You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
And then I traveled to the seven levels of the candy Cane Forest, past the sea of Swirly twirly gumdrops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel KFI and KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County, Okay, people, Sama's coming to Oh my god, Santa's here.
I know him.
I know him fastin.
It's time for your morning wake up call. Here's Amy King.
Uh.
It's my favorite thing about Christmas. Buddy the ol what's your favorite color? It's five o'clock, straight up. This is your wake up call for Monday, December sixteenth. I'm Amy King. I hope you had a great weekend. We've got nine sleeps till Christmas. I know that stresses an out. She just shot me a look. But I have mission accomplished. Good news. If you've been listening. I got my tree like over a week ago, and then I just I got it up. It's watering itself with my Hoho H
two two automatic waterer and didn't decorate it. It's just been sitting there. So I finally, finally got it done, and it's beautiful. Love my tree. Here's what's ahead on wake up call. Firefighters have now surrounded forty nine percent of the fire burning in Malibu, and everyone who lives in the area has been allowed to return to their homes over the weekend. There are still evacuation warnings in place, but the orders have been lifted. Most roads have now reopened.
Twenty homes and other buildings were destroyed. Twenty eight others were damaged in the fire that started a week ago. Two men have been taken into custody after a drone was spotted flying what officials say was dangerously close to Boston's Logan International Airport. The men were found on an island near the airport. They're looking for a third person who may have taken off in a small boat to arrested.
Are facing trespassing and possibly other charges. Northern California got a double dose of Mother Nature's fury over the weekend. A tornado touchdown in Scott's Valley south of San Jose on Saturday. The twister flipped cars and took out power poles and trees. Several people were injured. Then, on Saturday night, a five point three earthquake shook near Ferndale, not far from where the seven magnitude quake rocked the waters off
northern California about a week and a half ago. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Schools are reopening in Malibu now that a fire that has burned more than four thousand acres is almost fifty percent surrounded. Kids at Malibu Elementary, Middle School, and high School go back today. Students from Webster Elementary will go to Malibu Elementary starting tomorrow. The fire started last Monday night and quickly spread because
of the strong Santa Ana wins. Cooler weather and higher humidity have helped firefighters. Evacuation orders, as I mentioned, have now all been downgraded to warnings. A man's been arrested in San Diego County for the shooting of a metro bus driver in East Hollywood. The female driver was shot in the face last month in what the transit agency called an active domestic violence. Police said Friday, Dorian Holt was arrested in Escondido and is being held on a
million dollars bail. Nearly forty people have been arrested in a major retail theft bust.
Over the weekend, police in Ventura County put together a sting operation at the Pacific View Mall Ventura County Shares. Deputies say that twenty one people and sixteen kids have all been arrested. Deputies retrieved two thousand dollars in stolen goods. Theying covered burglary tools, narcotics, including meth and fetanyl, and cocaine. Authorities collaborated with loss prevention teams from Target, J. C. Penny and Macy's in order to successfully get the bad guys and Caravella Kfigh News.
Drones have been reported hovering over Long Beach, Redondo Beach, Pacoima, Riverside, and Temecula. The sightings haven't been confirmed by officials, they're just witness reports. New Jersey and New York have had the most drone sightings over the past few weeks, but now more sightings are being reported all over the country. Federal officials say the drones are not a threat, but
citizens than state and local officials want more answers. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorcis says the Biden administration is on it. If there is any reason for concern.
If we identify any foreign involvement or criminal activity, we will communicate with the American public.
Accordingly, Majorcis's Congress must act to extend and expand federal authority to deal with drones and give local authorities more ability to shoot them down. It's five six. Let's say good morning to ABC's Peter Haralambus. Morning, Peter. As the world continues to be intrigued by the man who allegedly killed the CEO of United Healthcare, there are some new developments.
That's right, aim he has of this morning, we now expect Mangioni to waive his extradition as early as Tuesday. I mean he could be in New York City later this week, where he's been charged with second degree murder. This all comes is he hired a new attorney over the weekend, a high power, well experienced attorney who is basically a decade of experience leading the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
We'll have to see whether or not he decides to work out some kind of deal or if he fights this and we see this go to trial.
Okay, and you mentioned his new attorney, so he ditched the one guy and has this new guy who's going to be his defense attorney. But he's a pretty high powered prosecutor.
