You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI and 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 Thursday, April eleventh. Good morning, I'm
Amy King. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Today's National Pet Day.
A good excuse to love up your pets, just a little extra today,
not that they don't already get too much love. Hey, you know
I've talked about like my little menagerie of animals around. I saw raccoons last
week. I had my possum porch out again last week, and this morning
owls had owls who outside my door. I'm just calling at my little monasherie.
Here's what's ahead on wake up Call, and we got a lot for
you today. The woman who police say stabbed her boyfriend, then pushed her
two young daughters out of a moving car in the four h five, killing
one of them, and then crashed and killed herself in Redondo Beach was an
astrology enthusiast who posted online messages warning of the dangers of the solar eclipse.
Those posts were made just hours before the crime spree show Heyo Tani apparently off
the hook. Federal investigators say he wasn't involved in his former interpreter's gambling.
The interpreter may be facing federal charges and is apparently working on a plea deal.
Got a lot of spacey things going on today. Very excited because we're
going out of this world with astronaut Nick Haig. He's in training for a
mission to the International Space Station. We're going to be talking with him in
about fifteen minutes. We're also going out and about to a galaxy far far
away. To the Reagan Library. We're gonna go check out their new scar
Star Wars exhibit that's coming up a little bit later this hour at six oh
five. It's handle on the news. President Biden is calling on Hamas to
take the deal for a ceasefire with Israel. Let's get started with some of
the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The woman who
fatally stabbed her boyfriend in Woodland Hills then pushed her young daughters out onto the
four h five in Culver City was an astrology influencer who warned of an eclipse
related apocalypse. Danielle Johnson, who goes by the online name of Danielle Aoka,
is a self proclaimed divine healer with more than one hundred thousand followers on
the x platform. In the days leading up to the eclipse, Johnson posted
to social media that the upcoming event was spiritual warfare and people needed to choose
a side. LAPD says it believes Johnson's fear of the eclipse is what drove
her to kill her boyfriend, push her nine year old and eight month old
daughters out on the freeway, killing the baby, and to kill herself by
slamming her portion to a tree in Redondo Beach. All of the deadly events
happened in the early morning before Monday's eclipse. Chris Adler KFI News. The
Metropolitan Water District has approved it's two point four billion dollar annual budget that includes
an eight and a half percent rate hike next year and another eight and a
half percent the year after twenty six local agencies by water from the MWD.
Justin breck with La water keeper says the district was faced with financial and climate
challenges. They had looked at other options potentially increasing property taxes a little bit
more than what they chose, but this is developed the found the MWB.
MWD rather says the rate increases are necessary to cover the costs of sustainable water
and the impact of drought. Property taxes could also be raised. A bill
introduced by San Francisco Assembly Wman Matt Haney is trying to make California more pet
friendly. It says just thirty percent of available rental units in any given city
allow pets, but seventy percent of renters have a pet, and he says
the issue is dramatically exacerbating the state's housing crisis. His bill would require landlords
to have reasons for not allowing pets in rentals. It also means property owners
can't ask about a tenant's pet ownership status until after their application has been approved.
Three sons of a Hummas leader have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in
Gaza. Hamasa's four of Ishmael Haneya's grandchildren were also killed yesterday. The Israeli
military says the men killed were involved in militant activity in central Gaza, and
Aya claims Israel acted in the spirit of revenge and murder. Golfers wanting to
play at city courses in LA are going to have to pay a non refundable
ten dollars deposit per person, which will be applied toward green fees upon check
in. The changes will happen starting on Tuesday. They're being made in response
to complaints about people not being able to book tea times at municipal golf courses.
A group of golfers filed a proposed class action lawsuit earlier this year,
claiming it was nearly impossible to book tea times because bots were scooping up all
the reservation times and then they were being resold by brokers. Let's say good
morning now to ABC's Jim Ryan. So, Jim, it's almost palpable.
