You're listening to wake Up Call on demand from kf I AM six forty KFI
hand KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your
morning wake up call. Here's Amy King. This is your wake up call
for Wednesday, August third. I'm Amy King. I maybe one of the
first to wish you a very good morning. Here's what's ahead on the wake
up Call. Former President Trump expected in court at one pm hour time to
be arraigned on four charges tied to his alleged efforts to overturn the twenty twenty
election and the January sixth attack on the US Capitol. Actress Leah Remani has
sued the Church of Scientology. The former King of Queen's co star and former
Scientologist claims the church has stalked, harassed, threatened, and intimidated her.
The first of six Taylor Swift shows in La happens tonight at Sofi Stadium.
We've got some little tidbits to share with you about that. But I think
a lot of people are losing their minds, and it's not only the people
who are going to the show. We'll talk about that a little bit.
So let's start with some of the stories coming out of the twenty four hour
KFI news room. So my first question of the day is, what are
people thinking. A man in Orange County has been charged with throwing rocks and
passing vehicles on the fifty five Freeway near Tustin. The guy's facing seven felony
charges, including assault with a deadly weapon and throwing a projectile projectile with the
intent to do serious bodily harm. He's pleaded not guilty and is due back
in court next week. A person on a metro train has been stabbed to
death during a fight at a station in Hawthorne. The accused killer was arrested
last night. He's in the hospital. Investigators say he was shot in the
upper body by the man who was being stabbed. Just getting word out of
South Korea that thirteen people have been injured after a man rammed his car into
a sidewalk, got out and started stabbing pedestrians. We'll get more information about
that as it starts coming in. A plane with two men aboard has crashed
at the Van Nuys Airport. LA City Fire Captain Eric Scott says it's not
known why the plane went down. He says yesterday morning just after ten thirty
nine, call came in of a helicopter crash, but when Cruz got there,
they saw a single engine plane on fire. It's not clear if it
was taking off or landing. They did have a very high impact what was
described as nose first into the ground, so that likely quickly caused the death
of both of the occupant. Airport police say the planes registered to the airport
and was stored in a hangar on site. Steve Gregory Caofine News the Writers
Guild is expected to meet with major production companies tomorrow to try to reopen contract
negotiations. The owner of the Sandy Rose Floral prop house, Corey l says
her business and others have lost thousand because of the strike. It's very far
reaching, and I went almost hazarded guests and say that almost anybody who's listening
to this in Los Angeles as neighbors who are affected by this. The WGA
said in an email to its members. The negotiating team is set to meet
with production companies tomorrow. Writers have been on strikes since May second, and
then, of course the one hundred and sixty thousand members of stag AFTRA also
went on strike. Shortly after that, investigators have extradited and accused white supremacist
group later from Romania to California. Robert Rundo from Huntington Beach is accused of
being a founding member of the Rise Above movement. Prosecutors say the group attack
people at political rallies in cities, including Samerdordino in Berkeley in twenty seventeen.
The group allegedly posted photos and videos of violence as a recruitment tactic. Charges
against Rundo and two others were dropped in twenty nineteen, however reinstated by an
appellate court. In twenty twenty one, Rundo landed at the Hollywood Burbank Airport
Tuesday night Blake trolley k if I Knews. A man who says he was
attacked by La County Probation officers as a miner has filed a federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the County of LA's probation officers, including its chief, withheld
evidence from the DA's office to avoid criminal charges. Attorney Michael Correo says a
video of the officers beating down his then seventeen year old client was uncovered,
if not this would have been swept under the rug and my client would just
have to deal with these emotional and physical injuries, Carreo said yesterday. One
officer was charged last week with one count of assault under the color of authority.
