You're listening to wake Up Call on demand from KFI AM six forty KFI and KOSTHD two Los Angeles, Orange County, and it's time for your morning wake up call. Hey, good morning.
This is your wake up call for Monday, January sixth, twenty twenty five. It is five o'clock on the dot. I'm Michael Monks filling in for Amy King this morning. It is the first Monday of this brand new year. It's also the first Monday of the first full week after all of the holidays. No more excuses. I am sure you are all finally back on your way to work. Suck it up, let's get going. It's all good. Nice long holiday break. You got no excuses. Even Bill Handle
is back to work today. Everybody is back to work. Some of us have been keeping the home fires burning while everybody else was out enjoying a little break during the holidays. I was glad to do that for Amy. Glad to do that again today. Got a big show coming up over the next hour here on wake Up Call on KFI. Congress also back to work today. They got a big item on their agenda. They're certifying the presidential election results. You may remember how that went four
years ago. This year is expected to be different. We'll go live to Washington, d C. To get a feel for what's coming up later at the Capitol, and President Biden is coming to southern California. But before he does, he and the First Lady are going to stop in New Orleans, where they will meet with families of the victims of last week's terror attack in the French Quarter. We'll get a live update on the latest end of the investigation there, as well as in Las Vegas, where
a cyber truck was exploded outside a Trump hotel. And then later on this hour, there's this weird ongoing tragedy in the San Gabriel Valley. It's been happening since last fall. A number of wild parrots mutilated killed. We'll be joined by a woman who's been taking care of the ones found in recent days in a makeshift bird cage on some railroad tracks in Almonte. So stick around for that. That'll be coming up later this hour. And then of course at six ZHO five it's Handle on the news,
this time with Bill Handle himself. Bill and the team are back today except for Amy. She'll be back soon. And I know you're looking forward to that, I am too. We're going to start with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Ellie Mayor bass She's got a busy week two She started twenty twenty five's first full week in Africa. She's part of a four member delegation from the US set to attend
the inauguration of that country's President Ghanah. The mayor has been dispatched by President Biden to Ghana along with the Director of the US Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, US Ambassador to Ghanah, Virginia Palmer, and Francis Brown, who is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the White House's National Secure Council.
So why La Mayor bass Well. When the mayor was in Congress, she served as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global human Rights, and International Organizations from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty two, when she was elected mayor. President elect John Dromana Mohamma is to be inaugurated tomorrow there in downtown La. A hearing is set to begin today for the men charged in
the murder of actor Johnny Whacter. The former General Hospital actor was shot to death in downtown la last year when he came upon a group of people trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car. Wactor was leaving his job as a bartender in the early morning hours
when he was killed. A judge today is expected to determine if there's sufficient evidence to allow the case to proceed against eighteen year olds Robert Isaiah Barcelo and Sergio Estrada, and the Golden globes have been handed out here in La Is. Hollywood's awards season has kicked off. The Brutalist won Best Drama, while Amelia Perez was crowned Best Musical
or Comedy. Adrian Brody won a Best Actor prize for The Brutalist, and Demi Moore was awarded Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role in The Substance. It's January sixth, when the Congress convenes to certify the election of the US President. The country had a rough go of it four years ago, but today is expected to be considerably calmer. Kfi White House correspondent John Decker joins US Now Live to talk about it. John, thank you so much.
Hey, Michael, thanks for having me today. Yeah, it's going to be pretty much ceremonial, as it should be. The peaceful transfer of power officially happens with the inauguration two weeks from now January twentieth, when Donald Trump is sworn in as America's forty seventh president. But there's a ceremonial aspect that happens today, the counting of the Electoral College votes that happens in both the House and the Senate. And it's the Vice President, the sitting Vice President, Kamala Harris,
who will preside over this process in the Senate. She will certify the election. She will certify that her opponent in the twenty twenty fourth presidential election, Donald Trump, will be the next president.
And we remember other January sixth from the past, including in twenty seventeen when now President Joe Biden, who was the Vice President, presided over this very ceremony when his side did not win and Donald Trump won. Two thousand and one, Al Gore lost a very close election, presided over over that. Then, what does today look like procedurally, what actually happens.