The country's divided. The rhetoric is nasty, but there may be hope for
us in coming back together. Yeah, and in fact, maybe we weren't
too far apart in the first place. But what we hear, what we
see, and what we read is all about division, right, It's not
how people so deeply disagree. I think a lot of it has to do
with the fact that you know, whether you are on X or on Facebook
or whatever you hear those voices of one extreme or the other extreme, and
not a lot in between. It turns out that very few people actually go
on x ever few people tweet in the first place, But in the vast
majority of us, according to recent pulling, are somewhere in the middle,
you know, closer to the middle than to either extent, either the fringe
and the left or the right. And that seems to be born out in
a new survey and ap nork survey which was done to pull nearly thirteen hundred
people over the course of a week last month, twelve hundred and eighty two
adults nationwide, and that's a pretty representative amount, and it finds that people
are in agreement on more things than they are on disagreement. Right Democrats or
Republican disagree on what's important to us identity. But in terms of the Constitution,
the right to vote, for example, nearly ninety percent of a field
that's very important or extremely important of both parties people in both parties. Freedom
of speech falls into that category. But if you break it down by the
two parties, the right to vote, Republicans seventy two percent say that's very
important, Eighty three percent of Democrats. You look at the right of everyone
to equal protection under the law, it's almost an even split Democrats and Republicans.
So maybe we just don't disagree on as many things as we think we
do. Amy, And I think it's interesting what you said about that,
not that many people actually post on Twitter. Yeah, and so we're sitting
there and being bystanders. But the biggest, loudest voices are the ones screaming,
and they're the ones that are on the far left and far right.
Yeah, exactly, And those are the folks that get the attention of politicians
in so many cases, right, the politicians are afraid to be somewhere in
the middle because they know how loud those voices on either side of them can
be. And so yeah, it kind of drives policy, and that policy
guides everybody, everyone who is in the middle. Right. It's not just
the folks in the far left and far right who are affected by laws that
their lawmakers come up with. It's all the rest of us do. And
it's a little bit scary. But I mean, look at this in terms
of the rights guaranteed under the Constitution, the freedom of religion, it's almost
a precise even split among Democrats and Republicans, sixty one percent of Democrats sixty
six percent of Republicans say that the freedom of religion is very important. One
place where you do find a lot of disagreement even in this survey is the
right to keep and bear arms right. Sixty percent of Republicans nineteen percent of
Democrats say that that the right to bear arms is very important. But on
the rest of it, most of the rest of the bill rights, the
two parties seem to agree. It's interesting on the Second Amendment that there's that
big of a disparity in that one. Well, I suppose, but I
mean that's kind of been the rallying cry for the two parties for a long
time, hasn't it. I mean, the Republicans have been the Second Amendment
to the Democrats have been more gun control over the last thirty forty fifty years.
Even so that one, I don't know if it's that surprising, but
some of these other ones, freedom of speech, that two parties, people
on Republicans, people on the Democrats, they say that's an extremely important right
in this country. Yeah, you know, I think this is interesting,
and listening to those numbers, I'm kind of It's heart heartening to hear that,
because you know, I remember a time not too long ago when I
had friends and I didn't know what their party affiliations were, didn't matter.
But like in the last less than ten years, now, you know,
and it actually does affect your friendships. I know I have a couple of
friends that I don't talk to because I just don't want to deal with it.
I don't want to deal with it. I don't want the uncomfortable conversation.
I don't want the disagreement. So maybe we can come back together,
Yeah, I would hope. So it's torn families apart, hasn't it.
I know of a woman who died recently. She was eighty eight, eighty
nine years old. Hadn't spoken with her brother, who's also in his eighties,
for seven years because she couldn't stand Trump. He loved Trump, and
the two of them just could not sit down in the same room. They
couldn't even have a phone conversation. And unfortunately she's gone and that relationship is
over. Yep. Well, how about one nation under God, indivisible injustice
for all. That's I'm off for that. There you go, all right,
Jim Ryan, thank you so much for your time today, say let's
get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour
newsroom. A lift driver has been arrested in LA for allegedly sexually assaulting a
passenger. The woman told Santa Monica police she fell asleep when the man drove
her home from a restaurant in the West Hollywood area last September. She says
she woke up in the car to inappropriate touching. She says the driver offered
to walk her to the door when she realized several hours had passed since she
was picked up. LAPD says two dogs had been shot, one fatally,
in the Newton Division. Police say they don't know if the same person shot
both dogs, and the shootings happened about three miles apart. The first was
shot March twenty ninth, around eleven pm near twenty third Street in Santa Fe
Avenue. When officers arrived, they say they found a dog with multiple gunshot
wounds. They immediately took it to a veterinarian hospital and miraculously it survived.
