You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with Me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio.
App KFI hand KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your morning wake up call.
Here's Amy King.
It's five o'clock. This is your wake up call for Thursday, September fifth. Good morning, I'm Amy King going out and about this morning. Oh we're going to be going out and about a little later this morning with wake up call. But as I headed out this morning to come in here, I was like, it feels like the middle of the day it was balmy, ever really cooled down and it's going to be hot. I tell you about that. Let's get right into it. Here's what ahead on wake up
call inland areas of La and Ventura Counties. Lots of areas from the coast to the valleys are under excessive heat warnings through at least tomorrow night. The National Weather Services temperatures will be around ninety at the beaches up to about one point fifteen in the valleys. It will cool down a few degrees, but the heat is expected to stick around through the weekend. Police say eight of the nine people shot at Appalachi High School in winder Georgia,
where students one was a teacher. Police previously announced that two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting at the high school. Yesterday. The fourteen year old alleged shooter surrendered and was arrested. We're going to be talking with ABC's Brad Garrett about the shooting and the shooter coming up at five twenty. He's always so great with
insight into these terrible events. Vice President Harris and former President Trump have agreed to ground rules set forth by ABC for the presidential debate one week from today, which you just heard we're air here ONKFI. That includes muted microphones, which Harris's campaign objected to, saying they would shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with Harris. Harris's team agreed to the conditions yesterday, saying they don't want to jeopardize the debate.
Also coming up on wake Up Call, as I mentioned, we're going out and about We're going on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner. Going to want to hear about that. And before the top of the hour, we're going to be talking with John Patrick Poland with the home of the Brave Project and how our veterans have been totally shafted out of land that was left for them right here in LA. Also, let the online buyer beware. A couple of companies are in hot water for selling banned products
on their sites. We're going to find out more about that with ABC's Jim Ryan in just a couple of minutes, But right now, let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Schools in Barrow County, Georgia are closed for the rest of the week following the shooting at a high school yesterday. Authorities say a fourteen year old is going to be charged as an adult in the killings of two students and two tea at Appalachi High School. At least nine
others were shot. They're all expected to survive. Local Sheriff jud Smith calls what happened pure evil.
My heart hurts for.
These kids, my heart hurts for our community.
But I want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county.
Smith says they don't know what happened or why it happened, and that they may never know. The so called Pillowcase rapist may be released from state custody to a home in the Annealope Valley.
Neighbors in and around Juniper Hills have been asked to give public feedback on the possibility of Christopher Hubbart being released. He's been convicted of more than three dozen rapes and sexual assaults, often using a pillowcase to muffle the screams of women he attacked. The crimes date back to the seventies and eighties, and after one release, he reoffended. In a second release, he violated conditions and was taken back
into custody. LA County District Attorney George Gascone opposes Hubbard's release to Juniper Hills and wants to hear from the public via email before a court hearing on October first in downtown La. Michael Monks KFI News.
The two NASA astronauts taken to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft won't be on board when it comes back to Earth tomorrow, butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams will stay in space as full crew members of the International Space Station until February. ISS Flight director Anthony Verea says they've been helping with the final prep work before Starliner undocs.
We have been preparing through simulations, procedure reviews, and that's with the flight control team on the ground as well as the crew on orbit for the activities that are coming.
The fully automated capsule will aim for a touchdown in New Mexico six hours after it undocks tomorrow evening. Right now, so let's say good morning to ABC's Jim Ryan. So, Jim, I've shopped on TIMU a couple of times. Yeah, prices are crazy inexpensive. But apparently we need to look beyond the prices.
