You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI had 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, straight up. This is your wake up call for Thursday, December twelfth. I'm Amy King. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Good Morning. Thirteen shopping days till Christmas. I'm still way behind, and my tree is still up. It's still not decorated. I looked at it yesterday and I went, oh, it's a perfect day. It's kind of cloudy, it's not very warm. This is the perfect day to get the lights on and decorate the tree. And then I got distracted into it. Kind of chilly
this morning. You need to grab a sweater. You might want to do that before you head out the door. It's a day that I'm very thankful for seat warmers. You know I mentioned that, don't You don't use them that often in southern California, But on the days that you do, it's like, ah, it's so nice. Oh, and there's a gorgeous moon. It's not quite full yet, but it was beautiful driving in this morning. So as you head out, look up. Here's what's ahead on wake up call.
Sant Ana wins have died down. Humidity levels are increasing as firefighters continue to battle the fire burning in Malibu. It's charred more than four thousand acres and is seven percent surrounded. Fire officials say nine homes and other buildings have been destroyed, six others are damaged. Will's going to give you an update on road closures in the area
around the fire in just a couple of minutes. President Biden has commuted sentences of roughly fifteen hundred people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic. Is so pardoning thirty nine Americans convicted of non violent offenses. It's the largest single day act of clemency in modern history. The President said America was built
on the promise of possibility and second chances. Police a fingerprints found at the scene where United Healthcare CEO was shot to death in New York City last week match Luigi Mangione's. This is the first forensic match that investigators say Ti Manchioni to the scene of the murder. Manngioni was arrested at a McDonald's Pennsylvania Monday. We're going to be digging into the mind of the potential killer with ABC's crime and Terror analyst Brad Garrett. That's coming up
at five twenty. Forget Christmas, ABC's Jim Ryan says, it's time to start thinking about taxes for twenty twenty four. That's at five point fifty, and we're going to take a southern California sleigh ride this holiday season to a brand new Christmas event. It's in the heart of downtown LA. That's coming up at the bottom of the hour, So we hope you'll stick around the whole hour because we got lots going on, So get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
More than six thousand people in Malibu remain under evacuation orders. As the fire in the area has grown to more than four thousand acres, thousands more people are under evacuation warnings. The fire is seven percent surrounded. CalFire Incident Commander Dusty Martin says it is burning in areas that are hard to get to.
The challenging areas for us have been on the west side of the fire up in the Malibu Canyon area. It's extremely steep and unaccessible terrain that the fire is in, and we're working on getting firefighters in there to start containing that.
Cruz say the winds have died down and that's helping firefighting efforts. The La County Fire Department says damage assessments so far found nine homes and other buildings destroyed, six damaged. LA County has reported its highest ever number of reported hate crimes.
Well the third straight year. There's been a double digit percentage increase in reported hate crimes in twenty twenty three, forty five percent more than the year before. Supervisor Holly Mitchell says even she experiences what she calls microaggressions.
This isn't Alabama, Mississippi. I experience, without exaggeration, minimally of microaggression.
Every single det.
Race was the top category for reported crimes, while there were also increases in cases involving gender, identity and religion.
Michael Monks KFI News. The family of a Hawaii woman who disappeared after arriving at lax now says she is safe in Mexico. Hannah Kobayashi was last seen in early November. The LAPD said evidence showed she walked into Mexico on her own and was not a victim of foul play. Yesterday, the woman's family confirmed she is safe. This holiday season, Santa Claus is connecting with us like never before. Saint Nick has gotten tech savvy, and starting today, he will
offer one on one chats with chat GPT. Whether you have questions about life at the North Pole, you're curious about what the elves are up to, or your lif looking for a silly reindeer story as a parent with curious kids, you can now ask Sanna. He will respond in real time in his signature jolly voice in chat GPT's advanced voice mode. Let's say good morning now at five h seven to ABC's Stephen Portnoy. Stephen, the FBI
director has decided to quit instead of getting fired. Was this a surprise at all?