Well, two years ago there was a law that was passed signed by President Biden called the Electoral Vote Count Act, And what that law stipulated essentially was that there's going to be a peaceful transfer of power. It makes certain and spells out in no uncertain terms that the vice president plays only a ceremonial role. They can't over turn
the results of a presidential election. And the threshold for a member of Congress and either the House or the Senate is much higher because of this law passed in bipartisan fashion to challenge the results of a presidential election. So do I expect any members on the Democratic side to challenge the presidential results? I don't see what grounds they would have to challenge it. Donald Trump won handily as it relates to the popular vote and also in
the electoral college. But you never know. But again, the threshold is so high that it really will not make a difference as it relates to any individual member challenging the results of the presidential election.
Well, we all got a pretty strong civics lesson a few years back when this happened last time, the storming of the Capitol, And now everybody seems to know that January sixth, after a presidential election year is when this sort of thing takes place. But these changes you just mentioned, they were I guess put in place following what happened four years ago. What was different four years ago? How what was the situation where people were able to object so much more easily.
Well, what was different is that there was ambiguous language in terms of the role that the vice president played. And because of that ambiguous language, it was Donald Trump who was urging his then vice president, Mike Pence, to throw the election back to state delegations. And Mike Pence consulted with his legal counsel, and his legal counsel said to the Vice president at the time, you cannot do that.
And he told that to President Donald Trump at the time, and the two that really have not been speaking ever since. But because of that law, it gets rid of those ambiguities and it makes clear that it's only a ceremonial role that the vice president plays. They can't buy themselves throw it back to the states, they can't overturn the results.
And that's the reason why you will see Kamala Harris take part in the same process that, as you point out, Al Goirt took pardon back in two thousand and one, when he lost a very close election to George W.
Bush, we noted that the vice president is presiding over the meeting today in a ceremonial fashion. What does it look like exactly what is she doing? Is she sitting, is she banging a gavel? Is she pointing at folks?
What does she do?
Yeah? You know, think about it this way. You know, if you've ever watched the State of Union address, you know, behind the president as the President delivers that State of Union, it's the vice president as well as the Speaker of the House that sit behind the president. Well, on the Senate side of the capital, the vice president has not only the role of being vice president of the United States,
they are also the president of the Senate. So Kamala Harris will sit in a chair at the head of the rectrum, and she will certify the results of the twenty twenty four presidential election, again in a way that is ceremonial, in a way that makes it clear that we have a peaceful transfer of power in the United States.
John, I know you've got a ron, but is there any other business before the Congress today?
No, that's about it. As you know. On Friday of last week, the new members of Congress and the incoming Congress from one hundred nineteenth were sworn in as new members. So now they can begin the process over the course of the next two weeks of confirmation hearings for all of those nominees that require Senate confirmation that President elect
Donald Trump has put forward. And so that's what we can expect over the next two weeks, including some of those controversial nominees like Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary of Defense.
We know you'll be keeping an eye on it and hope to talk to you again soon. John Decker is our White House correspondent. John, have a great Monday. Thank you, and we'll get back now to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour news room. Two people are dead and four others are injured after a wrong way crash on the one thirty four Freeway in Pasadena.
The crash happened just after eight o'clock Sunday morning. The California Highway Patrol says a car entered the freeway from an off rampant who's going eastbound in the westbound lanes. At least four vehicles were involved in the crash. The wrong way driver was one of the two people killed. Three of these surviving victims have moderate injuries. One has minor injuries. I'm Mark Mayfield and you're.
Listening to Wake Up Call here on KFI A M six point forty. President Biden has plans to ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in most ust coastal waters. This is a last minute effort to block possible action by the incoming Trump administration to expand offshore drilling. Biden says he is using authority under federal law to protect offshore areas along the East and West coast, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of Alaska's Northern Bearing Sea
from future oil and natural gas leasing. Biden says he has the support of coastal communities who've argued that offshore drilling could cause ear revos, purle environmental damage. A spokeswoman for President elect Donald Trump has said the decision will be reversed after Trump takes office on January twenty. A woman who worked as a hairstylist for Fox Sports has alleged in a lawsuit that former on air host Skip Bayless offered her one and a half million dollars to
have sex with him. Nushin Faraji says in her suit, Bayliss made repeated unwanted advances toward her and that Fox executives fostered a hostile work environment. She's seeking unspecified damages. Milannia Trump will be the subject of a new documentary coming to theaters and Amazon Prime. The film started shooting
back in December. It has been described as the latest connection between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and President elect Donald Trump, as tech companies are reportedly seeking to improve relationships with the president elect. So we have a new oldest person in the world, apparently, no jokes, no jokes. The oldest person in the world is now believed to be a
none from Brazil. Sister Na Connabaro is almost one hundred and seventeen years old and maybe Earth's oldest after the death of a Japanese woman previous believed to be the oldest. The nun love soccer cracking jokes. Longeviquest tracks super centenarians around the world and declared Connabarro the world's oldest person over the weekend. Well good for her. A man has been stabbed to death outside of McDonald's and Santa Ana Police say it happened just after three o'clock yesterday afternoon.
