You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand Sunday.
With Tiffany Hobbs right here on KFI AM six forty live everywhere on your iHeartRadio app. We are two days into this Memorial Day weekend.
We are in the thick of it all.
Can you feel it? Does it feel like a holiday weekend? Does it feel like a three day weekend for you? Certainly does for me because usually around this time, I'm starting to anticipate what Monday generally brings, you know, kind of preparing for that and getting back into the work week. But we have that extra day, and what do we have to thank but those brave people who gave their lives to ensure that we have the freedoms in this
country that we enjoy. So make sure again that you keep their memory, that you memorialize those people this week and keep them at the forefront, because if it wasn't for their sacrifices, we wouldn't have this weekend.
For sure.
It's definitely about more more than your barbecue and more than your hanging out. It's about remembering why we are here. But again, we're two days into this Memorial Day weekend, and like every holiday weekend in Southern California, it always comes with news that surprises absolutely no one. So shocker, there's a possible record breaking accumulation of travel, if you will, over this Memorial Day weekend.
And what am I talking about.
I'm talking about the travel rush that's started on Friday and is estimated to continue until about eight pm tomorrow. And estimate it's three point six million passengers will be traveling by plane, many more will be traveling by car. And I don't know how you're traveling. If you're traveling, but you certainly want to kind of keep abreast of what's going on lest you find yourself out in the crush of all these people who are coming and going.
And if you've been outside, especially since our weather is pretty decent this weekend, then you know there's traffic driving here. The one O one, the one on one North was packed, was packed on a Sunday. There are no more, I think gap times where traffic is light. It seems like if you get on one of our Southern California freeways you are bound to run into traffic. There's no more rush hour, there's just rush and we're all seemingly going somewhere.
So let's get into some more information about this quote unquote record setting weekend that's supposed to break records set twenty years ago. Robin, do you have that audio queued up for us? You're ready for it, Let's get into it.
Triple A predicts a record set twenty years ago will be broken as more than forty five million people are expected to travel fifty miles or more of this holiday weekend. I'll trying to go to Miami, but man, take us away to Expencer, So I'm going to shill out of southwest Side. Even though domestic flights are a little more expensive this year than last year, three point six million people will be flying.
Man, I'm a procascinator, so I've missed so many flights from this airport.
It's so unfortunate.
But I'm getting there pretty early now.
Real ideas or passports are required for domestic flights. If you don't have one, you will still be allowed to travel, but you may have to go through additional screenings. Some say flying outs is easier than where you're going. We are flying to New York, so it's arguably the worst airport in the world. But so far, so I've got TRIPAA says thirty nine million people will also be driving this holiday weekend, so if you plan to stay local, expect to bumper to bumper traffic.
You want to be mindful that there are going to be a lot of cars on the roads people heading to the airport.
If you don't want to sit in traffic, leave early and avoid times. Travelers believe the hassle of getting around worth it. And remember everyone who's leaving has to come back eventually, So on Monday, peak travel times will be between four and seven, so it's best to leave before two o'clock if you want to avoid any.
Traffic where you like me waiting for him to clear his throat, I feel like he's done a lot of talking about this traffic situation over the last few days.
But you heard it right there.
Thirty nine million people by car, up quite a few more forty five million by air, and that is through Triple a's kind of diagnostic of this weekend, and a lot of them seem to be coming to Southern California. We are always a go to place. You heard that, gentleman, say the procrastinator self proclaimed Miami, Los Angeles, and then some other coastal cities, those are the way or those are the places in which people want to go most.
And Triple A did mention as well that rental car rates are down, although domestic flights are a bit more expensive. I don't know if you've looked at your Google Flights or any sort of flight booking app, but good lord, it's expensive to go to and from It makes you want to travel by car. But let's say if you travel by car and you want to rent a car, there are some issues with renting out of southern California.
I do remember, maybe a year or two ago, wanting to rent a car to travel to Las Vegas, just so I didn't put miles on my own car. I have a lease and didn't want to inflate those miles. And in trying to rent a car the car rental company, I forget what the name, which one it was, which one of the major ones, like Hurts or Enterprise or something like that, they wanted a fifteen hundred dollars deposit just to ensure that I would not, I guess, leave.
The country with the car.