He says his client was asking for more food when he was attacked by
the officers. Chris Adler kf I News. Someone's thinking about dying? Can
I Barbies? I'm definitely not thinking about death anymore. Okay, that was
one of the funniest lines in the movie Barbie. You know she thought about
dying. But barb Bee's movie has inspired that cultural and fashion trend called Barbie
Core, and apparently it's going right into the afterlife. Instead of Barbie's dreamhouse,
now you can get Barbie's dream coffin. Funeral homes have started offering hot
pink Barbie themed coffins for fans who hope to take their love for the Mattel
doll to the grave. A promotional video for one of the caskets says,
this coffin, with its striking, bright pink color, represents the spark and
energy of those unforgettable moments they lived. Makes me think of death and plastic.
It's fantastic. Okay, I won't saying anymore. I promise coming up
at a minute, Steve Portney Portnoy with ABC's gonna let us know how DC
is getting ready for Donald Trump's arraignment and whether a scare at the Capitol yesterday
was tied to the former president. It is five h seven on your wake
up call. Let's say good morning to ABC's Steve Portnoy. Steve, former
President Trump has another day in court today. Is he actually being booked or
is this a court appearance? Well, I guess you could say both.
Is true. He'll be processed and that is a booking process. He will
be fingerprinted, he will not be handcuffed, there will not be a mug
shot taken. But look, it's all a matter of semantics. I mean,
the bottom line is he's been summoned to appear before a US District Court
magistrate judge to hear charges that he conspired to upset and upend American democracy.
So yes, there'll be a proceeding before that where he has taken into custody
in some way, although the law enforce would prefer that we not call it
an arrest because that has a connotation. Look, this is a serious charge.
It's happening in the same federal courthouse where the Watergate conspirators were tried,
and it is the argument that the Trump attorneys will make. They'll make a
couple of arguments. One that the former president is being criminalized for his free
speech, for his political views, for the political statements. The prosecution has
an answer to that. They'll laws say that he was following the advice of
attorneys who had novel ideas of the bounds of the law and the Constitution,
and he was simply pursuing those ideas within the within the law. But the
prosecution will say, no, what he did went beyond the law, and
he inspired the attack on the Capitol, and he should be held criminally responsible.
That It'll be for a jury to weigh that, but it'll be It'll
all start today with the arraignment. The former president will fly here to Washington
from Bedminster, New Jersey. He will issue into a plea. The conditions
for release will be set by the magistrate judge, and then former President Trump
will be likely released on his own recognizance and sent back to New Jersey,
where he will be free to go for the moment, not exactly a flight
risk, right, So security preparations for this, I've seen a lot of
pictures of like the k rails going up around the courthouse, well, bike
racks is what we'd call them here, and they look it's a low level
of security precaution. The United States Secret Service, the Capitol Police, the
DC Police, the Park Police, the Federal Protective Service. There probably other
agencies involved in this, but you have a panoply of law enforcement that is
at the table here. They say that they're going to provide the utmost security.
And during his when he was arraigned last time, I think they had
put up a lot of security precautions, but there really wasn't a lot of
problems, right, and I don't expect problems today either. Okay, so
they're just doing this just to be safe. But there was something that happened
at the Capitol yesterday. What was that, Well, somebody phoned in a
nine one one threat. The threat on the phone was that there was a
heavily armed man at the centered office buildings, which led to a widespread search,
a shelter in place order that lasted longer than the search took. In
the end, nothing was found. It was described as a bogus call.
Okay, so just after the whole January sixth thing, I think people are
just taking extra precautions to make sure that everybody stays safe. Well. Sure,
but also a great deal of attention is focused on it, and security
officials believe they have an outsized responsibility to take everything with the utmost seriousness.
So when a threat comes in, they're going to take it seriously. Okay,
Steve Portnoy, thank you so much for checking in with us this morning.
Sure we're gonna be talking to you about this many more times. You
bet. All right, have a great day. Let's get back to some
of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom, getting back
to the what are people thinking thing? A man detained in downtown LA allegedly
used a stolen forklift to crash into several buildings, including the Apple store in
the Tower Theater on Broadway. Video and social media showed the forklift on the
sidewalk in front of the theater with its horn blaring. A witness told police
they saw a man take the forklift from a work site. There are no
reports that anyone actually got hurt. Here's another one, A man who allegedly
attacked a flight attendant on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to New Orleans has
been arrested thanks to passengers on board. Sheriff's office in Louisiana says the thirty
nine year old attacked a flight attendant with a makeshift weapon, having said what
it is as the flight was landing in New Orleans yesterday afternoon. Eight people
on board tackled them held them down until law enforcement arrived. A plan to
expand the La Zoo has moved forward following an unanimous vote by city council.
