Hey, it's Jennifer Jones Lee. You're listening to KFI, a M six
forty wake up call on demand on the iHeartRadio app. My name is Jason
Middleton. I am in for Jennifer Jones Lee all week. This week,
I was talking with a news editor just before we went on the air about
second Mondays. I never could find a value to Tuesdays. Right, there's
Mondays. Everybody braces for Monday coming out of the weekend, Wednesday's Humpday,
Thursday's Friday, Eve, Friday, you know, Friday, Tuesday. Niver
had a thing, but she said, Tuesday's just one day closer to Friday,
and I was like, yeah, let's let's stay optimistic. I'm with
that. Let's also get some headlines before we get into the rest of this
hour. Treasury Secretary and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen says time
is running out to get a deal done ahead of today's Biden McCarthy meeting about
the debt ceiling. McCarthy has said the House needs a deal to vote on
by this weekend. Ukraine's president Zelenski has been touring away Western Europe getting more
missiles and munitions for the countries anticipated counter offensive against Russia. Later this hour,
we will talk with ABC's Inez Delakata and get an update on the Ukraine
Russia war. And the Lakers continue their championship pursuit tonight against the Denver Nuggets.
It's the first of a seven game series. It's a battle of the
big men in that one. That's the Brow Anthony Davis versus the Joker Djokovic.
Those guys are going to be patrolling the paint. Lakers got passed the
Warriors because they had a bigger paint presence, and the series winner goes on
to the NBA Championship against either of the Celtics or the Heat. In just
a few minutes, we're gonna talk with Terrence Hayes. Terrence is the Press
secretary at the BA. The Veterans Administration has a program that expands healthcare and
benefits for vets, but it's under a deadline. You can apply for an
extension, So we're going to get the details on the Packed Act that was
passed last year. It's coming up in August on another deadline, so we
need the details around that. Let's start with some of the other stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour news room. We always lead local.
The La County Department of Public Health says rising numbers of deaths among the homeless
are being caused by fentonyl overdoses. The number of drug overdoses and the homeless
population has gone up by fifty eight percent since twenty twenty one. Healthcare in
Actions doctor Jose Luis Gonzalez says one of the biggest reasons for this is cross
contamination. You might be thinking you're smoking methemphetamine and it might be laced with
fentonel. Doctor Gonzalez says because of that, some people are accidentally getting addicted
to fentanyl. The department's report released last week shows overdoses in general being the
number one cause of death among the homeless in twenty twenty one in La Chris
Adler KFI News Scientists with NASA JPL say there's been a dramatic drop in greenhouse
gas emissions along a stretch of the South Bay where the bulk of those refineries
operate. The report notes the reduction of the last three years is most likely
due to sparse vehicle traffic during the pandemic, which of course halted demand for
fuel Researchers also discovered a seven percent drop in human caused emissions in La San
Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties from the year's twenty fifteen to twenty twenty.
That represented a reduction of thirty three million pounds of methane released per year.
Officials say despite a drop in the number of migrants trying to cross the California
Mexico border following Title forty two's expiration of enforcement, they're expecting a surge soon
as cartels and smugglers figure out a workaround for Title eight and a tougher approach
to border enforcement. Border agents say they are bracing for another caravan style push
towards the sande see to report of entry in the coming weeks, and for
those migrants who successfully entered to seak asylum, there is still a challenge.
Migrant or that family has to be housed someplace or be placed into a community
while they are awaiting the adjudication process or a hearing. To National security expert
John Cohen says most of the hearing dates won't even happen until twenty twenty five
or twenty twenty six. Steve Gregory, King of Fine News Uber is promoting
a service where users can save some cash by catching rides with strangers. Uber
announced last week riders can save thirty five percent on trips by using Uber uber
carpool and sharing the ride with another person heading in the same direction. It's
offered Monday through Friday during peak commute times in most areas. Users have to
schedule their rides thirty minutes to thirty days ahead of time. Comedian Margaret cho
and the late actor Leslie Jordan have been named Grand Marshals of this year's La
Pride Parade. Pride officials say Chow will be honored for her years of anti
racism and anti bullying advocacy and her support of LGBTQ plus rights. Jordan,
who died in October when he suffered a heart attack while driving in Hollywood,
will serve as the Legacy Grand Marshal. It's a new title to posthumously celebrate
those who have made an impact on the community, and The Pride Parade is
June eleventh at Sunset and Highland in Hollywood. In just a couple of minutes,
We're get what, why, and how the VA's extended benefits for veterans.