I have no clue tote of my plan, said this is what I'm going to do. I'm just doing this for a long weekend, and they want it. As a Southern California resident in this is after all the checks and balances that we all pass just to rent a car, they wanted this hugely inflated deposit. So while rental car rates may be down, I do wonder if our Southern California residents are faring well because it seems to be
a bit inequitable when it comes to that. But as well, if you are traveling by plane, this is the first major weekend in which the real ID policy is being put into effect. So far, I'm hearing and reading that there aren't many issues.
There are separate lines.
Please weigh in on the talk back and let us know if you've done any traveling with your real ID or without your real ID, what that's been like for you. But as you know that IDA is required for domestic flights and if you don't have it, there are other ways that you can travel, for sure, but it can choke the security process. According to Triple A, Monday's travel
peak times are between twelve am and twelve am. That's what I would say, But four pm and seven pm shocker to absolutely no one, and they suggest that if you are traveling back home, wherever you're going, or wherever you may be boarding next that it's best to leave before two pm to avoid any heavy traffic, to which I say has triple A not been on our Southern California roads lately, because before two pm is the same as four pm. It's the same thing you're going to
be in traffic. Just prepare. It's a Memorial Day week and it's a holiday weekend. People are out as they should be, and just kind of buckle up for it all. It comes part and parcel with living in sunny Southern California. Something else that comes with living in this beautiful region our beach and a lot of people use our beaches
as their vacation destination. I'm going to tell you when we come back, what Southern California beach has made the top five on a list of California's dirtiest beaches, and what beaches have kind of gotten a pat on the back for improving their status. Yeah, we have some really dirty beaches, and I'll let you know before you take a dip.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Filling in today on this Memorial Day weekend. I guess no one else was available. I'm the only one who has no life. I'm very happy to be here with you. Thanks for listening. We're talking right now in these first few segments, really about what's going on with our beaches, what's going on locally with travel, because California, especially Southern California,
is a prime vacation destination. People want to here, and those of us who are here, we know there are wonderful things, and then, of course there are not so wonderful things. So if you are looking to come to if you're already here in southern California and you're wanting to hit our beaches, because that's what we do, that's what you're here for. The short answer of it is don't.
What you're like, what do you mean don't. That's why I'm here, why I booked that expensive flight and got the whole hotel room situated, and want to go to the beach, want to lay out? Yeah, probably not the best idea right now.
And here's the thing.
Some of the beaches they're fine, some of them are fine, they're okay, But to be honest, it's kind of a crapshoot at this point, no pun intended.
Let's find out why.
Hey, I've released it's annual list of the dirtiest beaches in California, claiming the unwanted top spot is Playa Blanca in Baja California. The beach's water quality is considered dirty due to sewage pollution, particularly from a nearby treatment plant. The remaining top five spots belong to Santa Monica Pier, Tijuana Slough at Tiwanna River, Tijuana River Mouth Rather in San Diego County, Chicken Ranch Beach at Channel in Marine County, and Linda mar Beach at San Pedro Creek in San
Mateo County. As for the state's cleanest beaches, the part we all want to hear all ten We're in Orange County.
Lucky Orange County.
Way to brag, right, Well, the thing about it is a lot of people who are vacationing in southern California, they're not necessarily going to Orange County beaches. They may go to Disneyland, they may go to things out there in Anaheim, but they're not necessarily setting their sights on beaches that are out that way.
That's more of a local thing.
We Southern Californians go to Orange County, we go to Laguna, go down to that area. People are coming here for the big ones, right your Venice Beach, your Santa Monica, your Malibu, all of which have been greatly affected since the Palisades fire specifically, But strangely enough, this list of dirtiest beaches doesn't even include or does not even account for wildfire runoff.
So what's actually going on? When you think about it.
