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, Sens County.
Everybody quiet, quiet, I've got some bad news, folks. Christmas
is going to be canceled. There's nothing I can do this weather. Rudolph,
Rudolph, please would you tone it down a bit? I mean that
nose of yours, that nose, that beautiful, wonderful nose. Rudolph,
with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight? It will
be an honor, sir. It's time for your morning wake up call.
Peer's Amy King. Maybe I'm just a misfit. It's five o'clock on your
wake up call. Actually it's five oh one. It is Thursday, December
fourteenth, eleven sleeps until Christmas. Here's what's ahead on wake up call.
An Air Force major killed when an Osprey went down in the waters off Japan
has been honored with a sixty five mile long procession from Lax to Riverside.
Major Luca Unrath was one of eight crew members killed during a training exercise on
November twenty ninth. House Republicans have voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry and to
President Biden. Republicans claimed the president benefited from the foreign business dealings of his
son Hunter. The House voted along party lines yesterday to formally launch the inquiry.
Super Bowl coming back to La. NFL owners awarded Super Bowl sixty one
to Sofi Stadium during league meetings yesterday. The Super Bowl was also played at
Sofi in twenty twenty two. Las Vegas is hosting this season super Bowl.
If you're keeping track of the number, sixty one will happen in twenty twenty
seven At six oh five, It's handle on the news. The Fed decided
not to raise interest rates and instead hinted at Cutts what that might mean.
Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four
hour news room. Police have arrested forty one protesters who shut down the one
ten freeway to demand a ceasefire in the Israel Jimas War. The freeway was
closed for more than an hour's protesters locked arms and blocked all lanes. This
homeless man who lives against the freeway says he helps some late arrivals get out
on the road through a broken chain link fence. You said you actually put
up your own sign. Yes, this is black black tarpunk. The highway
says I stopped killing gos with Several shoving matches broke out yesterday as drivers became
frustrated with waiting in downtown La Blake trolley KFI News. Two men convicted of
murder in La County have been exonerated. Giovanni Hernandez was convicted of killing a
sixteen year old boy in a drive by shooting in Culver City in two thousand
and six. The DA's office says he was cleared by new evidence and statements
from witnesses who were not interviewed during the original investigation. Miguel Solorio was convicted
of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for a deadly drive by
in Whittier in nineteen ninety eight. In his case, prosecutors say he was
misidentified as his brother in a photo lineup. Russian President Putin says there will
be no peace in Ukraine until Russia's goals are achieved. The notification demouitarization all
Ukraine and its neutral status. Putin said through an interpreter that his country's objectives
have not changed. He dismissed the need to call up more reservists, saying
there are about six hundred and seventeen thousand Russian soldiers currently in Ukraine. Putin
spoke during his usual year in news conference, though this was his first since
the beginning of the war in Ukraine nearly two years ago. Apple says it's
going to address security vulnerabilities with its new iOS update. A recent security issue
has allowed hackers to take over customer's iPhone accounts to access passwords, steal money,
and lock people out of their accounts. The Dodgers are getting ready to
introduce the team's newest and most expensive, most shiny new toy, sho hey
Otani, of course, just signed a ten year, seven hundred million dollar
contract. Most of that will be paid at the end of the contract.
Otani is a two time American League Most Valuable Player in a three time All
Star. He says he shares the Dodgers goal of returning a World Series parade
to the streets of la I'm all for that. You can hear the show
Hey Otani introductory press conference. It's happening at Dodger Stadium and you can listen
at three this afternoon on our sister station AM five seventy LA Sports. It's
five oh six. On your way up call. Let's say good morning now
to ABC EAS Capitol Hill correspondent Ben Siegel. Good morning, Ben. The
Biden administration wants one hundred and six billion dollars for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan,
and the border. But the border is the sticking point. Good morning.
Yeah. This has been one of the trickiest issues for Congress for more
than a decade, is immigration policy, immigration reform, and right now they're
trying to negotiate it with two other very complicated issues at this moment in Washington.
