You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on
demand on the iHeartRadio app where January Go Gone. It's also a very sad
day if you're a fan of January as I am. It's my birth month.
I ate the last of my Cheetos today or yesterday. So I know
Tony's like going, what's the big deal. Okay, here's the thing with
Cheetos. I love them, not the crunchy kind, not the flame and
hot kind. I like the Cheetos cheese puffs, and they are they are
my kryptonite. I love them, love them, love them, and so
I don't eat them almost ever. I save it for special occasions. And
my birthday weekend last weekend with the girls in town, that was my special
occasion. So we got this big, huge bag of Cheetos and I finished
them off yesterday. Son't have to wait until some other special occasion. Does
Valentine's Day count? Maybe? All right? Well, if you have a
special treat that you have burned through and are sad like me, I'm very
sorry for your loss. Eight lots of rain today, Tony. You saw
a big accident on your way in huh. A bunch of cars spun out.
Yeah, they're on the way here. Could a few see like they're
all just spun on the side. Yeah, I didn't see any, of
course, you know, I came in a little bit earlier than you,
but uh, not so and it wasn't so slippery. But there is rain
on the roads, and rain's going to be fallen, especially during the morning
commute, So be careful. Here's what's ahead on wake up call. That
moderate terrain, moderate to heavy rain that I was just mentioning has arrived in
southern California. It's in the first of two storms that are expected to move
through. Forecasters say one to two inches of rain could fall in the valleys
and at the coast, with two to four inches possible in the foothills and
mountains. Wind winter and high surf advisories are up around the south Land.
Winter storm warnings are up in some mountain areas, with snow levels dipping to
about forty five hundred feet by tomorrow. Five LA County Sheriff's deputies are being
hailed as heroes for running into a burning building and locking out a flint ridge
and saving a woman trapped inside. The deputies climbed up an awning Tuesday night,
broke a window and got the woman out. When firefighters got there,
they pulled an unconscious man out of the home as well. A man's been
arrested for running out onto the runway at LAX. The man ran onto the
tarmac near the west gates at Tom Bradley International Terminal last night around eight.
He was taken away in an ambulance following his arrest. Airport operations were not
affected. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. Of course, the big story is the rain and
the snow. Both have arrived on the West Coast. ABC's Alex Perez says
it's from the first of two back to back storms. Wins in excess of
seventy miles per hour in northern California, drivers swerving to avoid accidents on Interstate
five, and heavy snow falling in dinner pass cars is struggling to stay on
the road. In southern California, the National Weather Services we'll likely see the
most rainfall during our morning commute. The strongest downpours are expected during a one
to three hour period. The next storm is expected to move in on Sunday.
The FEDS have set aside more than a half billion dollars to combat homelessness
in California. The Housing Authority of LA will get seventy three million, Riverside
County gets sixteen million. Cities around the state will get a portion of six
hundred and one million to provide housing, mental health services, and continuum of
care. The money's part of a three point two billion dollar grand from the
Housing and Urban Development Agency. Orange County Housing Authority will get thirteen million,
and the La County Development Authority will receive forty million. Steve Gregory KFI News.
The White House says an umbrella group of Iran backed militants is responsible for
the drone attack in Jordan that killed three US service members. The group is
called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. ABC's Martha Radit says the US is made
plans to retaliate the Pentagon, preparing to unleash what officials say will be a
multi day, multi target attack bigger than anything seen thus far, which could
include Iranian assets outside of Iran, But she says another official says President Biden
has concerns about hitting Iran itself. And causing a wider war. Three people
have been killed and nine were hurt when a hangar under construction collapsed near the
Boise Airport in Idaho. Buyer chief Aaron Hummel says their technical rescue team had
to hoist people out of the debris last night. There was a large scale
collapse of the building, the framework of the building. I don't know what
caused it, but I can tell you that it was a pretty global collapse
that occurred to the main structural members came down as fairly catastrophic. Hummill says.