These studies happen every year and again they're a shocker to no one if you live here. If you live here, you kind of know which beaches to avoid. You can absolutely give a recommendation recommendation on where not to go. And at the top of that recommendation list of maybe where not to go is probably the Santa Monica Peer and its beach around And Santa Monica Peer actually ranked number two to this year on Heal the Based Dirtiest
Beaches list. That's unfortunate. So the criteria was water quality, Okay, now here we go, fecal bacteria coliform E coli and and and runoff from bird waste and other urban sorts of runoff. Heal the Bay Monitors beaches up and down the California coast, and they did survey more than five hundred beaches. Santa Monica Pier came in number two on the list of dirtiest beaches. We're not talking about the syringes in the sand. We're not talking about the tents
along the boardwalk or the pier there. We're talking about the actual water quality and when you also add into the toxicity from the runoff from the fires. And we had Ashley Osin up the California Coastal Alliance on Saturdays with Tiffany a few weeks ago. That water and that runoff, that sand is considered right now to be highly toxic
due to the fire debris. And California Coastal Alliance includes the Santa Monica Pier area from that area north into Malibu and all the way down to El Segundo at least on the list of places they say you should absolutely stay out of.
So that's a separate issue entirely.
Heal the Bays survey is talking about fecal bacteria.
There's poop in the water, They're talking about E. Coli.
They're talking about other pathogens that could be harmful to beach goers. Of the five hundred beaches that Heal the Bay monitored, the top ten also included four in San Diego County, three in San Mateo County, and one in Marin County. But the only one in Los Angeles is the Santa Monica Pier. That's really disheartening, the only one.
There's a quote from the chief executive of Heal the Bay from Tracy Quinn, and she says, quote, every day, families who visit Santa Monica for a day of fun in the sun may be unknowingly risking illness by splashing in polluted waters. She goes on to say it's time for the city of Santa Monica to prioritize efforts to identify and reduce bacteria levels at the Santa Monica Pier. Santa Monica Pier also experienced quite a few upgrades over the last year and plus.
They got some.
Nice new wood sighting out there, and they got some nice new attractions, made it look all shiny. Everything's in preparation for the Olympics and all these other big events that are on their way. But everything that is counted amongst the list there from Heal the Bay in terms of is attributed to urban runoff and high levels of water contaminating activities, including the disposal of fish guts from
recreational fishing. So you have poop in the water and you have fish guts, and that, my friends, is what sums up Santa Monica. Pere knock yourselves out. So the ten dirtiest beaches again, we're in Baja California, San Diego County, Mateo County, Marin County, and out there again near kind of near the border of Mexico and California. But there is some good news in this really really disgusting list.
Out of the more than five hundred beaches monitored, sixty two actually earned a spot on Heal the Bays on a roll, which means they've made a significant improvement since last year. So here are the beaches you you should go to. Don't go to the Santa Monica Pier. Instead, go to Balboa Beach at the Wedge in Orange County, Balboa Peer Beach in Orange County, Capistrano County Beach, Crystal Cove State Park, Dana Point Harbor. These are all in Orange County. Huntington City Beach, Laguna Beach.
There you go.
Robin Newport Bay, North Aliso County Beach, and San Clemente Pier in La County. There are seven Honor Roll beaches so we can brag as well, and those beaches include Doc Whiler State Beach, to which I say, don't do it.
Don't do it.
The fact that there's the parking is horrible, and then you're just gonna be around a lot of teenagers.
That's the hot spot.
Doc Whiler is the hot spot for the bonfires and the meetups, and it's just not really a family friendly place. But Doc Whiler did make Honor Roll Hermosa Beach, love Hermosa Beach, Long Point in Rancho Palace Verdes, Manhattan Beach at twenty eighth Streets, specifically Nicholas Beach at San Nicholas Canyon, Creek Mouth, and then also Portuguese Portuguese Bend Cove in
Rancho palace Verdes. If you try to go down into Palace Verdes, be fore warned you need to make sure that you are doing the right thing because those officials down there don't want people bring in their issues to Palace Verdes. So if you're gonna go enjoy yourself, make sure you are having nice clean fun. Take all your debaucherous activities up to Hermosa instead. When we come back, we're going to talk about Governor Newsome and Mayor Bass's
security plan for the reopening of PCH. Just opened on Friday after being closed since the Palisades fire in January. So it's been months and months and months, and now PCH is back open, but not so fast because even though you're able to go, it's going to look and feel very different when you do. We'll talk about all of that and more.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Maybe a drive up PCH is on your list, it's in your future. Maybe you're on PCH now. And perhaps it's nostalgia. You love like I do driving up PCH windows down, or I have a car where you can remove the top that it's kind of my favorite and get that so that you can drive up a coastline and take the top off and soak it all in right, Or maybe it's a combination of that nostalgia. And I say nostalgia because we haven't been able to drive up PCH or down PCH in months, months, months, months, a
long time because of the Palisades fire. So maybe it's a mix of nostalgia and also curiosity wanting to know what the landscape looks like. Now I know I do, and we've all been barred unless you're a resident of the Palisades from seeing the effects up close of the Palisades Fire, of just being able to take PCH north and southbound past very specific points. Well, it's finally back open after all these months of being closed, and I am excited. I'm excited. I can't wait to get out there.
