Speaker 1: You're listening to Wake Up Call on demand from KFI
Speaker 1: AM six forty KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: Orange County.
Speaker 2: And they'll do something I hate most of all. Every
Speaker 2: who down and who will live tall and the small
Speaker 2: must stand close together with Christmas spells week they stand
Speaker 2: end in hand those cools most stop singing.
Speaker 3: It's time for your morning wake up call, and good morning.
Speaker 4: This is your wake up call for Monday, December twenty third,
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four. I'm Michael Monks from the KFI News team,
Speaker 4: filling in for Amy King this week.
Speaker 3: I'm working this week. Are you working this week?
Speaker 4: Are you awake right now on your way to the
Speaker 4: office for maybe one last time before the holidays fully
Speaker 4: kick in, or are you off today just enjoying a
Speaker 4: little peace and quiet, maybe having a cigarette in the
Speaker 4: backyard because there's family in the house, little moment of
Speaker 4: silence before all of the craziness of this week. Our
Speaker 4: thoughts are with you. But for those of you, like
Speaker 4: me who are going to work, let's get through it.
Speaker 4: You know, apparently one in four Americans work even on
Speaker 4: Christmas Eve. One in ten will be working on Christmas Day.
Speaker 4: We're not alone, About fifty seven percent of full time
Speaker 4: employees say they do plan to work at some point
Speaker 4: during their holiday break. So when you see all those
Speaker 4: posts about how weird this time of the year gets,
Speaker 4: I don't know what day it is between Christmas and
Speaker 4: New Year's. Some of us know what day it is
Speaker 4: because we are at work, and I'm glad you're at
Speaker 4: work with me today. Again, we'll get through it. Try
Speaker 4: to look busy, do your best to make it look
Speaker 4: like you're on task, even though everybody else has their
Speaker 4: out of office reply on. We are going to get
Speaker 4: through this together. Here's what's ahead on your wake up
Speaker 4: call on this Monday of Christmas week. Big news in
Speaker 4: the world of cars, Nissan and Honda say they want
Speaker 4: to be together as one, and Starbucks workers, meanwhile, have
Speaker 4: expanded their nationwide strike after days excuse me, days after
Speaker 4: a location here in Burbank was shut down by baristas,
Speaker 4: the union and the coffee chain have disagreed on wages.
Speaker 4: Collective bargaining and legal disputes will take a look at that.
Speaker 4: And there's a ban on burning wood inside and outside
Speaker 4: that's been extended across much of southern California for today.
Speaker 4: The forecast of high air pollution prompted that extension. We'll
Speaker 4: also have some conversations with our friends at ABC News.
Speaker 4: Congress avoided a government shut down with a last minute
Speaker 4: vote last week as lawmakers scrambled to reach a deal
Speaker 4: on spending. President Trump. President elect Trump was deeply involved
Speaker 4: with how it all went down, so was Elon Musk.
Speaker 4: So how is the President elect feeling now? We'll talk
Speaker 4: with ABC Steven Portnoy about that. And he was purp
Speaker 4: walked into New York like a Marvel movie villain. And
Speaker 4: now he's headed back to court today. Accused killer Luigi
Speaker 4: Mangioni faces federal and state charges. This time he'll make
Speaker 4: an appearance on those state charges. We'll have a conversation
Speaker 4: with an ABC reporter about that, and of course, at
Speaker 4: the top of the next hour, six oh five, it's
Speaker 4: handle on the news. We'll have a lot of fun
Speaker 4: with that one, I'm sure as well. We'll start with
Speaker 4: some of the news stories coming out of the KFI
Speaker 4: twenty four hour newsroom. Japanese automaker's Nissan and Honda have
Speaker 4: announced they are in talks on a merger that would
Speaker 4: catapult them to the number three spot in a global
Speaker 4: industry undergrowing undergoing tectonic shifts as it transitions away from
Speaker 4: reliance on fossil fuels while facing intensifying competition from China.
Speaker 4: These rivals, Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi announce in August that
Speaker 4: they would share components for electric vehicles like batteries, and
Speaker 4: jointly researched software for autonomous driving to adapt better to
Speaker 4: drastic changes around electrification.
Speaker 3: Following a preliminary agreement in.
Speaker 4: March, Starbucks workers have expanded their nationwide strike. Baristas at
Speaker 4: a store in Burbank shut down that location Friday at
Speaker 4: Alameda Avenue and Shelton Street. The union representing Starbucks workers
Speaker 4: as the coffee chain has failed to honor earlier commitments
Speaker 4: to improve collective bargaining and to resolve legal disputes all right.
Speaker 4: A government shutdown was narrowly avoided last week, as the
Speaker 4: House and Senate in Washington finally reached a deal and
Speaker 4: sent a funding bill to the desk of President Biden.
Speaker 4: The deal includes many of the same provisions of an
Speaker 4: earlier deal that fell apart when President elect Trump and
Speaker 4: billionaire Elon Musk got involved. So how did all of
Speaker 4: that go down? We're joined now by ABC News National
Speaker 4: correspondent Steven Portnoy. Good Monday morning, to you, Steven.
Speaker 2: And to you.
Speaker 4: So this bill contains a lot of what was in
Speaker 4: that other bill that apparently died when the president elected
Speaker 4: and Elon Musk got involved. So what ended up being
Speaker 4: different about what was finally approved?
Speaker 5: What's it all about, Alphie?
Speaker 3: Look, the fact is you're right.
Speaker 5: This is the same structure of a bill that extends
Speaker 5: government funding through March fourteenth at the current levels. That
Speaker 5: didn't change one hundred plus billion dollars for disaster relief.
Speaker 5: That didn't change thirty plus billion dollars for the farmers,
Speaker 5: That didn't change phil federal funding for the Francis Scott
Speaker 5: Keybridge in Baltimore. What came out hundreds of pages of
Speaker 5: bipartisan agreed upon text that were not directly related frankly
Speaker 5: to federal spending, but became the subject of criticism from
Speaker 5: Elon Musk and others online midweek last week. These are
Speaker 5: things that were sort of, you know, simmering, had been
Speaker 5: really set on the shelf, agreed upon by both parties,
Speaker 5: waiting for a must pass vehicle at the end of
Speaker 5: the year to sort of ride on to sail to
Speaker 5: President Biden's desk. Some of these things were controversial, however.