The decision yesterday approves the expansion of animal enclosures, facilities, and conservation efforts.
The proposal would develop sixteen acres of hillside near the zoo in Griffith Park,
which some critics say would be detrimental to wildlife. Council members say the
zoo has been receptive to feedback and is making adjustments to its plan. A
jury in Pittsburgh has unanimously recommended death for the convicted Tree of Life synagogue shooter
Robert Bowers. Was found guilty in June of killing eleven people in twenty eighteen.
Most were elderly or disabled. Aaron Katurski says, the same jury recommended
the death sentence. Even the judge appeared almost on the verge of tears as
he was thanking the jury for their service because it was such an emotional case.
Formal sentencing is expected today. A radiologist in Oregon who was knocked unconscious
when a guy randomly threw a metal bottle at her face, says she waited
more than twenty minutes without a police response. Mary Constantino says, it feels
like citizens in Portland are totally on their own. I do not hold the
police accountable for this at all. I hold our city accountable for defunding.
The police. Were in this situation where we don't have enough police force to
protect our citizens, and we did this to ourselves. Police say when her
came in on July twenty eighth, officers were actively on twenty six other calls
around the city. They say there were just no free officers and there were
still fifty two calls holding waiting for a police response about he's been found near
the floating border wall along the part of the Rio Grand River in Texas.
The barrier of buoys was installed last month by officials in Texas to keep migrants
from illegally crossing the border. The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit over
the barrier, calling it dangerous and unlawful. Texas Governor Greg Abbott says the
border wall is protected by the Constitution. A Latino football player has sued Northwestern
University, claiming upperclassmen shaved Cinco de Mayo on the back of his head as
the entire football team watched. Ramon Diaz says he was just seventeen when he
was mocked and ridiculed by teammates. He says he was the only Latino offensive
lindman on the team at a time when the athletic department's culture allowed racist and
sexual abuse to thrive. A new index reveals the world's biggest stoners. If
you had to guess which city in the world hoovers up the most marijuana,
maybe you'd say Amsterdam careful of the chocolates there, or maybe Kingston, Jamaica
because reggae. Nope, New York. The twenty twenty three Cannabis Global Price
Index says the city blazes through sixty two metric tons of weed a year,
seven tons more than Sydney. Australia, which came in second. The index
says Tokyo has the most expensive cannabis in the world, almost three times higher
than New York's. The cheapest weed in the US Portland, Oregon, cheapest
worldwide Montreal, but you might have to ask for loweed there, Mark Ronner
KFI News Get It. The toy company Mattel is looking to hire a chief
Uno player to promote its newest card game, called Uno Quatro. A selected
TikTok user is going to be paid four thousand, four hundred forty four dollars
a week to play for four hours a day for four weeks. The paid
player will have to make and share videos of themselves challenging randos on the streets
of New York City. Tiktoker's can apply now through August tenth by making a
video explaining why they're the one for the job and posting it, of course,
to the Uno TikTok channel. Here are some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four newsroom. Former President Trump said to be arraigned this
afternoon in DC on four counts related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results
of the twenty twenty election. A man's been stabbed to death on Metro's C
line in Hawthorne. A person who was shot has been arrested. Florida Republican
governor and presidential candidate Ronda Santis says he will debate Democratic California Governor Newsom.
As far as we know, Newsom's not actually running for anything, but I
would watch that one for sure. At five thirty five, we have five
thirty eight dot COM's Nathaniel Rakitch. It's gonna be talking about RFK and why
the Republicans seem to really like him, of course he's a Democrat. At
six oh five, it's handled on the news. The US credit rating has
been downgraded and stocks went down in response. Okay, but right now we're
gonna do a little something called catchy Little Tune. Right, Okay. So
I'm Amy King and I'm on it. So what am I on? I'm
on like TV shows, streaming shows, movies, documentaries, things that are
on all of the streaming services that there are so many, Like I always
wonder how am I going to figure out what I'm going to watch? And
so a lot of times I ask my friends, what are you watching?
