Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call
Speaker 1: with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: App KFI and kost HT two Los Angeles and Orange County.
Speaker 3: And aged Amy.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's five o'clock, straight up, good morning. This is
Speaker 1: your wake up call for Thursday, August fifteenth. I'm Amy King.
Speaker 1: We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We're halfway through August.
Speaker 1: It's the fifteenth. Do you know what that means? Four
Speaker 1: months and ten days until Christmas. Don't want to freak
Speaker 1: out or anything. Also very excited today Emily in Paris.
Speaker 1: The new season is out, except Netflix is doing what
Speaker 1: Netflix does. They released half of the season, so apparently
Speaker 1: the next half comes out in a little bit. They
Speaker 1: did the same thing with Cobra Kai. The first half
Speaker 1: of Cobra Kai is out. I binged it and I went, wait,
Speaker 1: this season's not over yet, and then I googled it
Speaker 1: and said, the second half of the season comes out later.
Speaker 1: Still excited. I feel a binge coming on with Emily
Speaker 1: in Paris. Such a cute show. Here's what's ahead on
Speaker 1: wake Up Call. The La City Council is voted unanimously
Speaker 1: to move forward with a plan to identify areas where
Speaker 1: r vs would be banned in a move to address
Speaker 1: the proliferation of people using them as housing across the city.
Speaker 1: The council also voted in favor of a motion that
Speaker 1: calls for a citywide program to prohibit RV parking in
Speaker 1: residential areas, commercial corridors, and other areas. Israel has sent
Speaker 1: a delegation to Qatar for ceasefire talks in the Israel
Speaker 1: Hamas war in Gaza. Hamas said it will speak to
Speaker 1: mediators after the talks if there are serious developments. The
Speaker 1: potential for an attack by Iran comes after the country
Speaker 1: vowed to avenge the deaths of Hesbolah and Hamas leaders.
Speaker 1: Drivers in California could soon be paying double for car insurance.
Speaker 1: The company Insurifies, predicting that insurance rates will soore fifty
Speaker 1: four percent before December. They blame damage from severe storms
Speaker 1: and wildfires. Maryland drivers are currently paying the most for
Speaker 1: full coverage car insurance, averaging thirty four hundred dollars a year.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers are in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers,
Speaker 1: but Mookie Betts is not staying with the team because
Speaker 1: he's a scaredy cat.
Speaker 4: You're going to love this.
Speaker 1: It's coming up before the bottom of the hour, and
Speaker 1: then right after the bottom of the hour, wake up
Speaker 1: call is going out and about to Long Beach for
Speaker 1: a little walking, a little learning, and some really great food.
Speaker 4: You're not going to want to miss that.
Speaker 1: At six oh five, it's handle on the news. Months
Speaker 1: after protesters took over the campus of Columbia University in
Speaker 1: New York, the president has called it quits. Let's get
Speaker 1: started with some of the stories coming out of the
Speaker 1: KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 3: R V.
Speaker 1: Homeless camps in Los Angeles could soon be banned from
Speaker 1: certain parts of the city.
Speaker 5: The city Council was voted to have city staff create
Speaker 5: a new policy if that would keep our vs away
Speaker 5: from residential areas, business districts, schools, libraries, and parks. Councilman
Speaker 5: Tracy Park shot down a suggestion that the council should
Speaker 5: slow down and study the issue instead.
Speaker 6: The last thing we need is another committee, another commission,
Speaker 6: or another task force over multiple years to tell us
Speaker 6: what we already know.
Speaker 4: Park says.
Speaker 5: With the Supreme Court ruling allowing homeless camps to be moved,
Speaker 5: LA needs to be ready for other cities, possibly sending
Speaker 5: their homeless here in downtown La.
Speaker 7: Michael Monks KFI News.
Speaker 1: An eight point five million dollar project to repair a
Speaker 1: one hundred foot long sinkhole that split a condo complex
Speaker 1: in Lahabra can finally start after five years.
Speaker 8: A greenbelt that should not have been built over a
Speaker 8: storm drain that cuts under Coyote Village complex collapsed under
Speaker 8: heavy rains in twenty nineteen, then grew even bigger during
Speaker 8: record rainfall last year.
Speaker 3: Year.
Speaker 8: State Senator Josh Newman says the state funding he secured
Speaker 8: for repairs has been stuck in litigation since twenty twenty two.
Speaker 9: The city was very wary of taking on a liability
Speaker 9: and the hallowners Association couldn't figure out why if the
Speaker 9: state had the money, what was taking so long, so
Speaker 9: lawyers got involved in At the end of the day,
Speaker 9: the lawyer's finally figured it out.
Speaker 8: He says. Repairs will start today in Lahabra, core beIN Carson,
Speaker 8: k if I News.
Speaker 1: Biden administration says it has reached an agreement with pharmaceutical
Speaker 1: companies to lower the prices of the ten most expensive
Speaker 1: medications covered under Medicare. The meds include heart and diabetes drugs.
Speaker 1: The prices are expected to drop starting in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: President Biden says the latest inflation rate is proof his
Speaker 1: policies are working. Inflation has fallen below three percent for
Speaker 1: the first time in three years. It dropped to two
Speaker 1: point nine percent for July. Biden was asked about it
Speaker 1: yesterday during a Creator Economy conference at the White House.
Speaker 3: I told you're going to have a soft landing. We're
Speaker 3: going to have a soft landing. My policies are work
Speaker 3: and start writing that way. Okay.
Speaker 1: The cost of used cars, trucks, medical care, and airfares
Speaker 1: were all down last month.
Speaker 4: I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: Every time I check airfares they seem sky high, but
Speaker 1: people keep telling us they're going down, So maybe I'm
Speaker 1: just going to the wrong places.