Speaker 5: For example, provision was added that would have enacted automatic
Speaker 5: pay increases from members of Congress their first adjustment for
Speaker 5: inflation in their rate of pay since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 5: That came out, so there'll be no pay raise for
Speaker 5: members of Congress. But otherwise, things such as pediatric cancer
Speaker 5: relief was taken out of funding, I should say was
Speaker 5: taken out research taken out of the bill. In the end, however,
Speaker 5: that money was actually restored by the Senate because there
Speaker 5: was a bill that had already passed the House that
Speaker 5: dealt with that issue that was waiting on the shelf
Speaker 5: in the Senate. So as they passed this short term
Speaker 5: spending bill, they took up a separate bill that saw
Speaker 5: to the cancer research also being funded, and a measure
Speaker 5: that turns over administrative responsibility for the RFK Stadium plot
Speaker 5: here in Washington, d C. That has been in the
Speaker 5: hands of the National Park Service, sitting there as an
Speaker 5: I sore in an empty vacant lot. They want to
Speaker 5: turn it into the new stadium for the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 5: And the cr deal that was written last week had
Speaker 5: a provision that would transfer control from the National Park
Speaker 5: Service to the government of the District of Columbia. And
Speaker 5: now Elon Musk was not accurate when he said that
Speaker 5: that's a three billion dollar giveaway to.
Speaker 3: Taxpayers. Are spending that much money. That's not the case.
Speaker 5: It's just a matter of transferring control of that property
Speaker 5: from one entity to another governmental entity, a federal entity
Speaker 5: to a locally controlled city entity. So the point is
Speaker 5: that also was done by the Senate taking up a
Speaker 5: House passed bill that did that. So it's sort of
Speaker 5: how the sausage is made here. But the bigger question
Speaker 5: beyond all of what's in the bill and what does
Speaker 5: it all mean, what does it mean for Mike Johnson,
Speaker 5: Because a week from Friday, as the Congress reorganizes, the
Speaker 5: first question for the House is who's going to be
Speaker 5: the speaker, and by not addressing this debt ceiling issue
Speaker 5: that President elect Trump demanded in the final days here,
Speaker 5: the big question is whether Mike Johnson has drawn the
Speaker 5: ire of Magaworld. Now we don't know, we'll see, but
Speaker 5: we're talking to some Republican members who are saying that
Speaker 5: they have some qualms about voting for Johnson, and perhaps
Speaker 5: this will prevent him from taking the gable on the
Speaker 5: first ballot. Wouldn't be the first time.
Speaker 4: No, we have seen some pretty unique votes on Speaker
Speaker 4: of the House recently. And Stephen, I know you've got
Speaker 4: a run soon. But there is another player here that
Speaker 4: you've referenced a couple of times. Elon Musk, the owner
Speaker 4: of x formerly known as Twitter. He took a pretty
Speaker 4: significant role in shaping public opinion on this package that
Speaker 4: was voted on last week. I'm wondering what you're hearing
Speaker 4: on Capitol Hill about what do people think his role
Speaker 4: will be. We know he's got sort of a quasi
Speaker 4: role in government, but I don't think we expected to
Speaker 4: see it unleashed the way that it was last week.
Speaker 5: What are you hearing, Well, Look, Elon Musk, if Vikramaswami
Speaker 5: are going to lead this unofficial doze effort Department of
Speaker 5: Government Efficiency, which I've said on this program is a
Speaker 5: better official as the Department of Tortured Poets.
Speaker 3: But nevertheless it is.
Speaker 5: The whole idea here is it's an advisory role where
Speaker 5: Elon Musk is going to use his brain power and
Speaker 5: kind of sort of pour over the budgets and identify
Speaker 5: inefficiencies and really could have a significant impact in the
Speaker 5: operations of the executive branch. Nevertheless, you know, one of
Speaker 5: the things we saw last week was Elon Musk putting
Speaker 5: out I think something like one hundred and fifty messages
Speaker 5: on his ex account to kill by partisan agreement. And
Speaker 5: one of the unanswered questions is why, what's in it
Speaker 5: for the richest man in the world. What was in
Speaker 5: that fifteen hundred page bill that had to do, perhaps
Speaker 5: with China that so angered Elon Musk that without addressing
Speaker 5: that issue directly, he sought to prevent that bill from
Speaker 5: becoming law. He was successful in that, but one lingering
Speaker 5: question is why.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: I hope we can and get an answer to that
Speaker 4: at some time soon. And from one tortured poet to another,
Speaker 4: ABC Stephen Portnoy, I really appreciate the time you gave us.
Speaker 4: I'll look forward to talking to you again soon.
Speaker 3: You bet.
Speaker 4: That was ABC News National correspondent Stephen port Noy. Want
Speaker 4: to let you know that there's a ban on indoor
Speaker 4: and outdoor woodburning. It was extended today for a large
Speaker 4: swath of southern California, and that is because there is
Speaker 4: some pollution in the air, and they say that burning
Speaker 4: some of this wood could send some of those harmful
Speaker 4: particles that could trigger asthma. So just be aware that
Speaker 4: we are still keeping an eye on that. No wood
Speaker 4: burning in most of southern California. Investigators are trying to
Speaker 4: figure out what caused a fire at a home in
Speaker 4: Eagle Rock where a man was killed. The man's body
Speaker 4: was found yesterday as firefighters put out the fire at
Speaker 4: the home on North Townsend Avenue. They say there was
Speaker 4: excessive storage in the home, which made it hard for
Speaker 4: them to get into the room where that fire started.