The airport itself was not affected and neither were any flights. Five of
those heard are in critical condition. Well. Pluto may have been downgraded by
scientists, but don't tell that to Arizona. A bill has passed a state
House committee to make Pluto the official state planet. Apparently, he was discovered
in nineteen thirty by an astronomer astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, and it
was named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. It is five
oh six on your wake up call. Time to say good morning to ABC's
national correspondent Stephen Portnoy. Good morning, Stephen, after watching just some of
the hearing on Capitol Hill, I think I can say I hope I never
have to testify on Capitol Hill. Well. Look, it was one of
the you'll hear it everywhere, grilling, grilling, grilling, grilling. Yeah,
the CEOs were grilled by angry members of Congress on both sides of the
aisle. Republicans and Democrats gave him a bipartisan tongue lashing, they sure did,
and Mark Zuckerberg was made to squirm in his seat and ultimately stand and
face the families of people who have taken their own lives as a result of
online alling and child exploitation and sex stortion and other awful things. But what's
to be done about it? That's a good question. Yeah, that's what
really it's all about, isn't it. And so Mark Zuckerberg was yelled at
by members of both parties, and the senators pounded the table, and they've
expressed their public shame. But what are these senators doing now? Five times
in the past year, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which had that bipartisan tongue
lashing session yesterday, cleared and sent to the Senate floor bills that would aim
to solve this problem. What's happened since, Well, nothing has happened since,
because these senators have been shook by the lobbying efforts of these all powerful
executives who were made to cower and be shamed yesterday and yesterday's hearing. I
think part of the situation that is not getting as much attention as I think
it should is the idea that the CEOs were asked if they would please please
support this legislation that we're working on, please see to it that we can
pass it. Now, why should it be up to the CEOs to decide
what the Senate does? Because one of the little known ways of how Washington
works is if a company in a large, very powerful corporate interest objects to
Congress acting to legislate something, well, that corporate interest very often has the
final word. And so yesterday's public shaming behind it all was the idea that
these CEOs really ought to back down on their lobbying efforts to prevent these pieces
of legislation from passing. Will they do it? I doubt it, Well
don't Why don't they just ignore the lobbyists. That's a great question for members
of the Senate, And I hope that at every occasion that you or any
other interviewer has an opportunity to talk to a senator, you asked that question.
I bet they'll turn around and they'll say, oh, well, you're
right, You're absolutely right. We really ought to do something about it.
Certainly the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee feel that way unanimously. But it
still has to happened, because at the end of the day, there are
other priorities, and somehow this falls by the wayside. So we spend a
full news cycle, we devote all of our resources and attention to this urgent
national crisis, and then we move on to something else, and the Congress,
which is charged with dealing with these things, moves on to something else,
and we have broader national issues and plus, very little gets done these
days in Congress anyway. And this is not the first time that these people
have testified. Men Zuckerberg's been up there several times, and like you said,
they testify and they get their tongue lashing, and they sit and take
it and say, thank you, sir, May I have another and nothing
changes. Well, just to be clear, what we're talking about is whether
these companies should face civil liability, whether they should be sued by the victims
of people who have in some cases taken their own lives as a result of
the bullying, harassment, sex exploitation, and extortion that goes on on these
platforms. And it really gets to Section two thirty of the Communications Decency Act,
which is highly charred. And while both sides of the aisle say it's
time for Section two thirty reforms, and they've been saying it for years,
nothing's been done. Okay, well see if anything happens this time. Stephen
Portnoy, thank you so much for your time and your insight. All right,
take care. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Overdue rent in La that piled up during
the pandemic is now due. Renters are expected to pay the rent that accrued
between October of twenty twenty one and January of last year. Those who can't
pay could face eviction. The La City Council voted last week to keep eviction
protections going for anyone who's been approved for rent relief and is just waiting for
that payment. Prosecutors in the Grossman murder trial are disputing claims that a black
SUV was the first to hit two boys during a crash in Westlake Village.
Janelle County sheriff's deputy testified there was no debris from any type of black vehicle
and only pieces of Grossman's white SUV were found the scene in twenty twenty.
The deputy also testified yesterday that he smelled alcohol when he found gross Men a
short distance from the scene. The defense also claims the boys were hit outside
of a crosswalk, but witnesses testified this week the boys were lined up like
cute little ducks waiting to cross when two SUVs roared through the crosswalk like a
speeding train. The defense pointed out one witness who claimed to hear two collisions.
Testimony continues today. Corbin Carson Ka Fine News Alec Baldwin is pleaded not
guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and connection with a fatal shooting on the
set of the movie Rust. His lawyers filed the plea yesterday in New Mexico.
ABC's Jason Nathanson says Baldwin waived his right to an arraignment, which had
been scheduled for today. One of his conditions of release. You can't leave
the country without checking in with the judge. In New Mexico court records,
so show. Some people on the set in twenty twenty one had serious concerns
over armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed's drug use. Baldwin is facing eighteen months to three
years in prison for firing the gun that killed cinema photographer Helena Hutchins during a
rehearsal. Taggers have spray painted graffiti on twenty seven stories of an unfinished fifty
three story skyscraper, a skyscraper in downtown LA. This man watched him do
it from his building next door. Between yesterday and today, there's probably another
like twenty floors. I've been done, they've been blasted, and so they're
going out a pretty fast rate. Videos taken late Tuesday and Wednesday nights show
people on a balcony of the building across from Crypto dot Com Arena. It's
been sitting dormant for five years after the developer ran out of money to finish
construction. Well, it looks like the relationship between TikTok and Universal Music Group
is finished. Maybe not. We got bad, you know, we used
to be bad. So take a look what you've done, because maybe not
we get bad. I'm just gonna let the song run because I like it.