I imagine the same can be said for you, of course, unless you are a person directly impacted by the fires. But for those of us who have always used PCH as an escape, it's going to look a lot different.
It's going to feel a lot different. And here's why the drive will look different.
But for the first time since January's fires, almost eleven miles the Pacific Coast Highway have reopened, just in time for the holiday weekend.
We're excited for what is.
An important part of the movement forward towards are rebuilt. Many support the reopening, especially because it will help businesses hurting since the fires.
Our business has been off by eighty or ninety percent, probably.
Carter Crariy is the owner of Malibu Divers. He's hopeful that more traffic will boost his struggling shop.
We're certainly happy. We've gone four months with no business in Our summer season starts in May, so we're hopeful that we'll have a shop full of people.
For drivers heading out to pch, there are a few things you need to know. Two lanes will open in each direction, but look out for lane shifts because of repair work. A twenty five mile per hour speed limit will be enforced between Tamescal Canyon Road and the Palisades and Carbon Beach Terrace in Malibu. There's no parking or stopping in work zones. Be prepared for slow moving maintenance vehicles.
Though many people are happy to see the highway reopened with increased track, some have security concerns.
I'll say, of course, and those security concerns include accessing the Palisades, these neighborhoods that were impacted by the fires, accessing these properties that are vacant that have been leveled, people who are starting to rebuild. Of course, people in those neighborhoods have every right to be concerned, and as a person who enjoys this area. I also understand people who are interested in using it again as a thoroughfare or as a kind of leisurely little short dacation getaway.
But despite this reopening, which did occur on Friday, and again I said at the top of the show, we're well into the thick of things with this Memorial Day weekend, access into the Palisades, specifically into these neighborhoods, will continue to remain limited to only resid cidence, business owners, employees, and contractors. Don't go in there trying to be a lucky lou trying to see the burned out properties, or trying to see the rebuilding process. It's not for you.
You are to stay on PCH and go where you need to go. Don't try and kreem or take a detour up into these neighborhoods, because you will absolutely be stopped. City and state officials are saying that there will be a robust law enforcement continuance. They were already deployed, they've been there, and now they're just repositioning themselves up and down PCH to mitigate this insurgence of people who are now back on PCH ready to enjoy it. There will
also be a significant increase in security checkpoints. There were originally five checkpoints up and down PCH in the approved area, and now there will be sixteen checkpoints. So you're not gonna get anywhere fast, I'll tell you that much. And there will be twenty four hour LAPD officers and LAPD presence. Mayor Bass went on to say, quote, the reopening of Pacific Coast Highway marks an important step forward in our recovery effort in the Palisades, which is on track to
be the fastest in state history. Enough enough with the platitudes and the the contextual kind of competition of the fastest compared to this, and that it can't necessarily be the fastest if it doesn't feel like the fastest for the residents who say that many of them are going to and have already started the process to actually sell their properties because things are not going nearly as fast
as they would hope. Governor k Newsome went on to say, to the survivor of these fires, we have your back. The state is committed to the security of neighborhoods and families who have been impacted. Councy Member Tracy Park, who I just really enjoy she seems to often be on the right side of things, pretty logical. She credited the ongoing support from state and local agencies for helping reduce crime during their recovery, and other Assembly members and local
officials praise the multi agency responses. They highlighted that there are checkpoints and that LAPD is out there, and that residence should and will continue to feel safe. This is a start contrast to what's going on in al To Dina. In Olta Dina in the days immediately after the fire, after the smoke started to clear, I'd say about a week maybe two weeks after the fire, so end of January,
anyone could access Alta Dina, didn't matter. There were checkpoints at certain points, but overall, the majority of the Altadena area was very accessible. There weren't these same precautions and measures in place to prevent people from being curious or being nefarious. And I'm happy that the Palisades has enjoyed this, and i do want them to continue, because.