Speaker 4: President Biden has announced he is commuting the sentences of
Speaker 4: thirty seven of the forty people on federal death Row,
Speaker 4: converting their punishments to life imprisonment, mere weeks before President
Speaker 4: elect Donald Trump takes office. The move spares the lives
Speaker 4: of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police
Speaker 4: and military officers, people on federal land, and those involved
Speaker 4: in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as
Speaker 4: the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities. It
Speaker 4: means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They
Speaker 4: are Dylan Rufe, who carried out the twenty fifteen racist
Speaker 4: slayings of nine black members of Mother Emmanuel ame E
Speaker 4: Church in Charleston, South Carolina, twenty thirteen, Boston Marathon bomber,
Speaker 4: Zokar Zarnev and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot eleven congregants
Speaker 4: at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in twenty eighteen. That
Speaker 4: was the deadliest anti Semitic attack in US history. And
Speaker 4: a Congressional commission in charge of planning the two hundred
Speaker 4: and fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of
Speaker 4: Independence is running out contests for school kids. Rosie Rios,
Speaker 4: Chair of America two fifty, says America's Field Trip is
Speaker 4: a contest for kids in grades three through twelve who
Speaker 4: get to answer the question of what America means to them.
Speaker 6: This is a great way to engage kids, parents, teachers
Speaker 6: and really think about what it means to be civically
Speaker 6: minded and actively participate in something that is really unprecedented
Speaker 6: in scope and scale for our country.
Speaker 4: Rio says, school kids can submit essays, pieces of art,
Speaker 4: are poems. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan have announced plans
Speaker 4: to join forces forming the world's third largest automaker by sales.
Speaker 4: The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of
Speaker 4: understanding and that smaller Nissan Alliance member Mitsubishi Motors is
Speaker 4: also part of these talks. LA County District Attorney Nathan
Speaker 4: Hawkman will make an announcement this morning in the case
Speaker 4: against Charlotte play Tez and Lombardo Palasios, who each spent
Speaker 4: more than seventeen years in prison for the two thousand
Speaker 4: and seven murder of Hector Luis Flores in East Hollywood.
Speaker 4: A judge in LA on Friday vacated their sentences and
Speaker 4: dismissed the charges. Both were teenagers at the time of
Speaker 4: the killing and have maintained their innocence. A coalition of
Speaker 4: civil rights activists will hold a news conference today to
Speaker 4: demand justice in what they consider to be the racially
Speaker 4: motivated beating of a thirteen year old eighth grade student,
Speaker 4: Saltarres at Ernest Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth. They say
Speaker 4: that a male parent beat this child. They say the
Speaker 4: attack is part of a quote troublesome uptick in the
Speaker 4: racist attacks of African American children by other students and
Speaker 4: adults in the Valley Torres is black, the parent is
Speaker 4: white and coming up at six ZHO five it is
Speaker 4: handle on the news. Stay tuned for that. Luigimanjoni is
Speaker 4: expected to make his first appearance in state court today,
Speaker 4: where he is charged in the death of United Healthcare
Speaker 4: CEO Brian Thompson as an act of terrorism. Majoni appeared
Speaker 4: in federal court last week, but today's hearing will be
Speaker 4: the first time lawyers for the twenty six year old
Speaker 4: will be able to respond to the allegations made by
Speaker 4: the Manhattan District Attorney. Prosecutors have suggested that the state
Speaker 4: case against Mangoni will go to trial before the federal case.
Speaker 4: He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted
Speaker 4: in that state case. Peter Harlambu's ABC News investigative reporter,
Speaker 4: is in New York and joins US now. Good morning
Speaker 4: to you, Peter, Good morning, thanks for having me. We
Speaker 4: saw Luigi Mangoni in federal court last week. It was
Speaker 4: quite a dramatic transfer from Pennsylvania to New York. Procedurally, though,
Speaker 4: what is happening here?
Speaker 7: That's a great question, and Manjaroni's attorneys are raising it
Speaker 7: now as he faces basically the same case both in
Speaker 7: state court and in federal court. What's really the only
Speaker 7: difference being the penalty. The cteral case carries that penalty
Speaker 7: the state case is life in prison without parole. Manjaroni's
Speaker 7: attorneys have argued that these case theories can inflict with
Speaker 7: one another, and that these are basically the same case
Speaker 7: being tried twice, raising a constitutional issue. Expect that to
Speaker 7: come up today in today's arraignments, though we're unlikely to
Speaker 7: get clarity for sure for a while once we see
Speaker 7: how the federal case shakes out.
Speaker 4: Sometimes when we see that there are charges in any state,
Speaker 4: but also charges at the federal level for the same case,
Speaker 4: they end up being just one trial. Do we see
Speaker 4: that as a possibility here that will merge into a
Speaker 4: single federal case.
Speaker 7: I think there's a possibility that one of these cases
Speaker 7: gets whittled down, though I'm not sure if we'll really
Speaker 7: see kind of a joint effort between local and federal prosecutors.
Speaker 7: I think one will have to win out. Alternatively, we
Speaker 7: could see a timeline which the federal case goes second,
Speaker 7: the state case goes first. On a quicker timeline, Prosecutors
Speaker 7: have suggested that's what they would do. But Magngioni's attorneys
Speaker 7: have argued that this is basically unprecedented and unfair, so
Speaker 7: we could see a judge be receptive to that argument.
Speaker 7: We'll have to see this as we get more clarity
Speaker 7: and how exactly this will work procedurally.
Speaker 4: We note that Manjoni faces life in prison in this
Speaker 4: eight case, but is it accurate to say the federal
Speaker 4: case could bring the death penalty.
Speaker 7: That's exactly right. Even though we've seen kind of an
Speaker 7: effort this morning from the Minding administration to cut back
Speaker 7: on the death penalty, by the time this case goes
Speaker 7: to trial, it's the Trump administration. It's a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 7: And the case being brought by federal prosecutors poses the
Speaker 7: possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted. That's
Speaker 7: associated with the murder charge with the use of a firearm,
Speaker 7: and it's mentioning face is the very real possibility of
Speaker 7: that if he's convicted.
Speaker 4: In Stakehoort, we saw on Saturday Saturday Night Live over
Speaker 4: the weekend, a mention of man Joni received favorable applause
Speaker 4: from the audience. We've also seen a polls showing younger
Speaker 4: people are supportive of him and what he did, and
Speaker 4: this seems to be Peter a pretty unique case where
Speaker 4: an accused murderer has so much support from parts of
Speaker 4: the public. Are we hearing from prosecutors or even the
Speaker 4: defense team about any challenge end your opportunity this presents
Speaker 4: in the case.