Well, to the extent surprise. It's surprised that you know, it was announced yesterday, and it was the choice that Christopherray is making, not to quote drag the FBI deeper into the fray. You point out, Amy that you know Chrisphray was not invited to stay on in the Trump administration. In fact, the President elect made that very clear about two weeks ago when he announced that Cash Pttel would be his nominee to lead the FBI. Of course, there
wasn't a vacancy. Donald Trump's you know, appointment of a man to a post that isn't vacant is a legal challenge. And Christopher Ray has a term that lasts through twenty twenty seven, but he's taking himself out of the role now. He's announced that he's going to leave the agency when the Biden administration ends next month.
Okay, And normally you said he's been in there for seven years. Normally it's a ten year term that the FBI director serves, but the president can fire.
Him, that is correct. I mean, look, Donald Trump fired James Comy in the middle of his tenure term, and so Trump would have would have fired Ray if Ray hadn't announced yesterday that he's going to step down voluntarily.
Okay. And it's interesting because Trump actually appointed Ray when he was president last time.
That's right, and it's a great fanfare praising him as a sort of a paragon of virtue. But Trump said yesterday, quote, I just don't know what happened to him. You know, Trump believes that Ray was responsible for the FBI's rate
of mar A Lago in twenty twenty two. Of course, that happened after months of back and forth between unbeknownst to the public, between Trump and the Justice Department and the National Archives over the boxes of classified material that we're hanging out in you know, the bathroom and the auditorium and the storage room at mar A Lago, with allegedly his staffers moving the boxes around behind the attorney's back.
All of this was ultimately the subject of a federal indictment that has now been dismissed, but Trump says that the FBI was responsible for how it was handled. Of course, the FBI is a law enforcement agency and can't operate without direction by the Justice Department and attorneys there, attorneys who go to court to get the FBI's search warrants signed. So anyway, long story short, Trump is not a fan of Christopher Ray and is tapping a longtime loyalist in
Cash Patel, to essentially clean house. No, Pateel's gonna have to answer questions from skeptical senators, maybe some moderate Republicans, but certainly Democrats on camera. I had a confirmation hearing about how serious he is about the things he said on podcasts and in other places talking to right wing audiences about his desire to clean house and go after Trump's enemies.
Yeah, and so is it like a cabinet position where he has to get the Senate to back the comfort to back the appointment.
The FBI director certainly is the Senate confirmed post. And the whole idea of the ten year term established by Congress is to go beyond the length of any particular presidency to sort of take the Bureau out of politics. Well, that's not going to happen here. Christopher Ray is ceding to the intent of the incoming president to replace him. And that's understood now that the constitution gives the president the power to point officials and to fire them.
Okay, And when does the raised resignation take effect. Is it going to be now or is he going to do like work with the Biden administration right up until January twentieth thirty.
It is not happening now. What is not clear is exactly when his term will end. But he said yesterday that he'll leave next month. When that when the administration is over, so I suppose that means noon at January twentieth, but I don't know.
All right, ABC, Stephen Portnoy, thank you so much as always, you bet all right, Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Police in New York say a gun found on the man suspected of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson matches shell casings found at the crime scene in Manhattan. YPD Commissioner Jessica Tish says there is also other evidence against Luigi Mangioni.
We're also able at our crime lab to match the person of interests fingerprints with fingerprints that we found on both the water bottle and the kind bar near the scene of the homicide in Midtown.
Mangioni was seen on video to Starbucks the day Thompson was killed, buying water and the food bar. Mangioni was arrested in Pennsylvania at MacDonald's and is fighting extradition to New York. A fundraiser has been set up online for the man accused of killing Brian Thompson in New York as of this morning. Donations for mangeone on Give Send Go have topped forty four thousand dollars. The goal is two hundred thousand. People on the site can also send prayers.
