This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to KFI AM six forty, the Gary and Shannon Show on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Keeping any here out for what's going on in Washington and beyond. Told you Trump was meeting with a economic advisor from Japan with along with his economic team today in Washington. Chinese leader Shei Jimping
is meeting with Southeast Asia leaders. He's told Malaysia's leader that China will be a collaborative partner and stand with its neighbors in the wake of the global economic shocks. He is on a state visit there to Malaysia as part of the Southeast Asia tour, so we'll see what happens there. Each trying to get more people on their own respective team, so to speak.
There's a more activity when it comes to this issue of the migrants that have been sent to El Salvador. A federal judge says she's going to order sworn testimony to determine if Trump officials complied with her order to facilitate the return of the guy named Kilmar Abrego Garcia deported to this Elsalvador prison.
Some people had said he should not have been deported.
She said that they the judge said that the Trump administration defied a clear Supreme Court order. The other one in that case is the federal judge has found that probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt because he said of the wilful disregard of his verbal order to turn those planes around and bring them back to the United States when that whole thing was happening well.
On location production when it comes to film and TV production down twenty two point four percent compared with this period last year. Heather Burger from KFI News follows the entertainment industry for US and joins US now has found some answers about why we're seeing even further decline in action when it comes to Los Angeles.
Hi, guys, so this is an ongoing problem that doesn't seem to be getting any better. As a matter of fact, this first three months of the year is some of the worst filming production days that we've had in Los Angeles in decades. There was about fifty two hundred shooting days recorded from Film La. Now Film LA if you don't know, it's a not for profit organization that works with the city and the county in LA to track data essentially for filming that happens in the county, so
they have numbers backing up what they're saying. And when they say that it's declined twenty two percent, down to about fifty two hundred shoot days. Let me just give you a comparison. Back in twenty twenty one, we had a total number of shoot days of eighteen thousand, five hundred.
And is this the first three months a year, just the first three.
Months of the year, and television in particular was hit hardest. They lost thirty percent. They're down thirty percent in the number of shooting days. Basically. I spoke to film LA. I spoke to Philip Sokolowski at film LA, and he says that the biggest problem we're facing right now is
our tax incentives. Film producers production companies are not getting enough money back for how much it costs them whenever they're putting together a show or a film or whatever, and they're going to other cities, they're going to other states and other countries and investing in the film production there because they're getting more of their money back.
It's like that golden coupon.
You know that you keep getting If you're going to go to the store that's going to give you more money back on your groceries, why would you keep going to the store that's not giving you the best discount.
Well, I feel like we heard about this when a lot of production went to Georgia, a lot of production went to Canada, and then I remember vaguely a flurry of lawmakers, state and local saying, hey, we're going to bring production back to LA We're going to offer our own incentives.
Yeah, what happened there.
So it's still happening.
It's sort of caught up in red tape as everything is so right now, California offers three hundred and thirty million dollar tax credit tax credits for film productions up to they can get three hundred and thirty million tax credit, So the current proposal is seven hundred and fifty million dollars. But right now it's kind of it's being stuck because there are people who are saying, well, is it worth us? Is it worth it for us to give these giant
tax credits to these productions. Are we getting enough back as a city and as a county to make up for these giant losses?
Which is a valid question.
You know, if you're giving every production a seven hundred and fifty million dollar tax break, are we getting that back as in La in La County, that's a valid question. But because of that, and because of there's people who are kind of pushing back against it that has not been pushed forward. So here we are still people are losing jobs, people are losing their home homes.
There is a major bless you, he'll.
Have any bless ye. I always want to do it twice.
So there's there's people right now who are who are really hurting financially because they can't work.
Like the average film.
LA was said that the average production, according to their numbers, puts about six hundred and seventy thousand dollars a day back into the economy and fifteen hundred jobs. So we're talking about millions of jobs, millions of dollars into the economy, not just for people who work. You know, people only think they of the celebrities when they think of film production.
But it's the craftsman, it's the graft services, it's the artisans, it's the gaffers, it's the sound people, it's all those people, the costumers and local businesses and restaurants who provide catering for these companies. So it's a it's a big overall impact that we're losing here in California that is going to other states, and we're not moving fast enough to correct it, and a lot of people think it may be too late. So many of the others, these other
productions have already set up shop and already established. Netflix is opening a huge studio in New Jersey. It's like, you have to make it worth their while. And then some yeah, yeah, and part of it.
I mean, granted, we have a history of one hundred plus years of filmmaking in California, but some of the studio lots, the studio equipment, the studios themselves are one hundred and twenty years old.
I mean, yeah, you don't have the up to do.