Yeah, for a lot of reasons. This has been kind of a controversial thing for a couple of years, But the most recent controversy involves baby padded crib rails. The US Product Safety Consumer Product Safet Commission went to Congress a couple of years ago and said, Hey, these things are dangerous. Kids can suffocate, they get tangled up in
these things. Take them off the market. So Congress did in twenty twenty two, well, at least according to one tech publication, that these rails, these pads were still available on both TIMU and she and within the last month or so. So the US CPS is going to look at that, launching an investigation. Timu and Shean say they are both cooperating with that probe. But it's only the latest bit of trouble that these two companies have faced in the last two years.
Well, what's some of the other that they've faced in the last two years.
Well, you know how stuff is so cheap. Having shopped there, you see how low cost the stuff is. Well, Senator Marco Rubio Florida says that that's because it's made with slave labor where these two companies are based. That's his suspicion, and so he wants an investigation done on that aspect of it. You've also got the data problems. There have been data breaches at both of these companies. That's not to be unexpected, I suppose, considering how big the companies are.
But at least one lawsuit claims that TIMU will plant malware in the devices of users and then track the movements of those users to the detriment of American security because again, these companies are based in China, so lots of issues. And so you ordered stuff, what did you order from the If I could ask, you.
Know, I think that I ordered. I'm trying to remember. I haven't done a lot. I think I got a pair of sparky shoes for my mom, Okay, And I think I got a couple of T shirts that were just like so stupid expensive, like I said, I mean like two dollars and they're not awful quality.
Yeah, did you notice anything when you open up the box? No, Because I was one thing that I ordered from them a couple of years ago. The item, I don't remember what it was. I think it was something related to my bike that I ride, and it came opened the box and it wasn't what I ordered anyway. It was just sort of random stuff thrown in there.
You like bonus gifts.
Yeah, that kind of thing, Just weird things that kind of random. Looked like they emptied out their glove compartment or something and dumped it into a box. But it wreaked of gasoline, oh, or like petroleum or some chemical petroleum like chemical. And other people I've known who have received things like this, either unsolicited or the item that they ordered, they've noticed the same thing, the sort of weird, powerful, stinky gasoline smell that comes with it. And I don't
know what it is. But that's beside the point. I imagine that it so are their hell concerns.
Maybe, Okay, that's good to know too. Now I had heard and I don't know if it's all conspiracy theory. And one of the reasons they were offering the prices so low is they didn't care that they weren't making money on them, that they wanted to grab enough of the market share that they would force other companies out of business.
Right, potential loss leaders situation, right, lose money.
Like the whole site is a lost leader though, right.
Like the chickens, the roasted chickens at Costco, they sell them super at a loss to get people to the back of the store. Could be the same thing, I suppose. And you know, the Chinese know what they're doing there, and and so it's a good question. And so what could the United States do about this? Could you know, Congress tried to block TikTok and you know another company, foreign company, Chinese company from doing business here. Could the same thing happened with Timu and Shean? Maybe? And by
the way, these companies are both third party sellers. It's just like Amazon. Right, there's there there as kind of a clearinghouse for people who are selling items or at Sea. They come on to the site and they sell them there because people shop Amazon or shan or at Sea or Timu, and so these companies say, well, you know, we're trying to regulate our third party vendors, but what can we do about it?
Yeah, well it'll be interesting to see, because yeah, how do you regulate that. I mean, it's a website. We can go there, we can buy stuff or are you going to get arrested if you buy stuff?
Well, it usually doesn't extend that far. It's normally sanctions or regulations against the seller. But does that mean Timu as the seller or you know Joe's tire shop in Beijing where you ordered something and it was sold through Timu? Who knows?
Okay, So Jim. Then the practical, because we always like to give a little bit of help. How can people protect themselves from potentially dangerous products or unscrupulous business practices?
Yeah, that's the tough part. I mean, and especially with this like baby rail thing, this padded baby rail thing. Probably a lot of people didn't realize that Congress had banned those things a couple of years ago because of potential dangers to kids. And you know, I suspect TIMU was going to make the same argument. We didn't know about your ban, but we're going to We'll take it out the website. Would the team of this morning to
see if I could still find those padded rails. They're not there, at least the ones that are mentioned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. So just again, it's it's a matter of shopping carefully, realizing that this product that you're getting may or may not be on a prohibited list in this country or banded list. But you know, it's just a matter of watching out, being a careful consumer.