The other dog was hit April seventh, around three thirty in the morning near
fifty second Street, navalon. When officers arrived, they say they found the
dog dead at the scene. Steve Gregory ka if I News Long Beach is
trying to get street vendors to comply with new sidewalk regulations by giving away vending
carts. It's the second phase of a program called the Sidewalk to Success.
Forty businesses that comply with the city's new rules will be eligible for a free
cart. The program already covered business licenses and health permit fees. Within the
first year of street vending operations, insurance costs up to four hundred and fifty
dollars those are also being reimbursed. Now it's time for Nick's top picks.
We know that we have this weekend with Nick. Every weekend he covers all
the fun stuff going on around in southern California, so we've asked him for
his top picks to share as we head toward the weekend. Nick tell us,
I'm very interested in this. I haven't been to this yet, but
we'd like to Payleyfest Pailey Fest LA twenty twenty four. Where is it and
when is it? Going on? At the Dolbey Theater starting today, runs
all the way through the twenty first, and this has been going on for
forty one years and it's both here in in New York. Started out in
a very small venue in Beverly Hills, which is still where you can go
to visit the Pailey Center. But tomorrow night Or will be the morning show
that'll be opening up the show Loki. This weekend Young Sheldon and Avatar,
the Last Airbender from Netflix, and then wrapping up the show will be The
Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So that's a really good time, definitely worth
checking out. And you get the details about that and so much more at
this weekend at nick dot com, along with a special night market going on
over in Santa Monica. Yeah correct, which you and I have done before,
but this one is in partnership with HBO or Max with The Sympathizer,
which is a new show based on a Vietnamese book. And also at the
OC Fair and Events Center in Coasta Mesa, it's Imaginology, which is both
Saturday and Sunday ten to four. Admission is free, ninety nine parking twelve
bucks and it's a great opportunity to get out there and if you're interested in
a steam science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Great time for
you to go out with the kids and enjoy yourself. Okay, awesome,
Thank you so much, Nick, and you find all the information about those
events and so much more at this weekend with Nick on your social and ware
else. Also this weekend on Nick dot com Perfect Federal investigators have determined Dodgers
star Shohei Otani had no involvement in his former interpreter's gambling scheme. TMZ is
saying Epe Mishura Misahura is expected to be charged within the next few days for
embezzling more than four million dollars from the baseball Star. The top general for
US forces in Europe is told Congress Ukraine's going to be outgunned ten to one
by Russia within a matter of weeks if Congress doesn't find a way to approve
sending more ammunition and weapons to Kiev soon. Congress is sitting on a sixty
million or billion dollar aid package for Ukraine because of infighting between hard right Republicans
and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Margo Robbie's making the move from barbie to board
game. It was announced at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas yesterday that the
producer and star of the blockbuster Barbie movie has teamed up with Hasbro and Lionsgate
to make a Monopoly movie at six, So five at handle on the news.
Instead of going down as hoped, inflation is inching back up. And
speaking of going up, let's say good morning to Space Force Guardian Colonel Nick
Haig. Good morning, Colonel Haig, Yeah, good morning Amy. Thanks
for having me back on. Well, we're thrilled that you were able to
come back on. Now. You may or may not have heard this.
We got to talk to Colonel haigu a few weeks ago because he's going to
be the first Space Force Guardian to launch and then spend six months on the
International Space Station, so we thought we'd be kind of fun to learn more
about that. Colonel Haig, Are you on loan to NASA from the Space
Force? Yeah? So, actually I am so. I'm still an active
duty Space Force officer, Okay, but there's an agreement between the Department of
Defense and NASA for the Department to assign us to NASA, And essentially we
work for NASA and they reimburse the Department for our salaries. So roughly twenty
percent of the current Astronaut Corps, which is about fifty people are active duty
military from the various branches. Okay, and then just refresh our memory because
it was about I don't know, three four weeks that we talked to you.