It's the sixty billion, as you mentioned, in this package for Ukraine,
and there's fourteen billion in there for Israel in the country's war with Hamas
and Gaza. And this is all really coming to a head today because this
is the day that the Congress is set to leave town for the Christmas holiday
until January setate. Negotiators are down to the wire. They spent the night
negotiating at the Capitol with the DHS Secretary Majorcis and we'll see by midday today
whether they have a reason to stick around and if they have an agreement to
pass through Congress before they leave, or whether this will all be or not,
and they will have to revisit this issue with the clock ticking on all
these different fronts for January, and like you said, it's really coming down
to the wire. And it's especially critical for Ukraine because Ukraine is saying that
the money that we've been giving them is getting close to running out. So
if we don't appropriate more money and then lawmakers are gone for a few weeks,
that's not a good thing. Yeah, that's exactly right. We saw
the Ukrainian President of Vladimir z Olenski flying all the way to Washington this week
from meetings on Capitol Hill and with President Biden just to hammer home how serious
this issue is in their war and how much it is needed. Obviously,
their counter offensive against Russia did not meet some of the expectations in the West
and in Washington, but to continue their fight to prevent more importantly prevent Russian
games on the battlefield, they say they need more aid from the United States,
more weapreonury and also more money into the domestic manufacturing of some of these
weapons and an ammunition in the United States to fund their defense later on.
So this is a critical issue there and on some of these other fronts.
Fourteen billion for Israel that includes money to replenish their Iron Dome missile defense system.
That is a critical need. We've seen rockets continue to fly into Israel
during this war. And also nine billion and humanitarian aid for Gaza for the
Palestinian people who are suffering there and other regions of the world too. So
there are so many pressing fronts where this money could be used, could be
needed. And you know, once again, Congress is now waiting until the
deadline to see if they can figure it all out. Yeah, they're really
good at this. And Russia's got to be loving this. Yeah, I
think you're seeing that too. I think you're seeing Vladimir Putin this week making
comments in Russia to the effect of, you know, this is not going
to be something that the United States will continue to support in Ukraine and Ukraine's
fight, and he's made it clear that they see this as a war of
attrition. In Moscow, this is one that they think they can win.
They have more people for their army, they have a greater supply based for
their weapons, and then he thinks he's on the winning side of this,
or at least will be in the new year, especially with you know,
the unspoken reality of the presidential election coming into the fold in twenty twenty four
and President and Donald Trump, the former president leading the field, has made
it very clear that he doesn't support this level of aid to Ukraine and may
even try to broker some sort of end to the to the fight there.
So that is a possibility that is looming on the horizon. One of the
reasons why President Zelinsky so urgently needed to travel to watching to them to make
this point to lawmakers. Okay, now, is there any chance then that
the lawmakers would say, hey, we did make some progress, let's stick
around and see if we can finish it. Or is I mean, is
there hard and fast deadline? Close a business today? I think close a
business today in the Senate, I think there is a possibility they stick around.
And look, it's not out of the out of the realm of possibility
that they do stick around for another day or two if they are close to
a deal. But then you get to the next step in this process,
Well, do they have do they have a bill to show their members how
soon can the Senate take it up and how quickly can they pass it?
You know, you need agreement from all hundred senators to get a quick vote
in the Senate floor, and it's really hard to imagine them getting that agreement
on an issue as thorny as immigration. So it's not clear how long they
will stick around if they do stick around, and then the House as a
whole is a whole nother, a whole other animal. They're leaving today after
an early voting in the morning, and it's hard to imagine them sticking around
for very long. If they do, more likely than not they'll probably come
back in January. Nothing's easy on Capitol Hill, is it. No,
it's not. And also it doesn't help the process here that they're touching some
of the most difficult issues, not just for this Congress, for any Congress
from scene recently, especially on the immigration front. Yeah, all right,
well we'll be watching Ben Siegel. Thank you so much for the information,
and let's hope they can get their act together and get this passed. Thank
you, all right, take care. Let's get back to some of the
stories coming out of the KFI twenty for our newsroom. A teenager has been
arrested in connection with alleged swatting attacks that targeted synagogues in Orange County. The
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force made the arrest Tuesday morning, the FEDS Day.
The kid was part of a wider online swatting ring. Two men from the
East Coast have been convicted of the drug related killings of three men who were
shot and killed inside a home in Porter Ranch. The killings happened or nearly
five years ago, allegedly over money lost when illegal drugs were intercepted by the
post Office. Police called to the home in twenty nineteen found the bodies.