What what's good, what's bad, and that kind of thing. So,
being a well a self book proclaimed couch potato, I thought I will spend
my time productively watching shows and hopefully be able to direct you to some good
shows. So every once in a while we'll find out what I'm on.
Today, I'm on the Beanie Bubble. It's a new movie that's on Apple
TV just I think it came out last week, and it's the story about
Beanie babies. It is based on a true story, but it's just based
on that. And mo Kelly and I have had this conversation several times about
when a movie is based on something, it doesn't mean it's a true story.
There are elements of truth in the story, but then Hollywood takes creative
license with it. So this is the story of how Beanie babies were born.
It stars Elizabeth Banks. She plays Robbie, Zach Gallafanakas who plays Tie
who is the creator of Beanie babies, and then Sarah Snook is also in
it. She most recently was seen in Succession. She plays Sheila, and
there's also another character and I don't remember the actress's name, she plays Maya.
But these three women all have relationships in some way or another with Ti,
played by Zach Gallafanachas, and it's the journey that Ty and these women
in his life take as beanie babies become a sensation, and how the advent
of the Internet contributes to the beanie baby's success, because beanie babies became a
thing right about the time eBay hit in the early nineties, So they didn't
know that when they sold the beanie babies and they became really popular, that
people would start reselling them. And it was just it was a fascinating story
to see because I mean, they're these little stuffed animals that are beanie because
they're like little bean bags, and I mean, I've given them to my
best friends kids, and I probably have had a beanie baby, although I
never quite understood the craze of it. But I also knew a woman who
just was like this closet beanie baby collector and she had trunks full of them,
and apparently that was a really, really common thing. So this show
is really interesting. It's not an edge of your seat show, but it
is really good. It's not as good as I would say, Air,
which is another based on a true story the story of how they got Michael
Jordan to sign with Nike, and maybe i'll talk about that one. If
you haven't seen that one, that's definitely a great one. But this is
a good watch. So if you just have a couple hours and you're just
chilling, I would say that definitely recommend the Beanie Bubble. Again, it's
on Apple TV. And again I'm gonna hopefully from time to time share some
stories with you about different things, different shows. There's some really really good
streaming series out there, and then there's some really bad ones too, and
hopefully I'll save you some time because then you won't go watch them. Okay,
let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. Former President Trump is set to be arraigned in DC following
his latest indictment tied to the January sixth attack on the US Capitol and efforts
to overturn the twenty twenty presidential election. Law Enforcement says it is prepared for
any disturbances as Trump arrives at the court later. Trump is facing four federal
charges conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction
of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Lawyers
representing a potential co conspirator from Orange County say former President Trump's indictment is misleading.
Next Chapman University professor John Eastman appears to be co conspirator too. Eastman's
lawyers say the indictment falsely presents the record, ignoring comments from former Vice President
Pence about significant voting irregularities to contrive charges against Trump. The indictment alleges co
conspirator to devise the overall strategy to obstruct the twenty twenty election. Eastman's lawyers
say if charges are brought, plead deals will be rejected and Eastman will competently
go to trial in Orange County. Corbin Carson k if I News. John
Eastman says he still stands by the advice he offered former President Trump leading up
to January sixth. He told the John and Ken Show yesterday he doesn't think
he'll be indicted. Did you do something wrong by giving that advice to Trump?
No, absolutely not, and I'll defended if the Trump folks want to
call me as a witness. Eastman also went after former Vice President Pence and
his involvement in the indictment. He says Pence is running for president on the
argument that he was a so called potted plant during the attack on the Capitol
in twenty twenty one, King tides have caused more flooding in Huntington Beach.