Six minutes after five on your wake Up Call on the KFI Live Line.
We're going to have Terrence Hayes in just a minute from the VA,
but first a couple of quick stories. The Fed's recent interest rate hikes has
caused the US dollar to become more valuable. The American Enterprise Institute says higher
interest rates are keeping excess cash out of the US and strengthening the dollar.
It has been increasing in value compared to currency from other countries. This also
means the US dollar index is on an upward trajectory. Places like Indonesia,
Brazil, and Chile have all benefited because of higher commodity prices, bringing in
more dollars for goods and for services. Usually the dollar fluctuates. It's it's
either when it's really really good in the US the economy, the dollar goes
up and it's really really bad or scarier jittery kind of right now because of
the debt ceiling, the dollar also picks up some scene because people are not
as investing as much in the bond market. Here, it's seven minutes after
five o'clock on your wake Up Call and on the KFI Live Line, as
promised as Terrence Hayes he's with the Veterans Administration. He's going to help us
spell out how veterans can apply or reapply for the Packed Act benefits. Let's
start at the beginning, Terrence, and good morning, Good morning, how
are you? I'm good? Thank you? What is okay? Updates on
the Packed Act and who can it help? Yeah? The pack Act is
a significant law that expands VA healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits
and other toxic substances. This law empowers VA to provide generations of veterans and
their survivors with the care and benefits they've earned and quite frankly deserve. And
I understand it expires on August the tenth. It was passed last year,
so this is a this is an extension of benefits that need to be applied
for. So actually there is no expiration date. So I want to make
sure that we're perfectly clear on the okay. There is a one year date
that is very urgent to us. And what it is is that if any
veteran or survivor applies for their benefits before August ninth of this year, benefits
could potentially be backdated to when President Biden signed the bill into law last year,
So there's benefits on the table for those individuals. But you can follow
a claim today, tomorrow, next year, five years from now, at
any given point a veteran can do. So here's how does this this packed
Act differ from other benefits. I mean it's I realize it's focused, but
what other benefits are pulled out? Yeah, I mean this is vital.
What it is is that it's very important because there's twenty three new presumptive conditions.
And bottom line is this, if any veteran or any survivor knows of
their veteran may have been exposed to any of those twenty three conditions. If
you have any of those twenty three conditions, it's automatically assumed that it's because
of your service. The evidence, the burden approof is no longer on you
as a veteran or the survivor. We automatically assume this. So it's vital
that you give us a call at one eight hundred nine eight two four one
one or visit the website at VA dot gov slash pack to find out more
information on how you can get those benefits to day, Do you have any
ballpark figure as to how many veterans could be affected by this or benefit from
this, Yeah, yeah, Our estimate looks at about three point five million
men and women who potentially could be impacted by the pack DAC. So far,
we've received over five hundred thousand claims thus far, and to the average
individual that may seem like a lot, but to us as a small number.
So again we're encouraging as many men and women to please give us a
call and follow those claims today. But also to those who made they don't
know if they have been exposed or not, we're encouraging those who are already
in our healthcare system to visit their primary care physician. The schedule was called
a toxic exposure screening. More than two point five million men and women have
done so already. I actually have done so as well as a veteran,
and it's very useful. It could lead to diagnosis, further testing in a
treatment plan, and again that evidence to support those claims as well. So
again, if you're interested, find out more at visiting va dot gov slash
pack. You mentioned there that some people might not even know if they've been
exposed to burn pits and agent orange toxic substances. Are there any typical or
telltale symptoms or after effects that people can might be looked well, be looking
for or keep an eye out for. Yeah, again, if they visit
that site and via dot gov slash pack with those twenty three presumptive conditions there,
and if you have any of those conditions, any of them, stop
exactly what you're doing right now, give us a call, or visit your
local Veteran service organization who have service officers there to assist you free of charge
to follow those claims. But again, it's vital that you get on that
website and see those conditions because if you have any of those, this pertains
to you. Terence, thank you so much for your time, this wanting
important information. Thank you so much. It's Terence Hayes. He's the Press
Secretary of the Veterans Administration. Let's get back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour news room before we go to traffic.