Like everything, let the buyer beware. Just now, I'm going to go order something from Timo because I want to see if I get that weird toxic smell.
It's very strange.
I'll open it outside.
Plastic, petroleum something and I don't know, but let's just hope you get what you order too.
Yeah, Okay, ABC's Jim Ryan. Thank you so much for your time and your information. If you want to follow Jim, it's at Jim Ryan t X like Texas because he calls us from Texas. Thanks Jim. All right, here, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom, Evacuation orders have been ungraded and warnings have been canceled in Riverside County, where
a wildfire threatened homes in good Hope near Paris. The fire started yesterday afternoon and burned about one hundred and thirty acres. It was twenty five percent surrounded as of last night. A federal grand jury has indicted an LA County sheriff's deputy for allegedly using excessive force.
The indictment says when Trevor Kirk Pepper sprayed and threw a woman to the pavement, he violated her civil rights. In June of twenty twenty three, Kirk and another deputy responded to a grocery store in Lancaster after employees said the woman and her husband stole items from the store. Video shows the encounter between Kirk and the couple. The indictment, issued yesterday charges Kirk with a single count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The husband was cited
for resisting an officer and petty theft. The wife was cited for assaulting an officer. Steve Gregory ka If I knowws.
Police in Munich, Germany have fatally shot a man near a museum on the city's Nazi era history and the Israeli Consulate. The man had fired at police this morning before he was killed. Police officers had been alerted to a person carrying a long gun near downtown Munich. They say there's no sign anyone else was hurt during the shootout.
The consulate was closed at the time. The head of the United Nations Nuclear watchdog agency has visited a nuclear plant in southern Ukraine a day after, saying the situation there is very fragile. The plant's operator says artillery shelling Monday damaged the plant's power access and blames Russia. International Atomic Energy Director Raphael Grossi says it's a tense situation. There's a war going on, so we have to prevent
a nuclear accident. The plant is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe and one of the ten largest in the world. Green Day had to leave stage for several minutes during a show in Detroit because of a drone Polisse. Someone flew the drone into Camerica Park Baseball Stadium at about fifteen minutes into the show. Last night, police caught and detained the guy piloting the drone. He was outside the stadium and the show went on as it must.
La County Sheriff's deputies have begun patrolling the voluntary evacuation zone in Rancho Palace Vertes. The deputies in vehicles, on ATVs and on horseback are there to deter break ins and vandalism. More than two hundred residents have had their power and gas service cut off because of the ground shifting under their homes, and many have left the area. Governor Knewsom declared a state of emergency for Rancho Palace Verties on Tuesday. A man's been stabbed on his way
to catch a Metro train in Baldwin Hills. LAPD says it happened near the Metro station at Jefferson and Los Sienaga yesterday morning. The man stabbed was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The attacker has not been found. Spirit Airlines is going to start offering new service from
Burbank to San Jose. The direct flights are currently being offered at an introductory part of thirty nine dollars one way to fly between September twenty fifth and November nineteenth, Spirit and Southwest Airlines are now the only two airlines that fly direct between Burbank and San Jose. At six oh five, it's handled on the news. Your next COVID vaccine could cost you two hundred bucks. Bill's going to tell you about that. Right now. Let's say good morning
to ABC's Crime and Terror analyst Brad Garrett. Unfortunately, this is the time that I get to talk to you, Brad, it's when something awful happens. So let's get started with what we know about the school shooting at Appalachi High School in Georgia, and then what do we know about the shooter.