The men convicted are expected to be sentenced in February. A pot shop has
gone up in smoke in downtown La. Took firefighters about a half an hour
overnight to put the fire out near the sixth Street Bridge. They say it
was burning deep within a secured and highly compartmentalized one hundred by one hundred foot
legal cannabis dispensary. Twenty three probation workers in La County have been placed on
leave following allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Several lawsuits have been filed against
certain employees and the County alleging rape and molestation of girls as young as twelve.
Attorney Courtney thom says some of the cases date back to the eighties and
changes in the law made the claims possible. We've listened to the most heinous
stories of abuse that these women unfortunately suffered at the hands of law enforcement when
they were children. She says. Many of the girls reported the abuse at
the time, but the complaints were not properly handled. The county's attorneys say
all twenty three workers will be on leave pending investigation. Chris Adler Kafi News
Canadian and actress Tiffany had Issue has been charged in LA with her second DUI
case, Relice the Rest of the Comedian last month for allegedly being found asleep
at the wheel in a parked car in Beverly Hills the night before the arrest.
Hattish had performed at the Laugh Factory at a Thanksgiving event. Rolling Stone
says Hattish was charged with two misdemeanors and is scheduled to be arraigned next Friday.
LA County has started accepting applications for its landlord rent relief program. Supervisor
Catherine Barger says sixty eight million dollars will go to landlords most impacted during the
pandemic. I have consistently advocated for balanced solutions, so I'm glad to see
that we're ready to get these dollars out the door and into the hands as
soon as possible and without further delays. The program is aimed at preventing evictions.
Landlords must have property in La County, but properties in the city of
La do not qualify. Dreaming of too bad, We're pretty much out of
luck here in southern California. It has never actually snowed on Christmas Day in
LA at least not according to recent record keeping. But if you do want
a white Christmas, Bonus Finder did a survey of four hundred and fifty cities
around the US and calculated the odds of a white Christmas based on several factors.
Top ten cities. I'm not gonna giving you the top ten. I'm
going to give you the top one. Montpelier, Vermont there's a ninety eight
point six percent probability of a white Christmas, followed by Eli, Minnesota,
and Wallace, Idaho. If you want to be on this side of the
country, Wallace, Idaho has a ninety seven percent chance of having snow on
Christmas. We might not have snow, but you know what we do have.
We have boats. The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is going on now.
It started last night, setting sale about six point thirty at the end.
It ends at the tip of Lido or Liedo Isle. There's fireworks every
night and it goes on through December seventeenth. And if you haven't seen it,
it's so fun, So go check out the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.
The California Department of Finances called for an immediate freeze on non essential spending
because of a projected sixty eight billion dollar deficit. All state agencies are being
directed to start cutting back. Some of the freeze categories include new goods and
service contracts, IT equipment, fleet vehicles, and office supplies. A person
under the age of eighteen has been arrested for allegedly making swatting calls. It
targeted synagogue synagogues in Fullerton and Tustin. The FBI says the person is connected
to a larger group of people making calls across the US. Swatting is when
someone makes a fake report of a crime to try to draw out a large
police presence. The miner was arrested on Tuesday. The Geminid meteor shower is
peaking. NASA says you should be able to see fiery green balls of light
streaking across the night sky through Christmas. Up to one hundred and twenty meteors
per hour are possible, But to really see them, NASA says, you
got to get away from city lights. At six oh five. It's handled
on the news about forty people inconvenienced, thousands and thousands of drivers in and
around downtown LA. But right now, let's say good morning to ABC News
correspondent Tom Rivers. Tom. Russia has attacked Kiev again. What's the latest?
Yeah, set of a page from last winter. Actually, around Kiev,
around ten cruise missiles came in, most of them knocked down very very
successfully. Some of them broke into a debris that wounded dozens of civilians and
impacted things like apartment buildings, et cetera, et cetera. But again it's
the same old playbook, Russia going after things in the cold weather, after
power plants, be them coal or otherwise, water pumping stations, you name
it, making life very very miserable and difficult in the cold months ahead.
Tom, you talk about hitting the like the coal stations and the power plants
and stuff. Are they able to get those back online in between bombings or
have they've just been out of commission since the war started. No, it's
been catch as catch can. They try to repair as best they can with
what they have available, and there have been assignments of of spare equipment that
can be used to get these stations back up. So we've been down that
road before. So they try to, you know, make shift repairs to
try to get things fired up again as quickly as possible. But again it's
it's it's you know, you're you're you're chasing a very very difficult task and
it's not easy. And again we're really at the beginning of the winter,
so we can see more and more of this in the coming months. Okay,
And why why do the increases are the attacks increased during the winter months.