Offence has been put around islands on San Vicente Boulevard in Beverly Grove to keep
homeless camps out. People in the area had complained about the dozens of tents
in the area before the city recently cleared them. Officials say other beautification projects
are in the works for the area as well. State lawmakers have passed a
first of its kind bill prohibiting toxic chemicals and processed foods and drinks. It
now moves to the state Senate. If signed into law, the bill would
ban the sale, production, or distribution of any food product in California containing
yeah, the infamous red dye number three and other chemicals commonly found in sodas,
flame and hot Cheetos, candies, and cereals. Research has linked the
chemicals to cancer, reproductive issues, and behavioral and developmental issues in kids.
Striking members of the WGA say they will not pick it next month's Tony Award
telecast, which would hurt what many consider broadways biggest night. That last week,
the union denied a request by Tony organizers to have a waiver for their
June eleventh live telecast. The guild says some sort of Tony show might work
within specific requests from the WGA. The guild does not represent Broadway writers,
but it does represent writers who work on the Tony's telecast. So our gassum
seaweed is causing a problem on beaches in Jupiter, Florida. Scientists say the
seaweed is threatening sea turtles nesting season. Marine life scientist Heather Baron says the
seaweed provides sanctuary and nutrients for the turtles once they get out to see out
at sea. It's a very natural and important part of their development and environment.
However, on our beaches it can certainly provide an impediment. The brown
seaweed has blanketed beaches and grown in size over the last few months. If
you've seen the pictures, you know what I mean. Down in southern Florida,
Miami Dade County has set aside nearly four million dollars for cleanup efforts this
year and requested an additional two million dollars from the state. When we come
back, we will take the temperature in Washington around the debt sealing negotiations.
Wall Street looks a little jittery right now in pre market trading, so ABC's
Karen Travers will give us an update from DC a few more stories before we
get into the break. A bill banning Florida's public colleges and universities from funding
diversity, equity and inclusion programs will soon become law in the state. Governor
Ronda Santist signed the measure Monday yesterday, saying DEI efforts are an attempt to
impose an ideological agenda on students and faculty. He added that the initiative promotes
exclusion and discrimination. The law also says that general courses cannot distort significant historical
events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics. It's set to go into
effect on July. The first. Elon Musk is being subpoened as part of
the lawsuit in the US Virgin Islands accusing JP Morgan Chase of enabling sexual abuse
by Jeff Free Epstein. According to Reuters, the subpoena is seeking all communications
between Musk and Epstein, stating that Epstein may have referred the Tesla and SpaceX
CEO to the bank. The subpoena also reportedly requests documents from Musk about Epstein's
involvement in human trafficking. The lawsuit filed by the Virgin Islands claims JP Morgan
Chase knowingly benefited from alleged sexual abuse by Epstein. Okay, we talked about
the Lakers a little bit ago. Let's talk about a less well, let's
just talk about hockey. The next round of the Stanley Cup playoff field is
set. The Stars beat the Seattle crack in two to one in yesterday's Game
seven that was in Dallas to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Dallas will
square off against the Golden Nights in the next round. Vegas will have ulm
ice in the seven game series, which begins Friday. Meanwhile, the Carolina
Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Game one taking
place in Raleigh. That's on Thursday. Okay, in a couple of minutes,
we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk about the debt ceiling negotiations.
Right after this, you're listening to Wake Up Call with Jennifer jones Lee on
demand from k five AM six forty. My name is Jason Middleton. I
am in for Jennifer Jones Lee this week. She is on rodeo duty up
near reading, seen some family and some livestock. Some quick headlines before we
get into the rest of the show. The federal government is stepping up to
stop an anticipated surge of illegal immigration at the southern border. A Pentagon spokesman
says that another nine hundred and fifty troops will be arriving by the end of
the month, with most headed to El Paso, Texas. The man behind
chat GPT will testify before Congress today open a ice, THEEO, Sam Altman
will take questions from lawmakers calling for guardrails and regulation of artificial intelligence tools over
fears that it could be abused. Altman's company is is leading the development of
AI with its popular platform chat GPT. It also launched a thousand headlines when
it paired up with Microsoft and the being search Being has seen some share gain
when it comes to search overall, eating into Google's de facto monopoly of online
search. Taxpayers could soon be able to file their taxes digitally and free of
charge, directly with the IRS. The Washington Post reports the agency has been
quietly developing its own prototype system that could disrupt the tax prep market. The
Inflation Reduction Act set aside fifteen million dollars to create a free and direct filing
program. A few more headlines, because we have a lot of news moving
through on this Tuesday morning, Police in New Mexico say three people are dead
and several are injured after a shooting in a rural town. It happened yesterday
in Farmington, which is northwest of Albuquerque. Authorities responded to a report of
shots fired and eventually confronted a male suspect, who later died after a gun
battle. Multiple officers are among those who were hurt. Nearby schools were placed
on lockdown during the event as well. Consumer debt, always something to keep
an eye on, hit a record high of more than seventeen trillion dollars in
the first quarter of twenty twenty three. So these are figures from the New
York Federal Reserve and they show the total for borrowing across all categories rows nearly
one hundred and fifty billion dollars during the period from January to March. The
jump comes despite a sharp pullback and home loans due to rising mortgage rates.