So Universal Music Group, which represents Taylor Swift, Drake Adele, Bad
Bunny, and Billie Eilish, says it is no longer going to allow its
music on TikTok because a licensing deal between the two groups has expired. Universal
says it has been pressing TikTok on three issues to try to come up with
a new deal. They want appropriate compensation for artists and songwriters, they want
to protect human artists from AI, and they also want online safety for TikTok's
users, but no deal was reached. It expired yesterday, and now Universal
says, you can't play our music here. So also it says ultimately TikTok
is trying to build a music based business because music is super popular on TikTok
without paying fair value. TikTok is saying, no, that's not true.
That we have other agreements with other artists and labels and publishers and everybody.
But Universal is fine with what we're doing. But Universal is saying no,
they're trying to get the rates down so low it just doesn't make sense,
and also says that TikTok is trying to bully them into accepting a deal with
has even less benefit than the previous deal and is way under fair market value.
So for now, no tailor, no Drake, no Adele, no
bad Bunny, no Billie Eilish. Next time you go perusing your TikTok.
When we come back, we're going to find out the latest on the drone
attack that killed those three service members with ABC's Inez de la Quaterra. You're
listening to Wake Up Call on demand from KFI AM six forty. It's the
Wet One. I'm Amy King. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty
four hour newsroom. The heaviest rain of an atmospheric river moving into southern California
is expected this morning. Rain could fall between a half and three quarters of
an inch an hour. The rain is expected to mostly move out by about
two this afternoon, and then a stronger storm moves in Sunday. A man's
been a right I did for allegedly setting a church in Pasadena on fire.
The fire was started at Grace Korean Methodist Church the night of January nineteenth,
police say The man's also accused of trying to carjack someone at a gas station
in Pasadena two days earlier, and setting another fire in a parking lot later
that day. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelsey says he will not be
joining his girlfriend Taylor Swift at Sunday's Grammys. He says he'll be watching her
win, but that he has to get ready for what he called this big
old super Bowl. Swift is up for six Grammys on Sunday, including Album
of the Year. The super Bowl between the Chiefs and the San Francisco forty
nine ers is next Sunday at six oh five e. Its handle on the
news, and the Senate has where Congress has passed a child tax credit and
also some tax breaks. I'm going to dig into that right now, though.
Let's say good morning to ABC's Nez Dila QUITTERA. Good morning, Andz.
The US is now saying that drone attack that killed three US service members
came from the Islamic resistance in Iraq. Who are they and who backs them?
Hey? Good morning? Yeah, that's right, So they have figured
out who is behind the attack. You'll remember, right after the attack,
the US was blaming Iran back to militias, but they were still investigating to
figure out the specific group that launched that drone that carried out this attack.
They are now blaming the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, So this is a wider
kind of umbrella group that is made up of smaller Iran backed militias. So
we heard that from National Security Council' spokesman John Kirby yesterday. He said the
US leaves the attack was planned, resourced, and facilitated by the Islamic Resistance
in Iraq. He said that Biden meanwhile, he's continuing to weigh his options
in terms of, you know, the response here. We know there's going
to be a response, but they're not giving us a whole lot of details
in terms of what that response will look like. They say that this won't
be a one off, that the first thing you see won't be the last
thing. We're expecting response to last several days, possibly weeks. We also
understand that it will likely include specific targets, likely inside Iraq. The big
question is whether there could be any targets inside Iran, and we know they've
said that they plant to strike facilities that were used to carry out this attack.
Okay, it's and it's probably better that they don't tell us. I'm
surprised that we're hearing as much as we are because I think that, you
know, it kind of takes away the element of surprise. Yeah, that's
right. They don't want to They don't want to let these militias know exactly
what they're planning, I will say. At the same time, they are
facing pressure to get going on the response here. It has been four or
five days now since the attacks, and we have seen reports that some of
these militias in rock are starting to evacuate from their positions, you know,
carrying up for this American response. And so you know that there are those
that say that the more President Biden waits, the more he's giving these militias
a chance to prepare and regroup and possibly evacuate. And so President Biden,
you know, he's in a tough spot. He has to kind of weigh
his options here. It's a very delicate, tense situation there in the Middle
East, and he needs to send you Ran a strong message. At the
same time, he doesn't want to trigger in all out war. He needs
to act quickly, but he also needs to take the time to really think
about his options here. So a tough spot for the president's being. Okay,
So going back to the Islamic resistance in Iraq backed by Iran, which
means Iran has their fingers all over it, but they're not directly directly involved.