The water started pouring in late last night. The extremely high tides happened a
few times a year. The tides Tuesday night caused flooding in Huntington Harbor,
Sunset Beach, and Newport Beach. A Southern California based helicopter company has offered
Taylor Swift fans the chance to arrive at SOFI in style. I ex Helicopters,
which is powered by Maverick, will take up to six guests on any
of the six concert nights starting tonight, but there would still be about an
hour's walk, so the price includes a ground transportation credit to actually get to
the area. So that's just one of the ways that people are getting to
the arena. I know that Taylor swift Mania has kicked into high gear as
her first of six shows is tonight. There are extra metro trains, metro
buses, and metro shuttles that are going to be going to and from the
area, they're going to be running late to make sure and if you really
want to go see Taylor Swift, maybe Nick, you want to go see
Taylor, I mean, do you want to go? Last minute? I'm
I'm down. Well, the cheapest seats I found were four fifty on StubHub.
Yeah, I mean that blows a lot of what I don't make here,
but yeah, well, and the floor seats I found for is little
as sixteen hundred, which I think is I think they're coming down because people
are like, oh gosh, I've got these seats. Still, there's still
a lot of seats available. But I did also find on StubHub this morning
front row seats. There's two of them, ten two hundred thirty two dollars
a piece dollars. Crazy. I can't even imagine. I know that sounds
amazing. Yeah, it sounds like I think it would be a fun show
to see, just because the Taylor fans are so crazy. In fact that
they had the merch trucks arrived yesterday and there were hundreds and hundreds of people,
maybe thousands, So I'm not exactly sure the number who came out to
go buy Taylor Swift t shirts. There was some crazy specific blue crew neck
shirt that all I heard about all day yesterday on TV, on the radio
here on KFI, on our sister stations on the FM dial. Everybody's looking
for these blue crewneck shirts that you can only get at those merch trucks.
So I can't even imagine what it was like. And just seeing how long
people started queuing up, I guess at one o'clock yesterday morning for the like
the night before, so I guess that would have been what Tuesday night,
Wednesday morning. Yeah, so just wild. I can't even imagine to wrap
my head around that. Absolutely insane. So here's the other thing that's happening
at other venues. Because one of my best friends up in Portland, her
daughters got to go see Taylor Swift in Seattle, so they drove up there,
and Seattle has their stadium like right in the downtown core area. So
thousands and thousands of people who did not have tickets came out and gathered outside
the stadium and sang along because apparently you can kind of hear it. It's
probably truly muffled like those but so they still they did that, and now
SOFI is saying, hey, hey, don't do that. Here. They're
telling you you can't go and do your dancing in the parking lots. Well
see, and I don't know what the Seattle stadium is like, but SOFI
is amazing because they're open. All sides of the Sofi are open. So
all of Inglewood is going to be able to sing along with Taylor no matter
where you are, even if you're not right there at the stadium. Okay,
Well, officials are saying, don't even think about it, but I'm
guessing that they will, and it's gonna be fun. We'll have talk about
it tomorrow and see how how tonight went. But Taylor swith my Hollywood part
to see like, that's close enough, So maybe that's not a horrible idea.
Maybe put you on at there we go. Okay, man on the
street A sorry, Amy, go ahead, Okay, And again, I'm
sure we're going to have more about this because tonight is the first of six
shows that Taylor Swift is doing it so far. Right now, let's say
good morning to five thirty eight dot COM's senior elections analyst Nathaniel Rakage. Good
morning, Nathaniel, Good morning, how are you. I'm great. Robert
F. Kennedy running for president as a Democrat. Of course, Democrats don't
seem too happy about it, but Republicans like him. Yeah, it's it's
pretty interesting. Obviously RFKA is a member of the most famous aliens democratic politics.