Well, again, they realize the weather is their ally. Russia's ally
is the weather. So if you are freezing at home and you can't get
water, and the troops are trying to be moved around and they're kind of
stuck as well. It's not a good situation, okay. And Russia said,
or Putin said in an address that they have six hundred and seventeen thousand
troops in Ukraine. What's Ukraine's fighting for? Size? Do we know it's
going to be much smaller than that. And again, you see numbers of
casualties from Moscow, from Washington, from London, from Kiev, throw them
all a mixer and try to figure out your own numbers. But it's very,
very telling that a Zilin now says he might have to raise the draft
age beyond forty. So, yes, a lot of the young men twenty
five years of age, et cetera. They're gone. They've been gone in
the past twenty one months. That's so scary. And then I heard a
report yesterday that Russia has had huge losses. And like you said, you
don't know who whose numbers are accurate, but they were saying something like eighty
eighty five percent of their forces are decimated. Yeah, I would take that
number with a big, big grain of salt. They're they're there, They're
on the ascendancy as we speak right now. And again Zolenski knows that,
and he went with the begging bull to Washington. He wanted sixty two sixty
three billion, didn't get much of that. Then he went to Oslo and
a teleconference today with EU Lears and Brussels wanting some more money, and again
has become a real real bone of contention. Taxpayers are fed up to their
iteeth with this policy that is led by the US by the way of supporting
this war effort for Kiev, add infinitum, for as long as it takes
well. That slogan has basically been jettisoned. In Europe, they'll do what
they can. But that kind of language is yesterday's chapter over here. It's
not flying well with the electorate in those countries that are having, for instance,
the elections coming up like here in the UK. Yeah, all right,
well, it's just it gets scary for Ukraine if we don't come through
with more money for them, doesn't it. Well again, you thought well
back there, supposedly, gar Hert Schroeder, Tally Bennett, also leading politicians
in Kiev, said there was a deal to be struck March twenty twenty two,
and it was ready to be done. Would be partitioned off at least
the eastern side Ukraine would have remained quote unquote neutral. That was rejected by
the Hawks in Washington. So we are where we are. How many hundreds
of thousands of people have died since March of twenty twenty two. It's scary,
Yeah, it really is. All right, Tom Rivers, thank you
so much for the information. We'll be watching it. Take care. Well,
let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. Photos have been released of a man suspected of fatally stabbing
a Metro writer in South LA. Police say the man killed Tuesday got on
the E line near La Trade Tech College and got into a fight with another
guy. He was stabbed multiple times. The men police are looking for was
caught on security video. He's Hispanic or Filipino, about five foot eight,
one hundred and sixty pounds. He was wearing glasses, a black sweater with
white lettering on the front, and light blue jeans. Metrolink is temporarily shutting
down services for cleaning, repairs and upgrades along it's nearly five hundred and fifty
miles of tracks. LA Unions Day is also getting upgrades to replace Depression era
technology. All Metrolink trains, including the Aero service in San Bernardino County,
will be out of service December twenty sixth through The twenty ninth news brought to
you by Ruder Hero. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has announced the Board's leaving
interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting. The benchmark interest rate remains between
five and a quarter and five and a half percent. The lower inflation readings
over the past several months are welcome, but we will need to see further
evidence to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal. He
says. The Fed is committed to returning inflation to its two percent goal,
but that is likely years away. An Air Force major killed when an Osprey
went down in the waters off Japan has been honored with a sixty five mile
long procession from lax to Riverside, his hometown. The procession was done yesterday.
Major Luca Unrath was one of eight crew members killed during a training exercise
on November twenty ninth. House Republicans have voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into
President Biden. Republicans are claiming the president benefited from the foreign business dealings of
his son Hunter. The House voted along party lines yesterday to launch the inquiry.