Speaker 7: You know, it's interesting. We saw Mangioni's attorney mention how
Speaker 7: they are thankful for all the public support. But it's
Speaker 7: hard to balance that public support for Mangonian is kind
Speaker 7: of this folk hero as someone who's standing up against
Speaker 7: the insurance industry and his claim of not being guilty
Speaker 7: in this case, because a lot of that folklore status
Speaker 7: is associated with what he's actually allegedly done here, not
Speaker 7: his innocence. So you know, it could lead to sympathy
Speaker 7: with the jury that they have to toe the line
Speaker 7: when it comes to that public support.
Speaker 4: Well, speaking of jury, I assume we're a little bit
Speaker 4: of way before we get to that at either level
Speaker 4: of the case, whether it be the state or the
Speaker 4: federal government.
Speaker 3: So, but what does happen next?
Speaker 4: I mean, we can't expect to see too many more
Speaker 4: of these dramatic perp walks or procedural hearings in the
Speaker 4: near future, can we.
Speaker 7: I think we're unlikely to see anything for a few weeks,
Speaker 7: so we'll calm down for the holidays. But I fully
Speaker 7: expect to see a flurry of hearings come January February,
Speaker 7: in which we kind of see that these two cases
Speaker 7: shake out, which one is going to go forward, which
Speaker 7: one fairly can proceed because Manngingoni's attorneys, I'm sure are
Speaker 7: going to mount an effort to at least have one
Speaker 7: of them dismissed. Again unclear. Friending judge is going to
Speaker 7: be receptive to that. But in the eyes is a
Speaker 7: defense Council, it's unconstitutional in their eyes that these cases
Speaker 7: are proceeding on two parallel tracks.
Speaker 4: Peter Harlambus's ABC News investigative reporter. He's in New York
Speaker 4: with US Live today. Peter, thank you so much for
Speaker 4: the time. We do appreciate it.
Speaker 7: N thanks for having me, and.
Speaker 4: You're listening to Wake Up Call on KFI. I'm Michael
Speaker 4: Monks filling in for Amy King.
Speaker 3: This morning.
Speaker 4: President Biden has commuted the sentences of thirty seven of
Speaker 4: the forty people on federal death robe. We just heard
Speaker 4: a reference to that from Peter. He converted their punishments
Speaker 4: to life in prison. Biden said in a statement that
Speaker 4: the commutations are consistent with the moratorium his administration has
Speaker 4: imposed on federal executions executions in cases other than terrorism
Speaker 4: and hate motivated mass murder. President elect Trump campaign on
Speaker 4: expanding the use of capital punishment. Biden says he cannot,
Speaker 4: in good conscience stand back and let a new administration
Speaker 4: resume the executions he stopped. An oil drill site in
Speaker 4: West LA will start shutting down operations as part of
Speaker 4: an agreement between the operator and the city. The Pacific
Speaker 4: Coast Energy Company has agreed to work with city council
Speaker 4: Woman Katie Rslovsky's office on a conditional use permit for
Speaker 4: necessary equipment to plug oil wells. City officials say the
Speaker 4: process will be done over three phases within five years
Speaker 4: of each other. So if you're wondering whether Santa Claus
Speaker 4: is going to be able to visit you in your
Speaker 4: neck of the woods this year, one, of course, it
Speaker 4: does depend on your behavior, and we hope you've all
Speaker 4: been good or bad, and if bad, you've covered it
Speaker 4: up well enough to be counted as good. But whether
Speaker 4: you live in the mountains the desert, the inner city,
Speaker 4: the beaches. Yes, Santa Claus is going to be able
Speaker 4: to find you. And we got a little bit of
Speaker 4: proof of that over the weekend, because not only was
Speaker 4: Santa himself able to find some remote areas, he was
Speaker 4: able to get there early. It's not even Christmas yet,
Speaker 4: not even in that hemisphere. Santa Claus braved the sticky
Speaker 4: heat of the Amazon rainforest this weekend, taking two boats
Speaker 4: to bring gifts to children in a village near the
Speaker 4: Brazilian city of Manaos. The visit was arranged by Amigos
Speaker 4: del Papaye Noel, a Brazilian charity that has been taking
Speaker 4: gifts to children in the Amazon rainforest for the past
Speaker 4: twenty six years. A quote from that organization says, for
Speaker 4: the children of the rivers, the people of the countryside,
Speaker 4: nothing new happens This year for us was a gift
Speaker 4: from God. More than six hundred children from different villages
Speaker 4: gathered in Cataleo to receive presents from Santa, who dressed
Speaker 4: in his traditional nightcap, white gloves, and red suit while
Speaker 4: enduring the stifling jungle he so to get to the kids.
Speaker 4: Though Rudolph wasn't involved here, not at this point anyway,
Speaker 4: neither were any of the other eight reindeer. The Brazilian
Speaker 4: Santa sailed on a large boat down the Amazon River
Speaker 4: and then paddled a canoe along a swampy tributary. How
Speaker 4: about that, Santa Claus will find you wherever you are
Speaker 4: as long as you are good. And it is Monday,
Speaker 4: December twenty third, just two days away before Santa makes
Speaker 4: his way out here to the Pacific coast. We are
Speaker 4: all hoping for a very merry Christmas for you and
Speaker 4: all of your loved ones. I am Michael Monks, filling
Speaker 4: in for Amy King, and yes it is Festivus. Can't
Speaker 4: wait to hear all about your feats of strength. One
Speaker 4: of the great holidays created in the series Seinfeld back
Speaker 4: in the nineties also a greater period of time in history,
Speaker 4: probably for being honest about.
Speaker 3: It, and Seinfeld still holds up. So if you've got some.
Speaker 4: Time alone around the holidays, it's not a bad thing
Speaker 4: to flip on and have going.
Speaker 3: In the background.
Speaker 4: We are following news though for you now in the
Speaker 4: KFI twenty four hour newsroom, and big news out of
Speaker 4: the car world. Honda and Nissan, the Japanese automakers say
Speaker 4: that they have announced plans to work toward a merger
Speaker 4: and that would put them in like the top position
Speaker 4: of this industry that is in the midst of some
Speaker 4: pretty big transitions as the industry moves away from fossil fuels.