Yeah, so he hired Karen Friedman Magnifilo, And she's someone who comes with a wealth of experience from the Manhattan District Attorney's office. She was the head of the trial division there. She was second in command under Cyrus Vance for seven years. In fact, she was a Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's supervisor at one point. I've known her
at this point for more than a year. I've worked with her and used her as a resource during Trump coverage, and she's someone who knows that office in and out a ton of experience, suggesting that if he wants to work out some kind of arrangement, she might be an arrangement with the DA's office or some kind of deal. She would be arguably one of the best people for that, given her connections in the office. At the same time, she has a ton of trial experience and is a
proper trial attorney. So if this actually gets the trial, she also brings all of that experience with her.
And interestingly, you said that she's got all that experience and she knows all those the people in the office and that kind of thing, because, I mean, he's being held on first degree murder charges. It wasn't an accidental, it wasn't a voluntary manslaughter. I mean, this is somebody who was basically lying in wait for the guy and assassinated him allegedly, So it might be kind of a tough sell to get him out on bail.
Yeah. And also on top of this, prosecutors have accrued a ton of alleged evidence linking Mangoni to the crime. There are those photos that everyone saw on the media for the two weeks of this manhunt. There are shell casings that link Mangoni to the scene of the crime, fingerprints that are matched his, and there are writings that prosecutors basically consider a confession. And one of these writings, he allegedly wrote, what do you do regarding his frustration
with United Healthcare? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic beam counter convention. So dealing with a ton of evidence here against him, and definitely the kind of person who prosecutors will argue is a risk to the public if he's released.
Right, Okay, And in the meantime, all this is all going on the fascination and sympathy and support for Luigi Mangioni, continues.
Yeah, and law enforcement is concerned about that. They're worried that he's basically become a martyr and that he could embolden other extremists to act on their impulses, basically because they see that Mangioni's being heralded as a hero and there's less of a deterrence for them to not actually carry out their plans. In fact, we've seen an outpouring
of support online in support of his legal defense. Fundraiser has raised one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars as of this morning, and as people are donating anonymously, they're sharing messages openly calling for violence, saying CEO should be terrified, and thanking Mangioni for having the courage to be the spark we need to quote start the fire. So a ton of support for him online, that's that's just crazy.
So when when will we see him next, or is it going to be in court this week or when.
Is that at this point? If he actually does waive his rights to extradition, which we expect at this point, we could see him in court on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday this week and during a plea for these charges in New York, that murder charge and four other charges, and this all comes as he's grand jury's hearing evidence in the case, So there could be an indictment against him, with more charges coming as early as this week as well.
Okay, because right now he's facing those charges in Pennsylvania, but in New York he has been charged with first degree murder.
Right so when New York he has been charged by complaint with second degree murder. We understand that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is kind of looking at first degree murder and trying to make a case for that. And they haven't presented this to the grand jury yet, so they have to still kind of go back to the grand jury and get an indictment as opposed to a complaint.
Gotcha? Okay? And do courts, Peter, did they shut down over the holidays or do they kind of keep going except for Christmas and Christmas Eve?
So they'll still be opened through the entire holidays. There'll be some kind of judge on call, so there could be maybe one or two days if he goes up on a weekend or on Christmas Day, but I wouldn't expect either New Year's or Christmas to delay this significantly.
Okay, all right, ABC's Peter Hirelumbus, thank you so much for the information. We'll be checking in with you again.
Thanks so much, Amy, appreciate.
Have a great day. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. An LAPD detective with cybercrime expertise is suing the city. The lawsuit alleges he was downgraded and stopped from doing FBI work because he blew the whistle on a boss who was allegedly working in the office during times he was supposed to be doing overtime for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The city Attorney's office has not commented on the suit.
ABC's expected to pay fifteen million dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit by President elect Trump. Trump's lawyers say George Stephanopoulos knowingly or recklessly made multiple false, disparaging statements during ABC News broadcasts. The fifteen million dollars will be transferred to a present ssidential foundation and museum to be established
by or for Trump. According to the settlement terms released on Saturday, ABC ABC News and Stephanopoulos will also pay a million dollars to Trump's legal team and post a note in an online article about the interview declaring that they regret statements made about Trump. The woman who claimed she was raped by three members of the Duke University lacrosse team nearly twenty years ago now says she made
it up. I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped mean when they didn't, and that was wrong. Crystal Mangham admitted in a podcast that she falsely accused the students of raping her in a restroom during an off campus party in two thousand and six where she was working as a stripper. Governor Roy Cooper, who was the state attorney general at the time, dismissed all the charges against the men because of a lack of evidence.