There's a button for that. The fundraiser said it is not to celebrate violence, but that organizers believe in the constitutional right of fair legal representation. The man accused of lying in wait to try to assassinate President elect Trump has asked a judge in Florida to delay his trial until December of twenty twenty five. Ryan Routh is pleaded not guilty to five counts, including attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. The judge in the casay she'll rule on
the delay request in the not so distant future. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is said to meet with President elect Trump's incoming borders are.
The two are expected to discuss deepporting migrants who come out crimes, the migrant crisis in the city, and federal immigration policy. Tom Homan has threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with deportation plans kafight.
Scott Pringle says New York is a sanctuary city, but Mayor Adams says he'd like local law enforcement to work with the Feds to deport criminals. Protests over the meeting are planned outside city Hall. As more insurers stop offering insurance to homeowners in California, Farmers says it's going to offer more policies. Farmers has been limiting the number of new residential insurance policies in the last year to seven
thousand per month. It announced it will raise that number for home and condo owners and renters to ninety five hundred new customers per month starting later this month. Six times Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick is going back to college. She'll become the next head coach at North Carolina. The former New England Patriots head coach has worked in the NFL almost fifty years. He holds the record for most Super Bowl and most Playoff wins in NFL history.
He resigned from the Patriots at the end of the twenty twenty three season. Okay, as you know, Pastathon has come and gone and we finally have all the totals, So we wanted to say one more big, fat thank you to you, because you guys really opened up your hearts and your pocket books and donated a whole ton of money and pasta. So the final the final total is one million, two hundred twenty three thousand, two hundred
and seventy dollars. And on top of that, eighty nine thousand and five pounds of pasta and sauce was donated during Pastathon twenty twenty four and it all goes to Katarina's Club. Chef Bruno serves up twenty five thousand meals every week, twenty five thousand, So that's kids who get to have a nice full belly and get to you know, go back and do their homework, had their minds cleared, their minds nourished, and it's all because of you. Couldn't do it without you. Again, thank you so much for
your participation in Pastathon twenty twenty four. About six thousand people are still under evacuation orders because of the fire in Malibu. The winds have died down, so cal Edison's power has been restored to customers in the area and traffic signals are working again. The fires burned more than four thousand acres since Monday night. It's seven percent surrounded. Several roads are still closed around Malibu, including a stretch
of Pacific Coast Highway. Others have reopened, but only to residents. Sheriff's deputies are patrolling the area to guard against looting. Schools in the area will stay closed at least through tomorrow because of the fire still being investigated. President elect Trump has been named Times Person of the Year. To mark the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump's team says he'll be on Wall Street this morning to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. This will
be the first time he's done that. It's his second time being named Times Person of the Year. At six oh five. It's handle on the news. FBI to TIS director Christopher Rayes calling it quits right now, let's say good morning to ABC's crime and Terror analyst Brad Garrett. So, Brad Luigi Mangioni had got everything going for him. He's smart, he's cute, starting a good career, good family, and then something happened that led him to basically assassinate the CEO of United Healthcare allegedly.
So Aman, we don't know it got him there, but I can guarantee you he got there, and you only get there through radicalization. And I don't know who radicalized him. I don't know obviously who he was talking to online, but this kid at some point started delving into sort of a radical way of thinking about the healthcare industry and probably got in trade. He's really smart, and my guess has put everything into well what this is all about?
And you know, isn't it awful? And you know, whatever negative things he could find, and maybe he's now talking to people that all also supporting that way of thinking. So radicalization basically goes through four phases for lack of better terms, where you get intrigued with a particular philosophy, you then accept it, and then you accept that violence is the way to deal with it, and then you act.
And obviously he did act. And just his comments of what little has been released about whacking the CEO, I mean, it's all like, was he felt, he feels totally justified that what he did, that he's on the right side of all of this and the rest of us are on the other side. And I mean, let's face it, I mean there's a lot of people that are sort of applauding what he did, which obviously is not right,
but it is out there. And so despite the fact he had all this going for him, he still felt had a vulnerability to fall into something like this, and the whole idea that he just peered for six months. It sort of fits. I mean, six months of total isolation of maybe just dealing with like minded people, probably
online mostly. We'll have to see till he ultimately plans this and figures out where the CEO is going to be, shoots him, and then it leaves, and I think feels just fine about it, Yeah, which is not uncommon with people who commit these kind of acts.