Speaker 4: NASA says a decision.
Speaker 1: Will be made by the end of the month on
Speaker 1: how and when the astronauts stuck in space will come home.
Speaker 1: Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been on the International
Speaker 1: Space Station since June sixth. It was supposed to be
Speaker 1: a one week trip, but problems with the Boeing Starliner
Speaker 1: have delayed their returns. If the Starliner can't bring them home.
Speaker 1: SpaceX Rocket will have to go get them, but that
Speaker 1: wouldn't happen until February. Right now, let's say good morning
Speaker 1: to the editor in chief of Investopedia ABC's Caleb Silver.
Speaker 4: Good morning, Caleb, good to be with you.
Speaker 1: Year over year, inflation was up, but it was the
Speaker 1: lowest rise in three years.
Speaker 4: So my question is are we there yet.
Speaker 10: We're getting closer and closer to this two percent target,
Speaker 10: but I don't know if we'll ever get there because
Speaker 10: we see price increases over the last four to five
Speaker 10: years in the areas where it's just hard to see
Speaker 10: them ever coming down. Think about car insurance, think about
Speaker 10: food cost shelter costs. These are the big contributors to
Speaker 10: inflation over the last several years. And yes, we've come down,
Speaker 10: we've come way down from those highs of eight percent
Speaker 10: a couple of years ago, but it's been a slog
Speaker 10: through very high interest rates. Good news though interest rates
Speaker 10: should be coming down in September. The question is now
Speaker 10: how much? And that should you know, relieve some pressure
Speaker 10: on people who are borrowing or thinking about borrowing to
Speaker 10: buy a house or a car something.
Speaker 4: Okay, and you mentioned car insurance.
Speaker 1: I just did a story that they're expecting insurance rates
Speaker 1: to go up, like car insurance rates to go up
Speaker 1: fifty four percent by December in California.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's just crazy.
Speaker 10: It's brutal, and they're already pretty high. They're already more
Speaker 10: than thirty percent in some areas around the country, California
Speaker 10: being one of them.
Speaker 3: And that's just one of those costs we can avoid. Right.
Speaker 10: Those are the needs, not the wants, and that's putting
Speaker 10: a lot of pressure on household budgets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the FED said that its target to lower
Speaker 1: interest rates was two percent.
Speaker 4: It really wants to get to two percent. We're not
Speaker 4: there yet. We're two point nine percent.
Speaker 1: Is is that enough you think though, to say, okay,
Speaker 1: we can start cutting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all about timing.
Speaker 10: So the Fed pretty much got the inflation narrative under
Speaker 10: control by keeping interest rates high. But they I think
Speaker 10: that's okay for right now. They're now focused on the
Speaker 10: labor market.
Speaker 3: Right. The Fed has two mandates, keep.
Speaker 10: Inflation in that two percent target and also keep the
Speaker 10: nation at full employment, which is between three and a
Speaker 10: half and four percent unemployment. Well, we're at four point
Speaker 10: three as of the last reading and it's been creeping higher.
Speaker 10: So the Fed is now trying to gauge how weak
Speaker 10: the job market is becoming, because that might cause it
Speaker 10: to cut interest rates even deeper when it meets in September.
Speaker 1: Ah, so instead of like a quarter point, we might
Speaker 1: see a half point or more.
Speaker 10: Well, there is a growing drug feed for a half
Speaker 10: point cut, but not probably not more than that. Though
Speaker 10: that said, the Fed has been super transparent this entire
Speaker 10: time that Jerome Palell has been shared about what it's
Speaker 10: going to do, and it has pretty much signaled that
Speaker 10: quarter point cut in September. A deeper cut would be
Speaker 10: a surprise, but it would also be an indication that
Speaker 10: the Fed sis weakness in the economy. And make no
Speaker 10: mistake about it, the economy is slowing a little bit.
Speaker 10: Arise in unemployment is one sign of it, but also
Speaker 10: in manufacturing. Also in consumer spending. Even though we're continued
Speaker 10: to spend in places like Walmart, which is reported blowout
Speaker 10: or really strong earnings, we're getting tapped out. Credit Card
Speaker 10: debt is at a record high, and that's put pressure
Speaker 10: on households as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so as people have the inflationary costs, so we
Speaker 1: were talking about this, and it's like I make a
Speaker 1: certain amount of money, but because of inflation, it's just
Speaker 1: like I make twenty percent less. And so I think
Speaker 1: more people are like, well, I'm not. I don't have
Speaker 1: the money. I got to tap into my credit cards
Speaker 1: to make some of the to make some of my
Speaker 1: regular payments, right.
Speaker 10: And that's the cycle we continue to get in and
Speaker 10: folks are getting a little tapped out on that. You
Speaker 10: were speaking about airline fares, Well, they are cheaper if
Speaker 10: you're traveling the next two months, because who is, But
Speaker 10: if you're trying to buy them out into the holidays,
Speaker 10: going to get much more expensive. But not just that,
Speaker 10: it's everything else that we're paying for. The good news
Speaker 10: is gas prices have been pretty level, and that is
Speaker 10: the thing that really gives us sticker shock as consumers.
Speaker 3: That really makes us cut back on things.
Speaker 10: So we continue to spend on some experiences and discretionary things.
Speaker 10: But talk to some of the restaurants, some of the
Speaker 10: restaurants that are closing spending this weakening as consumers are
Speaker 10: tightening up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, And then for housing, Caleb, I'm curious if
Speaker 1: the FED decides to drop the interest rates would there
Speaker 1: be an immediate drop for like housing, for mortgage rates.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's already happened.