Mangham is currently in prison for the murder of her boyfriend and is set to be released in six A new survey shows one in four Americans are stressed about the holidays. Ooh, we can add an to that list. The poll by the American Psychiatric Association Foundation finds that the three main stressors are paying for gifts, the loss
of a loved one, and complicated family dynamics. The Foundation's executive director, Roll Andrews Junior, tells KFI people are more stressed this year than they were a year ago.
So we certainly have seen over the last four years that holiday stress is natural. Holiday stress is normal, and we constantly remind folks there's no such thing as a perfect holiday.
Speak for yourself, mister, no, I'm just kidding, he says. The flip side is that forty one percent of people surveyed say they can't wait to catch up with family and friends. But for anyone who wants immediate help dealing with depression about the holidays, he says, they can call, text or chat with someone by dialing nine to eighty eight. It is a serious thing. Speaking of stress, the one thing I am stressed about is that I am so bad at mailing gifts and getting them in the mail
in time to get there for Christmas. I just wanted to remind you because mailing deadlines are coming up for the Postal service. If you are sending stuff regular mail Wednesday, things need to be in the mail for regular first class mail if you want them to get there before Christmas. If you're going to go priority mail, the deadline is this Thursday the eighteenth, and ooh is that right, Thursday
the eighth Yes, Thursday the nineteenth. Sorry, And then if you're doing a priority mail express, you have until Saturday, but it's going to cost you an armload. And remember we were talking about how people are getting scammed not by the Postal Service, but by people saying they're the Postal Service. I just got one the other day. So here's the message on my text. US post you have a USPS parcel being cleared. Due to the detection of an invalid is ZIP code address, the parcel cannot be cleared.
The parcel is temporarily detained. Please confirm the zip code information in this link within twenty four hours. And then they have a link there and then it says please reply with a why then exit the text message, open it again to activate the link. Activate the link, and then that's the issue. They want you to activate a link and then put in personal information if you get something. The US Postal Service does not send text messages like this, but they do. It's it is confusing because I have
packages coming and I'm getting alert. It's like Hey, FedEx is delivering something today, so just be careful, don't get scammed. It's the holidays, we want them to be happy days. Santa Ana wins are expected to blow through southern California again this week. Low humidity levels along with forty to sixty mile per hour guests will lead to increased fire danger from Tomorrow night through Thursday afternoon. The National Weather Services this week's fire weather conditions will likely not be
as intense as life last week. Firefighters not only had to deal with flames, but a swarm of bees at a house and boil heights. More than fifty firefighters were dispatched to the fire yesterday before noon on East New Jersey Street. Flames had broken out in the crawl space of a room added on to the back of a garage. Firefighters had to deal with the swarm while protecting cars
in the garage. No one was hurt. Freddie Freeman's walk off home run ball from Game one of the World Series has sold it auction for one point five to six million dollars. That's the third highest price ever paid for a baseball show. Hey Otani's fifty to fifty home run ball sold for almost four point four million dollars. Let's say now good morning to ABC's Karen Travers. Karen, with all the attention focused on President elect Trump, President Biden continues too, as the White House put it, get
things done. What's he doing?
That's that's what they're saying, and that he wants to continue getting things done before leaving office in just a couple of weeks. The freeze. We keep hearing and I might have mentioned this to you a couple of weeks ago, probably right after the election. They keep saying, we're running through the tape. You know that they are not wasting a single day. They're trying to get as much off there to do list as they can, and everybody is going full throttle, you know.
But for the.
President, there's only so much he can do in the sense of he's not working with Congress right now. They're not doing legislation that he would like to get done. They have to fund the government by the end of this week. They have there are things that they just need to check off the to do list before leaving
for the holiday break. But for the White House, they're trying to take action through executive action, through rules and regulations at agency levels, but the White House says that look for the President to do a couple of things. One more action on clemency, pardons and commutations, following up what he did last week. He'll take action on climate issues like protecting lands and waters and working with state
and local leaders on other things like that. They also indicate that he might take more action on student get relief and artificial intelligence, and also announce more funding from the Chips in science back, which is of course a very big priority for this administration. They want that money out the door. So these are the things that they can do. I think they'd like to try to do more. But so much of this too by putting a memo out like this from the White House over the weekend.
It's about messaging, you know, to trying to say like, here's what we think of as our legacy, here's what we're attempting to do right now. But it's challenging to try to convince Americans that they're getting stuff done. Well.