Is that an accurate assessment. Yeah, that's exactly right. And we
heard from President Biden just yesterday actually talking about talking about that and then saying
that he does hold Iran responsible in the sense that they are the ones providing
the funding, providing the weapons for these groups to be able to carry out
these attacks. We also understand that Iran in some cases has even helped train
these militias, but Iran is denying that it's behind, you know, any
of this. It's even said that it does not control these militias and how
these militias respond to the israel hamof war. But yeah, the US very
much, you know, pointing the finger at Iran, as you know,
and pointing to the fact that you know, so for instance, this Milita
that carried out this attack on this kind of secret of space in Jordan,
they used drones, and so there are questions as to how these militias would
be able to acquire drones that are pretty expensive without the help of Iran.
Okay, and interesting that Iran says, you know that it's not directly involved,
but then yesterday came out and said that are threatened to decisively respond to
any US attack on the Islamic Republic or is it an attack on directly on
Iran? Maybe I'm reading that wrong. Well, no, no, that's
there are questions as to whether the US will decide to strike strike Iran directly,
because the US has been the US troops have been repeatedly targeted in the
Middle East since the beginning of the Israel Home Off War, more than one
hundred and sixty attacks on US military installations in the region, and the US
has taken has responded in the last few weeks, right, they have kind
of undertaken targeted the strikes there on certain targets throughout Syria and Iraq, and
that clearly hasn't done enough to deter these militias, and so the US is
under pressure to do more to send a strong signal that ran. And so
there are questions as to whether the US could decide to strike Iranian territory directly,
and so Iran is responding to that preemptively, and they are threatening a
decisive response if they are struck, if their interests are struck, if they're
foreign nationals are struck. At the same time, though, they are the
interesting rhetoric coming from the Iranians. They said this week that they do not
fear a war, but at the same time, they don't want a war,
and we've heard that from the US as well. They've been clear that
they do not want a war with Iran, and still it just seems like
we're inching toward it. The base that was attacked in Jordan where the service
members were killed and then a couple dozen others were injured. I would imagine
that all the bases over there have some sort of strategic value in the region,
But was there anything particularly important about this one and does it affect our
operations in the area? Yeah, it's kind of a secretive base there in
Jordan. I will say it's the first time that US troops in Jordan have
been struck since the beginning of the Israel Hamok War. We've seen US military
facilities in Iraq struck in Syria, but this was the first time they were
struck in Jordan. This was a base where US troops were helping kind of
advise and assist Jordanian forces, with the main goal lately having been to kind
of focus on the lasting defeat of ISIS. And so you know the fact
that they were struct there is certainly alarming to the Jordanians as well. And
you know, it is unusual. Again, it's the first time that the
US troops have been hit in Jordan. We've seen a number of attacks in
Syria and Iraq, but it was the first time in Jordan's Okay, well,
well, we will continue to watch this situation develop and hope that it
doesn't explode. And as delo quitera, thank you so much for your time
this morning. Thank you. All right, let's get back to some of
the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsrooms. So much going
on today. Covered California has extended its enrollment period past the January thirty first
deadline. People now have until February ninth to apply Covered California, as executive
director says, it wants to make sure that anyone who needs health insurance has
the opportunity to get covered. For the rest of twenty twenty four They also
say they're seeing record enrollment. The sheriff of San Bernardino County is calling for
stiffer laws to smoke out large scale illegal plotforms. Sheriff Shannon Dika says while
his teams have been able to largely take down illegal farms in his county,
hundreds of farms remain. We still have cartels that are involved in these.
We also have a whole Chinese group of cartels that are involved also black market
business. Dika says he's willing to work on legislation with anybody in Sacramento who's
willing. The Sheriff's effort comes as investigators say six people who are involved in
an argument over marijuana were fatally shot last week in the High Desert Blake Trolly
kaf I News. The House has passed a seventy eight billion dollar tax package
that includes an expansion of the child tax credit. The legislation would lift the
sixteen hundred dollars refundable cap on the credit and adjusted for inflation. ABC's Mark
Remillard says the bill also includes some tax breaks for businesses. Sheriff Shennondikas says
it's a combination that gives policy wins to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
House Speaker Mike Johnson praising the law as an example of how Congress is
supposed to work. The tax cut package now heads to the Senate, but
it's not clear if it has the votes there to pass. Liberal Democrats don't
like the business tax cuts and right wing Republicans don't like the child tax credit
policy. Eating kimchi daily could prevent different forms of obe city. Research published
Tuesday out of South Korea found that adults who ate the fermented veggie dish every
day were at a lower risk of developing ob city than those who didn't.