When are you guys planning to launch? Not the specific date, but
the kind of general timeframe. Yeah, roughly we're going to launch the end
of August. That doesn't really get locked down until we get within about a
month or two of the launch date. And we'll plan on being on a
long duration mission to the International Space Station, which could be more than six
months. And who are you going up with? So I'm going up on
a US vehicle. So We're going to launch out of the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida. My crew is two other NASA astronauts, Xena Cardman and Stephanie
Wilson, along with a Russian cosmonaut, Alex Gormanov. Okay, so do
you speak Russian? We have to. Life on the station is bilingual,
so the two official languages on the space station are English and Russian. So
I didn't speak Russian before NASA selected me, and for the last ten years
I've been taking one on one Russian lessons every week a couple times a week
to struggle through trying to learn a second language halfway through my life. And
you're pretty good at it now, huh I survive? Okay? Good morning
in Russia is Russian? Okay? So tell us, with four months until
you leave Earth, what are some of the ways that you're training for the
mission? Like, what are some of the activities you're doing now to get
ready for four months from now? All the activities that we're doing now are
the activities that are you know, it's prepping us for all the things we're
going to do on orbit. So it's a flying laboratory. So first and
foremost we're preparing to do all of the different scientific payloads and learning the basic
skills we need to do those different experiments. And over the course of six
months up there, we're going to do roughly three hundred different types of experiments.
But that's just one part of it. We also have to perform maintenance
on the laboratory that's up there and make sure that it continues to go.
Some of that maintenance is inside, some of that maintenance is outside, and
so we also prepare to do spacewalks and go outside and fix how do we
prepare for a spacewalk here on Earth because it's a different environment there. Yeah,
for sure, when you open the hatch for the airlock up there and
you're in the vacuum of space inside your spacesuit and you look through the hatchway
and you see the Earth kind of gliding gently by two hundred and fifty miles
below your feet, it's unreal and nothing really fully prepares you for that.
But we do lots of different things. We work with the tools and learn
how all the mechanisms work. But primarily we're in the neutral buoyancy lab practicing
underwater in a neutrally buoyant environment that comes close to simulating floating around on the
outside of the space station. Okay, so here's a weird question for you.
You know, like when you watch movies about space, everybody kind of
moves in slow motion. Do you kind of move in slow motion when you're
in space? You do, and it's intentional. Everything in space is weightless
because we're all falling around the Earth in orbit and so relative to each other,
we look like there's no gravity, but everything still has mass. So
some of those things that we're moving around, whether it's inside or outside,
may weigh a thousand pounds, and so you want to move slow because the
faster you start to move it, the more force it takes to stop it.
And I can assure you that soft things like humans are still soft on
orbit, and hard things like metal are still very hard, so it's easy
to hurt yourself. Okay, Now I want to also talk about what you
get to take to the space station with you, because I found out from
talking to Neil deGrasse Tyson that's my little name drop, that weight is a
key element to getting out of the Earth's atmosphere. So I'm guessing that you're
restricted, But do you get to take any personal things up with you?
Yeah? So the psychological aspect of being up on orbits, you know,
you're up there for six months, you're with set, you know, six
other people in kind of a confined space. Being able to take a small
little bag of personal things that help you connect to friends and family really helps,
you know, keep you engaged and effectively. While I'm on orbit,
I feel super connected to people on the ground. So being able to share
the experience up there in any way I can is just really a thrill.
And so you know, some of the things I do are taking up personal
things for my family so that we can maintain that contact and we have those
heirlooms. But some of the other things are like, you know, so
I'm a Space Force guardian, I'm going to take up some mission patches,
some squadron patches, you know, some Space Force flags, some things that
I can show, you know, my connection to all those guardians around the
globe that are helping support the Space station mission. They're not part of the
main NASA effort doing human research and space, but all those other things that
they do help us do the NASA mission. And so it's really fun to
stay connected in that way. Okay, and so you mentioned Space Force.
How many Space Force baces are there now in the US? I know we
have Vandenberg Space Force Space which is north of Los Angeles, but how many
are there now? Yeah, Space Force baces. You've got Vandenburg is a
primary based Los Angeles, right there in the La Basin. You've got La
Air Force Base, which is kind of the home of all of our acquisitions
Space Systems Command. You also have in Colorado a lot of presence there with
Peterson Shriever Space Force based Buckley Space Force Base, and then if you start
working your way to the East coast. Primary locations are in DC at the
Pentagon as well as down at Kennedy Space Center the Eastern Launch Range. But
there are space Force presents, whether it's a proper space Force based space Force
station or it's Space Force people deployed and impositioned at other bases. Guardians are
around the globe. Okay. And in case people didn't hear our last conversation,
because space Force has only been in existence for about five years, what
is the mission for Space Force? Space Force is developing the people, the
guardians is what we call Space Force members, the guardians that are necessary to
perform the mission, and then all the equipment they need to perform the mission.