Yeah, and it is interesting that there's this flurry of things. Do you think that I know that he wants to get stuff done before he leaves office, but maybe didn't do these things before now because maybe thought that they would have the next term to get these other things done.
You know, I don't think they tend to leave things on the table, you know, anticipating another term, like politically, that just wouldn't be smart, just in case, like you just never know. So I think that they try to do it as much they can. I think the one thing about a lot of their agenda is, and they said this in the memo, their agenda is that that some of the big pieces of legislation that the President's signed, the Infliction Reduction Act, the Chips and Science Act, the
bypart is an infrastructure law. Those are not overnight pieces of legislation where you can say, like, oh, here's the infrastructure money. The bridge just got built while he is still in office. This is going to take a long time. The Chips and Science Act is massive investment. It's going to create tens of thousands of jobs in some of these communities. But again, not happening now. It's not going
to happen maybe in the next four years. And so the White House is saying, you know, in this memo, here's a line that a presidency is not measured in weeks, months, or four year terms alone. Rather its impact is evaluated for years and decades to come. They're really trying to say that, yes, the approval ratings aren't great right now, but they feel that down the road, the administration this term will look better because of the investments that this president made.
All about the legacy. Yeah, and I've heard by and say that a couple of times. He's like, hey, we did this, but you're not going to feel the benefits of it for another ten years or so. And is there just a real quick question before you go, Are there things that he's doing now that Trump could undo when he gets into office. Not Chips and Sciences, well, but the inflict, but some of the executive orgies.
Absolutely, I mean some of the you know, he's certainly is going to try to do things as soon as he comes in, especially on climate action, you know, trying to cut off things funding for electric vehicles and charging stations, things like that are potential things that he would do very quickly.
You know.
I think while there's talk about repealing the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips and Science Act, some of that stuff is investment in red states, red areas of blue states that you know, once that stuff is baked in.
It's hard to pull back.
But you know, like every president, when you come in, you certainly try to do things differently than the Ford, the guy right before you, and the incoming Trump people are saying, yes, they're going to take significant executive action.
I going to start and it's going to be a wild ride. We'll be watching, Karen Travers, thank you so much. All right, you too. Some Amazon workers could go on strike right before Christmas.
The Teamsters union says it gave Amazon a deadline of December fifteenth to agree to bargaining dates for a union contract.
But ABC's Allison Kozik says Amazon does not recognize the demand.
And Amazon spokesperson said for more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public, claiming that they represent thousands of Amazon employees and drivers.
They don't. She says. The workers are threatening to walk at two Amazon warehouses in New York City. Three people have been injured in a dog attack in Norwalk. The two men and a woman were bitten by the pitbull last night at a home and have bites on their noses, fingers, and arms. One of the men ended up stabbing the dog all three were taken to the hospital. Animal control
took the dog. It has since died. The woman suing Sean Combs and Jay Z for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was thirteen, has admitted to inconsistencies in her story. Her lawsuit claims the assault happened at an after party
following the MTV VMAs in two thousand. The woman says she spoke with musician Benji Madden at the party and her father picked her up after the alleged assault, but a representative for Madden says he was on tour and her father says he doesn't remember the hour's long drive home. The woman's lawyer says he will continue to vet her claims.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this week for the third time this year, but ABC's j O'Brien says the overall impact on people's wallets is likely to be mixed.
Most economists are expecting another quarter point cut, which would bring the Fed's benchmark rate down to a range of four point twenty five to four point five percent, impacting everything from mortgages to credit cards to car loans.
O'Brien says some borrowing costs like credit card rates will stay high I despite consistent cuts by the FED, and check your credit card statements because if we were talking with Joel Larsgard about this, how the credit card rates are just going through the roof, I got something from my American Express saying any balances twenty five percent, We've seen upwards of like thirty five percent interest. So Joel says, you're okay as long as you pay them off every month.