And Brad, I'm guessing, just from hearing you talk about, you know, the road to radicalization for people who may be heading that way, I'm guessing that the Internet and social media helps that along. And you know, I mean, for lack of a better word, because the algorithms all point you to places you're already going. It's just like it, you know, it pushes conservative people more conservative, and it
pushes liberal people further to the left. So I would imagine as he starts digging around and finding stuff that it just makes it. I mean, it's like it's just fanning the flames for him.
There is no doubt, and right it helps you go down whatever path you're choosing, whether it's a light path or a dark path. In his case, obviously he was he has gone down a very dark path, and you know, he's basically giving up his life to do this, and maybe he doesn't recognize this. I think the harsh reality of the four walls that he's currently sitting in that which may be his residence for maybe ever we'll have
to see, is they don't think about that. And clearly maybe he planned it high risk he got away, but he didn't. He didn't plan the elk game, and that's what got him caught, which I thought all along he was going to get caught, because it just didn't strike me that you know that he was on a you know, a jet to some island in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, he was. He was found two hundred and fifty miles away.
Right right, and he's driving through familiar territory. I think he'd been to Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. He went to college at at the University of Pennsylvania. So I don't know, but it's a story that we don't have all the pieces, but I'm pretty clear that he had to go through this sort of stages of radicalization to get to where he got to last week.
Here's a question for you, Brat. I mean, this doesn't happen overnight. Is this like a year in the making or two years in the making, or is there any kind of a timeline typically that you see with these kind of cases.
There's not a timeline, Amy, but I will tell you that it has come out that in twenty twenty one, so that's three years ago. He's in some sort of book club and he brings in the writings of Ted Kaczynski, the unabomber, and talks about beasically that he gives him a four star rating, and that that you know, maybe it was not right that he was the Ted was blowing people up, but that this whole idea of stopping
society from improvements in technology was the right thing to do. Basically, he sort of justifies what Kazinski did and apparently it alarmed so many people in the book club. People started pulling out of it. Oh really, so I only shared only share that that's three years ago. So something's been going on with this kid for a long time, is a short answer.
Yeah, Now we know he had a back injury. That's been talked about quite a bit, But are there any indications so far that he was like denied coverage or a medical procedure or something by the insurance companies. And maybe that just really ticked him off and again sent him down that road.
Oh maybe, or maybe that got him to be intrigued by the whole idea even had I may be wrong about this a second back surgery, and his back is much better than it was previously, but yes, that may have given him a direction. And then once he starts digging, he sees sort of how murky the whole healthcare insurance industry is.
Yeah, well, it's fascinating in a very morbid way that somebody who, like we talked about, who seemed to have it all, shows that very dark.
Path, right and throw it all away?
Yeah right, all right. ABC's Crime and Terror Analyst Brad Garrett, Thank you so much, appreciate your insight. As always, you're welcome take carry me all right, talk to you soon. A homeless man charged with punching an Asian woman in the head in Culver City while shouting racial slurs at her, is pleaded guilty to a federal charge. The US Attorney's Office says it's a felony and carries a possible maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison. Sentencing a set
for March. The man appointed as the director of the FBI by then President Trump in twenty seven teen will step down before Trump takes office in January. Christopher Ray announced yesterday he was resigning. He said it was the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray. The resignation clears the way for Trump to nominate Cash
Battel to head the FBI. The Pentagon is pushing back on claims by New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew that mysterious drones spotted over the state could be from Iran. Andrew says there is evidence that suggests the drones could be the work of foreign adversaries and should be shot down. He also says Americans should have full disclosure.
That doesn't mean we tell their military sequence. But when you have something the size of a Chevy suburban hovering over your backyard, and these reports are real and they don't deny them. The Pentagon doesn't deny the reports. Nobody does. There's something going on here.