Speaker 10: The thirty year mortgages dropped from seven percent just about
Speaker 10: a month ago to about six point three percent at
Speaker 10: last check.
Speaker 3: And that's if you have very good credit.
Speaker 10: But also make you've seen a slow down in the
Speaker 10: rise in housing prices too, so you're going to see
Speaker 10: the housing market open up. Mortgage rates are super sensitive
Speaker 10: to the yield on the ten year US Treasury, while
Speaker 10: the Fed set's interest rates immediately affects the ten year treasury.
Speaker 3: That you've already seen that drop, would probably see mortgage
Speaker 3: rates drop even further.
Speaker 10: We've seen a spike and refinancings just in the last
Speaker 10: week off a very low base, but you're starting to
Speaker 10: see that heat up again, and that's good news for
Speaker 10: the housing market.
Speaker 1: I love to end on good news. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Caleb Silver, appreciate your information. If you want to follow Caleb,
Speaker 1: it's at Caleb's Silver.
Speaker 4: Thanks so much.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to some of the stories
Speaker 1: coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. California
Speaker 1: has been ranked thirtieth on a list of the best
Speaker 1: and worst states to have a baby. The personal finance
Speaker 1: website wallet hub compared thirty one key metrics in all
Speaker 1: fifty states, including healthcare accessibility, average annual cost of early childcare,
Speaker 1: and the number of pediatricians per capita. Analyst Chip Lupo
Speaker 1: says childcare is expensive in California, which is why the
Speaker 1: state didn't rank.
Speaker 11: Higher, so it's very important that you do have make
Speaker 11: sure you have adequate health insurance set aside to money
Speaker 11: in the savings account for emergency your unplanned expenses.
Speaker 4: He says.
Speaker 1: California did better than neighboring states, with Arizona ranking thirty
Speaker 1: fifth and Nevada forty six. The state has approved an
Speaker 1: audit of the City of Anaheim's leases with the Angels
Speaker 1: for the baseball team's stadium. An audit was called for
Speaker 1: when the proposed sale of the stadium fell through in
Speaker 1: twenty over allegations that former Mary Mayor Harry Sidhu was
Speaker 1: giving inside information to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO
Speaker 1: Todd Amont and an Angels consultant. Current Mayor Ashley Aitken
Speaker 1: says the city welcomes the audit. The stadium's been estimated
Speaker 1: to be worth about five hundred million dollars. The president
Speaker 1: of Columbia University has stepped down. ABC's Lindsay Davis says
Speaker 1: Manushafiq will move on to a role in international development
Speaker 1: in the UK.
Speaker 12: She i face sharp criticism in her handling of campus
Speaker 12: wide protests of the Israel Hamas War that became a
Speaker 12: national symbol, including allegations that she didn't do it enough
Speaker 12: to protect Jewish students on campus.
Speaker 1: The presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania
Speaker 1: also resigned following pro Palestinian protests on their campuses. A
Speaker 1: Russian court has sentenced a US Russian ballerina to twelve
Speaker 1: years in a penal colony for high treason after she
Speaker 1: allegedly transferred funds to a Ukrainian charity in February of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, that's when Russia launched its full scale
Speaker 1: invasion of Ukraine. Hurricane Ernesto has been gaining strength as
Speaker 1: it moves up the Atlantic and heads toward Bermuda. The
Speaker 1: storm could become a Category three hurricane tomorrow, and it's
Speaker 1: expected to pass near Bermuda on Saturday. It left behind
Speaker 1: a trail of destruction and flooding in Puerto Rico. Nat
Speaker 1: Natalia Brito says she and her family lost power Tuesday
Speaker 1: night and are standing with relatives who have a generator.
Speaker 13: I'm hoping the energy will come back soon, so that's.
Speaker 2: My only hope.
Speaker 1: The hurricane is expected to trigger rip currents and winds
Speaker 1: all along the East coast. Police are looking for fake
Speaker 1: repo men who have been taking cars in the San
Speaker 1: Fernando Valley. A person in Silmar says two guys recently
Speaker 1: showed up at his house, took photos of his car,
Speaker 1: filled out some paperwork, and towed the car away, even
Speaker 1: though the car was paid for. The laped says there's
Speaker 1: been a nearly forty percent increase in car thefs in
Speaker 1: North Hollywood alone in the last year. The Lamolinda, Sydney
Speaker 1: City Council has voted three to two to lift a
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen ban on new drives through restaurants. The ban
Speaker 1: was initially put in place to promote healthier living in
Speaker 1: the city, which is known as one of the world's
Speaker 1: five Blue Zones for longevity. Opponents argued the restriction had
Speaker 1: led to lost business opportunities and said the ban isn't
Speaker 1: needed because there are healthier food options available now. North
Speaker 1: Korea is planning to welcome tourists by the end of
Speaker 1: the year. This announcement comes as South Korea and the
Speaker 1: US garret for joint military exercises next week in a
Speaker 1: show of force as North Korea ramps up its nuclear threats.
Speaker 1: Most American passports are not valid to travel to North Korea,
Speaker 1: and the US classifies North Korean travel as a Level
Speaker 1: four risk that means do not travel.
Speaker 4: At six oh five.
Speaker 1: It's handle on the news, Minnesota's Governor Tim Walls says
Speaker 1: he is all in for a vice presidential debate with
Speaker 1: JD Vance on October first. Right now, let's say good
Speaker 1: morning to ABC's crime and Terror analyst Brad Garrett. So, Brad,
Speaker 1: catalytic converters are a hot commodity. They even caught an
Speaker 1: actor on General Hospital, Johnny or cost actor Johnny Wackter
Speaker 1: is life in Downtown LA recently. So what makes them
Speaker 1: such a hot commodity.