The Dodgers are going to officially announce and introduce Shohei Otani this afternoon at
a press conference at Dodger Stadium. Otani's expected to put on his Dodger Blue
for the first time at three PM. The Dodgers and the two time American
League MVP recently finalized a ten year, seven hundred million dollar contract. The
press conference is going to be a live on our sister station AM five seventy
LA Sports Again. That's at three this afternoon. At six oh five,
it's handle on the news. Stocks hit a record high, Why and what
that means? At five point fifty, We're going to be talking to a
kid who is helping make sure that thousands of underprivileged kids get legos. This
is such a cool story. You hear bad stories about the youth of today
and all that stuff. This kid, he's building bridges with legos. It
is time to take a Southern California sleigh ride. This week we went to
the Disneyland Resort, the merriest place on Earth, and caught up with Disney
Ambassador Mark Everett. So Mark tell us about the holidays at the Disneyland resort
and why it's even more magical to visit now because the holiday's last well past
Christmas. The holidays go all the way through January seventh, and you can
experience a full resort takeover from holiday thing decor, and just a Christmas spirit
or holiday spirit if you will, all around the report. So let's start
in Disneyland Park. You have a sixty foot Christmas tree that lights up every
evening. You don't want to miss our Christmas lighting moment. And then as
you make your way through the park you start to the iconic attractions like it's
a small world holiday. You might see a Christmas Fantasy parade that has been
around for at least a decade, and if you haven't seen a Disney parade
in a while, they are really spectacular. Yeah, I mean you got
Missus Claus and Santa Claus bigger, Oh my goodness. You can see Tigger
over and by near Poo's Corner and critic Country's favorite. Yes, he is
just a joy to be around, Bounty if you will, Yes, Yes,
he's definitely bouncy. And then when you come over to Disney California Adventure.
I think one of the really cool things is that Disney has been absolutely
miraculous in reinventing or not reinventing, but recreating cars Land, and they've taken
all of the decorations in their car theme. Yeah, you have so much
themed decord that really just brings Radiator Radiator Springs to life right here in the
park. So you have Major's Jingle Jamboree and Luigi's Joy to the World,
which is going to be themed attractions that really feature a very Christmas or holiday
like songs that you can be able to get and it alternates as you experienced
it, so it's fun for the entire family. And when you download the
Disneyland app, you'll be able to browse for food and beverage attractions where you
can visit Disney characters and even check high checks to see what attractions you and
the entire family can experience. Right and you just mentioned food and beverage,
and right now the Festival of the Holidays is going on, and you have
the sip It and Saber Pass, which is one of my favorite things because
there are little they're not food trucks, they're little food kiosks all over Disney
California Adventure and if you want to do a little taste, yeah, they're
really delicious. Disney's Festival of Holidays is a multicultural celebration where you can experience
food that's inspired by holidays like Three Kings, Duwali, Hanukkah and so much
more. And these marketplaces are set up all around the park so that way
you can be able to experience maybe a making spirits brites or they're very theme
and the food there making spirits bridehold on, I'm going to look it up
there it is okay, Oh, look at that. I'm as sue yule
log cocktail and a pumpkin layered cheesecake. And then this was another one Grandma's
recipes, barbicoa. I'm not going to say it right, Tamal there is.
I'm guessing that's a Tamali. Yes. And the food at Disneyland is
so spectacular. It's so incredible, I mean, and it changes throughout the
season, but right now that's the perfect time to come and experience the holidays
here at the Disneyland resort. You even got Disney Viva Navidad. We're standing
right here in Disney California Venture Park and that street party as we like to
call it, and celebrating this tenth season. So you have Mexican for codic
dancers, you have Brazilian somber dancers than percussionists, you have mohiganga puppeteers that
come out. It's a full street party joined by Donald and his friends Jose
and Pacito and Mickey and Mini Mouse, and they all are in festive attire
to just really commemorate the celebration. In my hand, yes, you have
a magic band plus and this is how you can really enhance your experience here
at the resort through entertainment offerings such as water Color Season of Light. The
band will light up. Okay, so while World of Color is going on,
and that's the really cool water show that you can watch from the pier
area in Disney California Adventure and then the band lights up as different things happen
on the water display. Yeah, now, Mark, here's the question of
the day. Yes. One of the things that is so great about Disney
is there are little nooks and crannies and things that you kind of have to
seek out and you might not even know that they're there. What's a secret
that people can find when they come to Disneyland. Or I love this one
because Adventure Park. Yeah, I love that one because I grew up in
Disney California Venture Park for a little bit of my Disney career. And as
you make your way through Avengers Campus, if you look up at the panelings
on top of the buildings, okay, there are names that are actually on
there and it's encrypted to represent the cast members such as the imagineers who helped
contribute to that lamp. Oh no, nay see. There's so many little
surprises, and don't forget hidden mickeys. They're everywhere everywhere. Your holidays couldn't
be complete without a visit to the Disneyland resort. That's your Southern California.