Student loan debt also edged up to one point six trillion dollars in the first
quarter, so inflation is slowing a little bit. It's sticky, though,
but seeing this debt rise. On the consumer side, sixty six percent of
the American economy is based on consumer spending on services and goods, right,
so if we keep spending on that, then we're going to see the economy
doing. Once we stop spending and racking up this credit card debt, we
might see that recession come and maybe stick around a little bit longer. I
don't think that the FED is going to lower rates by the end of this
year, like some people are hoping for. I don't think that's going to
happen because inflation is so sticky still. But I do think it's anticipated and
fair that a short term two to three quarter recession might be coming. To
write the ship Triple A air travel, we do have a holiday coming up.
Triple A predicts air travel over Memorial Day weekend we'll be busier this year
than it was pre COVID, signaling a true return as they say to pre
twenty twenty travel levels. According to this year's report, about three point four
million Americans are expected to fly over the holiday weekend, an eleven percent increase
from last year. Not bad. It's also nearly a five and a half
percent increase since twenty nineteen, before the COVID pandemic. This year is expected
to be the busiest Memorial Day weekend since two thousand. That's way before the
pandemic. When Blaze started tracking these numbers to begin with. Pasadena, back
here in California, has approved having a response team on standby to respond to
bee swarms. The city has contracted a live bee removal company for at least
the next three years. With over twenty four parks that we have in Pasadena,
we have beautiful hiking trails the Arroyo area, so there are at the
risk of bees. Pasadena's Lisader Darian says. There have been several swarms in
the city over the last few years. One swarm of up to forty thousand
bees in twenty twenty led to a city block being closed in five people being
injured. The contract was approved yesterday in Pasadena Blake Trolley k if I news,
so that was Pasadena. A massew swarm of bees has taken over a
neighborhood in Encino, La City Fire and police both responded yesterday, treating at
least two people for beastings. Firefighters had been called to what they thought was
one beasting and when they arrived they saw hundreds of bees. People were told
to stay inside and wait for animal control. The amount of greenhouse gas has
continued to drop in the LA region over the last few years. Scientists at
NASA JPL installed eight censors around the area, and from twenty fifteen to twenty
twenty, human const dimissions fell by seven percent. That's a reduction of thirty
three million pounds of methane released per year. The largest reductions were found at
censors near Granada Hills and Ontario. The censors gathered data from La Orange,
San Bernardino, and Riverside counties and also showed the drop in emissions was most
likely due to the lack of vehicle traffic during the pandemic. Researchers also noted
a significant reduction in greenhouse gases over the last three years along the South Bay,
where most refineries operate. Steve Gregory Canofine News some paycheck News State regulators
have returned more than four hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars in stolen wages two
thirty four workers in commerce workers happily stepped up to grab their checks, many
as high as fourteen thousand dollars. State Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia Bauer says golden
food, falsified paste, dubs, and underpaid workers comp insurance. These business
practices are atrocious. State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Laura said yesterday the company underreported four
point five million dollars in payroll over a six year period to illegally saved workers'
compensation insurance and fail to pay their employees for their hard work. The owners
of Golden Food faced forty three labor fraud felonies and took a plea deal.
In Commerce, Corbin Carson k I finds a person looking for a Democratic Congressman
Jerry Connolly at his district office in Virginia has attacked two of his staffers with
a metal baseball bat. Connolly says both staffers were hospitalized, but their injuries
are not life threatening. ABC's Lindsay Watts says one of the staffers was hit
in the head yesterday, the other was hit on the side. Both were
taken to the hospital. US Capitol Police arrested the attacker. Duncan is offering
free pick me ups to make Mondays better. I not ites today's Tuesday,
but I'm hoping to plan ahead, it says. Coffee drinkers in California can
get free medium drinks every Monday through June twenty sixth with any purchase. Coffee
drinks need to use the Duncan app and sign up as a rewards member to
redeem the free caffeine. Native Americans are demanding accountability from Dartmouth College because of
its use of Indigenous skeletal remains for teaching. The school says the remains had
been incorrectly cataloged as those not being Native American. They were later correctly identified.
