank you so much for your time this morning. It's a rocky road
and we're going to be running down it together. I'm sure i'll talk to
you soon. All right. Hey, if you think you're too old,
check this out. A one hundred four year old woman in Chicago just jumped
out of a plane. She became the oldest person to skydive on Sunday.
They're pending Guinness World Records verification, but she left her walker behind and made
her way to sky Vane plane in Ottawa, Illinois, which is south of
Chicago. She first went skydiving when she was one hundred years old, and
apparently she had to be pushed out of the plane. This time, but
that time. But this time she willingly and joyfully, as the story says,
lad the tandem thirteen thousand, five hundred foot jump. She said,
skydiving is a wonderful experience. It's nothing to be afraid of. Just do
it one hundred four years old. This is KFI and KOSTHD two Los Angeles,
Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up Call. If you
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