They say they do have a person of interest detained. A man from Huntington Beach is expected to be sentenced today after his conviction on wire fraud charges. Keith Middlebrook is a part time actor and self styled credit guru who solicited investments in companies that marketed bogus cures for COVID nineteen in the early days of the pandemic. The fifty seven year old used social media to get those investments from all over the country, touting a patent pending
cure and treatment. The California Highway Patrol has warned the public about people posing as Amber Alert representatives and offering to register children. CHP says this is not how the Amber alert system works. In a social media post, the agency says the California Highway Patrol is the only agency authorized to activate Amber alerts and no registration is required. It's always something every day to keep your eye on
out there. President Jimmy Carter has been lying in repose at the Georgia Capitol, where he will remain until Tuesday. His grand niece, Cameron Carter. Hebert says, a lot of people have been paying their respects.
He not only cared about the nation and the good that he did, he cared about his neighbor's next door. He always checked in on anybody in town. He'd send letters. So just how for all the work he had to do, how personable he stayed with everybody.
Carter died last week at the age of one hundred. The late president will be brought to Washington, d C. Where he will be taken by horse drawn carriage the Capital de Lion State. Carter state funeral will take place Thursday at Washington National Cathedral. President Biden is coming to southern California this week, but before he lands at LAX, he has another stop to make. He'll visit the families
of victims in the New Orleans terror attack. The investigation into that and the explosion of a Tesla cybertruck outside of Trump Hotel in Las Vegas have continued all weekend. KFI National correspondent Rory O'Neill joins US Live Now with the latest in both investigations. Good Monday morning, Rory.
Good morning, Michael.
Let's start with the President. What's on his agenda today in New Orleans.
Right, Well, he's going to be going to talk to the families the survivors and try to bring some comfort to them and assure them that the Americans are standing beside them. He also wants to talk to the Mayor of New Orleans, the governor of Louisiana about some of the security measures that will be in place for the
upcoming Super Bowl, and Marti Gras. Apparently there's a bit of a laundry list of requests that the Mayor of New Orleans has and is asking the federal government to help them bolster the security in the wake of what happened on the first.
We learned that there were maybe some security lapses in the French Quarter on New Year's And what are we hearing from officials there about steps that they are prepared to take currently as these other major events just happened to be in New Orleans this year, like the Super Bowl and of course Marty Graus every year, right.
And it really is something that is bringing a whole set of fresh eyes to the security approach that they've been taking there in New Orleans for these past few years.
You know, we've had a lot of attention focused on those ballards that were either not working or were being replaced, And even if they were replaced, it may not have stopped the attack that happened on New Year's Day, because the FBI told us yesterday that this suspect had actually gone to New Orleans from his hometown in Houston twice last fall, wearing those meta glasses with the camera and recording the Bourbon Street French Quarter area apparently as some
sort of recon and that helped him plot and plan his attack that included driving down Bourbon Street with that rented truck and also placing those two IEDs, those improvised explosives in coolers around the Bourbon Street area, exactly where he learned the knowledge about how to design those. That's really got the FBI and ATF scratching their heads right now, perhaps looking at some overseas trips he took to Ontario and to Cairo, Egypt as possible places where he became radicalized.
What was so unique about these improvised explosive devices that it has investigators scratching their heads about how this guy would know how to make them.
Yeah, they were using a remote detonator system, not something we've seen here it operated in the US when you compare it to that cyber truck case in New Orleans, rather in Las Vegas that was really more just setting a fuse. But these remote electronic detonators not something that the Norland suspect would have been trained for in the military. He was mostly an IT guy in the HR department when he was serving in the US Army, so not something he had been trained for. So they're trying to
figure out how did he learn that technique. Was it some video that he saw online or was he recruited And the fact the fact that maybe there were people with ices who were helping train him in this attack.
And you mentioned that there's video now Jabbar walking around the French quarter with those meta glasses on, likely recording some video doing some reconnaissance. Where did that video come from?