The university says it will take meaningful action by consulting the tribes most impacted
by the discovery. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded
institutions, such as universities to return remains and cultural items to the appropriate tribes.
Southern California weather from KFI. Low clouds and fog and some patchie drizzle
this morning, then partly cloudy skies later on Today. Highs in the upper
sixties and seventies for inland LA and Orange County. Some same start at the
beaches. Slightly cooler of course for the inland valleys, though highs are going
to be in the eighties today. Tonight, the low clouds and fog move
back in with overnight lows round sixty Tomorrow. It's pretty much the same start
to the day slightly warmer temperatures across the board. Right now, Manhattan Beach
is fifty nine, Anaheim is sixty one, Torrance is sixty and Altadena is
fifty five. When we come back, we're gonna get a chat with ABC's
tech reporter Mike Dubuski about the Microsoft purchase of gaming company Activision Blizzard. You're
listening to Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee on demand from KFI AM six
forty. Little drizzle out there as well, so if be careful on the
roads, you know how that sheen can happen and cause a spin out.
A couple of quick headlines before we get to nerd out with Mike Dubuski.
A suspect on the terror watch list has been arrested trying to cross the border
into San Diego. A suspect from Afghanistan on the FBI's terror watch list was
arrested in ote Mesa Wednesday after crossing the border illegally as part of a larger
group. A bill banning Florida's public colleges and universities from funding diversity equity end
inclusion programs will soon become law in the state. Governor Rod distant has signed
that law. Yes yesterday, Elon Musk is being subpoened as part of the
lawsuit in the US Virgin Islands accusing JP Morgan Chase of enabling sexual abuse by
Jeffrey Epstein. News is brought to you by American Vision Windows. At five
fifty, we're going to close out wake Up Call with ABC News correspondent Inez
Daia Kata. The topic for that one is the Ukrainian ramp up for a
possible counter offensive in its war with Russia. President Zelenski has been traveling through
Europe as he looks for more military aid for Ukraine. Right now, on
the liveline, we have ABC Tech reporter Mike Debuski. He's gonna help me
unpack Microsoft's I guess almost done purchase of gaming company Activision Blizzard. It's a
big deal, sixty nine billion dollars all cash offer. Good morning, Mike.
I think almost is the keyword there. Yesterday Microsoft inched a little bit
closer to closing this deal. EU regulators basically gave them the go ahead to
acquire Active Vision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard not a name that most people non gamers
might know, but it is the largest independent video game publisher in the world.
You probably know some of the products that they put out, things like
Candy Crush, popular mobile game, World of Warcraft, a very popular and
long running online multiplayer game, and then of course the big one, Call
of Duty, which is a huge sales success for them. New Call of
Duty games can't come out basically every year. Microsoft really trying to acquire this
video game publisher, in part because they are the owner of Xbox, right,
And this is why regulators are taking a very close look at this deal,
is that if they own the maker of the games, and they own
the thing that you play the games on, that would be a concern with
regards to antitrust. Yeah, talk about moat right truly, Yeah, yeah,
exactly. The owning the rails is the cliche, but I think it
applies here. But it is also worth mentioning that the deal is not closed
yet. Last year, the FTC here in the United States sued to block
the deal, and then last month British regulators made moves to block the deal
as well, specifically with focus on this sort of immerg urging part of the
gaming space known as the cloud gaming technology, so that that that is kind
of the things that they need to clear from here on in. Essentially from
experts that I've talked to, it basically means that all world governments and all
the regulators who are taking a look at this deal need to be in agreement
because it's not like there's going to be one version of Xbox here in the
United States and one version in the European Union. They kind of need to
all be, you know, uh, copasetic with one another because of the
globalized nature of the video game industry and the tech industry in general. Right,
And are there any privacy issues around here, because I know the EU's
years ahead of us when it comes to policies or regulations around privacy. Yeah,
it is interesting to see the EU give this deal the go ahead and
the United States not, because usually when it comes to big tech regulation,
it's the inverse, right, Jason. It's like the the EU has been
very aggressive when it comes to h you know, taking tech companies to task.