Speaker 11: Because of three precious metals in the inside the converter,
Speaker 11: which are platinum, palladium, in roodium.
Speaker 7: Their mind either.
Speaker 11: Come out of Africa or Russia. And if you have
Speaker 11: someone who can actually extract those three precious metals from
Speaker 11: the stolen converter. You're in dependual potentially a lot of money,
Speaker 11: in particular, if you're working in volume. If you look
Speaker 11: at the surveillance video of Johnny's, that looks organized to me,
Speaker 11: it's three guys that got hoods up masts on. The
Speaker 11: estimate is, if you know what you're doing, you can
Speaker 11: steal a converter in ninety seconds, and they tend to
Speaker 11: work off by them. Now, these guys obviously were armed.
Speaker 11: I think LAPD has said they think they're gang connected
Speaker 11: some way, and it makes complete sense because if you can,
Speaker 11: if you can steal them in volume, then you can
Speaker 11: sell them to a middleman for whatever you can get
Speaker 11: per converter, who will then sell them to a metals
Speaker 11: processing facility that actually extracts these precious metals from the converter,
Speaker 11: and that's where the money is. I mean, I think
Speaker 11: in the write up I sent you a family in
Speaker 11: Sacramento a couple of years ago were prosecuted. They had
Speaker 11: sent six hundred million dollars worth of converters to a
Speaker 11: processing facility in New Jersey before they got caught. I mean,
Speaker 11: there's there's big money in this if in fact, you
Speaker 11: know you're so inclined to climb underneath people's vehicles.
Speaker 4: Okay, so.
Speaker 1: How if there's six hundred million dollars worth Like when
Speaker 1: you take the precious metals from the catalytic converters, how
Speaker 1: much is that worth.
Speaker 11: Well, it's hard to say that rhodium I have read
Speaker 11: it could be worth excuse me.
Speaker 7: As much as twenty eight thousand dollars an ounce.
Speaker 11: So if you again translate into that into volume, these
Speaker 11: three medals alone would be worth a fair amount of money.
Speaker 11: Now you'd have to pull it from a number of
Speaker 11: converters I think to make it worthwhile.
Speaker 7: But if you're in the.
Speaker 11: Business of doing this in volume, then you could make
Speaker 11: some money because then the precious metal basically can go
Speaker 11: back into the open market as to whatever you can get.
Speaker 7: For them of you know, paraphs or whatever it might be.
Speaker 1: So so then my question is how much of these
Speaker 1: precious metals is actually in a catalytic converter because we're
Speaker 1: not putting we're not spending twenty eight thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: put a catalytic converter on a car, so it's not even.
Speaker 7: An adult, right, I don't think a lot.
Speaker 11: But like I said, if you have a lot of
Speaker 11: converters you've stolen, you could come up with a fair
Speaker 11: amount of these three precious metals. So you know, strictly
Speaker 11: from the gang standpoint, you know they're not going to
Speaker 11: deal with any of this. This is just strictly theft
Speaker 11: right passing it to a middle person. It could be
Speaker 11: a body shop, it could be something connected to the
Speaker 11: automotive industry, let's say of Los Angeles or someplace else,
Speaker 11: who then moves them on.
Speaker 7: So it's got to be worthwhile.
Speaker 11: I mean, the police in California say there's at least
Speaker 11: sixteen hundred of them a week that are reported stolen.
Speaker 7: Or around the states.
Speaker 11: So if that gives you an idea, and you know,
Speaker 11: if you think about is there anything you can do,
Speaker 11: and maybe there's a few things you can do that
Speaker 11: The cars amy that seem to be the most targeted
Speaker 11: are preuses, SUVs, and pickup trucks. Now I'm going to
Speaker 11: add a fourth one, and that's fleet vehicles. And the
Speaker 11: reason why is they tend to be alone at night
Speaker 11: in you know, either a parking garage or even parked
Speaker 11: outside someplace, and so these can go in and steal
Speaker 11: the converters off of all the trucks in a given night.
Speaker 11: So the point being what do you do about that.
Speaker 11: You can paint your converters to make them less attractive
Speaker 11: to sell. You can put your your ven number or
Speaker 11: tag number on the converter. You can have either you
Speaker 11: can either purchase or have made a metal plate to
Speaker 11: go over your converters, so the bad guys can immediately
Speaker 11: get to the converter to steal it. And you have
Speaker 11: to think about where you park it and is it
Speaker 11: going to be isolated. Now, granted, some people just don't
Speaker 11: have any choice where they park their vehicle, but the
Speaker 11: point being if it's something that's easily accessible to bad guys,
Speaker 11: then it makes it more susceptible. Now I'll tell you
Speaker 11: the problem. I mean, if you look at at Johnny's tape,
Speaker 11: the surveillance tape when he was killed, I mean, it's
Speaker 11: three o'clock in the morning, but as you well know
Speaker 11: in La on a busy street, it's busy at three
Speaker 11: o'clock in the morning. I mean there were people out,
Speaker 11: there were scars parking in front of him and back
Speaker 11: of him, so they're really bold in what they're doing.
Speaker 11: So you can take these precautions, but they're not going
Speaker 11: to be perfect.
Speaker 1: Okay, And the ven number one sounds like a decent idea.
Speaker 1: But if somebody is coming in and stealing these catalytic
Speaker 1: converters in mass are they checking for an number?
Speaker 4: Aren't they just cutting them off and going?
Speaker 11: Well, I think they're probably cutting them off and going
Speaker 11: and they may not care because you know, in an hour,
Speaker 11: two hours, five hour, they're not going to have it anymore.