Well, obviously he had saved the video during the during those trips, and that's the whole point.
So not surveillance video of him that was that was uncovered. It was his own video that he was taken. There's no images of him walking around.
I think there's some images of him looking in a mirror. Actually, oh, that is on I think that maybe what you see. And also he wore those glasses the night of the attack. Now we haven't seen that video. It may not have been video from that event, but that also may be out there.
Now.
President Biden is, of course headed there. You've talked a bit about who he wants to talk to. What has his messaging been generally about the attack in New Orleans.
Well, he has said before, and he said a few hours after the attack, that hate has no harbor in the US and this kind of violence is unacceptable. Sadly, he's had to deliver these kinds of messages before. But he's also got a lot of close ties to New Orleans. His granddaughter went to Tulane, He's been there just I think as recently as this summer speaking at Tulane, and a lot of political ties to New Orleans as well during his fifty plus years in politics. So I think
that's one of the reasons he wanted to go. Obviously, it's the waning days of his presidency. He's on his way to Italy shortly as well, for a three day trip to Italy and the Vatican. So's a busy week for the president, who will be on the quite a bit while there's plenty of activity happening in Washington.
We're talking with national correspondent Rory O'Neil. Let's go to Las Vegas. Now we have some more details about Matthew Leibelsberger as well, the man who blew up the cyber truck in Vegas. He left some notes on his mobile phone. What do we know about those messages?
Yeah, some pretty troubling stuff. And in the interviews that the investigators have done with friends and family, it looks like the suspect in that Las Vegas incident had a much more troubled time where we know that in New Orleans this was really isis inspired. The case out of Colorado and Las Vegas looks to be more of a service member who was in trouble suffering from PTSD. I mean, he was a five time Bronze Star winner. He was
a long serving member of the Green Berets. But some of the messages he left behind talked about the US and China working together with anti gravity drones launched from submarines off the East coast. But he also talked about an attack he was involved in while in Afghanist that killed innocent women and children. He said the US had tried to cover it up, and the UN actually had
criticized the US for this attack. So there may be some truths in what was posted there, but clearly this was a troubled man who may not really have been attacking Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas with the truck. Maybe it looks more and more like this was just a high profile suicide.
Essentially a high profile suicide. But again let's reiterate, this was outside of a Trump branded hotel, inside a cyber truck which is operated of course by Elon Musk, and we know the relationship between Trump and Musk and the way that that escalated during the election. No one's saying that this was politically motivated.
Well, in fact, in some of the writings, this man was clearly a Trump supporter, was actually looking forward to Trump taking things back, and he talked a lot about bringing back masculinity. He wanted his suicide to be sort of an seen as a turning point. So, yeah, it doesn't seem that this was an attack against Trump or Musk. It would have been quite the opposite. And when you look at the explosives and you compare his knowledge base
to the explosives that were in the cyber truck. Clearly he knew that what he had in the truck was not going to do any real damage to destroy that building, and he certainly had much more knowledge about it. But it looks like this was just more of a tragic suicide case involving a troubled soldier.
And both of these men levels Burger in Las Vegas and Jabbar in New Orleans. Both of them served in the US military, and maybe not at the same at the same time, maybe not crossing paths. But what does the military have to say, if anything, about either of them in these situations.
They did clarify that both men did serve in Afghanistan, but probably didn't cross paths there, and both men served at what was then called Fort Bragg, but not at the same time. So we don't think that there are any direct connections, but plenty of coincidences renting high end pickup trucks and delivering their attacks on New Year's Day. As you said, both serving in the military using web
that app called truro to get the trucks. It seemed like an awful lot of coincidences, but there's not the same political motivation or religious motivation that we saw in New Orleans. With the case in Las Vegas, it doesn't seem that they were motivated by the same thing at all.
Roory O'Neil is a national correspondent, and Rory, we do appreciate you taking some time out of your Monday and hope to talk to you again soon.
Thanks.
Michael, you got it. More news now. A new study has shown that teens are using fewer drugs and less alcohol and tobacco.
And then You'll survey taken since nineteen seventy five by the University of Michigan examined the responses of nearly twenty four thousand middle and high schoolers across the US. More than half of high school seniors reported not using alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e SIGs in the past thirty days, which is
the highest since twenty seventeen. The abstinence rate in high school sophomores was even higher at eighty percent, reaching a record, and ninety percent of middle schoolers reported no use, which is in line with the last survey taken. I'm Tammy, Triheo.