The study surveyed more than one hundred and fifteen thousand Korean adults between the ages
of forty and sixty nine. When we come back, I went out and
about to a place that I see almost every day but haven't been too in
years, and the views are out of this world. That's your hint.
Baseball season is here. Don't miss live coverage from FanFest with insider David Vassy
this Saturday from noon to three. Visit discount tire and service centers by two
Tires Get two for free. Southland Weather from KFI heavy rain expected this morning,
one to two inches in the basin, valleys and along the coast.
Two to four inches could fall in the foothills and mountain areas. Gusty winds
are also expected. Heisilbe just in the fifties and sixties. The heaviest range
should taper off this afternoon, with spurs possibly thunderstorms possible through early tomorrow.
We'll get a break in the weather tomorrow and Saturday. Then a second stronger
storm is expected Sunday, with rain on the way through Wednesday. You're listening
to a wake up call on demand from KFI AM six forty. Good Thursday
morning to you. I'm Amy King. Actually we might The storm's supposed to
move out by later today and tomorrow we're going to see some sunshine, believe
it or not. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Moderate to heavy rain has arrived in southern California as the first of two
storms moved through. Forecasters say one to two inches of rain could fall in
the valleys and at the coast, and two to four inches as possible in
the foothills and mountains. Wind winter and high surf advisories are up around the
Southland. A winter storm warning is in effect in some mountain areas, with
snow levels dipping to about forty five hundred feet by tomorrow. Five LA County
Sheriff's deputies being hailed as heroes for running into a burning house in Lakeayata,
flint Ridge and saving a woman trapped inside. The deputies climbed up an awning
Tuesday night, broke a window and were able to get the woman out,
and when firefighters got there, they went in and pulled an unconscious man out
of the home. Some Californians could lose their landlines. AT and T is
currently required to offer landlines to all customers in the state, but is asking
state regulators to lift that requirement. If approved, no company would have to
offer a basic phone service plan in some areas, but others could go in
voluntarily if they wanted to. Customers can give feedback when public forums begin next
week at five point fifty, We're going to be talking to ABC's crime and
Terrorism analyst Brad Garrett. He says, in spite of everything, the heads
of the social media companies are saying, your kids are not protected from bad
players. Going to dig a little deeper into that. I went out in
about this week to the Griffith Observatory. It was a beautiful day. One
of my friends had left earlier in the day and flown home, and my
friend Teresa was still in town and we were trying to figure out what we
were going to do for the afternoon, and she's like, Oh, we
should go to Griffith Park. I haven't been there for years. And I
was like, I haven't been there for years, and which is sort of
ironic to me because I literally see the Griffith Observatory every day like it's I
can see it from my balcony. So we thought, okay, it's a
beautiful day, we'll take a drive up there. And I forget how fantastic
the observatory is. So we went on a Monday, and the observatory itself
was closed. It's open Tuesday through Sunday, so if you want to go
up there on Monday, it's a little less crowded, but you can't go
inside the building. Even outside, there's lots to see, and of course,
because it was such a beautiful day, it was one of those days
in southern California where you could you could see for miles. You could see
Catalina could obviously, you could see the ocean, you could see the buildings
of Santa Monica, the Wiltshire District. Of course downtown you could see Rancho
Palace Verdies And then you turn around and the Hollywood Sign is right behind you.
I mean, it's just so pretty. And then there's hiking trails all
over there, and so you can go hike after you go and look at
the stars. And then they also have some cool things just outside the observatory.
And I posted a video on my Instagram at Amy k King that you
can see a couple of the things that they do. But it's just so
so amazing, And if you go on a day when the observatory is open,
all kinds of cool exhibits about the Sun and the moon and the cosmos.
And then of course there's the planetarium and if you haven't seen a planetarium
show again, this is one of those things. It's right here, and
I think we just forget about it because it's right here and kind of take
it for granted. They've got a show called Signs of Life and they describe
it as an astronomical detective story that propels visitors to uncover what it took to
put life in the universe. It's ten bucks for the show for adults.