So if we go back to May of twenty twenty three, Amy, he was looming in an adjoining county, Jackson County, Georgia, and apparently the FBI got an anonymous tip that someone was threatening to commit a mascool. They were able to track that lead back to this kid's house in Jackson County. He would have been thirteen at that point. He according to law enforcement, he was interviewed I'm going to presume by local law enforcement, the Sheriff's Office Jackson County. The
father was interviewed thirteen year old was interviewed. The thirteen year old denied that he had made these threats. The father stated he had a number of long guns in the house, not further defined, and apparently they were not able to corroborate through a gaming nap because that's where the post were made that this kid actually made them. I think they believe he did make them, but it's
another one of those that something gets deleted. I don't know the particulars, but the short answer is it's sort of the whole thing sort of went away. And then the kid moves next door to Barrow County where his high school, his new high school is located. If you fast forward to a clash yesterday only is based on student interviews that were covered by the media. The student was sitting next to him, and she said, apparently he never talked in class. He skipped class a lot, and
he got up and walked out the back door. Now the back door apparently this classroom goes outside, and he wanted to try to get back in a few minutes later, the student that saw him wouldn't let him in because he had a gun. So he goes to the next classroom over gets in However, he gets in and starts shooting, and fortunately that school had these locked door systems, and they also the teachers apparently have badges with a button on them that they can push that alerts law enforcement
that there might be a mass shooting going on. Now, there's three cops assigned to that school. I think they all come running and they confront him and he gives up. That's why he's still alive. But the fill in the black that I think you're asking me about, were there any red flags? What did he say before, did he talk to students? Where did the weapon come from? We just don't know yet.
But it appears that it's going to be kind of a rare opportunity because he didn't kill himself or he wasn't killed, And just from watching the networks and stuff, they were saying that he's he's been talking or at least they're talking to him.
Yeah, I think you know, it's not uncommon, no matter what their age, of people who commit these type of shootings are proud of them initially until they realize what they're they're up against. And my guess is he has and my guess is the parents were probably present because
of his age, so so we'll see. I think we'll know more about mindset, we'll know more about where the weapon came from, we may know more about planning, you know, all the things that go into what typically happens prior to these events occurring.
I know that most people don't agree with me on this, Brad, but I would love your take on this. You said that he initially was found out on a gaming site. My theory is it's probably not the only thing, but it's one of the contributing factors. Is that the kids are playing these hyper violent games and going around and killing everybody, and it desensitizes them, so they I think they're more likely to actually do something like this if
they're already prone to it. I mean, I'm not saying like everyday kids are, but maybe kids who have trouble with social skills or have some sort of a mental health issue or something like that that that contributes to that. Have you guys found that at all? Is there anything that ties.
That to it.
There's certainly been studies done on that, and there is a belief where you take a kid like you described that's already troubled and maybe already having dark or violent thoughts and they end up fusing fantasy with reality. And that's kind of what you're talking about, where that when you go into a school with an AR fifteen, which is now the most popular weapon in America, that he you know, is is he now in a video game? In other words, is it not real to him while
he's doing it? Because you know, in most mass shootings, the shooters that survive will tell you they're not even thinking they're shooting human beings. It's all about anger, rage and power. They're and they're they're being powerful for a few minutes. But yeah, it may be something to that. Is it relevant to this kid?
We don't know yet, Okay, And and it's helpful that maybe they can get in his head and maybe get some answers. But like you know we've talked about before, these things are so senseless and you can't predict necessarily what's going to do. I mean, what do you do if they come and question the kid and they say, oh, we think you made that threat and they throw a kid in jail for not actually doing anything.
Yeah, I mean, this is not I don't think going to realistic cat happen. Going back reportory, right, you're not going to throw them in jail. And you know, the real question is can you keep track of kids like this? And the short answer is no. I mean, if they're not under some juvenile court judges wing, or they're not on probation or parole, or they're not connected to some mental health facility that maybe mobiley checks on folks that
are troubled. If you don't have any of those things going on, when you get to rural America, probably none of those are going to be going on. Not their false is the reality of the situation. You're going to have kids fall through the cracks because, let's face it, if I laid out twenty five school mass shooters, there's going to be red lights almost with every one of them.