They find Google in the millions, if not billions of dollars for what
they say are alleged antitrust practices. But what I think is kind of interesting
to note here is the British movement here, right, the British moved last
month late last month to block this deal, and they made specific focus on
cloud gaming, which is this sort of interesting tactic because it almost seems like
they're trying to stop a monopoly from happening before it's allowed to take hold,
right, Like the traditional way of dealing with antitrust concerns is to break up
big tech companies or big companies and then allow them to be smaller companies that
can operate with more competition. Now, because the cloud gaming space is so
small, they are almost doing that in the reverse. They're trying to kind
of get ahead of the problem before it is allowed to happen. And Microsoft
has given a number of concessions to the EU in order to get their thumbs
up. Right, They've committed to keeping Activision Blizzard games on other platforms non
Xbox platforms, meaning Nintendo and PlayStation for the next ten years, which has
caused some analysts to one under why what is Xbox's role here if there are
no exclusives to that that platform. Right, the video game industry is heavily
reliant on exclusive games or exclusive to certain consoles and platforms and that sort of
thing. So that's that's sort of still a question mark, and obviously they
still have to contend with the ongoing processes in the United States and Britain.
So yeah, far from a done deal, but they're moving in a positive
direction at least this week when it comes to Microsoft closing this thing. We're
speaking with ABC Tech reporter Mike Dubuski about the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal. It's
a sixty nine billion dollar deal. I believe it's an all cash offer on
the table waiting for Britain to approve it. I'm going to ask you to
keep your analyst hat on just for one more second, because um, okay.
Microsoft obviously making some headlines starting this year with Chat, GPT and the
merger into being for online search. Is there any play here for AI or
is it more of a meta play down the road if you're Satia Adela,
the CEO at Microsoft. So when they instituted, when they first announced that
they were going to do this last year, obviously it made a huge amount
of press just based on the size of the deal. This is not just
the biggest video game deal in video game history, it's the largest consumer tech
deal in almost two decades. AOL acquired Time Warner about twenty years ago,
and that was the last biggest one, just to put this whole thing in
context. But when that happened, they did say this was a play for
the metaverse, that that was a lot of the line that came out of
this. We're not hearing so much about the metaverse that much anymore, and
I think ultimately it really was a play to get the games that people like,
these really popular video games and the Xbox platform, which is also a
popular platform, to sort of play nice with one another. But it's also
I think worth mentioning that the Xbox platform is very popular here in the United
States, it's less popular in Europe, where PlayStation largely dominates. So I
think that was maybe part of their thinking in this, to make Xbox a
more globalized brand, to bring sort of some of the more appealing games to
that platform in foreign markets. But you know, again, that's that's sort
of yet to be determined whether that will actually play out for them, because
as I said, we kind of got to get all these governments to play
nice with one another, or at least we have to get the governments to
play nice with Activision, Blizzard, and Microsoft here and then Jason, just
one more thing that I want to mention here because I think it's important to
put this all in context. Right. We talked about how big this deal
is and how important it is for the gaming industry in the tech industry.
This is also important for a lot of people. Two billion people in the
world to play video games in some capacity. That's a little bit more than
one quarter of the global population. The video game industry is one hundred and
seventy five billion dollars. Investipedia says that means it's bigger than both the movie
and the music industry combined. So this, uh, you know, the
conception of video games might be that, you know, it's people who play
them on consoles in your living room or doing your basement, but it's a
lot bigger than that. And what happens here with Microsoft and Activision, it's
going to impact a lot of people. Yeah, and you mentioned Meta and
we mentioned AI a little bit. This is a growth at a gory.
If you think about it, it's it's spinning out original content, if you
will, on different platforms from the franchises that they're building in the gaming industry.
And two billion is nothing to I mean, Microsoft, Satia nadel to
me, is the CEO of the century so far this year. Right,
Tim Cook is doing great, it's at keeping the things on track at Apple,
but but turning around Microsoft after coming out of the uh the Bomber years,
that's uh, that's impressive stuff. Absolutely, yeah, No, it's
that Satia Nadela is is a really fascinating guy. We actually had the opportunity
here at ABC News Radio to interview him a few years ago, uh and
right around the time that his book came out. And he's a really interesting
guy, an interesting history, and I would recommend reading his book because you
know, it gives you a little bit more insight, uh kind of into
his history and his his time at Microsoft, as he mentioned during the Balmer
years. Um so yeah, and you also mentioned AI there. I mean,
that's that's a big deal this week as well here at home. I
mean, Congress is looking into uh, you know, potential AI regulation.