But it's when you don't pay them off that you get to that you get hit. And here's something that could impact your wallet. There was no Mega Million's winner from the last drawing on Friday night. That means tomorrow night's drawing is where seven hundred and forty million dollars would not be a nice Christmas present, or if you choose to take the cash, it's just three hundred and forty two point nine million. That's for tomorrow night's Mega
Million's drawing. Cleanup continues after a rare tornado touchdown in Santa Cruz County. The F one tornado in Scott's Valley south of San Jose flipped over vehicles. It knocked down trees and utility poles. Weather Services. The twister was on the ground for about five minutes, traveled a little over a quarter mile and was about thirty yards wide. Several people were injured. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is recovering from hip replacement surgery in Germany after taking a fall
in Luxembourg on Friday. California Senator Adam Schiff says he expects former House Speaker Pelosi to be back on her feet soon following that surgery. ABC News is going to pay President elect Trump fifteen million dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit. Trump filed the suit after anchored George Stephanopoulos said a jury found Trump liable for rape in the case of e Gene Carroll. The jury actually found Trump
liable for sexual abuse, but not rape. The network is also issuing a public apology, and in return, Trump's team is dropping the lawsuit. We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning, a drone at Boston's Logan International Airport got way too close for comfort. Bill's going to be talking about that. But since we're already talking about drones, let's talk to ABC's Jim Ryan. Reports of drones continue to flood in Jim, do we know more about them? Are they still just a big mystery?
They are a big mystery. Yeah, nobody's quite sure who's responsible, who's putting these things in the sky, what their intentions are. Are these just enthusiasts. We know that the mysterious sightings that have happened came during the nighttime hours, right. That means that these things had lights that people could see. And if they have lights, then they're operating under FAA rules.
And you know, they have to have a red light on the left side the green light on the right side, and so if they have a light, then you know it's a legit thing. It's probably not Iran, it's not aliens, it's not anything but somebody with a drone and a controller.
So, of the drones that are being spotted, do they all appear to have these lights on them?
Well, they said, but how would you know if they didn't. I mean, if it's not now, they're hard to hear, they're fairly quiet, and if something is flying around dark then we might not know that it's there at all. But I mean, that's supposed to be the regulation. The fa does allow these things to be flown at night.
And they've just exploded in popularity. What is it, four hundred thousand pilots are certified with these things, something like nine hundred thousand drones altogether are out there, and the FA has a registry of them. So the troubling part is that, Yeah, the Boston logan incident is disturbing. There are two military bases in New Jersey that had things flying too close to them, drones that Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio had to close its airspace on
Friday night because of drone activity. Yeah, it's not people using them where they should be used. It's people using more shouldn't be used.
Right. And then there's the guy who was arrested. He was on his way back to China and he was arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Space here in California.
Yeah.
Yeah, And so what what is the purpose here that somebody gathering intelligence or pictures or something or is it just you know, a thousand, you know, goofy operators with a thousand drones flying at night. We don't know.
Well, and here's the thing that's sort of interesting too, because they're saying, oh, it's they've just always been there. Is it just that it's on our radar. It's like when you drive down the road after you buy a car and all of a sudden you see your model of car.
You know, I think there's something to that. So one person shoots video of what they believe is a drone flying around and they post that on X and somebody says, I've seen something like that. They take a picture or they capture a video of a drone or maybe assess No. One to fifty two that they mistake for a drone, and they post that, and then another person sees something. You know, I think you're right. I think there's a
lot of that. Their friends tell two friends, tell two friends kind of situation.
Well, I guess we're gonna have to wait and see. But there's a lot of people like clamoring lawmakers. Schumer wants it, and Kathy Hochel in New York. They're all like saying, you guys, gotta you gotta let us know what's going on. And then Trump is saying shoot them down.
Yeah, well, telling the government to shoot them down. I assume in the same way that the that the Air Force shot down a spy balloon, a Chinese balloon last year. I guess it was off the Atlantic coast, and I assume that's what he's talking about. But you know, there are some folks in New Jersey who are saying, you know, i've got a gun, I'll go ahead and shoot it down myself. Well, that's you can't do that. That's illegal.
Not a great idea, No, don't do that.
So but yeah, Schumer is calling for some equipment to be brought in. FAA has has these sensors that they use at airports to track birds. You know, it's crucial to keep tabs on birds that are flying around at airports for air safety. So maybe redeploy that to find drones, little drones, find out who's operating them, and bring this to an end.
Yeah, And then I was watching the Sunday shows and I don't remember which one he was on, but the Homeland Security Secretary may Orcus was saying, Oh, they're not a they're not a danger. But is anybody surprised that everybody is boking at that? After that happened with the Chinese balloon where it was flying over the US for like two weeks before they did anything about it.
Well, yeah, I think right, And that was ABC's this week that my Orcus made that statement, But I think that.
That may have been before he was aware.