But who knew about them?
That's the real issue.
It's frustrating at least, in tragic at best. So Brad Garrett, thank you so much for the insight and the information. As always, we appreciate it. We hope to talk to you, talk to you during happier news times soon.
Take care, All right, take care.
Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A man arrested for a fatal crash in Fontana who escaped from a hospital has been caught. The CHP says Noah Benuelos was caught about twelve thirty this morning. He was driving a white Jeep Cherokee yesterday when he was pulled over for speeding on the fifteen near Sierra Avenue, but then he took off. A fatal crash happened at Beach and Cherry Avenues a short time later. Officials sat Benuelos tried to
run away but was caught. He then escaped at Arrowhead Regional Hospital in Colton after that. An excessive heat warning takes effect this morning for the Malibu Coast beaches in La County and the Pallas Verdes Hills the National Weather Services.
Some of those areas could see temperatures in the triple digits, and excessive heat warning in the western San Fernando Valley remains in place until eight pm Saturday, and excessive heat warning will also be in effect through Saturday night in the Santa Clarita Valley, the inland coastal areas stretching into downtown La, the Santa Monica Mountains, Calabasas, the eastern San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, and the Annealope Valley foothills. Yeah,
it's just going to be hot everywhere. Two more beaches have been added to La County's list of places to avoid swimming, surfing, or playing in the ocean because of high bacteria levels. The latest editions are Venice Beach and Outer Cabrio Beach in San Pedro. The list of beaches is now up to twelve. Police say eight of the nine people shot at Appalachi High School in winder Georgia
were students. One of them was a teacher. Police had previously announced that two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting at the high school. Yesterday, The fourteen year old led shooters surrender and was arrested. Prosecutors say he will be charged as an adult. The CEO of Kroger has insisted that merging with Alberton Albertson's is going to lower prices, not increase them. Rodney McMullen testified at a federal hearing in Oregon yesterday that the day the
merger goes through, prices would start coming down. The Federal Trade Commission is trying to block the twenty four point six billion dollar deal, saying it would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices. For a half million dollars, you can buy half a house in Monrovia. A tree crushed a house and split it in half four months ago. Now what's left of it is up for sale. Even though the house is red tagged. It's a one bedroom, one
bath home. The real estate agent calls it an open concept floor plan that's clever at six oz five It is handled on the news. Trump and Harris have agreed to rules for their big debate that happens one week from today. So wake Up Call is going out and about as we do each week, and this week we went out and about on the Pacific Surfliner. Of course it's the Amtrak train. Normally I go to a place, but I guess now this time it was the destination.
The deal was. I was heading up to Paseroblis for Labor Day weekend to see my best friend do a little wine tasting, and we were talking about traffic and the cars and all that stuff, and she said, have you have you taken the train? And I said no, but I maybe I should. So I did a little digging and said, well, okay, So from Burbank up to San Luis Obispo, which is as far as it goes,
but there's other ways to get around. It's like sixty bucks each way or sixty five between sixty and sixty five dollars each way, and that's for a business class seat, and so I thought, okay, and then there's coach and there's business class, and I'm like, oh, I'll do business class because it was like twenty dollars more. And with business class you get a little bit bigger seat, you get a guaranteed seat, and you get some more leg room.