But what is the mission? So the mission is making sure that we
maintain s to build in space and we do that through missile warning or GPS
and providing navigation and precision timing or it's communications. All of those activities bring
stability not just in space, but they also support life on the ground as
well as the rest of the military services and their ability to do their missions.
Okay, and how can people learn more about Space Force. There's a
website, right yeah, space Force dot mill. It's easy to go to
and there's all kinds of information there. Okay, And if someone has always
always dreamed of going to space, there obviously are a lot of requirements.
But we just might have one of tomorrow's astronauts listening to us right now.
Because NASA is looking for astronauts. Where can they find out about that?
Yeah, so you want to go to NASA dot gov slash astronauts or you
go to USA Jobs right now. We're accepting applications until the six teenth of
April. So this is the opportunity. If you've ever dreamed about going to
space, if you've ever wanted to be an astronaut, go there. Submit
an application. My advice is, if you don't submit an application, there's
absolutely one hundred percent chance that your dream will not come true. So submit
an application. I love that, Colonel Haig. If it's okay with you,
I would love to talk to you again in a few weeks and find
out what it's like to actually live on the space station. Because we kind
of ran out of time. We didn't get to talk about that. And
I and you've been there before and are going back again. I think that
would be so interesting because none of us are going to go, except for
maybe that person who applies for NASA. But yeah, no, I'd love
to share about life on orbit. It's spectacular. Okay, thank you so
much. Well, we're looking forward to learning more about your out of this
world adventure. Space Force Guardian Colonel Nick Haig, thank you so much for
your time today. Good day, all right. Metrolink is getting one point
three million dollars from the Federal GUFF for a trespasser detection system. It's going
to be designed to detect obstacles on the tracks, including people and objects.
Between July and December of last year, trains using MetroLink's service lines hit vehicles
or pedestrians fifty three times. A celebration of the end of Ramadan has devolved
into panic in Philadelphia's rival groups exchanged gunfire. At least three people were hurt
as parents and children in a park scattered yesterday afternoon, but Lease say at
least thirty shots were fired. A fifteen year old with a gun was shot,
a man was shot in the stomach, and another juvenile has a hand
injury. Five people were detained. Marine scientists are looking for a whale that's
tangled in fishing net and buoys in the waters off Daily City. They were
trying to free the thirty foot long whale of the net wrapped around its tail
when they lost track of it. Signed to say if they don't find it
and get the fishing gear off, the whale could die. At six oh
five, it's handle on the news, Shohei Otani is off the hook,
his former interpreter not so much. At five fifty tax days just four days
away. And if you're freaking out because you haven't yet tackled your taxes,
help is available. So this week we went out and about to the Reagan
Library, which has a new exhibit called Defending America and the Galaxy. Yeah,
it's Star Wars. So what's super cool about this is that, unlike
the traveling exhibits, which are also very cool around the US, they are
mostly fan recreations when they have like a Stormtrooper or an R two D two
or a C three po. But what you get at the Reagan Library are
actual props and cameras and wardrobe from the original Star Wars movie. It's the
real deal. It's very cool. We got to catch up with the chief
marketing officer at the Reagan Presidential Library, Melissa Giller. Melissa, what is
the connection between Star Wars and the Reagan Library. I know it seems a
little weird, but in nineteen eighty three, Old Reagan announced his plans for
the Strategic Defense Initiative. In short, basically, it was a research program
aimed at bringing an end to nuclear war. Love it. The very next
day, Senator Ted Kennedy went on the news to make fun of it and
called it Star Wars, and the name just stuck. And that was in
nineteen eighty three. Star Wars had come out in seventy seven, and no
matter what Ronald Reagan or his administration tried to do to stop it being called
Star Wars, they couldn't do it. They finally gave in in eighty five.