But yeah, he's gotten the warmest reception among Republicans. So if you
look at some of the Republican presidential candidates, some of them have said may
be interested in having him in their administration if they were to win. And
if you look at the polls, RFKA is actually doing better among Republican voters
than among Democratic voters. Of course that doesn't matter because if he's running in
the Democratic primary. But if you look at an average of the polls,
he has a plus twenty eight a favorability rating among Republicans, which basically means
the twenty eight percent more Republicans like him than dislike him, and among Democrats
that numbers negative five. So more Democrats dislike RFK than like him. So
that's obviously a problem if you're running the Democratic primary, And do they dislike
him because they like Biden or do they just dislike him in general? They
just dislike him in general. You know, if you see on the Republican
side, you know, a lot of Republicans say they really like Donald Trump,
and they really like La Santis, and they really like the Vecramasami and
they really like you know, Nicky Haley and stuff like that. So it's
not mutually exclusive. But I'm a Democratic side. Oh yeah, you know,
Democrats really like President Biden. But you know, they say that they
dislike Kennedy. And this is actually different. So earlier in the campaign,
when he first jumped in, and I think a lot of people maybe weren't
familiar with some of his more fringe views, like on being like being anti
vaccine, a lot of Democrats said that they did like him because they saw
the name Kennedy and they said, I like the Kennedy. But that has
changed over the course of the campaign. His numbers have slipped, okay,
and so his he is vaccinated, though, isn't he. Um. You
know, I'm actually not sure. I thought I heard that he was.
I'm not one hundred percent sure. I do know that he has he has
spread conspiracy theories about vaccines causing autism. Um, you know, things about
COVID nineteen, affecting people of certain races but not others. Um. So,
you know, a lot of those views are obviously, you know,
they're they're not popular among voters of all political stripes, but they tend to
be conspiracy theories that are more common on the rights than the left. So,
um, that is probably why they're particularly turning off Democratic voters. Okay,
And so so you're saying that the Republicans like him, So does that
really matter or does it matter like if if you know, depending on who
the Republican candidate is, that maybe Republicans would jump over and vote for a
Democrat. Um. Well, you know, I think obviously the odds that
R K will be Biden in the primary are extremely low. You know,
that would be true even if he didn't have some of these leaf. Biden
is an incumbent president. That's obviously a very strong position of being in the
primary. You know, in terms of the Republican you know, it's kind
of an interesting what if scenario to say, what if Kennedy were to switch
parties and run for president as a Republican. I think he'd do better than
he's doing currently in the Democratic primary. I still don't think you'd win,
because obviously Donald Trump is still very popular among Republicans and is kind of the
equivalent of Biden on that side of the aisle. But I do think that,
you know, for example, if one of these Republican presidential candidates were
to win and put him in their cabinet or something the way that they have
kind of mentioned the possibility of doing, I think that would be received well
by Republican voters. You know, personally, I wish that they would do
that. Didn't Abraham Lincoln did it, and they wrote a book about it.
How he puts some people from the other party on his cabinet because he
wanted he wanted that viewpoint and to have all voices. Yeah. Actually,
that's a fairly common practice among even modern presidents. So for example, George
W. Bush put Democrat Normonetta and his cabinet. Barack Obama put a Republican
Congressan from Illinois and his cabinet. So usually there's one or two slots kind
of reserved for the other party, just kind of as a bipartisan token of
goodwill. Okay, So even if the Republicans like JFK or not JFK sorry
RFK, his chances of doing anything are slim and none. But just because
Biden's going to win the nomination, it's kind of a given as long as
he's still in the race. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so we'll see
what Republicans do about it. But it is interesting to see in to hear
a different viewpoint because no one else has stepped up, even though seventy percent
of people say they don't want Biden to be president again. Yeah, although
it's important to remember that among Democrats that number is lower. So you know,
Democrats obviously tend to still be fans of Joe Biden, and about sixty
percent of them say they'll they'll support him in the primary. So that's why
he's not a Clyde pass to that nomination. But yeah, in the general
election, you know, if it is Trump versus Biden, a lot of
large majorities of Americans dislike both of those people, so it's going to be
an interesting election. The lesser of two evils, right, Okay. Nathaniel
Rakitch with five thirty eight dot Com, thanks so much for taking some time
to spend with us this morning. Thank you. All right. A man
found in a barrel in Malibu has been identified The medical examiner identified the body
as thirty two year old Gavanta Murphy, who lived at an apartment in Selmar.