It's a little bit less for kids, and it runs for like thirty five
minutes, so it's not like a two hour show or anything. The only
thing about the Observatory that I want to at least put on your radar is
parking can be a little challenging. Like I said, it wasn't as crowded
when we were there, so we actually got to park up top in the
parking lot. There's parking down the roadways. It's like ten dollars, and
then further down they have parking lots and you can shuttle up and so on
crowded days, that's probably the way to do it. Or you can hike
and hike and hike to get up to the observatory. But it again,
because we were there on a Monday, it wasn't bad, but a great
way to spend a couple of hours and just one of the many amazing sites
that are in our own backyard. And hopefully you'll go and take advantage of
it and go out and about yourself. Let's get back to some of the
stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Metrolink has started securing
an unstable hillside in San Clemente to prepare for the storm. Metrolinks Scott Johnson
says the crews put tarps over the slope where debris caused rail service to be
shut down in the area last week. Rail service continues in Orange County.
Metrolink operates as far south as our lagun and Agail mission via hostation Monday through
Friday, and then this weekend we will once again operate as far south as
San Juan Capistrano. Johnson says many agencies are working together to try to keep
the hillside from crumbling during the storms. He says rail service will be fully
restored only when it is safe to do so. An unarmed response program to
divert calls involving the homeless and mental health crises away from the LEDPD is expanding.
Mayor Bath says as of today, Circle that's the name of the program
will serve the Harbor area. The program already operates in Hollywood, downtown,
La South, La Venice, and parts of the San Fernando Valley. Teams
responded to nearly nine thousand calls last year with an average response time of less
than twenty six minutes. Four people have been arrested for the fatal ship shoting
of a teenage boy in Pacoima. LAPT Lieutenant Guy Golan says the sixteen year
old and a friend were walking last month when they were approached by people in
a silver Dodge Charger. After a brief conversation, the front passenger exited the
vehicle and began firing at them. Both victims attempted to flee. However,
two additional suspects exited from the vehicle and began to shoot at them as well.
He says the sixteen year old was shot several more times after he fell
to the ground. His seventeen year old friend was also hit, but was
able to get away. The arrest were made in Culver City, Lancaster and
Oxnard. And Ex Cohn, who allegedly shot and killed his ex girlfriend's poppy
following an argument in downtown LA has been ordered to stand trial. The guys
do back in court February fourteenth to face felony charges of animal cruelty and criminal
threats. Billie said David Sumlin held a pillow over the dog January second,
and fired twice into the pillow. Too bad, you can't do murder for
dogs. A state audit says Anaheim need better oversight of taxpayer money following a
former mayor's guilty plea to federal fraud charges. The audit claims millions of dollars
in tourism contracts have been mismanaged. Anaheim Mayor Ashley Aiken agrees specifically with her
disagreement of a six point five million dollar contract to promote tourism recovery during the
pandemic even though the industry was shut down that I fiercely disagree with one point
five million of that being misappropriated to the Chamber of Commerce without the city's knowledge
or permission. State auditors and the city have called for the Chamber to return
that money, though the Chamber has disagreed with the audit and at the one
point five million dollars was used inappropriately in Anaheim. Corbin Carson KFI News,
A man who ran onto a runway at lax has been arrested. People spotted
the guy last night between the Tom Bradley and Westgates terminals. Officers followed him
out of a security gate as he made his way out onto the tarmac.
He was caught a short time later. Authority say they believe he was under
the influence of something. A new study says hungary sea otters have helped rescue
a section of marshland in Monterey. Marine ecologist Brent Hughes says crabs eat away
the roots of marsh grass, turning the banks into kind of Swiss cheese and
risking their collapse. Well, the study, published in the journal Nature,
says the return of crab eating sea otters in the area has helped curb that
erosion. Other research shows the otters help kelp forest regrow by eating sea urchins
that munch on the kelp, and they're freaking adorable. Hulu is following in
the footsteps of Netflix. You might have gotten the email about it yesterday.
Hulu has sent out the email notifying subscribers that it's gonna stop letting you share
accounts with people outside your household. Remember Netflix did this a while ago,
and there was this big uproar, and we've talked about how Netflix was going
to lose subscribers because they weren't going to let like if you had a student
who wasn't living in the household or you had a team, you know,
somebody out at college or something like that, and they couldn't share that.