Sleay right. For this week, you know, we talked about the Festival
of the Holidays, the food trucks. They're not food trucks, but the
food kiosks. Well, after we talked to Mark Nick who was with me,
and I made our rounds and we tried well maybe not everything, but
almost everything, and no, we covered pretty much everything. Honestly, Amy.
The food was delicious and it's like smaller bites so it's like a small
plate, so it's really good to share it and kind of taste it as
you go. But I think that I loved the tamali that I can't pronounce.
I love the Esta Carnia Thanks. The Carnitas mac and cheese was really
good. There were and there were like three different mac and cheeses, and
then they had some desserts and cocktails in there, and that was really good.
And I think that's going back to the Slip and Saber pass, which
you and I love very much. I mean, you can really make it
a day night kind of situation or even for a family. You get eight
tastes that are on that Sip and Savor card and you can just kind of
sample your way through Disney California Adventure. So I think it's a great way
to say a few bucks as well. So that's something also to think about
when you're going to the Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure. Absolutely, and
we were talking about there are characters decked out in their holiday uniforms or costumes.
The fireworks show spectacular. There's tree lighting on Main Street which we got
to see. I'm going to post that on my social media at Amy K.
King and they do it on Main Street and Buena Vista Street every night
at five and if you're lucky, you might even find yourself in the middle
of a snowstorm on Main Street. So really cool. If you get a
chance to go and you haven't been to Disneyland at the holidays, I highly
recommend it. Of course, let's get back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The Biden administration is pitching a
new border plan that would deport more illegal immigrants without asylum screenings. The President
says he's willing to compromise with the bid to win over hardline Republicans, but
says it's kind of also slamming them for it. All of Ukraine funding hostage
and the attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is
not how it works. The immigration policy changes so are part of the proposed
one hundred and six billion dollar package that includes military aid to Ukraine, Israel,
and Taiwan. Republicans have repeatedly said that border security has to be included
to get a deal done by Christmas. And as we were talking with Ben
from ABC earlier. They're kind of running out of time because lawmakers are scheduled
to go home after today, so we will see if they get anything done.
A family's been awarded sixty one million dollars for a road rage crash in
Torrents that killed a sixteen year old. He saw mister Hicks mak an illegal
U turn and he got pissed off, was his words. Lawyer Robert Clayton
says. Tongue Meing claimed he'd been bumped by a car driven by Darryl Hicks.
They proceeded to chase one another down Crenshaw, reaching speeds of one hundred
and twenty miles an hour. The two drivers ran a red light in twenty
seventeen and crashed into a van, killing sixteen year old Jesse s Force Junior.
Clayton says the jury this week found Meing to be ninety five percent responsible
and his families believed to be wealthy. Both drivers got prison time for vehicular
manslaughter. Corbin Carson KFI News California is getting two new state symbols to start
the new year. The Golden Chantrell will be the official mushroom. Yes,
California has named an official mushroom. It's orange, yellow, or white,
usually found beneath oak trees. It's a favorite among chefs. The other state
symbol is the pallid bat. This bat eats mosquitoes, wasps, flies,
and bark beetles. That's good, right, and not only does it provide
more than a billion dollars in pest control for agriculture, it also helps reduce
wildfire risk. Not sure how, but that's what the story says. The
California Department of Finance is called for an immediate freeze on non essential spending because
of the projected sixty eight billion dollar deficit. All state agencies are being directed
to start cutting back. State offices have also been told to cancel plans for
non essential travel like seminars, conferences, and training, both in and out
of state. The nineteen hundred people who died during the height of the pandemic
and are described as unclaimed will be laid to rest. The La County Board
of Supervisors, along with the Department of Health Services, offices of deceitent Affairs,
and the La General Medical Center Chaplains, will have a non denominational,
interfaith burial ceremony for the county's unclaimed dead at the La County Cemetery. Sales
of Shohey Otani's new seventeen Dodger jersey have set an all time record in the
first forty eight hours. Sports retailer Fanatics says it broke the record set by
soccer star Lionel Messi. The jerseys are also on sale at Dodger Stadium at
their gift shop, but supplies aren't expected to last very long. And as
you may have heard us talk about, the Dodgers will officially introduce Otani at
Dodgers Stadium this afternoon, and you can listen to the press conference live at
three o'clock on a five seventy LA Sports. We're just minutes away from handle
on the news this morning. Chat GPT could make it easier for students to
cheat, but a study shows that students really aren't using it for that.