And Mufasa has claimed the top spot at the box office after the first weekend of twenty twenty five. According to estimates, the photorealistic Lion King prequel earned twenty three point eight million dollars in its third weekend. Sonic the Hedgehog three, which had been on top the previous two weekends, wasn't far behind in second place. Nosferatu took third place. Mona Ti and Wicked rounded out the top five. The twenty twenty five box office year already off to a
better start than twenty twenty four. They say it's up around twenty percent from the last weekend last year. Congress convenes today to certify the results of the November election, with Vice President Kamala Harris presiding. Eli Mayor bass Is in Africa as part of a four member US delegation set to attend the inauguration of the new president of Ghanahs.
Killers of actor Johnny Whackter, who was shot to death in downtown La last year they're set to appear in court today, and a tech entrepreneur from La says he recently missed his flight home after getting trapped in a weymo on the way to the airport. Those waymos are those self driving vehicles, he tells KTLA. His name's Mike Johns. He tells KTLA the issue happened in Scottsdale, Arizona, in mid December. That self driving car he was riding in wouldn't stop making circles in a parking lot.
And it was just going in the circles, like around the fifth or sixth time. That feeling was very uncomfortable where you're strapped in, you can't open the door, and this vehicle is just going in circles.
On Sunday, a Waymo representative told The La Times John's was delayed about five minutes, then driven to his destination. The spokesperson blames it on a software glitch that has since been resolved, adding that John's was not charged for his ride in the Weimo vehicle. And coming up at six oh five, we've got Handle on the news. Bill Handle is back with the team and we'll have him
here at six zho five. And coming up at five point fifty, we've got an update on the mutilation and killings of multiple wild parrots in the San Gabriel Valley. We'll hear from a woman who is taking care of them. That's coming up at five point fifty. Okay, let's move on now, We've got another live interview with one of our colleagues. The popular video app TikTok faces banishment from the US unless the Chinese ownership to vest or President elect Trump perhaps steps in makes a delay. He seems
to like the app. He likes a lot of social media, where he routinely shares his thoughts directly. The owner of X formerly Twitter, Elon Musk, has become a rabid backer of Trump, but he's also touted X as the new home for journalism, frequently saying to his legion of diehard followers, you are the media now. Meanwhile, the regular old media like TV, newspaper, radio, have faced audience declines. So what does all this mean for the future of trustworthy journalism.
ABC News political analyst Steve Roberts is with us now to talk about it. Good Monday morning.
Steve, Well, thank you for having me. And not only have I been a journalist for over sixty years, but I teach journalism at George Washington University, and I teach
of course in media ethics. And you describe the situation well, Donald Trump, the last campaign only culminated a trend we've seen now for years, which is that there are so many new platforms, the democratization, the fragmentation of the media universe, whether it was the podcast that Trump went on, whether it was using x formerly known as Twitter, whether it
was using TikTok to reach directly to voters. And in fact, it's fascinating because Trump a year ago, two years ago, was denouncing TikTok because it's owned by Chinese company and totally reversed his position on that, saying, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok. Why Because Donald Trump has one principle and one principle only, and that
is what works for him personally and politically. And he discovered the TikTok, even if its Chinese own, was an enormously useful pathway for him to connect directly to voters. And that's the situation as he takes over as for a second term as president. But in my view, it means that the mainstream media. Yes, we've lost credibility, Yes we've lost audience. Yes there are economic problems besetting a newspaper like the Los Angeles Times, like the Washington Post.
These are all true, But that doesn't mean that the role for the mainstream media is any less important. In fact, in many ways it's even more important than ever because as Trump legitimately, I'm not saying it's illegitimate, he legitimately smartly, shrewdly is using TikTok and all of these other ways to communicate directly. But there has to be a mechanism for verification, There has to be a mechanism for accountability.
There has to still be a role for professional, independent, mainstream journalism that says we're going to hold you to account and we're going to verify and FactCheck and investigate you on a regular basis.
That's what I wanted to ask, is because this is not just a threat to audience size from traditional media, this is also a threat to what people know about what's happening. So explain to us what are the most important distinctions separating traditional journalism and social media posts.