Speaker 4: Those two companies said they signed an agreement on integrating
Speaker 4: their business, and that also includes a smaller Nissan Alliance
Speaker 4: member called Mitsubishi Motors, so they're part of these talks
Speaker 4: as well. News of a possible merger surface earlier this month.
Speaker 4: Japanese automakers face a strong challenge from their Chinese rivals
Speaker 4: and Tesla as they make inroads into markets at home
Speaker 4: and abroad. President Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of
Speaker 4: thirty seven of the forty people on federal death row,
Speaker 4: converting their punishments to life imprisonment. This is just weeks
Speaker 4: before President elect Donald Trump, who is an outspoken proponent
Speaker 4: of expanding capital punishment, takes the office. In a statement
Speaker 4: issued Monday, Biden says, quote, these commutations are consistent with
Speaker 4: the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions in
Speaker 4: cases other than terrorism and hate motivated mass murder. He
Speaker 4: also went on to make a reference to Trump, who
Speaker 4: did campaign on expanding capital punishment, Biden said, quote, in
Speaker 4: good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new
Speaker 4: administration resume executions that I halted. The man accused of
Speaker 4: fatally shooting the CEO of United Healthcare is expected to
Speaker 4: be arraigned in a Manhattan court on state murder and
Speaker 4: terror charges. Luigi Mangioni was formally charged last week by
Speaker 4: the Manhattan DA with multiple counts of murder, including murder
Speaker 4: as an act of terrorism. Case brought by the Manhattan
Speaker 4: District Attorney will run parallel to his federal case. His
Speaker 4: court appearance was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges.
Speaker 4: The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty,
Speaker 4: while the maximum sentence for his state charges are life
Speaker 4: in prison without the possibility of parole. At the top
Speaker 4: of the hour, six oh five, we've got Bill Handel
Speaker 4: and Handle on the news.
Speaker 3: Hope you'll stick around for that. Before we get to that.
Speaker 4: At five point fifty two, anonymous teenagers from Texas and
Speaker 4: their families are suing character AI, claiming the chatbot encourages
Speaker 4: self harm and violence against family members. Talk about that
Speaker 4: with ABC's Jim Ryan. For now, we'll get back to
Speaker 4: some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty
Speaker 4: four hour newsroom. A man in his seventies has been
Speaker 4: killed in a house fire in Eagle Rock.
Speaker 8: The man was found dead inside the home, which caught
Speaker 8: fire late Sunday morning. The Los Angeles Fire Department says
Speaker 8: a man who was the only person inside the home
Speaker 8: home was handicapped, which may have affected his ability to evacuate.
Speaker 4: Kfi's Mark Mayfield says it took firefighters about a half
Speaker 4: hour to put out the fire. They say excessive storage
Speaker 4: in the home made it difficult to get where the
Speaker 4: fires started. With Christmas two days away, workers at four
Speaker 4: Amazon warehouses in southern California are on strike today on
Speaker 4: claims the corporate giant refuses to recognize their union and
Speaker 4: negotiate fair contracts. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing one
Speaker 4: point three million workers across the country, Canada and Puerto Rico,
Speaker 4: announced their members in Palmdale, Victorville, Industry, and San Bernardino
Speaker 4: voted to authorize strikes. This is a move that came
Speaker 4: after Amazon ignored a deadline on December fifteen to come
Speaker 4: to the bargaining table. That's according to the union. Amazon
Speaker 4: workers represented by the union went on strike at three
Speaker 4: o'clock Thursday morning. They joined Amazon union workers across the
Speaker 4: country who also went on strike. Who else isn't working today?
Speaker 4: Starbucks workers. They're said to expand a nationwide strike against
Speaker 4: the coffee giant, three days after a walkout closed one
Speaker 4: of the company's Burbank locations at Alameda Avenue and Shelton Street.
Speaker 4: The strike, led by Starbucks Workers United, began Friday morning
Speaker 4: in key markets, including right here in La as well
Speaker 4: as Chicago and Seattle. Walkouts are expected to expand daily,
Speaker 4: impacting hundreds of stores nationwide by Christmas Eve. On Sunday,
Speaker 4: Union baristas in New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, and Saint
Speaker 4: Louis also joined others who have already been on strike,
Speaker 4: like here in La, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.
Speaker 4: Workers shut down dozens of stores on Saturday, and their
Speaker 4: walkouts are expected to keep going through the final days
Speaker 4: of holiday shopping before Christmas. A ban on indoor and
Speaker 4: outdoor wood burning has been extended today for a large
Speaker 4: swath of southern California due to a forecast of high
Speaker 4: air pollution in the area. The residential woodburning ban is
Speaker 4: to be in effect until at least eleven point fifty
Speaker 4: nine PM, that's to night, a minute before midnight. The
Speaker 4: order does not apply to the mountain communities above three
Speaker 4: thousand feet, but it does include all the non desert
Speaker 4: portions of La Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, all of
Speaker 4: Orange County, and Meanwhile, the Southern Coast Air Quality Management
Speaker 4: District is one that issues this. They say that homes
Speaker 4: that rely on wood as a sole source of heat,
Speaker 4: low income households, and those without natural gas service are
Speaker 4: also exempt from the requirement. Residents in these affected areas
Speaker 4: are reminded that burning wood in their fireplaces or any
Speaker 4: indoor or outdoor wood burning device is prohibited, as is
Speaker 4: burning manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax
Speaker 4: or paper. Find particles in woodsmoke and get deep into
Speaker 4: the lungs and cause respiratory problems such as asthma. So
Speaker 4: no chestnuts roasting on an open fire in most part
Speaker 4: of southern California, yet, keep those chestnuts wrapped up. Curb
Speaker 4: your enthusiasm will get to those at some point point.
Speaker 4: Hopefully this band could be lifted by midnight tonight. A
Speaker 4: seven year old boy hit by a drone in Florida
Speaker 4: is recovering from heart surgery. The boy's mom, Adriana Edgerton,
Speaker 4: says they were watching a holiday light show Saturday when
Speaker 4: the drone fell from the sky and hit her son
Speaker 4: in the chest.