Granted, some of the greatest technologies in the in the space have come out of la But if you're if you want to start a new studio, look at Tyler Perry.
Tyler Perry spent a billion dollars on a production facility in studios in outside of Atlanta with all of the space he needs, more so than Warner Brothers and Universal studios put together, and anybody wants to start that same kind of a job, you're going to do it in Georgia or Dallas or in Tennessee, because not only do they have the space, they've got the tech, the tax incentives, the political uh, the political atmosphere in those states is
also very allied hands off. Yeah, and magic cities in Atlanta, which is another reason you know.
Here will we go it's star guarding.
Well, I mean, I think you don't even have to acknowledge that I will not go ahead.
You know, Philip was saying that one of the things that they're hoping to do with this new tax incentive is to widen the types of content that can be produced here, because, as you know, there is a lot of evolution in the way we consume content. It's not just going to the movies anymore. It's not just sitting down and watching ABC, CBS, NBC. You know, there's streaming platforms, there's digital content, there's there are television series being made just for your apps, just for TikTok.
Just for YouTube.
And you're right, they do need state of the art technology and spaces to be able to we ate that.
But right now the way the current tax incentives are.
It's just for film and television and a very narrow amount of production.
It feels like, because of the history that I mentioned, it feels like there's a certain amount of arrogance when it comes to political leaders who want to talk about making sure that we have jobs and making sure we keep the industry in LA but just sitting back and saying, but well, we no one else has a beach like we do, and no one else has. You know that we've got the weather, we do it weather, But that
doesn't guarantee anything. If you're Tyler Perry, you just you move your you move your entire set inside one hundred and fifty thousand square foot building.
You don't have to worry about the one.
You know who else has the weather Australia And there's a lot of content and production that's moving to Australia as well, and filmmakers.
Are are then Cole Kidman's there and.
Nicole Kidman guy, and the guy.
You Jackman Jackman.
He's the guy Russell Crow, who is very nice. By the way, Can I just say he's very nice.
I just saw LA Confidential for the first time.
Watch last Weekend that's a great It was a great movie.
We talk about something that was filmed in LA and shows the story in LA.
That's a great.
So that was a lot of fun, I mean, and it made me realize how much I miss Kevin Spacey.
Yeah, I mean, what do you really do? I mean, come on?
Also, Russell Crowe, I think much more attractive older as supposed to younger.
More seasoned. I think most men do get more.
Attractive trying to butter me up.
It's like hell fifteen years ago.
But look at you second time you've said that today it's a compliment, and see what it's a compliment.
Well, I'm gonna have I'm gonna share more about my interview for Philip I love you guys. I'm going to share more of my interview with Philip and more in depth and talk a little bit more about what the situation is, what they're doing to fight it, and how people here in LA who want to stay in LA and keep working here what they can do.
Stay tuned KFI News, Heather, we'll have all of those reports.
She does talk to us like we're the mangy neighborhood dog, like, oh I love you, I do love you.
Guys, kay, I totally can.
That's how much I love you, I know, and I love that.
I haven't been yelled at in the street for years. Felt real good.
You got honked out on Santa Monica Boulevard yesterday, That's because I was jaywalking.
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Stories.
We're falling for you today. Still have an I on Wall Street obviously. Navidia pulling Wall Street lower today. It said new restrictions on exports to China will chisel billions of dollars off its results. S and P five hundred found one point two percent. The Nasdaq was dragged down two point one. United Airlines gave two forecasts for its financials for the upcoming year, one if there's a recession and another not oh great.
Okay.
You did see shoppers by the way accelerate their purchases of cars and electronics last month.
Try to get in before the terriff. Yeah.
A federal judge in DC says he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his orders to turn around those planes that were carrying deporties down to l Salvador. The judge said that he could refer the matter for prosecution if the administration doesn't purge its contempt contempt. He said he wants to have them file some papers. They have a
week to do so. I said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt matter if necessary.
We get into it.
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I just saw a ring camera commercial. Is it bad when ring camera is advertising and the main advertising point is we can catch people when they steal your stuff, i e. Packages cars, things right out of your drive like that was the main focus of their TV ad that we just saw.
That's a sad state of.
Affairs, I agree, but it's just a reflection of what's going on out there right outside your ring doorbell.
Daniel Ridge worked as a morgue attendant for a hospital in Oakland. He was fired or dismissed when returning from a leave period. Well, a judge there in Alameda County Superior Court has awarded Daniel two point four million in a wrongful termination lawsuit against his former employer, Alameda Health System.
Great news, right, Well.