It's sort of like buying Premium plus when you fly, and then you also get snacks and beverages and that kind of thing. So I thought, I'll do that, and I got to tell you it was one of the
most pleasant experiences I've had in quite a while. The trip takes five hours, so instead of driving, which is three and a half hours and could be more depending on traffic, especially through the Grapevine or if you're going up the one on one, the traffic into Santa Barbara's, you know, orror it can be horrific, especially on a holiday weekend. So it's a five hour ride, and it was lovely. The service was good, the train was clean, the seats were comfortable, and I got to relax. I
didn't have to worry about traffic. I got to stretch out. There were snacks, there was wine, there was other beverages. I got to read a book. And the views are spectacular. So when you take off like I picked it up at Burber, you can take it like you know, you could start in San Diego if you want to, and take it all the way up because it's the surf Liner. But once you get to see me Valley, it gets really pretty. And then you hit the coast and you
are literally on the coast. They're not kidding when they call it the surf Liner, and you're just tooling along and watching the waves, and you stop every now and again, and it's just the most relaxing experience. It was easy to get to the train, it was easy to get on the train, it was easy to get to the
train returning. And if you're thinking about maybe doing something a little bit different, like even going up to Santa Barbara for the day, it's two hours from Burbank and it's a lovely, lovely drive or not drive a ride, And like I said, we went up to San Luis Obispo and so I had at least three hours of just staring out at the ocean, which I thought was
just fantastic. So I'm going to put a video up on my Instagram at Amy K King also at KFI AM six forty if you want to take a little look at it and see what I got to see and experience. Like I said, the Pacific Surfliner from Amtrak, it's a great way to travel. And if you're head in that direction, maybe you want to think about taking the train instead of driving next time. I would love for you to follow me as well at Amy Kking
and take a look. I would love to see what you think, because it was, like I said, it was a really great ride. So let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. San Diego State Senator Brian Jones is opposing the possible release of the man who killed two people and wounded thirteen others at Santana High School and Santee in two thousand and one.
We think it's inappropriate Brandy Williams to be paroled at this point in time. We've set up a petition on my website that people can go on to and fill out and sign, and we will make sure that the parole hearing and the governor's administration gets those petitions to know that there is not community support for him being led out of prison.
Senator Jones is California needs to change its parole policies.
California, we've gone sopt on crying and the public has had it. I think they're over it, and the public does not support these extreme recentencency majors that the Democrats and the governor continue and continue and continue to try to push through the legislative process.
A parole hearing for Williams is set for September tenth. He served less than half of his fifty years to life sentence. A community group says lead has been found in the water supply in one neighborhood in LA.
Some residents in Watts, especially in public housing, have been found to be dealing with contaminated water. City Councilman Tim oc Oscar says the group Better Watts Initiative discovered amounts of lead well above what the EPA says is allowed for drinking water which is zero no.
Lead, no measure of lead is good for us, but this was an alarming level.
The city Council yesterday voted to have the LEDWP investigate in partnership with the Housing Authority and Better Watts Initiative. Mcoscar says the report should include detail tales of where the contamination came from and how to fix it immediately.
Michael Monks KFI News. The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration reports cannabis tax revenue for the second quarter of this year was two hundred and sixty three million dollars. That's a slight drop from the first quarter, when two hundred sixty six million was earned. The department says since cannabis tax came into effect in California in twenty eighteen, the state has earned more than six billion dollars. Retail sales of cannabis and cannabis products are taxed by the
state and local governments. Former California Senate leader Gloria Romero says she's switched her party affiliation to Republican. She says the Democratic Party is no longer the party she once championed. She says the Republican Party under former President Trump became the champion of working people. Romero represented East LA and parts of the San Gabriel Valley Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is expected to take in up to one hundred ten million dollars
in its first weekend. The sequel to Tim Burton's nineteen eighty eight movie could end up being one of the best September debuts ever. And Nick and I are going to see it this afternoon. Can't wait to tell you all about it.
Hive from Hollywood.
It's Dancing with the Stuff Stuff.