All these people are going to get out on PCH.
Now and you can't monitor everyone, obviously, but it is inequitable unfortunately, with those people in Altadena versus the people in the Palisades. I hope that the security measures will ramp up in Altadena, which reports an influx of burglaries and other sorts of criminal activity in the last few months since the fires as well. You should know that when PCH is fully functional fully functional this weekend, there will be a twenty five mile per hour speed limit.
You are going nowhere fast.
So if you're expecting to go to your favorite restaurant, you're expecting to visit friends, or just to hang out on the beach, just to take a drive, you're going to have to what do they say, pack your patients.
I hate that saying, but it's true.
You're going to have to pack your patients because there's a twenty five mile per hour speed limit. And if you decide that you want to kind of get around that speed limit and test law enforcement, just know that there are going to be many police out there and Cowtrans and the CHP remind the public that finds, especially for traffic violations, are doubled in active work zones. All of PCH is an active work zone, So don't think that if you see cones that's where you need to
be slow. You need to really treat this entire stretch of highway as an active work zone, and it will be that way for quite a while, unfortunately, especially as we get back into kind of the major part of fire season from now until the fall. When we come back, we're going to shift gears from talking about your big, bright, beautiful beaches to your bright, beautiful future or is it.
I'll tell you which college major as one of the highest unemployment rates, something we all should be aware of, especially if you have kids who are going to college. It's graduation season where you yourself are thinking about perhaps getting into another field. I'll tell you what field you probably won't be able to find a job in and more.
On the other side of the break, you're.
Listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Timmy Hobs here with you, and we're talking about not vacationing anymore. We're kind moving away from that, although we will in our deeper dive segment at the top of the three o'clock hour, we'll get into why PCH is losing its luster and to be honest, why it's falling apart. We'll really look into some detail with that. But returning to kind of what I teased before about college majors and unemployment.
It's graduation season.
You probably have seen someone off to graduation during this month, or at least the very least. You're aware that it's graduation season, and the conversations around what to do next are kind of on the tip of everyone's lips. Okay, especially in terms of where jobs will be and what jobs will be available for all of those entering the job market. Well, there's one major that won't make you any money. And here's the thing. Often we think of
that particular category as involving certain majors. Let's let's kind of take a little informal survey. Robin, Richie, Nikki, everyone's here. When you think about college majors, which ones do you think do not equate to a high salary?
Journalism? But I love it. I love what I do.
Oh, we'll start the GoFundMe.
Nicki, she's getting her headphones.
Getting her headphones.
Robin being a board or everything's radio based journalism board operation.
Okay.
I feel like a lot of that's kind of gone out of the window.
Yeah. The arts, Yeah, the arts, I feel like that's not you know, what we're thriving for right now? Right?
It varies like it depends who you ask.
Like for me, like, I knew from the get go that that's not gonna, you know, get me a mansion, you know, but I figured I'd rather do something that I actually enjoy doing and not make you feel like it's work work, And you know, that's that's where I'm at with that.
But what about you, Nikki? What do you think about this situation?
So do sir NICKI?
It's oh, I can't hear myself. I mean I studied journalism at school. Okay, that is definitely not a viable career path at the moment. Thinking short form into the future, I don't know. Tech is really floundering at the moment.
It is.
Tech a few years ago was huge and booming, and now it's just layoffs and layoffs and downsizing and AI and offshoring. So I think it's something to do with tech maybe.
Yeah, you know, you're right on, Nikki. If we were offering a prize, you would be the closest. Because while often people think of kind of English or the arts.
Or other sort of.
People or social services leaning majors, the one college major that has the highest unemployment unemployment rate despite ranking as one of the most popular majors actually is computer science. I know, I did not expect for that to happen. And the thing about it is during COVID, the demand for computer science majors skyrocketed. People wanted a lot of web based and online sort of expertise. So you had these computer science majors and professionals who had work just everywhere.
It was plentiful.