Speaker 9: Everyone's natural instinct was to like duck and scatter, and
Speaker 9: right when we knew it like, my daughter found my
Speaker 9: son on the floor, unconscious, blood coming out his face.
Speaker 4: His face was cut by one of the propellers. Mom
Speaker 4: says people should expect to be safe at such a show.
Speaker 4: The FAA is investigating that crash. Government figures show the
Speaker 4: cost of a dozen eggs shot up more than a
Speaker 4: dollar since the beginning of this year. Homemade holiday treads
Speaker 4: add to the season's warm nature, but with a higher
Speaker 4: price tag. You may not go back for seconds of
Speaker 4: your homemade eg nog. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Speaker 4: cost jump from two dollars and fifty two cents to
Speaker 4: three dollars and sixty five cents as of last month.
Speaker 4: The dramatic increase is linked to the spread of bird
Speaker 4: flu in the US, which prompted a state of emergency
Speaker 4: in California this week. A quick check of the Walmart
Speaker 4: in Burbanks show that its brand of cage free large
Speaker 4: white eggs twelve count are currently going for five dollars
Speaker 4: and forty two cents. Andrew Caravella KFI News the eggs
Speaker 4: went up for four dollars and forty two cents in
Speaker 4: December of twenty twenty two and two dollars and sixty
Speaker 4: seven cents way back in the good old days of
Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. I gotta tell you, I've been out doing
Speaker 4: a little bit of Christmas shopping myself, and I'm not
Speaker 4: all that impressed with some of the sales that I saw.
Speaker 4: I live in and shop a bit in downtown LA.
Speaker 4: I do have some bad news to report from downtown LA.
Speaker 4: And not the usual kind of bad news we have
Speaker 4: from downtown LA. This is business related. I was shopping
Speaker 4: at the block at the Macy's there. They always have
Speaker 4: a beautiful Christmas light display, and it's a fun place
Speaker 4: to take in a coffee and justcab a little bit
Speaker 4: of the Christmas spirit. But I was able to confirm
Speaker 4: with some of the workers at the Macy's there that
Speaker 4: it is on the list not the not the good list,
Speaker 4: Santa's list. Yeah, will these The downtown Macy's is apparently closing.
Speaker 10: Oh wow.
Speaker 4: So that's a bit of a shock because it's it's
Speaker 4: an anchor for the block, and now that area is
Speaker 4: going to be tasked with finding a new anchor for
Speaker 4: that as that downtown Macy's joins the growing list of
Speaker 4: Macy's all across the country, including others here in southern California.
Speaker 4: They are closing down, but will The good news is
Speaker 4: I've lived in an area where Macy's closed before, and
Speaker 4: if you get there at the right time, boy, yeah,
Speaker 4: those are some good sales.
Speaker 3: I was just at the Macy's in Northridge and it
Speaker 3: was there's no shortage of customers there. That one will
Speaker 3: not be closing anytime.
Speaker 4: Well that's good to hear, because I've got Macy's rewards money.
Speaker 4: I'm going to have to spend somewhere once my neighborhood
Speaker 4: wind goes away. You know, I spend a little bit
Speaker 4: of money last week, and then they, you know, they
Speaker 4: bribe you to come back. You never get to leave Macy's.
Speaker 4: You check in, you can't check out of a Macy's.
Speaker 4: They have you coming back constantly, but apparently nothing's actually
Speaker 4: cheaper than as cheap as the rewards money they give you,
Speaker 4: so you kind of spend a little more. It's all
Speaker 4: a scam, and I am happy to participate in. And
Speaker 4: I'm just sad it will be downtown anymore. I want
Speaker 4: to make a very quick correction to something I said
Speaker 4: in the previous segment. I noted that Festivus was created
Speaker 4: in an episode of Seinfeld. That's not entirely true. I
Speaker 4: want to make sure that we attribute this susteemed holiday
Speaker 4: to the appropriate person. Was created by author Daniel O'Keefe,
Speaker 4: who was a longtime editor apparently of the Reader's Digest,
Speaker 4: and his son was a writer on Seinfeld, and so
Speaker 4: that's how these traditions made it into that episode. And
Speaker 4: in any case, I hope you're out celebrating Festivus a
Speaker 4: couple of days before we get to Christmas. So good
Speaker 4: luck with your feats of strength out there. We are
Speaker 4: still monitoring the news here in the KFI twenty four
Speaker 4: hour newsroom. Golfers and Carson may still be checking their
Speaker 4: rule books after a small aircraft crash landed at Victoria
Speaker 4: golf Course on Sunday afternoon, two people inside were hospitalized.
Speaker 4: There was no fire on the ground, no one else
Speaker 4: was hurt, and we're still looking into the cause of
Speaker 4: what brought that plane down. A three day series of
Speaker 4: connector on ramp and lane closures on the seventy one
Speaker 4: and sixty freeways in Pomona for road repair work starts today.
Speaker 4: The closures will go Thursday and Friday as well. Drivers
Speaker 4: should expect delays and are strongly advised to avoid that area,
Speaker 4: use alternate routes and check traffic conditions before leaving. You
Speaker 4: can also listen to KFI, of course, and we'll have
Speaker 4: your updated traffic. Where it gets good, where it gets bad.
Speaker 4: And the holiday season battle of big budget family movies
Speaker 4: Paramount Pictures, Sonic the Hedgehog three sped past the Walt
Speaker 4: Disney Companies Moufasa The Lion King to take the top
Speaker 4: spot at the box office. The results came just ahead
Speaker 4: of the lucrative Christmas Corridor in theaters. According to studio estimates,
Speaker 4: Sonic the Hedgehog three debuted with sixty two million dollars
Speaker 4: in ticket sales over the weekend. Mufasa, however, was humbled
Speaker 4: and its opening weekend coming in notably shy of expectations,
Speaker 4: it returned just thirty five million dollars in domestic ticket sales.
Speaker 4: Coming up at six ' oh five, We've got handle
Speaker 4: on the news, so stay tuned for that. Two anonymous
Speaker 4: teenagers from Texas and their families are suing Character Ai,
Speaker 4: claiming the chatbot encourages self harm and violence against family members.