Daniel's lawyers can't find him because Daniel is homeless. He's a homeless guy up in the Bay Area. He's got two point four million dollars and doesn't even know it. They said that he was dismissed from his job at the morgue because, well, at the same time that he was fighting with his own mental health demons. How could you not if you worked in a morgue, it's got
to f you up a little bit, right totally. Apparently, as the case dragged on, because he sued a wrongful termination, still had it together enough to file that lawsuit with the help of the attorneys, obviously, but the case drags on, and as it's dragging on, his mental health deteriorates further, so much so he was unfit to test ay and became homeless, became a strange from his family, including his ten year old son.
They don't know where he is.
They're trying to find him among the thousands of people living on the street in Oakland.
Yeah, and one of the National Coalition for the Homeless is a group that is in that space. They said that there are limitations to what information a shelter would be able to provide, even for someone who has this massive windfall. Donald White, as an executive director of the group. He said, I've seen so many times people searching for loved ones, but there's protections for the people and their identity. So it's a challenge when people get lost in the system.
This guy, again, Daniel Ridge, had a life. I mean, you figure. He lived in California during the eighties and nineties, a lot of narcotics gang violence rose sharply in the state. He was one of many people affected by this way of crime. He lost six of his closest friends to gang related violence. He's in his twenties. His uncle is killed in front of him by a coworker who set him on fire with a Molotov cocktail, and two of his cousins committed suicide right after that.
So he had PTSD that when undiagnosed or untreated for decades. But despite all of that, he became a certified nursing assistant, found a job as a part time morgue attendant in Oakland at a hospital. He's hired by that hospital in June of two thousand and six and for years got great positive feedback in his employee evaluations.
So that's two thousand and six that he's hired.
By late twenty thirteen, the full time morgue attendant took a leave of absence and then retired, so full time morgue responsibilities fell to this guy, Daniel Ridge. He had to work seven days a week. He was only getting part time pay and this went on for about a year. So during this year, because he's still part time, technically
he's not receiving benefits like health insurance. So he raises the issue about the hours and the part time pay with several times with hospital leaders and shortly after the lawsuit announces an opening for a full time morgue attendant, so he's required to apply an interview for the position, which he eventually got. But apparently he was also complaining about other things at the hospital. He alleged she was
forced to use a landline. What is that a hardship forced to use a landline and go to the hospital library on a different floor whenever he needed to research medical conditions related to the bodies in the morgue.
There were a bunch of other things, like the disposition.
Why is he researching medical conditions related to bodies? Does he have to fill out paperwork he is not qualify to fill out in the morgue about the dead bodies.
I don't know.
I would know what the morgue has to fill out. But he also raised the alarm when it came to things like disposal of formaldehyde. He was asking for respiratory equipment that he was not supplied with, the sanitation issues, the handling of bodies, the condition of the bodies when they would come down from the hospital above. At one
point he did visit a psychiatrist. He gave him a note to take work off for six days because of the PTSD, and he had a conversation with somebody at the alamy To Health Systems, the hospital owner, who said to him, well, you're eligible for leave a unpaid job protected leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, and then would have to complete the forms by so and so. When he came back to work with his Family Medical Leave Act paperwork in hand, he was told by his job that he'd been terminated.
He was escorted out by security.
He later filed that wrongful termination lawsuit against his employer, and again he he won two million dollars for past and future emotional distress, almost half a million dollars for loss of past earnings.
And they can't find this guy.
Now.
God, I'm so torn.
I mean, there are legit grievances to have against an employer, but there are so many smaller employers that are so taken advantage of by lawsuits like this. You know of I had to work this, and I had to do this and this, and this gave me anxiety, and this gave me this and all of the things.
And I'm going to assue you.
And it's like it's one thing if it's a big health group or whatever, but it's another thing if it's like a you know, a dentist office or something a smaller, you know, outfit. I just feel like so often these days people are looking for well, how can I sue Okay, so I'm going to get fired or whatever. Well, I'll get them on this. It's like they can't be good for you either, to constantly be like we worked with somebody who kept a list of things that she could grievances.
You know, like that can't be good for your own mental health, right.
To just be if you're constantly on the lookout for that sort of thing, you're gonna find it exactly.
That's the problem. We'll stop.
It's going to affect you more than it would if you weren't super focused on it.
I don't know what do I know?
All right?
Our regular chat with the Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonald is coming up next.
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI am six forty.
Right to it waste no more time for LAPD Chief Jim McDonald, who is kind enough to join us from time to time talk about the goings on in the department and in the city of Los Angeles.
Chief, thanks for joining us. Today.
Yay, good morning, Shannon, thanks for having me on.