Ronald Reagan basically gave a speech where he said, it's not about war,
it's about peace. But may the Force be with us. I love
that, Okay. So we have the tie in and we have this exhibit
with again some of the original things from Star Wars, and like, this
is so cool to me. The technology that they had to use to make
Star Wars really look real. Was they had to invent new cameras, and
so these are some of the a couple of the cameras that were actually used
in the movies, right right, So before this movie, there was no
such thing as computer controlled motion controlled cameras. If you wanted to film a
space ship fight in space, you made miniatures and you made the miniature sort
of whiz past the cameras. But with the invention of these cameras, you
could make the cameras go around the miniatures and it made the dog fights look
real, made it look like the cameras were flying in space with the fighting,
and just they went on and won an Academy Award for this, Okay.
And then the other cool thing is when you come up here, you
can go and you can read all about the magic that is made with this.
But then you can also take an audio tour so you can get all
the nitty gritty. Especially for big Star Wars fans, this is a cool
place to I really really recommend the audio tour. It's about extra thirty minutes
of content that really teaches you the history behind Star Wars, the movie magic
of Star Wars, the where and the why, of George Lucas, and
you just you learn so much more that way. Okay, And here's a
little trip tick that we learned, and that is the third movie was Return
of the Jedi, but before they called it Return of the Jedi, it
was actually really called Revenge of the Jets, right, and then they switched.
They switched it, so we have the posters for both. Okay,
And then if you just turn the camera around, done, Dun da dun,
dun dud. This is actually Darth Vader's helmet. It is. But
to me, what's even cooler than his helmet is the fact that he signed
his original nineteen seventy seven script, which was just to the right of the
helmet. And as I shared with you earlier, when Dave Pross was hired,
he was given the option of being Darth Vader or Chebacca, and he
chose Darth Vader choose wisely, wisely. And another cool thing that we learn
is that a lot of the props that are made for Star Wars came from
existing things, but they had to create new things, right, So George
Lucas really wanted things to be realistic with sort of sci fi feel, so
he didn't just like to create the blaster or the lightsaber from scratch. He
started with real things like flashlight handles or the bulbs of the flashes that attached
to cameras, and he used those and you know guns for World War One
and World War Two. He used those things to actually create and design the
blasters and the lightsabers that were used in the various movies. Okay, so
looking at the blasters when I watched the movie, I didn't realize that it's
a gun. It's literally a gun right here. It's not a futuristic gun.
And they took the gun and they added sort of parts to it and
it became the blaster. The lightsaber started as the arm of the flash bulb
that was on top of a camera flash and they turned it into a lightsaber.
Okay. And then after you do all of the Star Wars cool and
the gawking that you do for anything that has Star Wars name attached to it,
you also take us and teach us a little bit about the SDI program
which was nicknamed Star Wars. Right. So that's the rest of the exam
it is, right, So we were realistic. We know that guests are
coming to see Star Wars, you know, not naive, But the hope
is that they come in and they're drawn in by the Star Wars franchise,
and then they learn about Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, which is still being
used today by an agency called the called MDA, and their whole goal is
to make sure that our country and the word and all of NATO really is
protected from a possible nuclear attack. Okay, And in included in the exhibit
is pieces of some of the missiles that were destroyed as part of the treaty
between gorbachok that's right, Reagan, that's right. And even a full on
missile, a full hours, a full on missile that when all of the
missiles were destroyed due to the inf treaty, YEP, team were kept for
educational purposes. And we have one of those on display. That's so great.
So this exhibit opened through September September eight. And how do we get
here? And how much does it cost to winning you open? Hey?
Yeah? So the Reagan Library is here in Seama Valley, California, Reaganlibrary
dot com. YEP. You can purchase tickets in advance, or you could
do it right here on site. It doesn't matter. Reagan Library dot com
slash Star Wars to learn more specifically about the exhibit. We're open seven days
a week, ten am to five pm, So come on out and see
it before it goes okay. And not only are you going to see this
cool Star Wars exhibit exhibit, but you can also go and see the Oval
office and climb on board Air Force War Air Force one. It's really spectacular.
If you haven't been out here, and if you haven't been out here
in a while, come see this because it is worth of you. Thanks
so much, Melissa Hiller, appreciate you so much. Such a great way
to spend an afternoon. The Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.