Republican State Senator John Bremnick is calling for the drones to be temporarily banned. Such a bizarre story be interesting to see how that all shakes out. An American detained for seven months in Seria has been freed as the rebels who toppled the government have been letting people out of prisons. Travis Timmerman says he had crossed into Syria illegally from Lebanon on a Christian pilgrimage. He says he heard other young men being tortured while he was detained,
but that he was treated okay. He says he was fed and given water, but complained he could only use the restroom three times a day. The last surviving star of a landmark counterculture TV show has died.
Michael Cole starting the hit show The Mob Squad from nineteen sixty eight to nineteen seventy three with Clarence Williams the Third and Peggy Lipton. They played hip rebellious youths recruited to work as undercover detectives for the Man instead of doing time for crimes. Cole's twenty eighteen memoir was titled I Played the White Guy. He played Pete Cochran, a rich kid busted for stealing a car, and with partners Julie and Link, got involved in heavy stories of
the time that regular fuzz cops couldn't get near. Cole died Tuesday in Tarzana. He was eighty four. Mark ronnerd KFI.
News about five hundred Boeing workers in southern California are losing their jobs. The company announced yesterday that one hundred and fifteen workers in Long Beach and one hundred and forty four in El Segundo will be laid off. More will soon lose their jobs in Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, and San Diego. Boeing says it's being done in part
because of losses from the two month machinist strike. The La City Council's voted twelve to three to increase the minimum wage for tourism workers more slowly than originally approved. The new measure increases the minimum minimum wage to twenty two to fifty an hour by February of twenty twenty five, instead of to twenty five dollars, and then the wages will gradually increase and will hit thirty dollars an hour by twenty twenty eight, just in time. For the twenty
twenty eight Summer Olympic Games. Workers will also get better health benefits. Four restaurants in California have made yelp's top twenty five list for best new restaurants in twenty twenty four. The Asian fusion restaurant Burn and Shell Cute in La is fifth on the list. Mexico restaurant Paseo in Downtown Disney and Anaheim is ninth. Two restaurants in San Diego made the list. Kid Me Oma Cassi is fourth and Bougie Mana is eighth. On the yelp list. Bougiemna is
a Mediterranean restaurant at five point fifty. It's two weeks away from Christmas, so doesn't it make sense that we should maybe start talking about your taxes. We're going to be checking in with ABC's Jim Ryan, who says it is time to start planning now. Oh, we're not talking taxes right now, because it's time for us to take a Southern California's sleigh ride. We're going out and about to a brand new event in the heart of downtown LA that is definitely going to help get you in
the Christmas spirit. As far as I know there hasn't been anything like this in LA until now. It's the Los Angeles Christmas Market. We caught up with marketing team member Queenie Kwan. So Queenie, please tell us about the Los Angeles Christmas Markets.
Well, the Los Angeles Christmas Market. It's the first ever in Los Angeles.
One.
Yeah, this is our first year, okay, and we are trying to bring some European inspired Christmas magic into the heart of LA. We have food, drink, plentey of little activities for everyone to enjoy. It ranges from meeting Sana, writing letters to Santa, some diy ornament painting, chocolate dipping and of.
Course tippy wait tell me about chocolate chocolate dipping.
Well, you are able to purchase a little tray and it'll come with your chocolate dip, a bunch of sweet treats, decorations. You can customize it however you want and enjoy as you make your food.
Yeah, okay, And we are here actually at Letters to Santo, which is adorable. So you can sit down at your big people table and you write your letter to Santa and then you send it off to him and it heads to the North Pole and that's just one of the several activities that we can do. And then now tell us about some of the shopping because we're only a few days away from Christmas and shopping is paramount right now. So what are some of the things that people are gonna find.
We have a lot of local California vendors. A lot of them are small businesses of their own, and there's a variety of different merchandise that everyone can purchase. It ranges from pet goodies to jewelry. If you like tea or honey, we have those as well. We have a local chocolate booth as well. It's freshly made every day.