You know, also with regards to anti trust this week. That's a little
bit more on the open AI side of things than the Microsoft side of things,
but those two companies are deeply related. So Microsoft fighting a couple of
different regulatory battles this week. It sums yeah. ABC's tech reporter Mike Dubusky.
Mike, I have another show called Macro. Maybe you can join me
over there. We can talk about regulational round AI. I would love to.
Yeah, absolutely, Thanks a lot, Mike for your time this morning.
Take care by when we come back. ABC News correspondent Inez Dala Kata
will update us on the situation in Ukraine and how Ukraine's president has been adding
more military aid as they ramp up for a counter offensive. You're listening to
Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee on Demand from KFI AM six. Forty.
Congressman Jerry Connolly is confirming that two members of his staff were attacked by
a person with a baseball bat yesterday at his Virginia office. The Democrat tweeted
that the individual entered his district office, asked for Connolly, and then proceeded
to attack the staff members. The person in custody and the two victims were
taken to an area hospital non life threatening injuries. Triple A predicts air travel
over Memorial Day weekend will be busier this year than it was pre cod but
according to this year's report, about three point four million Americans are expected to
fly over the holiday weekend. That's up from last year. Consumer debt did
hit a record high of seventeen trillion dollars in the first quarter of twenty twenty
three. For context, the US bond market that is the benchmark for the
global economy is twenty four trillion dollars five fifty one. On your wake up
call, ABC's Inez Dai Kata is on the line to talk with us about
President Zelenski's recent tour of Europe and if he was able to add military aid
for Ukraine's army head of an anticipated counter offensive against Russia. Good morning,
daz, Hey, good morning yeah. The Ukrainian President Lenski was on a
whirlwind tour through Europe. He met with the German Chancellor Alophals in Germany.
He then made a surprise trip to Paris, where he met with French President
Emmanuel Macron, and then he headed up to London to meet with the British
Prime Minister Rieshi Sunac. He did secure fresh pledges of military aid. He
for instance, got from the French president a pledge with France, pledging to
train Ukrainian fighter pilots on French planes and to train them here in France.
That's interesting because we've seen a lot of back and forth over this issue of
fighter jets, with Ukraine asking for warplanes, a lot of Western countries reluctant
to a handover those, um, those warplanes the US included, with the
concern being that could really escalate the conflicts and really infuriate Russia. So they've
been reluctant to send Ukraine warplanes. But here Macron is offering to train Ukrainian
fighter pilots. We also got some uh, you know, pledges of military
and financial aid from the from the UK, from Germany as well. UM,
So yeah, a lot of a lot of additional help coming in from
European leaders. And this comes, of course, as Kiev is planning a
or we're expecting Kiev to carry out a major counter offensive in the spring.
Um. Initially Ukrainian officials had said that was put on hold because they didn't
have enough Western weapons. And so now that Zalvski has secured at all this
additional aid, the thinking is that this counter offensive cold could really be just
stays away, wow, days away. Okay, because we've been it's not
exactly been a secret that the Zolensky and the Ukrainian army wanted to counter a
fan. Zolenski has described this war as a fundamental definition of civilization. The
Russian president Putin recently had a parade in Moscow. It seems like a lot
of this is playing out in public and very very not secret ways. Is
that influencing anything when it comes to, for lack of a better term,
public relations or media relations on either side of the war. Yeah, you
know, I think it's been it's certainly been interesting to see these how these
two leaders have gone about it. And you're right, we've seen Putin quite
a bit in recent weeks. There was that military parade and and and Putin
did speak. It was kind of one of a rare appearance. We hadn't
seen him in a while, and he did speak about the war. He
talked about how the world had had fundamentally changed. He was accusing the West
again of attacking Russia. Things like that. We've seen him him coming out
kind of more publicly, and Russian officials also talking more and more about what's
really going on on the ground, which was also kind of unusual because they've
kept a lot of things kind of secret um and we are seeing, Yeah,
the Ukrainian president. I mean he's been the center throughout the throughout the
war, um, but certainly in recent days as this world and euro tour,
Luke seeing a lot more of him. So yeah, I think there's
a little bit of that as well. Both sides kind of touting their games.
Ukraine just this week was touting its biggest battlefield advances in six months.
Um so. So they're you know, saying that they're making progress already,
um so so. And I think part of that is also to keep morale
up of course, and and and but they but they're claiming that they have,
you know, made more progress there than they have in six months.