Like I said, it only takes about half hour forty five minutes to get
there from Los Angeles, and it's really really an interesting place. And then
it's got a whole other level of interesting because of the Star Wars exhibit that
there is there. Also want to remind you that we have the Wiggle Waggle
Walk coming up in just over a week on Sunday, April twenty. First,
we're going to be walking around Brookside Park and around the Rose Bowl all
to benefit the Pasadena Humane and that helps them care for thousands of animals that
they take in every year. Come out see the pops. They're going to
have a wiggle Waggle Wagon with several of the adoptable animals from the Pasadena Human
We were going to have booths, costume contest, games, canine demonstrations,
food, all kinds of great stuff and we would love for you to join
our team, the Wake Up Call Wigglers. Come out walk with us.
Kim just joined the team yesterday. Thanks Kim. And if you can't join
us, you can still donate help us reach our goal. Every little bit
helps. Want to say thanks to Bob who made a donation yesterday. Again,
it's the Wiggle Waggle Walk and you can join the Wiggle Waggle Wigglers,
the wake Up Call Wigglers. There's a lot of wiggling in Waggling. It's
happening April twenty first join our team, won't you find out all the information
k if i am six forty dot com slash wiggle. You can also find
out how to donate there. Another cold, soggy weekend is on the way
for southern California. Forecasters say the summer like weather we've been experiencing is going
to make way for cooler temperatures and rain by late tomorrow night. A quarter
to three quarters of an inch of rain is expected before the storm moves out
on Sunday. Federal investigators have determined that Dodger Stars show Hey Oti has no
involvement in his former interpreter's gambling scheme. TMZ is reporting Epe Misuhura is expected
to be charged within the next few days for emvezzling more than four million dollars
from the baseball Star. California state employees are being called back to the office.
Governor Newsom's administration announced yesterday that all state employees will be required to work
at least two days a week in the office beginning in June. US and
SA data found that roughly fifteen percent of American workers are now fully remote.
That's three times higher than before the pandemic. We're just minutes away from handle
on the news this morning, President Biden and Japan's Prime minister have announced an
even stronger alliance to counter the threat from China. All right, well,
let's say good morning to the Vice President of Economic Security Project, Adam Rubin.
Good morning, Adam, good morning. Nice to do with you.
I wanted to talk to you today because we are well, it's tax day
in just four days, and let's address the elephant in the room first.
A lot of people haven't filed their taxes yet. That's right, About one
in three people wait until the last couple of days to get it done.
And so there's a new tool this year called IRS Direct File to make it
free and simplified for people to file their taxes. No one loves having to
do their taxes, but at least you shouldn't have to pay to get it
done. So that's why we're excited about the IRS Direct File website. If
you want to use a local tax prep service or commercial software, you still
can, But if you'd like to be able to file your taxes for free
on your phone or your computer, usually in less than an hour this year,
you can use IRS direct File. Okay, So how is this different
than if I just filled out my tax return on my own like I normally
do and this new program is it just a helping hand to help you get
everything done or what's the difference there. This is a free, easy and
secure website provided directly by the IRS to help people do their taxes. The
average taxpayer spends one hundred and fifty dollars and nine hours doing their taxes,
and most people would rather pay their bills than pay turbo tax. So that's
why I think this is so popular. This year, eighty eight percent of
voters across party lines say they support the IRS creating a free, simple and
secure website like direct file okay. And this is a new program. It's
in California and I think twelve other states, so eventually they're going to expand
to nationwide if at least as the plan, right, that's exactly right,
Yeah, just twelve states this year, including California. It'll help you file
your federal return and then take you straight to the state website where you can
file your taxes for free okay. And who is eligible for this. It's
for folks with simple tax situations, so generally that means employees who get their
income reported on a W two form. This year, it's not going to
cover contractors or gig workers, but we think it's going to be expanded in
the future to more state, more tax situations, and more tools to help
people claim refunds that they're missing. Out on like the Child Tax Credit and
earn Income Tax Credit. In fact, Economic Security California's analysis finds that in
nationally, it could save people eleven billion dollars in tax prep fees and time
saved and billions more back into people's pockets from the tax credits that they're eligible
for. In California, that's two point three billion dollars a year that Californians
could save, including close to a billion dollars in filing fees. So that's
real money back into working in middle class families pockets. So saving time and
money good stuff. So a lot of people are nervous or afraid of the
IRS, and if that's the case, what would you say to those people?