Speaker 4: The lawsuit alleges that character Ai presents a danger to
Speaker 4: American youth, causing serious harm to thousands of kids, including suicide,
Speaker 4: self mutilation, sexual solicitation, depression, and anxiety. And response to
Speaker 4: public concerns, companies that produce Companion chatbots have made changes
Speaker 4: to their bots. ABC News correspondent Jim Ryan is in
Speaker 4: Dallas and joins US Now Live. Good morning to you, Jim,
Speaker 4: Hey Michael, how are you. I'm doing well, so glad
Speaker 4: you could be with us. I want to start with
Speaker 4: just the basics. What is character Ai.
Speaker 10: Character AAI is a company that produces chatbots, essentially Companion
Speaker 10: chatbots specifically, and there are others out there too, companies
Speaker 10: with products called Replica or Kindroid or no Me and
Speaker 10: other similar services like that. They are a way for
Speaker 10: people to communicate with someone you know and there are benefits.
Speaker 10: I supposed to this advocate say that a kid who
Speaker 10: doesn't have a lot of friends at school doesn't have
Speaker 10: to have a lot of outside relationships. This really perhaps
Speaker 10: started to take off during the pandemic when people were
Speaker 10: so isolated, and yet there have been issues that seventeen
Speaker 10: year old here in Texas, according to his family's attorney,
Speaker 10: was taught how to harm himself by the chatbot he
Speaker 10: had built this relationship with that he harmed himself in
Speaker 10: front of his siblings, had to be hospitalized because of that.
Speaker 10: He had signed up for this account when he was fourteen.
Speaker 10: His parents didn't even realize that he had this chatbot.
Speaker 10: And even more tragic case in Florida and a fourteen
Speaker 10: year old there who took his own life, and his
Speaker 10: mother says it's all the fault of the chatbot, this relationship,
Speaker 10: this fake relationship that the kid had built up and
Speaker 10: it all came crashing down.
Speaker 4: Is this chatbot similar to maybe more popular ones or
Speaker 4: more well known ones like chat GBT or maybe even
Speaker 4: groc on Twitter.
Speaker 10: Well, it is, although I mean there are differences too,
Speaker 10: because this is more specifically a companion chatbot. It's not
Speaker 10: necessarily you know you're looking for information or something like that.
Speaker 10: It's more about building a friendship. And I've heard the
Speaker 10: voice one of the voices on Character AI, and it
Speaker 10: sounds for all the world like a person. This one
Speaker 10: had been designed to sound like a teenage girl. Then
Speaker 10: you can customize that the voice, the gender, the nationality,
Speaker 10: all sorts of aspects of this character. So and attorneys,
Speaker 10: you know, the attorneys who are filing suit against Character AI,
Speaker 10: say that first of all, it shouldn't be available to
Speaker 10: anybody over under eighteen, and yet as it is, kids
Speaker 10: who are thirteen can sign up.
Speaker 4: So this is really an opportunity for our kids who
Speaker 4: might be lonely or ostracized or maybe, like you noticed
Speaker 4: during the pandemic, these are folks who are really looking
Speaker 4: for a friend more than they are any type of
Speaker 4: research opportunity.
Speaker 10: Well, yes, and yet they're families. Now they're attorneys the
Speaker 10: Social Media Victims Law Center and believe it or others,
Speaker 10: oh a law firm dedicated to filing suit against these companies.
Speaker 10: And that's one thing critics have said, Michael, was that
Speaker 10: they're claiming that it's say, a money grab by lawyers,
Speaker 10: that it's an attempt by parents to find a simple
Speaker 10: solution or simple answer to their kids' mental health issues.
Speaker 10: And yet these families and these attorneys are saying, look,
Speaker 10: this is a real problem. Artificial intelligence has gotten out
Speaker 10: in front of the companies that are offering it to people,
Speaker 10: specifically to kids, and now AI is telling kids how
Speaker 10: to harm themselves or encouraging them to do harm to
Speaker 10: themselves or to others.
Speaker 4: One of the biggest concerns about the growth of artificial intelligence,
Speaker 4: especially around young people in college age students, is that
Speaker 4: you know, they want have to do their own schoolwork anymore,
Speaker 4: they'll just plagiarize everything. But this lawsuit seems to indicate
Speaker 4: a pretty significant concern outside of that. I'm wondering, how
Speaker 4: do kids get to have character AI. Is there any
Speaker 4: type of age verification or is it just wide open?
Speaker 10: Well, yeah, that's a part of this lawsuit too. If
Speaker 10: you know, if the companies are not going to set
Speaker 10: an eighteen year minimum age limit, then there should be
Speaker 10: some sort of verification so that a kid who is
Speaker 10: thirteen or fourteen or fifteen, you know that there's some
Speaker 10: way to show that that in fact they are and
Speaker 10: character AI, the maker of that one, specifically has a
Speaker 10: new advisory. So every user who logs in and starts
Speaker 10: the conversation is told every time they log in, Hey, listen, yeah,
Speaker 10: you're starting a conversation, but it's not with a human.
Speaker 10: It's with a chatbot. You're talking to artificial intelligence, not
Speaker 10: to a human. Just as a reminder to the users
Speaker 10: that don't get you know, don't go crazy here because
Speaker 10: you're not talking to a person. Don't think for the
Speaker 10: minute that you are. And yet that product sounds just
Speaker 10: like a person.
Speaker 4: I'm sure that that extends beyond children into grown ups
Speaker 4: as well, and beyond character AI into some of the
Speaker 4: other ones.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is you.
Speaker 4: Get to ask it a question, and it's pretty cool
Speaker 4: how how it can help solve some problems or help
Speaker 4: you with some creative writing challenges, or help you figure
Speaker 4: out questions to ask when you have a guest on
Speaker 4: your radio show. Even I'm sure that's an option for
Speaker 4: some folks, but it is. But there are folks who
Speaker 4: are developing very close intimate relationships with something that's not real.