Speaker 11: They're going to pass it on to whoever they're selling
Speaker 11: it to, and you know, once it gets in that
Speaker 11: internal system, you know it's not going to do you
Speaker 11: much good. I think the whole idea of doing that
Speaker 11: is deterrence, right. I mean, if you walk into the
Speaker 11: body shop that fence does these for you, and they're
Speaker 11: going to go, well, wha wall, wait a minute, this
Speaker 11: guy's got this, you know, tag number, they're going to
Speaker 11: be less excited maybe about buying it or not. But
Speaker 11: I think it's it's a reasonable thing. Insurance companies recommend
Speaker 11: what I just suggested, but it's it's not a problem
Speaker 11: that's going away. Because every car made after nineteen seventy
Speaker 11: four has converters, and some cars have two and three converters.
Speaker 4: Okay, and them. I have one last question for you, Brat.
Speaker 1: Why why don't we go after the middleman or the
Speaker 1: processing facilities. I mean, if there was no market for them,
Speaker 1: people would stop stealing them.
Speaker 7: Well, that's correct, and we do when we know about it.
Speaker 11: That case and Sacramento I mentioned, they got everybody involved
Speaker 11: in that, the family that basically had them, stole them,
Speaker 11: the people who actually stole them, and then the place
Speaker 11: that they were shipped to in New Jersey. I think
Speaker 11: the problem they is figuring out. I mean, catalytic converters
Speaker 11: aren't marked in any way, and once they come off
Speaker 11: your vehicle to become anonymous, right, I mean, how do
Speaker 11: you know that that's the one that's stolen from my car?
Speaker 11: You don't, And so I think they get by with
Speaker 11: it unless you break up one of these chains of
Speaker 11: folks that work together to come up with a volume
Speaker 11: of converters. And so they do get caught occasionally, but
Speaker 11: it doesn't look like to me they get caught with
Speaker 11: any regularity.
Speaker 1: All Right, ABC's Brad Garrett. The ABC's news is crime
Speaker 1: and Terrorism analysts. You can follow Brad at Brad Investigates.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for the information and go paint your
Speaker 1: catalytic converter.
Speaker 7: All right, thank you, Amy.
Speaker 1: Hey, I producer, and just shared this with me this morning,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was hysterical. So the La Dodgers
Speaker 1: are in Milwaukee, and in fact, they've got one more
Speaker 1: game coming up later this morning, and Dodger star Mookie
Speaker 1: Bets is not staying with the team. He is instead
Speaker 1: staying at a short term rental so like an Airbnb,
Speaker 1: because the team is staying at the Fister Hotel in
Speaker 1: downtown Milwaukee. It was built in the eighteen nineties and
Speaker 1: is long rumored to be frequented by spirits of former
Speaker 1: guests that terrorize the current guests. So Muki said, yeah,
Speaker 1: not so much. I'm not doing it. And this is
Speaker 1: one of the oldest hotels that MLB teams stay in.
Speaker 1: It's been stayed in by diplomats and presidents. It's a
Speaker 1: luxury hotel. It's on the National Register of Historic Places.
Speaker 1: But Bets says, no thanks, I'm not staying there. So
Speaker 1: the lesson learned is, MOOKI don't like spooky. I cracked
Speaker 1: myself up. The City of Long Beach says it'll start
Speaker 1: sighting and arresting homeless people who refuse to leave camps
Speaker 1: that have been deemed unsafe. Long Beach Deputy Director of
Speaker 1: Our Deputy City Manager Teresa Chandler says the city will
Speaker 1: still make efforts to provide alternatives to living on the
Speaker 1: street first, but if they're ignored, homeless people could be cited, fined,
Speaker 1: or arrested. Former President Trump has laid out his plans
Speaker 1: for the economy if voters put him back in the
Speaker 1: White House. At a rally in North Carolina, Trump said
Speaker 1: he'll sign an executive order directing his cabinet to take
Speaker 1: action to bring down inflation and consumer prices in the
Speaker 1: first one hundred days of his presidency. He said he
Speaker 1: would also slash energy prices in half in his first
Speaker 1: eighteen months in office. Vice President Kamala Harris has a
Speaker 1: twenty five point lead over Trump in a new poll
Speaker 1: of California voters. The poll is from the Berkeley Institute
Speaker 1: of Governmental Studies. The results not surprising since registered Democrats
Speaker 1: in California outnumber Republicans by almost three to one. At
Speaker 1: six oh five a handle on the News, the city
Speaker 1: of la is spending a half million dollars on Olympic
Speaker 1: flags at five point fifty. We're going to find out
Speaker 1: if interest rates might finally start coming down now that
Speaker 1: inflation is below three percent. We'll be talking with ABC's
Speaker 1: Cheyenne Haslet about that wake up call. Went out in
Speaker 1: about to Long Beach for a little walking, a little learning,
Speaker 1: and some really great food. So I went on a
Speaker 1: walking tour of East Village and caught up with the
Speaker 1: owner of Melting Pot Food Tours, Jody Flowers. So, Jody,
Speaker 1: please tell us what we will do and see and
Speaker 1: experience on a Melting Pot Food tour.
Speaker 14: We walk along the sidewalks, we observe and listen to
Speaker 14: the history and culture of the village with the tour guide,
Speaker 14: and we visit and have food tastings from small businesses
Speaker 14: in the East Village with time honored family passed down recipes,
Speaker 14: food that has been in the region and identifies with
Speaker 14: the cafe. And it's a regional and the places are
Speaker 14: all owned by small business owners.
Speaker 1: And here's what I love about it, Jody, is like
Speaker 1: when you go down a street wherever you are, I'm
Speaker 1: in Silver Lake, But when you drive down a street,
Speaker 1: you go, oh, look at that.