People can check their eligibility and learn more information addirectfile dot IRS dot gov.
One of the most popular things about the website this year is that if
you have questions, and who doesn't when they're filing their taxes, you can
actually chat with a real life human, an IRS employee who's there to answer
your questions as you go, so it really helps people through the process.
So you can do that while you're filling it out on the website and you
go, oh, I've got questions about this, and then you can make
the phone call. That's right. Yeah, you don't get stuck in some
AI chatbot. There's a real person there to help you out. Okay.
That's helpful because I know that a lot of times when I'm searching for stuff,
I'm like, I just want to talk to somebody to get an answer.
That's right. That's been really popular this year. And there's another program
happening this year in La County called Clean your Cash, which is for people
who are connected to safety net benefit programs to help them get access to free
tax prep help. So it's just another way that the government is helping make
it easier and simpler and free for people to file their taxes and get access
to the tax refunds that they're eligible for. Okay, And where do they
get more information about the claim your cash. It's for people who are connected
to local safety net benefit programs and the people they're talking to already in the
county government and feed them straight into free tax prep help okay, and then
once again to fill out those taxes and have the irs help you do it
and make it simple and direct and you don't have to pay somebody to do
it. Where do they go? People can go to directfile dot IRS dot
gov and it takes most people less than an hour to get it done.
You've got till Monday, April fifteenth, so the clock is ticking. Adam
Rubin, Vice President of the Economic Security Project, thank you so much for
your time and information today. Thanks for having me. Okay, procrastinators unite.
I actually got my taxes done early this year, which was totally different
for me, but that was It's nice because it's not so stressful, but
I remember in years past what it's like. So get it done and then
have a nice weekend. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. People have been blowing real money on
counterfeit items in downtown LA. The sale of knockoff items has risen in both
the fashion district and You're La Live and it's out in the open. Trying
to a baby by working with our undercoosters, working with our partners in the
community. LAPD Captain reul Javel says jerseys, sunglasses, and handbags are the
most common counterfeit items. He says some of the items have realistic looking tags
and are being sold at about the same price as their authentic counterparts. Investigators
recently recovered more than one hundred and forty thousand dollars worth of fake Lakers jerseys
in downtown La Blake trolley k if I News and Islamic Center at Rutgers University
has been vandalized. Sad Admani with the New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association says he
doesn't think it's a coincidence. It happened on the last day of Ramadan yesterday,
also called id. I've received multiple calls and text messages from students and
they're very distraught. This student says the Islamic holiday is supposed to be a
joyous occasion and she feels for her Muslim friends. I think it's just so
upsetting to see that people have like that type of hatred in their hearts.
The police are considering the vandalism a bias in incident. Ukraine's parliament has passed
a law to draft more soldiers as the war with Russia continues. The law's
passage today was spurred by a request from Ukraine's military to mobilize up to five
hundred thousand more troops part of the law expands the powers of Ukrainian authorities to
issue draft notices using an electronics system. A lift my sing it. Tony
Tony Bennett's artwork is being auctioned off at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
The late singer's watercolor paintings of New York scenes, including Central Park,
will be up for grabs April eighteenth and nineteenth at the Center's Ertigan Jazz Hall
of Fame. The auction will also be online. Bennett died in twenty eighteen.
He was ninety four. The Dodgers return to Dodgers Stadium tomorrow night to
take on the Padres, with the first pitch going out at seven o'clock.
You can listen to every play of every Dodgers game on AM five seventy LA
Sports live from the Galpin Motors Broadcast Booth. You can stream d stream games
in HD on the iHeartRadio app Keyword AM five seventy LA Sports. This is
KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County live from the KFI twenty
four hour Newsroom. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call,
and if you missed any of wake up call, you missed a lot,
We got spaced out. We went to a galaxy far far away,
We talked to an astronaut, We found out what's up this weekend with This
Weekend with Nick, And if you missed any of that, you can listen
anytime on the iHeartRadio app. You've been listening to Wake Up Call with me
Amy King, You can always hear Wake Up Call five to six am Monday
through Friday on KFI AM six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.