Well, that's a very good question. And you know, I think at the core of the ethic and the integrity of mainstream media, and it's been true for a couple of centuries now, is that there remains a firm belief, a deep seated belief that independent journalism can describe and evaluate reality, and there's a shared set of facts that
underlie public discussion and decision making. Plus the fact that you know, as a president like Trump becomes even more powerful and more dominating and more ability to shape the information people get. There has to be a voice that says, this is not the whole story. When Donald Trump says the election of twenty twenty was stolen, there has to
be a voice it says, no, that's not true. And when Donald Trump says that, When Donald Trump says that tariffs are going to be paid for by foreign companies, there has to be a voice it says, no, that's not true. Tariffs are attacks on American consumers. That's reality. Those are facts, Those are the product of independent journalism, and that's the role.
So when Elon Moss tells his audience you who are the media now, it's usually met with excitement and enthusiasm from a lot of his followers, a lot of people in the country. You know, they've long been angry at traditional media outlets for reasons that may or may not be valid. So how does that sentiment from folks tap into how social media is now a threat to traditional media?
Well, look, I have no problem with that and no problem with the idea that the whole media system has been democratized, and people on TikTok, and people on Twitter or X, people on Instagram, people on podcasts have found a voice. You know. And I was hired by the New York Times in nineteen sixty four. Virtually everybody who works for the mainstream media looked like me, a straight
white male, you know, educated in the Ivy League. The whole media universe has been democratized in a very healthy way. I think there are many upsides to the fragmentation of the media universe. New voices, new platforms, new vitality. This is all a plus. There's nothing wrong with X, there's nothing wrong with TikTok. They're very valuable additions to the media ecosystem. But there has to at that. But those are often systems without checks and balances, without the media
ethics of verification. There's no editor, there's no producers telling people on X weight that's not true. When I started in the business working for the New York Times, I had a dozen crusty old editors saying, Steve, that's not true. Steve, make another phone call, Steve. Let's hold your story for a day. Steve. Let's be sure we know what we're
talking about. In these new platforms, there's that kind of external system of verification and integrity is gone, and it's still there's a very help the development there, but there has to be a balanced with an independent journalism that has a different set of standards and a different set of values.
We're talking with ABC News political analysts Steve Roberts. I wanted to build on that point that you were just making, and I'm wondering if today's audiences in general even care about where that information comes from. You know, you kind of hinted at some of these scenarios you've got, like a neighborhood Facebook group, for example, you might have a report in the neighborhood of a loud noise and within an hour there are all kinds of wild theories about
what happened. Whereas someone like you or someone like me, I'd make some calls before I blurted anything out about it, you know, but by the time you and I get around to verifying whether the loud noise was anything worth reporting on, it may be too late to reach that audience. And does that audience care.
Well, it's a fair point, and there's no doubt that every poll shows a declining confidence in the mainstream media and look more partly in fault. But you've also got to remember that Donald Trump has spent years and years and years saying to his followers, it's all fake news. The only person you should believe is me, and he
has been very, very candid. In the interview with Leslie Staller CBS years ago, he said that she asked him why do you keep attacking the mainstream media, and he said, well, I do it so that you have no credibility left, so that when you try to criticize me, no one will believe you. And he's been very open and very shrewd and very effective and undermining the credibility of people who might be critics. It is, and I'm not minimizing in any way, the crisis that is facing the mainstream media.
And it's not just a crisis of credibility. It's also a crisis of economics, as people are unwilling to subscribe to a newspaper like the Los Angeles Times. Gathering information is expensive. It's easy to get up there and spout
opinions that's cheap. But real news, real information, particularly investigations that hold whether it's the mayor of Los Angeles or the governor of California, the President of the United States, or account it's expensive, and without people subscribing, without people willing to spend money to support independent journalism, it's the economic crisis. In some ways, it's just as bad as
the credibility crisis. But having said all of that, and understanding that we're less credible and less believable, I still believe there's a vital role whether it's KFI or the La Times or the New York Times or NPR or whoever it is that says we're still here as a bastion of independent, professional journalism that tells you what the facts are, and you can decide for yourself how you vote, how you interpret those facts. But let's at least agree on what reality looks like.