No damn he say money. A con artist from Germany convicted of swindling her friends, hotels, and banks back in twenty nineteen. It is going to be competing on Dancing with the Stars this season, even if she wears an ankle monitor. Anna Sorocan is better known as her false identity Anna Delvy. Her story was told in a Netflix mini series called Inventing Anna. It was Really Good. Sorocin was released from prison in twenty twenty one. She's currently on house arrest, which is why she has to wear
the ankle monitor. Ice has yet to comment regarding Sorocan's house arrest. Conditions and accommodations to film in La So some of the other people who will be dancing this week actually this season, because they just revealed the cast of Dancing with the Stars Real Housewives star Favorite Parks Beverly Hills nine O two one zero alumni Tory Spelling, and then a couple of bachelor's and bachelorettes Joey Graziati and Jen Tran, and then Eric Roberts is going to
be in on it today and Reginald ven Johnson. Reginald vel Johnson easy for me to say. I couldn't remember who he was until I looked it up, but he was the dad from Family Manders and was also in the Diehard movies. And then from Disney Zombies Zombies two is Chandler Kinney. And then there's a couple of athletes Danny Amidola and Dwight Howard and olympians Ilona Mayer and Steven Netterasik. You know who that is. That's Superman from gymnastics. He did the vault. It's not the vault though, it's
called the pommel horse. But so Stephen Netterosik is going to be there. Also, Brooks Nater and the season starts September seventeenth on ABC. I'm still deciding whether I'm going to watch it again, but no decision left here. It's just time to head to traffic. Inland areas of La and Ventura County. Pretty much actually, most of southern California under excessive heat warnings through at least tomorrow night. Some
have been extended through Saturday. The National Weather Services temperatures will be around ninety at the coast, up to one fifteen in the valleys. It'll cool down a few degrees, but the heat's expected to stick around through the weekend. Two more beaches have been added to a list of beaches off limits because of high bacteria levels. The County Department of Public Health says people should not swim, surf,
or play in the water. New beaches added to the list of ten already designated with high bacteria levels are parts of Venice Beach and Outer Cabrio Beach in San Pedro. A complete list is available on La County Public Health's website. The NFL season gets underway tonight. The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs begin their quest for a three peat when they take on the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium.
We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning, So Paris loves their Olympic rings so much they're leaving them up on the Eiffel Tower and not everybody's happy about that one. Let's say good morning now to John Patrick Polland who's with the Home of the Brave Project. Love the name already, and this story I think might make some of your blood boil. So John Patrick pulland, thank you for joining us this morning.
Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.
So tell us what is the Home of the Brave Project?
Sure? So I'm with another that called Long Lead, and we put out a feature called Home of the Brave And what we've done over the past three plus years is kind of chronicle the history of the West Lava. That land. A lot of people don't know what it is, but out there in West la between Brentwood and UCLA is three hundred and eighty eight acres of VA campus that was actually donated to the federal government in eighteen
eighty eight, specifically the House Veterans. In the fifties, it housed about five thousand veterans and today it houses only two hundred and thirty three permanently. So the question is why. The answer is quite complicated.
Okay, So let's look at it just a little bit, so just to give people a frame of reference. So it's that nearly four hundred acre piece of land, and you said five thousand used to live on it, So it's is it all developed, it has like housing complexes or what's on the property.
Now, yeah, that's the wild thing about it. In the seventies, what happened, the Silmar earthquake happened, and they evicted all the veterans from the property. In the early or in about twenty thirteen, there was a lawsuit where veterans and house veterans actually settled with the government and the and said they were going to build twelve hundred units of housing,
but they don't do it fast enough. So when we hit covid uh, I think a lot of your listeners might remember seeing intents along santacente h and what those tents were. You know, those were folks trying to survive and being near their services. So as a result, there's another lawsuit and that is currently you know, we're waiting for a judgment on that as we speak to see what will happen with that land. But it's not developed.
It is, however, leased out, and that's what the veterans are very upset about.
Okay, who's got Who's got it?
It's been reseat to the one to UCLA, so that's where you'll find Jackie Robinson Stadium. Brentwood School is another release. They have a massive twenty two acre athletic facility there. So the vets are are unhappy that they're not living on the land that was set aside for them.