According to a social media post with his name in photo, Murphy was
an aspiring rap artist. It's not clear if he had a job, but
law enforcement records show Murphy had been arrested in twenty seventeen for battery and domestic
violence. Court records show he struck a plea deal and served forty five days
in jail. Murphy's body was found Monday morning by a lifeguard at the Malibu
Lagoon State Park. Steve Gregory KOFYE News human remains discovered in San Bernardino in
nineteen eighty seven have been identified. Play say the body belonged to a fifty
one year old man reported missing in nineteen eighty six. They say there were
no identifying belongings or other investigative leads at the time, so the case went
cold, but a bone fragment was sent out for testing. The family of
the missing man eventually provided DNA and a positive match was confirmed. Detectives say
they don't think there was any crime connected to the death, probably some nice
closure for the family. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife say they're
separating after eighteen years of marriage. The couple has three kids. Trudeau's office
says the focus on raising the kids, raising the kids in a safe,
loving and collaborative environment. The National Park Service says is going to let people
visit any park in the US for free tomorrow. Park fees are being waived
tomorrow in honor of the Great American Outdoors Act, which was passed in twenty
twenty. The passage cleared the way for increased funding, expanded recreation and other
improvements. It's one of five days this year designated as a fee free day.
Say that five times fast. The next one will be September twenty first,
on National Public Lands Day. Right now, let's say good morning to
ABC's Jim Ryan. Jim, here's something fun. Leprosy is surging. It
is, yes, at least in parts of the country, and these are
still relatively low numbers. About two hundred thousand new cases of leprosy around the
world every year. Between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty, they had about one
hundred and fifty six here in this country, and the lions share were just
in five states. Florida California, Louisiana, Hawaii, New York, and
Texas, but Central Florida really seems to be the place where it has taken
roots. It used to be that the illness would come into an area from
somebody traveling outside or immigrating to this country from someplace where leprosy is still a
problem. But now these cases are troubling in that they are endemic, meaning
that they're popping up with in a community itself amy So doctors, especially in
Central Florida are trying to keep tabs on this. So conditions are ripe in
Central Florida for leprosy, well, they are across the whole southern tier,
although some cases have turned up in New York State, and so, yeah,
the climate is one part of it, certainly, But also leprosy can
be spread by armadillos in case they didn't realize that. Really, yeah,
they don't bite, but if you're in contact with a wild armadillo that's been
infected, you can get infected from that animal. The fluids, the bodily
fluids of these animals can can spread it if they've been infected. But kind
of contact would you have with an armadillo? Hard to say I can't.
And you know, let's say you find one a dead armadillo on the road
and you're responsible for cleaning it up. Maybe yeah, well they eatim in
Brazil or it's a lead. Yeah, it's a delicacy in Brazil armadillo.
Can it be spread that way? Probably not, because assuming you're cooking the
animal, then the bacterias is cooked out of it. But yeah, so
I think the armadillo equations it's sort of interesting, but that's probably not how
it's been spreading. It's not thought that that's how it's been spreading around Florida.
But really they're watching very carefully in central Florida. In fact, if
you turn up some other part of the country and you've got weird lesions or
numbness in your hands, or feed or I disorders, doctors likely to ask
you, have you been to Disney late even been to Central Florida, because
that's where they're seeing this illness. Are they seeing it a Disney World?
Do they think that that's that's a spreading location. It's just that just happens
to be in the same exactly that the Orlando area and then parts west over
toward even as far west as the as the Gulf, the Gulf Coast,
the Tampa area, potentially, don't do that to my Disney. So you
mentioned there's like two hundred thousand cases worldwide world War. Who knew. I
thought it was like completely eradicated. Where where does it generally live? Well
in Africa, parts of Africa, places in Asia, and you know it's
still isolated to some pockets like that. And you thought it was eradicated because
it's rare in this country, and you've been hearing about it as a biblical
sort of the duds. It's mentioned in both the Old Testament and the New
Testament in a not a very favorable way. And back in the Dark Ages,
people were consigned to living together in colonies because there was no cure.