That's kind of cool. Speaking of students and something really cool, let's say
good morning now to Charlie Jeffers. Good morning, Charlie, Good morning.
How are you doing. I'm doing great. Thanks for getting up so early
with us this morning. We wanted to talk about your story because you're doing
something really special. So let's start by saying that Charlie is a huge Lego
fan. You've been playing with Legos your whole life pretty much, right,
yeah, okay, well now you're doing more than playing with Legos, So
tell us what you're doing. So, I mean, yeah, I've been
building with Legos since I was four or five, and it's you know,
I mean, I think it's been such a big part of like my childhood.
And so I kind of came up with this idea, you know,
in twenty twenty, kind of at the beginning of the pandemic, and it
kind of it took a while to figure out and get it going, but
now it's going, you know, pretty pretty well. It kind of occurred
to me that you know, with Legos, they end up in like a
storage or a landfill once you know, kids aren't really using them anymore,
Yeah, because you kind of grow out of playing with them, right,
And so what do you do? I mean, yeah, and then they
often end up in those like large storage boxes and like a garage, you
know, something like that, and so and then you know, there's this
really really clear correlation between you know, play and then like cognitive and emotional
development and kids and so and you said Charlie, you said that you have
been helped like with your math and your engineering because it gives sparks creativity to
build things with Lego. It definitely, you know, it could be very
useful for teaching like math and these engineering concepts and you know, how to
be creative and like full and stuff. But also just having play tools is
so important for like childhood development. Okay, So Charlie, you are helping
now by you're helping because legos can be really expensive and if you've looked at
them lately, you know that that's true. So you are helping who might
not be able to afford them get them. What exactly are you doing?
So we're collecting used bricks from people who don't want them anymore. Okay,
you know we, you know clean Santais sort them and we signed new sets
of these bricks and we package them and deliver them to kids other directly or
through our nonprofit partners. I love this. And you've called the program Past
the Bricks. Yeah, and you started it a couple of years ago and
you said it took a little while to kind of figure out how to do
it. But today, how many kids have you provided Lego sets? Too.
We have delivered a little over three thousand sets. That's amazing. And
you can't do this by yourself, like you might have started out by yourself,
but you have like a little team working to clean the bricks and put
them together and see send them out. I mean, we've onboarded about twenty
five volunteers up to this point, and we've expanded to about nine other towns
in city and we I mean, these numbers are really growing every day because
we we were featured on Good News Network last week a week before and saw
a huge spike in interest, and so like there's people from England, Canada,
Australia and actually last night someone from Denmark reached out like it's it's super
cool to see all this this recent interest, which is super cool. Absolutely.
So there are a couple of ways that people can help, because I
think that my little brother's legos are still sitting in the attic at my mom's
house. So how can people help? You're looking for donations of legos,
money, volunteers, what do you need? Yeah, if you if you
want to help, emailing us at pastthe Bricks at gmail dot com. Okay,
and that's on our website as well, which is past the Bricks dot
org or on our Instagram which is at past the Bricks And do you need
do you need monetary donations? Are you really looking just for bricks? I
think more bricks, But if you have bricks to donate, or if you
want to adopt pass the bricks in your community, or if you are like
a nonprofit that works with kids and you would like sets, just anything that
kind of to keep passing the bricks, right, yeah, passing them?
Okay, Charlie, what are the website and what's the website again? And
the email? So the email is pastthe Bricks at gmail dot com and our
website is pastthebricks dot org. I love this. So Charlie Jeffers is a
senior at Redwood High School in Marin County and doing good. Thank you so
much, Charlie. Much luck to you. I hope you get to pass
thousands and thousands more bricks. Thanks so much for having me. All right,
take care. I agree with us your day. Thank you so much.
You know what, you hear bad stuff about kids, and then you
get a kid who has this idea and goes, hmm, I'm going to
help, and then they do it. And they they're young and inspired and
I love that. So good on you, Charlie Jeffers, Merry Christmas.
This is KFI and KOSTHD 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 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.