Okay, So then let's go back to when that land was. It was donated specifically two veterans so they could have a place to be and live by. And who donated it, well.
There were three wealthy landowners, industrialists that were living in the area. And there's this quote from the La Times that I love because after the donation it was called Sawtel Back then, the La Times wrote this, the skift will cause the land in that section to advance in value, and the trade thrown into the way of our merchants will be considerable. All of that land has, you know, spurred Brentwood, Westwood, bell Air. None of those things would be there if it wasn't for the donation.
Of this land, and why wouldn't they be there.
Because basically at that time that all that area was undeveloped. Okay, So what you do is you put you put veterans there with pensions and a post office, and all of a sudden you have instant commerce as a result of that. You know, that's when Brentwood came in. They actually you know, built that neighborhood alongside it. They actually took some of the land to make Santacente and Wilsir Boulevard.
Actually okay, so now who controls it, John, Now that they were that they went ahead and leased it out. Who who did that or made that decision?
Yeah, I mean the basically and this was part of the most recent trial. You know, the federal government has a fiduciary interest in running that land and running it for the vets. But what they've been doing the VA has said, well, we don't want to manage land, we don't want to manage property, so let's lease it out, get some money for it, and then be able to do things with that money. But it's not ever really been clear that any of that has actually happened in the interests of the veterans.
So the federal government actually has control of it and they're the ones who leased it out, that's correct, and the now and the vets are fighting to get it back now.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think that the vets will ever actually own it, but what they want to live on it, you know, they want to have housing on that. I mean, there's as of the most recent count, three thousand, eight hundred and seventy eight on housed veterans in La County. It's Los Angeles is the homeless veteran capital of America. And you know, to be able to put you know, as I said, there are five thousand veterans living on
that property. Do the maths. You kick five thousand out and then you have almost four thousand on housed fifty years later, it's pretty obviously what's happened there.
Yeah, it's just amazing to me that the land was donated specifically for those people and then they were kicked out when that's what it is, like, how that decision was made, I don't get it. So they're trying to get control back of it, and there's the lawsuits going on right now, and we're expecting a decision about it pretty soon.
Yeah, that's correct. So the whole story, I mean, and it's thirty five thousand words that we've written at Home Ofthebrave dot long lead dot com, you know, chronicles all the way back to eighteen eighty seven actually, But we're also doing daily, daily court briefings as well, so if you go to our website, you can sign up for those. And you know, we've been in We've had a reporter in the courtroom every single day and we're waiting for
the for the judgment from David Carter. Judge David Carter, could be as soon as today, as late as Monday.
Okay, Well, we're going to hope that the judge makes the right decision and let's the vets back on their property and to find out more again about this, John, what's the website.
Surey dot long lead dot com.
Okay, can you repeat that because you dropped out for a second.
Oh boy, Home of thee Brave dot long Lead dot com.
Okay, Well, I look forward to reading more about it. I've read part of it and it does make my blood boil. I'm just like, let these people back onto the land that was designated for them.
Yeah, we owe it to them. We owe that much at least not more.
Absolutely trick pulling home of the Brave Project. Thank you so much for your time. And I hope people go and check this out. And not to be biased, but I'm gonna be biased. I hope the Vets score a win on this one. They deserve it.
Looking in their favor. The question is how and how long? How much longer will they have to wait?
Yep? Okay, thanks again, John, appreciate it. Thank you, bul And just like that, we're done with wake Up Call for today. But guess what. We'll be back again tomorrow and lots of great stuff coming up with Bill Handle Right now. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom for producer and and technical producer Kno
also traffic specialist Nick. I'm Amy King. This has been your wake up call and if you missed any of wake Up Call, we it's some really great stuff today. You can listen anytime on the iHeartRadio app. You've been listening to wake Up Call with me, Amy King, you can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday on KFI IAM six forty, and any time on demand on the iHeartRadio app.