Speaker 4: Cute little restaurant, Look at that cute little restaurant. Look
Speaker 4: at that shop, Look at that shop.
Speaker 1: I should go in there one time, and you kind
Speaker 1: of don't because you're always in a hurry, right, So
Speaker 1: this gives you an opportunity to just stop down, walk
Speaker 1: through the neighborhood, stop into a restaurant, sample what they have.
Speaker 1: We stopped in a couple of the shops and got
Speaker 1: to see some really great products, like again, small owned businesses.
Speaker 4: And you don't get that every day, correct.
Speaker 14: And we also visit museums if this along the tour
Speaker 14: in the village that we're visiting. And then also we'll
Speaker 14: walk into a retail shop too, something like a retail therapy.
Speaker 4: So we was always good.
Speaker 14: We always loved to mix and combine sidewalk walking cafes,
Speaker 14: original food tastings, all curated from owners. And then we
Speaker 14: mix and mingle and blend museums.
Speaker 4: And arts and culture.
Speaker 1: And of course then you also get to see again
Speaker 1: because you're not in your car, you're just walking around
Speaker 1: and Long.
Speaker 4: Beach is just beautiful.
Speaker 1: And so we got to start at the performing Arts center.
Speaker 14: What's it called the City Terrace Theater.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can see the beach from here, and
Speaker 1: then you're seeing all the different kinds of architecture, so
Speaker 1: you're really learning about Long Beach along with experiencing Long Beach.
Speaker 1: So what gave you this idea to.
Speaker 14: Start this, Well, we wanted to create a tour in
Speaker 14: the South Bay area, you know, specific to the region.
Speaker 14: We create a relationship with one of the business owners here,
Speaker 14: which is where we're at, and it just started from there,
Speaker 14: and then we just really seriously it goes from one
Speaker 14: business owner to the next, and then we created a
Speaker 14: tour around that.
Speaker 13: Okay.
Speaker 1: And if you are not in Long Beach or close
Speaker 1: to Long Beach, you can of course come to Long
Speaker 1: Beach and do the walking tour, but you have other.
Speaker 4: Tours as well.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 14: We have tours at the original farmers Market. That's the first.
Speaker 1: Tour, the one by the growth yeah oh okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, Third and Fair of Fax we start there, okay.
Speaker 14: That is the origional tour of Multipop Food Tours. We
Speaker 14: have a two and a half hour tour there. But
Speaker 14: most importantly we also have an East La.
Speaker 4: And World Heights tour okay.
Speaker 14: And we also have an Old Pasadena tour I Pasadena,
Speaker 14: thank you. And we are in development of ty Town
Speaker 14: in Hollywood.
Speaker 4: Oh, some more to come.
Speaker 14: And then we also are in development of Little India
Speaker 14: and Artesia.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 1: And so when you come and do the tour, about
Speaker 1: how long does it take and how long how much
Speaker 1: are you going to walk?
Speaker 14: Just so people can prepare for it, exactly fifty four
Speaker 14: hundred to eight thousand steps planned to have hours to three.
Speaker 1: And don't eat before you come, because I will tell
Speaker 1: you the first stop. We went to the Long Beach
Speaker 1: Tacos and it was spectacular and we were full and
Speaker 1: we went, wait, there's more food. And so then we
Speaker 1: had a few more stops. So it's really cool because
Speaker 1: you get to stop, sample, go, learn and have a
Speaker 1: beautiful day walking around downtown exactly.
Speaker 14: And we're outdoors. You know, the benefits of being outdoors
Speaker 14: walking in the neighborhood, the benefits of eating really good
Speaker 14: food for your body and mind nourishes you know, heart,
Speaker 14: body and mind. Right, And so that's the takeaway of
Speaker 14: Melting Potfood Tours.
Speaker 4: I love that, okay.
Speaker 1: And where do we find out more about Melting Pot
Speaker 1: Food Tour.
Speaker 14: Well, we have a website www. Dot melting pottours dot com.
Speaker 14: We are locally owned and we're located in La I
Speaker 14: love that.
Speaker 1: Thanks Jony Flowers, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: We went out and.
Speaker 1: About to Long Beach and we highly recommend that you
Speaker 1: do it as well.
Speaker 3: Thanks.
Speaker 1: It was really a fun way to spend an afternoon.
Speaker 1: You know, you're strolling around, you get a little bit
Speaker 1: of exercise, you have some great food. As I mentioned,
Speaker 1: we went to Long Beach Tacos. Their food was spectacular.
Speaker 1: We went to the Thai District. Oh my gosh, it
Speaker 1: was so good. And then we went to Bliss and
Speaker 1: had some cookies, and then we went to a coffee
Speaker 1: shop and hung out and just it was such a
Speaker 1: great way to spend a day. And again, if you
Speaker 1: don't want to go to Long Beach, they have them
Speaker 1: in Pasadena, East, LA. There's some other tours that are
Speaker 1: available and you can find out more at Melting pottours
Speaker 1: dot com. Let's get back to some of the stories
Speaker 1: coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The
Speaker 1: LAPD is urging people in Encino to keep an eye
Speaker 1: on the rear entrances of their homes.
Speaker 5: The string of burglaries targeting the neighborhood is typically involved
Speaker 5: back doors and windows in the late night and early
Speaker 5: morning hours. LAPD Deputy Chief Allen Hamilton says police have
Speaker 5: increased patrols on the ground and in the air as
Speaker 5: they try to find the bad guys.
Speaker 2: To make sure that we're utilizing every resource there we
Speaker 2: have available to us on all legal basis.