And how many shopping booths are there about?
I would say about twenty to thirty. Okay, we are in a smaller lot, but it gives off a pretty cozy vibe as everything's a little bit clustered together. And of course you'll you're gonna see so many light displays everywhere, plenty of photo opportunities.
Let's talk about the light displays because they're every you wear and they're so fun. So they are light displays and their photo ops. So there's so many opportunities, Like there's that the light tunnel which is so spectacular beautiful. Yes, yeah. And then there's a couple of ornaments that we went in and you walk into the ornament and look and it's just a sea of lights and it just makes such a cool picture.
Oh yes, definitely. Even some of our trees have a little tunnel underneath as well. They love walking through it taking photos. Yep, so many different light displays. We just wanted to bring some Christmas magic to everyone's lives.
If you really have. I mean it really just because we've walked around and looked around and now get to talk about it, but it just really feels homey and Christmas y. It doesn't feel all big time. It feels like a really well thought out, beautiful activity to do for Christmas. So you can come and do your shopping, you can come to your activities with your family. And then we ought to talk about food, because there's food here,
there's always fun here. So tell us a couple of the premiere ones or the hits.
So some of the food items that we do sell. Obviously plenty of sweet treats for everyone with a sweet too, and we also have some European inspired dishes as well. It ranges from Snitchell to ratt Wars and Swedish meatballs given smoky salmon as well.
Smoked salmon too. The Swedish meatballs delicious, yes, yeah, okay. And then there's like you said, there, I saw like a strawberry shortcake. I thought I saw something that had to do with waffles. I'm guessing those are sweet too.
Yes they are. And some of these vendors are also local to California as well, so there's plenty of variety to choose from. There isn't too many that you're overwhelmed with, chy ses yep. And there's also plenty of drink holiday drinks to go around, such as hot chocolate eggnogs and some adult beverage as well. Adult beverages as well.
And then I want to talk about this other thing that is so cool. They have igloos that you can rent out, so tell us about the Igloo experience.
The Igle experience is one of our more VIP experiences. Once you first walk into the event, you're going to be handed a menu with your selections of foods and beverages that you'll be receiving in that igo. It's a ninety minute designated experience and so you.
Can eat in there and have a cocktail or a hot chocolate and just get off your feet and just have some like you know, just hang out with your friends and family. It's really really neat and like you if you have the time and you want to do the VIP, I think the ALUs is really a cool thing to do. So tell us when are you open and how do we find out?
We open? From time wise, it's from four pm to ten pm on Christmas Eve. We do have special hours, it's twelve pm to five ven pm last finish shopping. Yes, and we're open up into Christmas Eve, okay, from Wednesday to Sunday.
So you're dark on Monday Tuesday, and then open Wednesday through Sunday from four to ten pm. And then you advise that people buy tickets ahead of time.
Yes, tickets are sold only online, okay, and the weekends do get a little bit busier.
Well, queeny, I think you guys are onto something, because, like I said, this is a really really cool thing and it's new, it's the first year, but it doesn't look like it's the first year. I mean, this thing is dialed in and ready for you to come down and see it. It's our Southern California sleigh ride. We went to the Los Angeles Christmas Market and I think
it was really really a great outing. It's just something a little bit different, and like I said, once it got dark, because we got there when it was light and then the twilight and then the lights really start showing up and they have all these great light installations. So it's just a very chill thing to do. And one thing that we didn't mention when I talked to Queeny was they do movies every night, so they have an outdoor movie screen and they have all these Adirondack chairs.
When we were there, they were playing White Christmas, and I think they they're rotating different movies around. But when we went there, like the whole everybody was sitting there watching the movies. There were people standing around, but like all the chairs were full. And they've do like two showings of the movie every night. And there's also a scavenger hunt for the kids and for the kids at heart because Nick and I both did the scavenger hunt. You can take a sneak peek at the Los Angeles
Christmas Market. It's up on my Instagram or will be shortly as soon as they get a chance to put it up there, it's at Amy K.
King.