It was considered highly contagious and there was just really nothing you could do with
people like that. There were colonies in Hawaiian Molochai, for example. Now
it is treatable. You can be cured. It takes about two years worth
of antibiotics, but you can get over leprosy. Wow, two years.
And so we were talking about this on Handle yesterday and Handle was kind of
saying, yeah, and then your hands start falling off and that, because
I mean, like, do literally can body parts fall off? Can they
rot like that? Really? They can? Yeah, I've seen the pictures.
It's not pretty. So if you start feeling a ez weird lesions on
your skin, or you'd start feeling or items like this, you need to
get it taken care of quickly. Chances that it's leprosy very very slim,
but if it is, there can be a problem. Have there been any
cases reported that you know of in California? There have been cases in California
where though I'm not quite sure, but recently. Yes, most of the
cases in fact, from twenty twenty according to the CDC, like we didn't
have enough with COVID, Yeah exactly. Wildfire, the wildfires don't kill leprosy.
But yeah, those states you know these it's actually six dates, including
Texas, New York, Hawaii, Louisiana, California, Florida. So that
kind of southern tier in New York is sort of the outlier there. It
was tech. Did you just say Texas? No you didn't. I did,
Oh, you did, because that would make sense with the armadillo thing,
right, they did? Yeah, exactly. But I talked with the
station in Orlando this morning. I said, you know, I've been out
there many times for different reasons, haven't seen an armadillo. But they say,
yeah, they've got a lot of armadilla's in central in Central Florida.
Two, they're in Louisiana. Clearly they're in Hawaii. I don't know about
you, guys, you have a have an armadillo issue there. I've never
seen one. And Steve kna is like shaking his head, he says,
we don't have those. So how aside from armadillos, how literally is it's
spread Because it's a communicable disease. It is, yeah, from person to
person, you know, bodily fluids one person to the next. But it
takes a long term contact with someone because the bacterium doesn't live for long outside
the human body. So you've got to have exposure for some time before it
can infect you. Right, So it's a fragile sort of bacterium. But
once it passes from one person to the other, then it takes holding within
that host. Okay, well, and anything you can do to prevent it,
stay out of Central Florida, Okay, don't kiss armadillos. Those are
very very helpful hints. Yeah right, thank you Jim, who knew.
All right, have a great day. And as if you know leprosy wasn't
enough. You know, we were talking about how valley fever could hit California
hard this year and the the drought is to blame, but it kind of
has a Last of Us connection. So the dry conditions combined with recent heavy
winter rains could result in increasing valley fever cases in the coming months. According
to the California Department of Public Health, During a drought, the fungus that
causes valley fever is left as less active, but it grows again once the
rains come back. So valley fever known as now I can't say it cosa
damiga caucus or something like that. It's caused by a fungus that grows in
dirt. People and animals can get sick if they breathe in the dust and
contain the fungus. Remember how the whole the Last of Us They were saying,
what's going to wipe us out is the fungus. I haven't heard anything
about turning into zombies or clickers, but we're going to keep an eye on
that one. Okay, So no one told me about this. Krispy Kreme
was giving out free donuts to people who didn't win the lottery. So yesterday
morning, when we heard about the that there was no winner on Tuesday night,
krispy Kreme offered a free blazed donut to customers who didn't match all six
winning numbers, which was everybody. And to claim the consolation prize, you
just had to show up at a Krispy Kreme and show your lotto ticket.
This is nationwide and you would get one donut. They say wealth supplies last.
When are they running out of donuts? But I want to know if
they're going to do it again because the next Mega Millions drawing is Friday.
It's a one point two five billion, but our odds of winning are one
in more than three million, so that's a lot of free donuts if krispy
Kreme offers it again. So I'm going to be on the lookout. Maybe
do a little Google search, because I think it's time for me to have
a free chrispy Creme. This is KFI and kost HD 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. You've been listening
to wake up call you know you can always listen live on KFI a M
six forty weekdays from five to six am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app