As always, well, prosecutors have filed a murder charge. Unfortunately, this awful story of this thirteen year old boy vanishes from the valley on a Sunday, body discover on a Wednesday. Turns out it was the trusted family friend like soccer coach, who has been charged and arrested with the murder. And of course, like we've talked about on the show, Chief, when you see the title soccer coach, you think more
victims right off the bat. Is that what your detectives are working on at this point with this case.
Yeah, certainly they're looking to follow up on any leads that would lead to additional victims if they're working this thing hard and right from the very beginning. Once we got this and it led us in the direction that ultimately we feared we would be traveling in, we put a lot of resources into it. The detectives were committed to this, getting some closure on it very quickly and hoping to be able to be as comprehensive as they could.
And so that continues. They're looking at the current case they're dealing with, but looking for any tenet that may be associated as well. We've put out the notices to the community for anybody who has seen this person, who has interacted with this person, to be able to try and interview them and get additional additional info.
How do you how do you grease the skids on that? How do you encourage people to come forward with something like that if they hadn't come forward before? What is it about the the reaching out of detectives and the department? How do you get them to actually come in and talk about what they've either gone through or what they know about.
Yeah, you know, it's very difficult to get people to talk about this type of a crime, but I think there is less of a hesitancy to come forward when the suspect is in custody. There's less of a threat felt as a result of that, and the stigma, that perceived stigma may still be there. But our hope is that when they think about what they went through and hope that no other kid has to go through this, that by coming forward, this person will be held accountable for all of the crimes that they did.
You know, the other aspect of this case is the cooperation between the police Department, La City Police and La County Sheriff's Department. Can you talk about the communication levels? Obviously you guys have been working alongside each other for decades century plus. How does it work now in a case like this, very high profile, where you've got to both jurisdictions represented.
Yeah, No, we work very well together. When it gets right down to a case, everybody focuses on what needs to be done on the case. In this case, we work very closely with the La County Sheriff's Department, but also the FBI, who are our partners as well. And so we're blessed in southern California here in LA in particular, and that's remarked on by people who come here as
federal agents. They transfer generally if they're running the office, every three years or so, and every one of them remarks at the relationship that we have here in LA between state and local partners, that we work together seamlessly, and that unfortunately they don't see that in many places throughout the country. So that's not something was always the case. We worked hard to achieve that, and we worked hard
to maintain that as we go forward. But it works well for us, particularly in crimes like this.
LAPD most highly regarded law enforcement agency in the world. I mean, go no further than Hollywood. For generations, We've seen stories, shows, movies to tell us and to highlight what the LAPD has done, what a storied history it provides. We talked recently about the trash fees going up in the city of La and that the last time that was done was seventeen years ago when Via Ragosa raised them to bring the LAPD back up to ten thousand.
I believe it was at the time.
And now the LAPD has a new recruitment effort out to get the next generation of officers.
We wanted to ask you about that.
Who you're looking for, what you want on the forest, what you wanted to look like and feel like in all of the things. Can you hang on and tell us about that when we come back.
Well sure, so, thank you, Shannon Schup.
Actually we're talking with LAPD Chief Jim McDonald. We'll be back with that in just a second.
You're listening to Gary and Shannon on demand from KFI Am six forty.
We are speaking with La Police Department Chief Jim McDonald and Chief we know that just a couple of days ago the LAPD announced the launch of a new recruitment campaign called Unrivaled Since eighteen sixty nine, obviously a nod to the history of the great history of the department. What is the new campaign? Who are you shooting for? In terms of looking to bring new people into the LAPD?
Yeah, No, a great time to become a police officer in Los Angeles. We've been able, with the support of the Los Angeles Police Foundation and the city, to be able to come forward and put together with the assistance of an expert team to the media immedia team, and be able to put together a video that I think captures the essence of what we do as police officers, the pace of things, the hard times, the tough things to deal with, as well as the rewarding things. It
shows compassion for anybody who's interested. Is available on the web at LAPD unrivaled dot com and it's a video that I think will attract people from all walks of life who may have an interest in law enforcement or may be looking for a direction in their life that
may be exciting and rewarding at the same time. And my hope is that this is a good first step to getting people to apply to the Los Angeles Police Department for a career that they will look back on many years from now, hopefully and be able to say that there's nothing I would have rather done. I feel that way myself, and I want to be able to share that with as many people who might have an inclination at all, that this is something that would be a good fi.
It's good to hear that there is a recruitment effort because you want to hear that there is a desire to bolster the LAPD in Los Angeles, that there is a desire to keep the force strong and even make it stronger than it is.