I'm gonna post it at KFI AM six forty as well, but I would love for you to take a look, and I would love for you to follow me at Amy K. King. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. The wind driven fire in Malibu has grown to more than four thousand acres. It's still seven percent surrounded. Fire officials say the most challenging areas are on the west side of the fire, in Malibu Canyon, where the terrain is steep and hard to get to.
As we look for in the days to come, I want to ensure that getting the citizens back into their homes is our number one priority. But to do that, we have to make sure that the area is safe before we could let folks back.
In CalFire incident Commander Dusty Martins's sixty three hundred people remain under evacuation orders. Thousands more are under evacuation warnings. Assessments so far show nine homes and other buildings have been destroyed and six are damaged. UCLA's police Chief, John Thomas has left his job after being criticized for serious security lapses and failing to protect students during pro Palestinian protests. UCLA's announcement didn't say if he was fired or he resigned.
A University of California independent review released last month found that UCLA failed on several fronts, leading to what it called institutional paralysis. California could face economic challenges due to President Elect Trump's announced policies.
The newest economics forecast from UCLA Anderson suggests the state could face a labor shortage because of the mass deportation proposal. Millions of illegal immigrants could depart the state's workforce as part of the deportation process or voluntarily exit because of the fear of deportation. The report also notes that Trump's emphasis on H one B visas for tech workers could benefit California's tech industry.
Michael Monks KFI News about six thousand people still under evacuation orders because of the fire in Malibu. The winds have died down, so cal Edison's power has been restored to customers in the area and traffic signals are working again. The fires burn more than four thousand acres since Monday night, seven percent contained. Several roads are closed in the Malibu area, including a stretch of PCH. Others are only open to residents.
Sheriff's deputies are patrolling the area to guard against looting. Schools in the area will be closed. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. President elect Trump has been named Person of the Year. To mark the unveiling of the magazine covers, people say, he'll be on Wall Street this morning to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange for the very first time. It's his second time though, being named Person of the Year.
Let's say good morning now to ABC's Jim Ryan. So, Jim, it's less than two weeks until Christmas, So why not start talking about taxes?
You gotta start talking about them sometime. And the end of the year, of course, is the end of the tax season for most of us. And so yeah, just stick in the back of your mind and think, you know what, Hey, let me grab that receipt while I'm thinking about it, to the donation that I just made to some charity or the big box of goods that
I took there, collected a receipt from them. So yeah, start putting those things aside, getting ready for the tax season, because it's coming, whether you want it to or not.
Amy, I know, so you're saying, and that's actually a good reminder for any charitable donations you make around the Christmas time. You got to get those receipts. Like if you made a donation to Pastathon, you got to get those receipts.
Right, That's important, man, And that is one way to kind of soften the blow of the tax filing and the amount that you're going to own the end.
Yeah, and so in general, like when would you say is a good time to really in earnest start putting your taxes together, knowing that April fifteenth is the day. And I know we've had several times in the last few years of probably because of the pandemic and buyers and stuff, where they've delayed the deadline. But April fifteenth is the date.
It is twenty twenty five, It is the date. No federal holidays, nothing happening in Washington in terms of a holiday, no disasters that are slowing things down at least not yet, no fingers crossed. But yeah, fifteenth, this I'd say, I mean the time to start is as soon as you get your W two right that tells you what your earnings were for the previous year. Now, once that comes in the mail or is delivered to you electronically, then you can really start sitting down, whether you're filing by
paper or filing electronically. And speaking of that in California, California is one of twelve states that were in the pilot program for IRS Direct File, and it's a program that allows you to log on, you set up your IRS ID, and then answer a few questions and you file your tax returned directly to the IRS, whether you
owe or you're owed a refund. So it's expanded this year to twelve more states twenty four states altogether, but as with so many other things, it's coming under scrutiny and controversy.
That controversy, well.