People were going to be mad and cancel their subscriptions. I think Netflix is
having record subscription now because apparently people just can't do without their Netflix. So
Hulu is following that lead and no more password sharing. Sorry. Speaking of
streaming, I want to send you a warning right now, really quick about
So I wanted to watch the twenty Days in Maryupul that I told you about
in Amy's on It last week. It's the documentary about the first twenty days
of the war in Ukraine. And so I had to sign up for PBS
and they're like and it's like through Prime Video and then you do an extra
little three ninety nine, but the first week is free. So I signed
up for the seven day free trial on January twenty fourth, and I was
going to cancel it yesterday a week later, on January thirty first, but
they charged me on the seventh day, not on the eighth day on February
first, like I thought it would be. So I've got PBS for another
month, and I thought I should cancel it now, and I thought no,
because then I've already paid for that month's subscription, so I might as
well use it. So my goal now is to not forget to cancel it
at the end of this month. Good luck and godspeed. If you're having
similar issues. You're listening to Wake Up Call on demand from KFI AM six
forty. Where did the hour go? It's already gone. Happy Thursday.
Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The heaviest rain
of an atmospheric river moving into southern California is expected this morning. Rain could
fall between a half and three quarters of an inch of rain per hour.
The rain's expected to mostly move out by about two this afternoon, and then
we could still see some showers after that. A second, stronger storm is
expected to hit Sunday. A man who's been arrested for allegedly setting fire to
a church in Pasadena. The fire was started at Grace Korean Methodist Church the
night of January nineteenth. Police say the man's also accused of trying to carjack
someone at a gas station in Pasadena two days earlier, and setting another fire
in a parking lot later that day. Today's the deadline for renders to payback
rent not paid during the pandemic. Renters can be evicted if they don't pay
by the deadline. Certain eviction protections under state law are still in place.
Today is also when landlords can start increasing rent prices for rent controlled units.
We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning. The House has
passed a seventy nine billion dollar bill to enhance child tax credits and also bring
back some tax breaks, and of course the far left and the far right
not happy about it, so we'll see if it can get through the Senate.
Let's say good morning now to ABC's crime and terrorism analyst Brad Garrett.
Brad, good morning, Good morning Amy. So the CEOs of the five
social media platforms testified before Congress yesterday and they say their platforms provide resources to
kids. But you kind of take issue with that. Well, providing resources
is one thing, Providing adequate resources is another. Do they have people that
monitor and probably use algorithms to catch certain words, phrases, et cetera.
The answer is yes. Do they do it to the extent that they could
The answer is no. And I think for them it goes beyond child exploitation,
etc. It goes to their bottom line. I mean, amy they
make money because more of us go to the platform and more of us stay
on the platform longer. Those two things are what they use to take to
advertisers who go, h, you got eight million people any given time.
You know they stay on for X number of minutes. That's great, We're
going to advertise for X amount of money. And you know they make billions
of dollars doing that. I think from their not saying this, of course,
but I think my view is that if they start cracking down more in
this arena, it will force them into crack down in other arenas like extremism
and so forth and so on. And not that they'll do some of that
now, but clearly not to the extent they could. Is that it could
affect their business. It could affect their profit margin. And I really you
know that does that sound cold? Well, of course it does, but
I do think that's really the driving force here. Okay, and let's I
want to talk about the algorithms for just a second. I think we kind
of have a general idea of what they do, but they really are kind
of I don't know that sinister is the word, but how do they work,
and how do they you know, target people to you know, head
down a certain road, if you can say it that way. So you
know, algorithms obviously are used for a gazillion different things. One is to
catch certain phrases or words, et cetera that we just talked about. You
know. The other is that if you go to my example of keeping people
online longer, if you go and are looking up let's just say, let's
just go to extremist groups and you're on some version of an ISIS or al
Qaeda website, that the algorithms will then feed you more information about al Qaeda,
ISIS or like minded sites, so that you will go from the one
you're on to the next one, and the next one and the next one,
and you know, you end up stand online a long time and you're
getting drawn in. Maybe you're you know, kid that's home, you're isolated,
you're depressed, whatever it might be, and you know, this becomes
sort of intoxicating and off you go. And so you know that's the other
side of obviously algorithms, Okay, and in a less kind of toxic way.
I know that you know, I was talking about getting glasses with the
interchange and interchangeable frames with my friend over the weekend. And now that's popping
up on my feed every time like a lot. Yep, so it knows
that I'm interested in it. So just I'm going to keep feeding it to
you until you buy it. That and just apply that example to you know,
a kid that's online talking to another kid or maybe not. It's an
adult pretending to be a kid, you know, convincing them to take their
clothes off to take pictures of themselves. The meat, the metal location,
I mean all of that stuff. You know, could you catch a big
chunk of that if you were really aggressive? The answer is yes. But
you know, in my view, they're just they're not willing to do that
for the obvious money. Okay, And there are parental controls available on social
media platforms. But do they do any good? Well, they can do
some good, but there's a lot more limitations to them than the folks who
make them and advertise them would like you to know. Is that you can
they be disarmed. I mean, you take a young adolescent and their ability
to sort of work around or shut off parnerical controls. There's the ability to
do that. I mean most of the social psychologists that I follow, I
mean, they would say that basically, you just have to restrict access.