But as we've all known this year to be, it's kind of been the year of mass layoffs. Companies like Amazon and Google have laid off thousands of workers to boost their own profits. And because of these layoffs and these these big companies cutting out these computer science oriented degrees, the major has lost a lot of its appeal in the job market. So when we think about jobs specifically
for computer science majors, these are these software developers. These are your people who are creating the patches for your software or your upgrades or whatnot. These are these cybersecurity professionals, people who are monitoring to make sure that there's no inappropriate activity, that you're not being hacked. These are your
web developers, people who are creating, building maintaining websites. A lot of these positions have since been turned over to a I. So computer science as a people focused degree has lost a lot of its appeal because you have to pay people, You got to give people in shure currence, you have to hopefully be fair to people. AI None
of that matters. You program it to monitor cybersecurity, you program it to develop this website, you program it to develop software and maintain it, and you just let it do its thing. So computer engineering has seen a spike to seven point five percent unemployment rate, which is making people who are in that job market really question whether or not they should stay.
In that area.
A lot of the computer science majors, a lot of these graduates are shifting away from computer science. They're going into nutrition sciences, construction services, civil engineering. Those three have seen an uptick since computer science has seen this major down grade. Sadly, overall, unemployment amongst college graduates is increasing across the board. Doesn't really matter what field you're in, whether journalism or computer science or anything in between. Unfortunately,
unemployment is increasing. There's a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee, and she says, or they say, seeing such a high unemployment rate for majors like computer science may stun many Americans. Yeah, I think we all were a bit surprised. And the person goes on to say it's been one of the most encouraged majors in recent years due to the unprecedented need and the field by
many businesses. But if you have someone in your life who was thinking about getting into computer science, while in previous years you might have encouraged that, hey, get into tech.
That's at least I know I've done that.
The money's in technology, the money's online, it's in web development, in cybersecurity. Apparently it's not because there are there are no jobs in that field. Now, let's say you do have a job. You have a nice job. Unfortunately, in the state of California, that means you get a big chunk taken out of your taxes. Well, when you file your taxes, you can hopefully expect something back. Something you
have to pay, but hopefully you get something back. However, there are still people waiting for their refunds from the IRS. And it's not because of delayed filing. No, they filed on time. So what's going on? What's making their IRS returns lag? Why are they delayed? Thieves? Thieves there are thieves snatching mail and in that mail contains the filing documents for your refund for your taxes. There's a Georgia State University professor and he says the market is still
very hot for this type of commodity. Your IRS refund check is a commodity. We're still seeing a lot of envelopes being offered for sale out there for sale.
So what does that mean.
What it means is there are criminals who are actually buying your refund check. And it does not matter if you have a doorbell cam, It does not matter if you have security. They are still going into these mailboxes and snatching mail by the bag full, leaving busted up
mailboxes in their wake. Many refund checks were sent or sent from the IRS we're stolen in California specifically, and now a huge stash of those refund checks are for sale on the dark web, specifically from California and Los Angeles, which, apparently, surprise, I didn't know. This has always been a hot spot
of check theft. Did you know that if you are looking for your IRS return and you know you filed it and it said that it was on its way, because you're expecting a paper check to come to your home and it's still not here after months, you might be a victim of one of these check theft rings. There was one check for a little over one thousand dollars that was supposed to go to a person in Long Beach in this in this recently found stash, eyewitness
News Channel seven did a kind of an expose. There was another one for a little over eleven hundred dollars that belonged to a woman from Curritos, another one for a little over thirteen hundred dollars that belonged to a man from la And they're saying this is just a sliver. So if you know again that your check is a bit late, you could be one of the four thousand to five thousand stolen checks every month that are placed on the dark web. So I don't know what to
tell you. I don't know. It's hard to get someone on the line obviously from the r from the IRS, but you can certainly check with your local post office to see if any of your checks did in fact arrive there and if they were sent out, And then you're gonna have to go through the said and arduous task of trying to get a refund for your refund because it was stolen. How fun is that? California and LA a hotbed for check theft. Who would have thought it.
When we come back, we're going to take our deeper dive and we're going to take a ride up Pacific Coast Highway. But instead of really kind of lavishing over it, we're gonna really talk about why it's always broken, Why is PCH always in need of repair. I'll tell you about that, and why the economic disaster in Malibu is just adding to an already crumbling infrastructure out there on PCCh. When we come
Back, KFI AM six forty on demand