Thirty Republican lawmakers say Direct File IRS direct File is a government overreach and that taxpayers run the risk of overpaying if they use this service. So well, yeah, that's the why. I mean, critics say that it digs too deep into taxpayers. Information advocates, though, say, look, it's just answering a few questions about your status, about the amount you made answering these questions and then filing directly with
the IRS, so it's fairly transparent. But yeah, these thirty lawmakers are urging President Trump when he takes office to shut down the program, so we'll see what happens with it even before the administration steps inward seeing a controversy related to to this aspect.
Okay, but even if he does shut it down, it's not going to be for this year. This is going to be available for the twenty twenty four. So the question is is it for all taxes or just for the really really simple taxes.
Well, it's best obviously with simple taxes, you know, for this coming year. Direct file supports the ten ninety nins. It didn't last year, so even ten ninety nine for interest income greater than fifteen hundred dollars. So they're actually expanding this not only to more states, but to more details, the fine details of your return. So yeah, it's the free file is the one that you really should be
very simple. I mean, if you're single and you have one source of income, you don't have a lot of deductions, than free file is probably the best way to go. But that one involves a private tax preparer working with the IRS.
But it's free.
But it's free.
Okay, some of that's great.
Well, so too is direct files. Right, Well, they're both free, but the direct file allows you to file directly with the IRS. Free file allows you to work with a tax preparer who's under contract with the IRS. It true is free, but brings in this third element.
But they're working with the IRS. I think I want a private person.
Yeah, well, I mean they're working with him in terms of under contract with the IRS. Doesn't mean they're going to fudge your numbers or anything. They'll they'll still do what they have to do because they're legally bound to be accurate or as best or as accurate as they can be at least.
Okay, all right, well, thanks for dampening my Christmas spirit by bringing up taxes. I think I need to go watch a Christmas movie. ABCD ABC's Jim Ryan thinks so much. We'll talk to you soon. So yeah, all right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. President Biden's commuting sentences of about fifteen hundred people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID nineteen pandemic.
He's also pardoning thirty nine Americans who were convicted of nonviolent crimes. He said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. The family of a missing woman from Hawaii says she is safe. Anna Kobayashi was last seen in early November crossing the border into Mexico shoo that was seen on surveillance video. According to the LAPD, she had missed a connecting flight from Hawaii to New York City at LAX
earlier in the month. On Wednesday, the thirty year old's family confirmed that she is safe and they have talked to her. The incoming Trump administrations reportedly planning to reverse a policy to prevent immigration and Customs enforcement officers from arresting illegal immigrants at her near churches, schools, hospitals, and
other sensitive sites. NBC News says talk of the day one policy shift has already drawn criticism from groups like the ACLU that argue migrants with potentially contagious diseases should not be afraid to go to the hospital. Researchers that you see David say feeding cows seaweed could help save the planet. Burps that come from cows are a major
source of methane and that contributes to climate change. But Professor Erme's cou Rob says, if you feed cattle seaweed, you can reduce methane emissions by almost forty percent.
An inhibitor basically inhibits the formation of methane.
The goalie says is to make cattle farming more sustainable.
We want to reduce the amount of methane that is in the atmosphere so that we don't have the screenhouse cut effect as much as we do right now.
He says, about a third of all methane comes from cows. The professor says adding a seaweed supplement to the cow's diet did not affect their health or their weight. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland weather from KFI party cloudy with air, twenty percent chance of rain in the afternoon and evenings will be in the mid sixties at the beaches Metro LA and in an Orange, Orange County lod to mid sixties in the valleys in ie fifties. The Antelope Valley overnight lows
in the thirties and forties, then becoming sunny. Tomorrow heis in the sixties. Mostly cloudy on Saturday, with highs in the sixties and a chance of rain in the evening, then morning clouds afternoon sun. For Sunday, it's thirty nine in Anaheim forty seven, Redondo Beach forty eight, and Claremont forty six in Downey. We lead local live from the KFI twenty four hour newsroom for producer and and technical producer KNO and also traffic specialist Will I'm Amy King.
This has been your wake up call. If you missed any of wake Up Call, 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 AM six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.