Hopefully that is certainly the case here.
Certainly feels the way that things are with a new recruitment campaign.
Yeah right, no, thank you. Yeah. You mentioned we had been at ten thousand under Mayor Viragosa some years ago. That has now we're at The current status is about eighty seven thirty five, so that for us is very lean. We look forward to be able to have full academy classes moving forward. We have the commitment from the mayor and support to be able to fund that and maintain our ability to be able to put classes through the academy.
Our challenge has been the pipeline once people and we have an increased number of people applying to the LA Police officers, but they also apply other places at the same time, and the smaller departments are more nimble and are able to offer a job quicker than we have been, and so we're looking to streamline that and make the process more efficient for everybody.
What's your ideal LAPD officer.
I mean, I know that sounds pretty trite, and it could, you know, but is it somebody who born and raised in LA somebody like you came from another place? I mean, LA is obviously the landing spot for people from the entire world. Is it just a you want everybody to be represented in this department?
No, absolutely, I think there's a place here for everybody. Everybody brings something different to the table. I would love to be able to see people from all walks of life, different experiences, different backgrounds, different education levels to be able to come forward and see this as an opportunity for them. We have over two hundred and fifty jobs in the Los Angeles Police Department, and so you come into the
department and the opportunities are seemingly endless. On what you may be able to do, to participate and to play a role in making this city even safer.
Is there more say?
Is there more of a value people, you know, home grown people born and raised in La I mean to kind of as an angle to that, or are you looking for international candidates You're looking for you know, all around the country candidates.
Yeah, you know, we want the best in the brightest, wherever they come from. Certainly, somebody who has grown up in the in the community, they know the needs of the community. Others would have to learn that and familiarize themselves with that. So there is some advantage to somebody who is an Angelino, a native of the area. But certainly people from all over the country attracted to the LAPD brand and the city of La is a lore.
And I would encourage people from everywhere to take a look at our website and see if they think the fit is right for them and to be able then to go through the process. And it is a strenuous process, but once you get through it, and you know, as I mentioned, my perspective is there is no better job out there. It's exciting, it's challenging, you get to meet new people all the time, and at the end of the day, you feel like you help somebody maybe manage.
To stay their lives, you know, Chief, I see specifically here in the campaign it says adults aged twenty one to thirty five.
Is there a.
Wiggle room on that?
I mean, I don't know if you've seen the major motion picture of the Rookie starring Dennis Quaid, but maybe is there room in the forest from middle aged radio talk show host female who just loves the lapd and wants to protect something.
Yeah, there is. There is no upper age limit, and I think you would be a great at eight. I would apply and and will monitor your progress through the system where leeah, we're looking for people with kind of a sense of adventure, but people who are stable, people who are.
Okay, you had to throw that in there, huh stable Great couldn't get past the second qualification.
That's open to interpretation. But somebody with high integrity, somebody who is willing to go out there and do things on behalf of others to keep people safe. Somebody who is reasonably physically fit, high integrity and just a good heart that they want to help other people.
Chief, Jim McDonald, thank you so much. For your time. Appreciate it. I think I checked some of those boxes. Definitely not the stability one. But appreciate your time, Chief, and have a good week.
Thanks, but thank you both very much. If you bet, I've.
Got Chief McDonald there. We'll continue our conversations with him.
He's such a nice guy periodically over the next several months. What I love about that campaign that he's talking about, the new recruitment campaign, is they put an emphasis on the fact that there are I think it's two hundred and fifty different job types within the LAPD. Because when we say LAPD, everybody thinks dark blue uniform, squad car.
But you think about.
The dive unit, the air support, the.
Is there anything in there I can do on that list?
You have see drone by now?
Is there like a greater job like at Walmart where I can stand outside Parker Center or whatever the new park Sorry.
That's all that's how far?
That's the age range I am, or stand outside of headquarters and just greet people. Could I do that with this face? If I worked on it? If you smiled, yeah, if you welcome to LAPD. How's that is that good?
That'd be fine. That'd be fine. We can work on it.
Hi, this is the LAPD. Hello, if the if.
The giants sign out in front, do hind people?
Welcome to the LAPD. Maybe if I have an accent, an accent? Accent?
What kind of an accent?
I don't know.
It's la right, I mean you could here's the thing. You could mix it up.
The one hundred and sixty different languages spoken in the city. I don't know if that's a true number. I just said it, but you could say it in one hundred and sixty different accents.
But mong yeah, okay.
I was waiting for you to do a long accent.
IM not going to do have that swap. Watch when we come back to Gary and Shannon. You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show. You can always hear us live on KFI AM six forty nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.