Speaker 15: To identify, track arrests, and prosecute.
Speaker 5: Most of the recent burglaries and encino. What happened near
Speaker 5: Libbett Park close to the one to one freeway, please
Speaker 5: say burglars like the quick escape in downtown La Michael
Speaker 5: monks KFI News.
Speaker 1: Five horses suffering from starvation and some other animals have
Speaker 1: been taken from a property in Kabazon. It was part
Speaker 1: of a cruelty investigation by the Riverside County Department of
Speaker 1: Animal Services.
Speaker 4: The agency says the.
Speaker 1: Horses were emaciated and had their ribs and spines showing.
Speaker 1: The department had been investigating allegations of animal negligence at
Speaker 1: the property since last month. Ukraine is continuing its offensive
Speaker 1: into Russia. ABC's Ian Pannell says the push has been
Speaker 1: relentless on the ground and from the air.
Speaker 12: All Russian airfields some hundreds of miles from the border
Speaker 12: and at least one housing Meg fighter jets were reportedly
Speaker 12: hit by long range drones.
Speaker 1: More than two hundred thousand civilians in Russia have been
Speaker 1: told to leave their homes as thousands of Ukrainian troops
Speaker 1: have crossed the border. Researchers in the UK say they're
Speaker 1: a step closer to understanding how how Stonehenge was created.
Speaker 1: It was built about five thousand years ago, with stones
Speaker 1: forming different circles taken to the site at different times.
Speaker 1: A new study shows the unique stone lying flat at
Speaker 1: the center of Stonehenge originally came from a sandstone quarry
Speaker 1: in Scotland. It's not clear whether the sixteen foot slab
Speaker 1: was carried by boat or across land. For more than
Speaker 1: a century, it was thought Stonehenge's alter stone came from Wales.
Speaker 1: I gotta get there. I would like to see Stonehenge.
Speaker 1: Video game actors plan to picket outside Disney studios in
Speaker 1: Burbank today. The people who provide voices for popular video
Speaker 1: games want protections against artificial intelligence and also more money
Speaker 1: the SAG after union actors have been on strike since
Speaker 1: July twenty sixth. The Arizona Supreme Court is ruled and
Speaker 1: informational pamphlet for voters can refer to a fetus as
Speaker 1: an unborn human being. That language will be used in
Speaker 1: a description for a November ballot measure that would guarantee
Speaker 1: the constitutional right to an abortion. The grand opening of
Speaker 1: the two billion dollar Into It Dome is tonight with
Speaker 1: Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars performing his first of two concerts.
Speaker 1: It's the first in a series of shows for the
Speaker 1: next few weeks. It'll be the new home court for
Speaker 1: the Clippers starting in October. The Dome, next to SOFI
Speaker 1: and the Kia Forum, will host the twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: NBA All Star Game and Olympic Basketball in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 1: Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's Cheyenne Hazlitt. Chyenne,
Speaker 1: I think this is the first time we've talked, so
Speaker 1: welcome to wake up call.
Speaker 13: Thank you, Amy. I'm excited to be joining you.
Speaker 1: So it's super easy to sign up for a subscription
Speaker 1: of like face cream or streaming services, or pet food,
Speaker 1: even kitty litter. But once they get your money, the
Speaker 1: companies don't want to give it up. The FEDS they're
Speaker 1: doing something to help us be able to cancel these
Speaker 1: things easier.
Speaker 13: Well, that's exactly right. They're calling these efforts a cracktown quote, headaches,
Speaker 13: halfles that waste people's time and money. It's actually an
Speaker 13: entire initiative called the Time is Money Campaign, and there's
Speaker 13: a few different policies that are potentially at work here.
Speaker 13: The first, as you mentioned, is that it should be
Speaker 13: as easy to cancel a subscription as it is different
Speaker 13: up for one, if it's one or two clicks on
Speaker 13: your phone to enroll, it should be the same to
Speaker 13: end it. That's according to the White House's Domestic Policy
Speaker 13: Advisor near A Tandon. This is targeting things like gym
Speaker 13: memberships or your subscription to a newspaper, and it's being
Speaker 13: over seen by the Federal Trade Commission. The rulemaking process
Speaker 13: is actually in its final stages right now, so it
Speaker 13: will likely be implemented in the coming months, barring any lawsuits.
Speaker 13: And the second big component to this campaign is preventing
Speaker 13: doom loop phone calls. So that's when you're trying to
Speaker 13: get through to a customer service representative maybe to end
Speaker 13: that subscription, but your stuff talking to a chatba or
Speaker 13: an automated voice. The Biden administration wants to make it
Speaker 13: a rule that you can press a single button to
Speaker 13: get to a human in those situation. That rule will
Speaker 13: go through the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and potentially the
Speaker 13: SEC the Federal Communications Commission to explore if they can
Speaker 13: apply that rule all sort of phone, broadband and cable companies.
Speaker 13: That's all in its early stages of the rulemaking process,
Speaker 13: so we don't expect that before the end of the year.
Speaker 7: But yeah, you.
Speaker 13: Can see that there's clearly a campaign here. It goes
Speaker 13: in hand with the Biden administration's overall efforts to try
Speaker 13: and bring down prices for people, especially ahead of that
Speaker 13: November election when we're seeing stubborn inflation.
Speaker 1: I love that they're called doom loop phone calls because
Speaker 1: I've been stuck in that doom loop and it just
Speaker 1: by the time I get to somebody to actually make
Speaker 1: some sort of change, I'm so mad that I just
Speaker 1: want to scream at them, and then I feel bad
Speaker 1: because you know, it's not their fault that I got
Speaker 1: stuck in the doom loop.