I mean, one social psychologist in particular, who's really well known, well
respected, does great research, said, actually, kids should even have a
phone until they're sixteen. They don't have enough impulse control role, they don't
have the ability to shut it off and go do something else. And then
basically it's really destroying a big chunk of their life to be on a phone
most of the time. And it certainly would go to the studies of the
number of kids that are pressed depressed to commit suicide and to become emotionally fragile
because they don't deal with people anymore. It's all online. And until you
have to look people in the eye and deal with them, you don't really
learn the hard lessons you got to learn day in and day out to really
be a functional person in society. Yeah, and they because they're younger and
they don't know that already, they don't know that, they don't know how
to communicate, you know, I mean, so it's sort of catch twenty
two. Oh yeah, they think they know everything, it's right, So
it ends up being all bad as far as this exposure of long term exposure
to social media and staying on phones. Okay, so well the genie is
already out of the bottle. So I mean, the the possibility of taking
phones away from kids is probably not very realistic. And then, knowing that
the social media platforms aren't really going to do anything, is there anything parents
can do to protect the Literally they're gonna literally have to lock up devices and
other We're just kids who won't have access to things. That doesn't mean that
they can't get them someplace else. It's like anything else, though, I
mean, if you make it harder, it's sort of it's a sort of
a disincentive and maybe go go do something else like read a book, play
drums, uh, you know, go play basketball, whatever it might be.
But to do something when you're actually with people instead of either lost on
some platform or you're just you know, falling into this abyss of negativity which
then unfortunately drives you to do or go to dark corners of your personality.
So parents, good luck, and keep an eye on your kids and try
to get up, try to get them to put down the phones every once
in a while and go out and play. I mean, basically, well,
yeah, I mean, but let's face it, some parents are much
more technology savvy than others. I think a lot of this is a really
challenge for folks to how in the world do I keep up with this?
And I sympathize with that. I mean, it's like so many things,
it's all put back on the parents, which is not fair, but it
is the reality. Yeah, all right, Brad Garrett, ABC's Crime and
Terrorism analyst, thank you so much for the time and insight this morning.
You're welcome. All right, we'll talk to Samy you too. Let's get
back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
State officials and first responders have prepared for major rainfall expected to continue in
southern California over the next several days. Brian Ferguson with cal Oees has encouraged
people to take action ahead of time. We would like to remind everyone to
sign up for alerts from their county. That's the first line of defense for
folks that get notifications about dangerous actions happening in their community. Ferguson says,
it really is an all in state response with emergency emergency personnel standing by to
keep people safe. He said people should be sure that they're getting their information
from trusted sources because there's been a rise in miss and disinformation with this round
of storms. Some airports in southern California are going to get money from the
FAA for improvements to infrastructure. Really would Burbank Airport gets eight point two million
for upgrades to its runways and taxiways. One point seven million will be sent
to the San Bernardino International Airport to provide a path for firefighting trucks. The
grant money's part of the new Infrastructure Law. Official say a total of two
hundred and forty six million will be handed down to airports and thirty seven states
to modernize infrastructure, improve runway safety, and create jobs. Compton Airport also
got some cash one hundred and forty four thousand for runway infrastructure upgrades, and
John Wayne Airport in Santa Anna will get twelve point three million for various improvements.
Steve Gregor, King of FI News La, San Francisco and twenty three
other counties in California have sued TESLA over the alleged mismanaging of hazardous waste.
TESLA is accused of mislabeling waste and sending it to landfills that cannot accept these
kinds of materials. Violators of the law could be fined as much as seventy
thousand dollars per violation per day. This is KFFI and kost HD two Los
Angeles, Orange County, Southland weather from KFI rain, gusty winds, sight,
chance of thunderstorms. The heaviest rains expected this morning, with showers this
afternoon and snows possible in the mountains. Big waves are expected at the beaches.
I will be in the fifties and sixties. We have a chance of
showers tonight, then we should get some sunshine tomorrow and early Saturday before a
second storm moves in on Sunday. It's fifty four in bray Of fifty four
Lake Forest, fifty two in Marina del Rey, fifty in Burbank. You've
been listening to Wake Up Call with me Amy King. You can always hear
Wakeup Call five am Monday through Friday on kf I AM six forty and anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.