Steve Roberts, ABC News political analyst, Steve Professor, thank you so much for spending some time with us on this Monday. We appreciate it very much. Hope to talk again anytime. And some more news coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom this morning. Two people have been killed, three people have been taken to a hospital after that fiery multi vehicle crash on the Ventura Freeway in Pasadena
caused by a wrongway driver. The crash on the westbound freeway at North San Rafael Avenue happened around eight o'clock Sunday morning, when a vehicle entered the freeway from the San Rafael Raphael off ramp and then went eastbound in
the westbound lanes. Some headlines were monitoring looking for further details out of the ap Nippin's Steel and US Steel have filed lawsuits challenging President Joe Biden's decision to block that fifteen billion dollar deal between those two the Japanese based Nippon Steel and of course You Steel, and Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office. We will have more on those stories throughout this morning. We know we've seen wild parrots around southern California.
They are not native here, but they're here, and they seem to injoke it. Why not? What's not to like? When you have weather like we've got today, clear sunny into the seventies in January, you gotta love that. But some people have turned violent against some of these wild parrots, and nobody seems to know exactly why some of these parrots have been found mutilated, some of them even dead. Most recently, five were found inside a makeshift bird cage
on railroad tracks in Elmonte. I've been hosting a Saturday night program here on KFI Live seven to nine every Saturday night, and I spoke this past Saturday with Cleo Watts, who operates Cleo's Critter Care in Pasadena and has taken care of the injured birds. This is that interview. This situation in December involved five parents that were found in what has been described as a makeshift bird cage on some railroad tracks in Elmonty. What can you tell us about what was found in that bird cage?
Yes, that is correct. I was actually called out by a sergeant Francisco of ELMONTI Police Department Saturday morning, Francisco Ramirez, and he had told me that there were five birds that were found in a makeshift basically cage. It was actually a dog kennel that was converted into They put pigs across for the bird superse so it seemed like they halfway cared. They were found abandoned on the railroad tracks in Temple City at a homeless encampment. We don't
know who the perpetrators are. They said that they're going to be investigating and you know, scaling around it. It's credently difficult to catch one of these birds alone five, So I'm just curious as to how they've even obtained them, if they found them that way, or if they were the ones that harmed them. We still don't know. But there were five and they were severely mutilated.
Well, we talked about being severely mutilated. And I don't want to be graphic for our listeners, and I know that injuries to animals can be triggering to folks, but I think it's important that we know what's happened. What can you tell us as gently as possible about the injuries suffered by the parrots?
Okay, so two of them had open wing fractors. Third one had a badly fractured lower mandible, meaning that the whole bottom, the whole beak was split in half.
Oh my gosh, were to.
Pry the beak opened, you know, and split.
It down the middle.
There was a severe laceration.
On another one.
One of them. There's no evidence of any of these guys being shot, which is, you know it opens up a whole nother case of you know, animal abuse or torture that you know somebody is actually doing this by
hand or with with an object. One of them was found with the severe latoration throughout its whole body, through the whole cross of its wings, across its head, and we're all just you know, wondering how you know, how they were able to get them if they found them that way, if it's a mental uh issue, you know it is what they were found in a homeless encauntment. We do you know that a lot of homeless people
do suffer mental disabilities, you know, struggles. We we don't really know what caused, you know, why, what made them.
Do this to them?
And there really is no reason in my book to do this to anything, any any living creature. Is it's really disturbing.
And there were five that were found. I understand that only one has survived.
One has survived and and yeah, it's going to take months and months of extensive tube feeding because he won't be able to eat on his own. And that was the one that had to split down the middle of of his.
Uh Man, What what happens at Cleo's Critter Care when one of these injured parrots arrives.
I do have a triage that take on hand that I call for situations just like I mean, we were overwhelmed, there were so many at once again, so she she comes over and she helps with the triage and then we send them to depending on what her injury is. Especially with the parrots. We have a specialist over in Paula's Verdict, doctor Miko, who is an expert at pinning wings, so she can make anything like again, practically she could
pend on hommingbirds wings. She's one of the best, so you know, if they're able to and we don't have to euthanize right away to end their suffering, they make the trip out to her and Paula's Verdict and then once she can basically you know, patch them up, clear them up, then they make the trip down to San Diego to soak Ol Parrot Rescue to Ashley over there. So it's kind of a team effort that we have here.
I live in the Pasadena, San Gerel area, so you know they're coming from my area, so I take them from my area. Pasadena Humane gets them in and we both send our birds to doctor Miko from there and she sends them over to Sandy Go.