We're speaking with ABC's in as delicatea one one more question back to Western Europe
real quickly, as um French President Makron is a self described internationalist, and
is this aid package unsuspectable? Well, did we expect to get that out
of France for this because it seems like training on the weapon systems that Ukraine
already has is giving them an edge already they seem to be up to speed
on a lot of those systems. Yeah. So, you know, it's
interesting that the systems have certainly been a huge help, and we just saw
that overnight with Russia launching a new kind of intense garage of missiles that Ukraine.
Ukraine is able to shoot down all eighteen of those missiles. And what
was especially interesting about last night is that there were hypersonic missiles views that Russia
had touted as all but you know, unstoppable, and still those air defense
systems were able to shoot them down. So I think that goes to show
just how well that's working. And yeah, the edge that Ukraine has over
Russia in many ways because of all this aid that's coming in. When it
comes to what France is doing, Yeah, it's been interesting to see how
different countries have you know, they, especially European countries, think Western countries
as a whole natal allies. They wanted to present a united front when it
comes to Ukraine, and I think they've suceeded in doing that. They want
to show that they stand firmly behind Ukraine. But at the same time,
there is a split amongst these countries when it comes to how just how far
the age should go. And we've seen countries, for instance, on the
eastern flying country like Poland or the Baltic States that are very much concerned about
what's going on in Ukraine. They feel that a Russia isn't stopped there,
Russia could come after the next So they've been really you know, Ukraine's biggest
allies here. And when it comes to this issue of fighter jet fighter jets
that we were discussing earlier, countries like Poland for instance, have been very
vocal and saying that they would be open to sending Ukraine fighter jets, whereas
countries like France, the US, Germany, the UK are a little bit
more measured, I want to say in their approach. They've been reluctant to
set Ukraine fighter jets and and so they're maybe not at directly affected. And
I think what you're seeing Kron doing here and helping training these pilots but not
sending more plans is trying to walk that fine line of helping Ukraine without taking
it too far. Well, thank you so much for your update on this.
We've you know, as your time is very valuable and we really you
appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you ab season as Daily Cattery,
they're updating us on the munitions and military aid headed to Ukraine for an often
discussed and predicted counter offensive in that war against Russia. Back to some news
coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom, a convicted felon who shot
a BB gun at planned parented in Pasadena has been sentenced. The man admitted
to firing at the clinic at least eleven times between twenty twenty and twenty twenty
one. The US attorneys Karen McAvoy says fifty three year old Richard Chamberlain also
had a handgun with him during one of the attacks. Police found on the
front passenger seat of Chamberlain's car a backpack containing a twenty two caliber pistol which
was loaded with ten rounds of ammunition. Chamberlain last year pleaded guilty to being
a felon with a firearm and ammunition. He was sentenced yesterday to thirty months
in federal prison. Chris Adler KFI News, a former LAPD officer suspected of
sexually assaulting four boys at his home in Covina has been arrested. The La
County Sheriff's Department says the officer was arrested last week and remains in custody.
The alleged abuse happened between two thousand and seven and twenty sixteen. Officials say
based on the allegations and the officers access to children, there could be more
kids abused than have been reported. Federal officials are looking to resume student loan
debt repayments. The country's Education secretary says the process will start no later than
June the thirtieth. Student loan payments have been paused federally for more than three
years because of the pandemic. The Supreme Court has not yet made a ruling
on challenges to President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. San Diego has been given
the option to sue Sea World. Rent is due and the balance is ten
million dollars for the aquatic theme part. The San Diego City Council is voted
to take legal action against Sea World to try and recover its back rent from
most of twenty twenty. In early twenty twenty one, officials for SeaWorld release
a statement that they will continue to work with the city to find a resolution.
In the past, c World said it should not owe rent in their
revenue sharing contract because theme parks were forced to shut down completely during the pandemic.
The city said the least only allowed for rent to be deferred, not
waived. Andrew Caravella, KFI News Southern California Weather from KFI Low clouds and
fog this morning and then sunny a little bit later. Today. We do
have some patchy fog also happening this morning and a drizzle we have to watch
for the drizzle. High are going to be in the upper sixties and seventies
for inland LA and OC. Same start at the beaches today, slightly cooler
temps for the inland valleys. Highs are going to be in the eighties today.
Tonight, the low clouds and fog may move back in overnight lows around
sixty tomorrow. It's the same start to the day. You've been listening to
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