Speaker 4: It's just that's how they do business.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that the policies are going to go
Speaker 1: to an effect in a few months, So will they
Speaker 1: will they kick in before the election.
Speaker 4: Do you think.
Speaker 13: That first one about subscriptions likely before the election and
Speaker 13: that second one about doom loop phone calls, it's unlikely
Speaker 13: that that will happen before the election, Okay.
Speaker 1: And then you also mentioned that it may be easier
Speaker 1: to file health insurance claims under what they're working on now,
Speaker 1: is that part of this cancelation policy that they're putting
Speaker 1: in placers that coming later.
Speaker 13: You know, that's actually basically an example of the White
Speaker 13: House using the bully pulpit to try and encourage companies
Speaker 13: to act in a certain way without formally creating any rules.
Speaker 13: The Health and Human Services Secretary Javier Bacarah sent letters
Speaker 13: to insurance companies asking them to make it easier for
Speaker 13: people to submit claims, potentially allowing that to be online.
Speaker 13: Also to make it easier to get through to your
Speaker 13: health insurance provider on the phone. And so, you know,
Speaker 13: that's an effort to call companies out for what the
Speaker 13: White House has deemed bad behavior. And we'll see if
Speaker 13: we see movement from that alone, or if they're further
Speaker 13: efforts down the road to formalize that into a rulemaking process.
Speaker 13: But you know, this is obviously part of We've mentioned
Speaker 13: a few of them already, but there are other efforts
Speaker 13: underway too, like taking on junk fees tacked onto things
Speaker 13: like concert tickets and hotel rooms, or requiring airlines to
Speaker 13: automatically refund passengers for delayed flights rather than making people
Speaker 13: jump through hoops to get that money, or canceling small
Speaker 13: medical debts for people. These are all efforts underway from
Speaker 13: the Biden administration to lower costs, and the idea is
Speaker 13: that people need to feel more confident in the economy
Speaker 13: through these consistent but piecemeal efforts to bring down their
Speaker 13: daily costs, because high prices is among the top issues
Speaker 13: for voters heading into the November election.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting that these things are coming out just now,
Speaker 1: right before the election. Does this need to be passing,
Speaker 1: does this need to be passed by conquerors or it's
Speaker 1: just new rules that they can pass.
Speaker 13: It is just a rulemaking process exactly, so no need
Speaker 13: for Congress's involvement, which, of course, under less than hundred
Speaker 13: days before an election is not likely. So we can see,
Speaker 13: you know, we'll see these playing out in the rule
Speaker 13: making process. They expected timeline, as they said, it's still
Speaker 13: months away on each of these. Of course, there's the
Speaker 13: potential that either could be challenged by business groups in court.
Speaker 13: That would certainly be a setback, but we will see
Speaker 13: if those court cases are successful.
Speaker 1: One click cancelations. I am all for that. I'm going
Speaker 1: to be watching for that. Seanne Haslett, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for the information today, and we hope we get
Speaker 1: to talk to you again soon.
Speaker 13: Thank you. Amy.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to some of the stories
Speaker 1: coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. R
Speaker 1: V homeless camps may soon have to stay away from
Speaker 1: residential areas, business districts, parks, libraries, and other parts of
Speaker 1: La City. Councilwoman Tracy Park says the city needs to
Speaker 1: act on the frustrations of residents and business owners.
Speaker 6: Are v's that stay put for weeks, months, and years
Speaker 6: without movie taking up critical parking, blocking safe passage, and
Speaker 6: devastating local businesses.
Speaker 1: The city Council's voted to have city staff create a
Speaker 1: citywide policy that would keep RVs out of the designated areas.
Speaker 1: It would also identify parts of every council district where
Speaker 1: URV camps would be allowed. A working Horse ranch for
Speaker 1: homeless people in Orange County has received one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars for a new tech center.
Speaker 15: We help them get back on their feet and contributing
Speaker 15: to society.
Speaker 8: Oh See Rescue Mission President Brian Crane says, the almost
Speaker 8: twenty year program teaches homeless people work ethic through gardening,
Speaker 8: maintenance or cleaning up after livestock.
Speaker 15: In twenty twenty, we were able to move the whole
Speaker 15: operation to Silverado Canyon and it's a thirty three acre facility.
Speaker 15: One day, when we remodel everything, we'll be able to
Speaker 15: accommodate one hundred and forty one people there.
Speaker 8: The Cox Communications grant will help create the tech center
Speaker 8: to be used for education, job training, and telehealth appointments
Speaker 8: in Orange County. Corbin Carson KFI.
Speaker 1: News This morning, the Dodgers are in Milwaukee to take
Speaker 1: on the Brews, with the first pitch going out at
Speaker 1: eleven ten. You can listen to every play of every
Speaker 1: Dodgers game on AM five seventy LA Sports and stream
Speaker 1: all the games in HD on the iHeartRadio app. Keyword
Speaker 1: is AM five seventy LA Sports powered by Lacare for
Speaker 1: all of LA. And let's hope that Mooki Bett's got
Speaker 1: a good night's sleep at his Airbnb, since he wouldn't
Speaker 1: stay in the hotel in downtown Milwaukee that's said to
Speaker 1: be haunted.
Speaker 4: If you want to go check that story.
Speaker 1: Out, you can give it a listen on the wake
Speaker 1: Up Call on the iHeartRadio app. You can listen any
Speaker 1: old time. We got lots of information there for you.
Speaker 1: This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 1: We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 1: I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to wake Up Call with me, Amy King.
Speaker 1: You can always hear wake Up Call five to six
Speaker 1: am Monday through Friday on KFI AM six forty and
Speaker 1: anytime on demand on the iHeart Radio your app