We're talking with Cleo Watts of Cleo's Critter Care about this terrible trend that started apparently in November continued through December of just some mutilated and injured parrots, and Cleo Watts helps rehabilitate the ones that are savable. But as you just heard, they're not always savable. And so there's one that has survived this most recent mutilation where they were found in a makeshift bird cage on some railroad tracks. Parents are not native to southern California, but they're here
and they are now part of our wildlife. They seem to have acclimated. Well, what is typically the response that people should have when there's a parent? Are these animals you should stay away from despite the curiosity?
Well, I mean if they seem in distress, and you know there's some that fall out of the nest, the tree tremmors, you know, you know, they get attacked by predators, attack them, they get singled out, you know, they get shot at. I mean, whatever it is. If if you see an animal in distress, you always call a passidina humane or you call a wildlife rescue. You know, you try not to handle the animal. You don't want to stress it out. We are trained to handle them. We
have a proper gear. You know, you do need gloves, heavy gloves, especially with these birds. They have very powerful beats. They can you know, do some damage, especially if you're not familiar with holding them. So you do want to call a rescue, you know, Passinini Humane you can call me, you know, just try to if you see somebody doing something like this, I wouldn't approach them, but I would definitely call the police.
For this last guy who has survived that you recovered from that makeshift bird cage, the one survivor you mentioned, He's going to be on some bottle feeding and all that. What's what's the prognosis long term for this one? Is he somebody? Is he a bird that will fly in the wild again?
Yeah, his wing fork damaged. We're hoping that he will be. He is. Actually I believe he is starting his rehab at Ashley Zobert and so Cal Parrot Rescue. I believe they have the birds now. But you know, I mean it's gonna take six to eight months, you know, nearly half a year to rehab this animal and a lot
of times they do in print. They are highly intelligent animals, and you know, we try to get them going as soon as we can get them free back into the you know, the rest of the flock, and it's just
it's just set back when they're that badly damaged. And I mean, it's just you know, we had some come in since October twentieth, the ones that we're getting shot, and then now this, and it's just it's really it's yeah, uh, it's pretty disturbing to see this actually, andan to know that it's a human being doing this, you know, it's a person or person that is doing this to them.
It's just really I just I don't understand it. And I hope that they can, you know, find the person or person so responsible for this.
Well so do we. And Cleo Wants is the founder of the nonprofit animal rehabilitation center known as Cleo's Critter Care. It's in Pasadena, and she is taken care of some of these parrots that have been mutilated and injured in recent months. So best of luck to you. I hope we can follow up with you sometime soon and see how the parrots are doing. And please stay in touch. Thanks for taking time out of your Saturday to chat with us about this terrible case.
Absolutely, thank you so much for your your reaching out as well. We really appreciate it.
You got it, and we will continue to follow that story. You're listening to Wake Up Call here on KFI and Michael Monks filling in for Amy King. Another issue facing birds in California is bird flu and looks like the White House is paying attention to what's going on with that. Lots of money coming to fight that virus. You've probably felt the impact of bird flu yourself, not that you're sick with it or anything, but if you've been to the grocery and I went yesterday, the price of eggs,
it's no joke. It has impacted the availability of eggs and the I guess the efficiency of egg production. This bird flew across California. It was like almost nine dollars for a dozen eggs. It's getting crazy, something to keep an eye on. So we are keeping an eye on that story and other stories throughout the day. Here as we approach six o'clock on the first Monday of twenty twenty five, this is the first Monday of what looks like the first full week where people will start to
be heading back to work. If that is you, welcome back to reality. Hope you enjoyed your break, and hope you are ready to get back into the swing of things. Some of us who have been working throughout the holidays have kept the home fires burning for you, and we're all going to be glad to see your faces back in the office. Bill Handle is back in the office
as well with the team. We'll have Handle on the news coming up at six oh five, and that is something we want to stay tuned for since we haven't had that with Bill in quite some time since before Christmas, so stay tuned for that. Right now. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland Weather From KFI, We've got sunshine all over the Southland today. It looks like a pretty sunny week ahead as well, warm too, low seventies for Metro La and the valleys.
We cooler at the beaches, with highs in the sixties, mid seventies in the Ie, low to mid sixties in the Antelope Valley. Right now, it is fifty six in Arcadia, fifty three in Manhattan Beach, forty nine and Aliso Viejo and fifty one in Laguna Hills. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom for and our producer, Technical producer Cono and Will Coleschreiber with traffic. I am
Michael Monks. This has been your wake up Call. If you missed any of wake Up Call this morning, you can listen anytime on the iHeartRadio app.
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