Speaker 10: That's true, you know, And I think as long as
Speaker 10: you recognize that, as long as you're fully aware. Look,
Speaker 10: I'm reading a book and I'm enjoying the characters. I
Speaker 10: know these characters aren't real. It's a novel, and I'm
Speaker 10: having fun with this. So in that same way, if
Speaker 10: you approach AI with that frame of mind, then you
Speaker 10: know there could be some benefit to it. AI cuts
Speaker 10: both waves, though. I teach a journalism class at a
Speaker 10: college here in Dallas Fort Worth, and two years ago
Speaker 10: a kid wrote a paper that I knew him, and
Speaker 10: I knew his language and how he did. This paper
Speaker 10: was clearly written by AI, right, and yet he turned
Speaker 10: it in. I couldn't show that it wasn't AI or
Speaker 10: that it was not original material. And so I mean,
Speaker 10: he got a grade on it. But two weeks ago
Speaker 10: I had a kid submit a paper and it was
Speaker 10: red flagged all over the place. So I ran it
Speaker 10: through an AI program. He had written it last year
Speaker 10: for his high school newspaper. Oh busted, right gets to zero.
Speaker 10: So AI gives and it takes and it you know
Speaker 10: it's there are tools that are useful.
Speaker 4: Now, wait, Jim, you didn't hold it against him for
Speaker 4: plagiarizing himself, did you?
Speaker 10: Absolutely I did, And it's right there in the syllabus,
Speaker 10: right there in the at the beginning of this course,
Speaker 10: it says your work must be original and must not
Speaker 10: have been produced or published anywhere else, even in a
Speaker 10: high school newspaper.
Speaker 4: Well, those are the rules. Now, hey, character AI. Google
Speaker 4: is involved in this, right, I mean are they part
Speaker 4: of this company somehow?
Speaker 10: I don't know about that if Google is or not.
Speaker 10: I mean Google has its own, you know, outlets for
Speaker 10: this sort of AI technology, but I'm not sure that
Speaker 10: they're involved with character ai.
Speaker 3: Well to that point.
Speaker 4: I mean, some of the tech world's biggest players, they're
Speaker 4: getting into this game, they are well into it. I'm
Speaker 4: wondering if situation like this have them concerned about any
Speaker 4: vulnerabilities that they may have exposed themselves to.
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean who knows what these lawsuits
Speaker 10: and what the result is going to be, But they're
Speaker 10: not going to stop as soon as that, and as
Speaker 10: long as people are using them, and as long as
Speaker 10: people have the perception that they're harming kids, then these
Speaker 10: lawsuits will continue. And maybe it's not just monetary. Google
Speaker 10: can afford to pay a million dollar settlement to somebody,
Speaker 10: but it's the reputation, it's the pr damage that can
Speaker 10: be done that could last lunch much longer.
Speaker 4: ABC News correspondent Jim Ryan is in Dallas where he'll
Speaker 4: gladly hand out zeros to his students before the holidays.
Speaker 4: But he's a very fine journalist. Indeed, Jim, I appreciate
Speaker 4: the time you gave us today.
Speaker 10: Thanks Mony all.
Speaker 4: Right again, coming up at six oh five, we've got
Speaker 4: handle on the news. Please stay tuned and join us
Speaker 4: for that fun. Meanwhile, officials are investigating what caused a
Speaker 4: crack in a Colorado ski lift that forced the evacuation
Speaker 4: of over one hundred and seven these stranded skiers and snowboarders.
Speaker 4: The evacuation happened Saturday on a gondola lift at Winter
Speaker 4: Park Resort. A spokesperson says the lift stopped automatically when
Speaker 4: a craft excuse me, when a crack was detected and
Speaker 4: a structural piece of the lift. Passengers were lowered down
Speaker 4: by ropes over the course of about five hours. No
Speaker 4: injuries were reported during the rescues, which came at the
Speaker 4: start of the busy holiday season. The son of Tiger
Speaker 4: Woods delivered a magical moment of his own Sunday. Charlie
Speaker 4: Woods made his first hole in one during the final
Speaker 4: round of the PNC Championship. He hit seven iron from
Speaker 4: one hundred and seventy five yards on the par three
Speaker 4: fourth hole of the Ritz Carlton Club, Orlando. The crowd,
Speaker 4: of course, went crazy, and so did his father. Tiger
Speaker 4: gave his fifteen year old son a hard hug and
Speaker 4: then playfully shoved him away. Charlie Woods wasn't even sure
Speaker 4: the ball went into the hole when the crowd erupted
Speaker 4: in cheers and television camera has informed him of the ace.
Speaker 4: Like father, like son in Orlando, no doubt, and a
Speaker 4: big time Christmas present for a young Charlie Woods. Merry
Speaker 4: Christmas to you out there on this Monday, December twenty third.
Speaker 4: If you're headed into work, our thoughts are with you.
Speaker 4: I am right alongside you. I am with you all
Speaker 4: week long at work. So if you're clocking in Monday
Speaker 4: through Friday like it's any other week, you are in
Speaker 4: a good company, I assure you. If today is your
Speaker 4: last day before you disappear for a little holiday break, congratulations,
Speaker 4: Or if you're just sitting at home sipping hot coco
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 3: Stay tuned.
Speaker 4: You've got the news for you and all kinds of
Speaker 4: fun stuff coming up. This is KFI and kost HD
Speaker 4: two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland weather from KFI Partley,
Speaker 4: Clowny with some fog this morning. It's heavy in some places.
Speaker 4: We'll have highs in the mid to upper sixties for
Speaker 4: Metro la at or above seventy in the valleys and
Speaker 4: Inland Empire upper sixty in the Antelope Valley. Right now,
Speaker 4: it is fifty eight in Huntington Beach, Colder and Claremont,
Speaker 4: where it's forty seven. We lead local live from the
Speaker 4: KFI twenty four hour newsroom for producer A and technical
Speaker 4: producer KNO and traffic specialist Will. I'm Michael Monks filling
Speaker 4: in for Amy King. This has been your wake up call.
Speaker 4: If you missed any of wake Up Call, you could
Speaker 4: listen anytime on the iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to wake Up Call with me, Amy King.
Speaker 6: You can always hear wake Up Call five to six
Speaker 6: am Monday through Friday on KFI Am six forty and
Speaker 6: anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.