Of others were aware that these military installations have had some drones flying over them. That's a little more troubling, especially, I mean and airports as well, because suddenly we're talking about about aircraft safety, civilian aircraft safety. Did you see that video last week? Amazing video And I don't know why. This person sitting on the right side of an airbus a three twenty one American Airlines plane was capturing video with his or her phone. I think it was a
male capturing video of the takeoff. He's got his phone, he's shooting out the window of the right engine. You can see it, and suddenly you see a bird getting sucked into the engine. There's an explosion. The right engine is dead. They turn around and they fly over to JFK. They took off from LaGuardia, so it was a safe, normal kind of thing. But you could imagine that a drone would do the same kind of damage to an aircraft engine, and if you had one on each side,
that's a major issue. You're talking about. Miracle on the Hudson sort of thing.
Yeah, and could do more because it's metal, I mean, at least with it. If it's a bird, it just kind of gets chewed up in the engine.
Right, Well, it damaged the engine, it shut it down, right, So you're right. I mean, a metal drone would probably just break the thing.
All right, Well, we'll be watching the sky. Please do all right, talk to you soon, Jim Ryan Seamy, All right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A prosecutor in New York says the man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan might waive extradition from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested. Da Alvin Bragg says that could happen as soon as tomorrow. He also says Luigi Mangioni has hired a new lawyer who is a former New
York City prosecutor. President elect Trump and several administration picks have spent time in Maryland for the Army Navy football game. Vice President elect JD. Vance, Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others were at the game on Saturday. So was Marine veteran Daniel Penny, who was acquitted in the subway choke hold trial in New York last week. He was a guest of JD Vance. As for the game,
the Navy team won it thirty one thirteen. Newly sworn in Democratic Senator Adam Shipp says he has some concerns about President elect Trump's picks to head the FBI. He says, people, including staff in the Biden administration and the first Trump administration might have something to worry about if former federal Prosecutor Cash Betel is confirmed.
This is a conspiracy theorist.
It's also someone I think who demonstrated, sadly a principle of the first Trump administration and that as you rise to the level of your SYCOPHANTACYE.
Schiff says, the bigger the sick event, the higher you rise. For the first time in over a decade, adults in the US have lower rates of obesity.
A study published on Friday revealed that nationally, obesity dropped from forty six percent in twenty twenty two to forty five point six percent in twenty twenty three. The study also found a significant decrease of obesity in the South, including older adult women ages sixty six to seventy five. More than sixteen million adults were included in the study from the years of twenty thirteen to twenty twenty three. In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported
that obesity in the US was not rising. I'm Lisa Carton.
The Writer's Guild of America West says it is time the big Hollywood movie studios take legal action to stop tech companies from using its members work for AI purposes. In a letter sent to the CEOs, the guild says tech companies are using content created by writers to train their artificial intelligence systems. It says those companies are now trying to sell back to the studios work that plagiarizes
writer's content. The guild says under its collective bargaining agreement, studios are required to defend copyrights on behalf of writers. Grim discoveries have been made in Syria following the ouster of Bashar al Assad and his regime. ABC's James Longman says abandoned human remains have been found in a field just outside the Syrian capital. Bags of bones have been found here.
It's not clear who they belong to why they were there, but it might be that the Assad regime was dumping evidence before Basha Assad fled this country.
He says France will be the first major Western power to send a delegation to Syria. US Secretary of State Anthony Blincoln was in Jordan for meetings on Saturday and says American officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group trying to stabilize the country. Ousted Syrian president Bashar al Asad said he had no plans to leave his country after Damascus fell a week ago, but that the Russian military evacuated him after their base in
western Syria came under attack. Meteorologists says say it looks like winter in southern California. It's going to be drier than the last couple of years. ACI Weather says most atmospheric rivers and storms from the Pacific probably won't reach all the way into southern California. Senior meteorologist Paul Pastelock says most of the rain's going to fall in central and northern California.
It's going to be these hit and miss systems that just kind of break off from the main storm track to the north and kind of get caught like little upper level lows that just stuck there. And its spotty precipitation. I think that we're going to see.
He says, as possible the mid January storm track could come a little farther south and bring some rain, but that's not a lock. Cleanup continues after a rare tornado touchdown in Santa Cruz County. The tornado flipped over cars, knocked down trees, and utility polls. The National Weather Services the twister was on the ground for about five minutes, traveled a little over a quarter mile, and it was about thirty yards wide, so not a huge one. Several
people were injured. Schools in Malibu start reopening today, a week after a wildfire tour through the coastal city. The fire that burned just over four thousand acres, is forty nine percent surrounded and all evacuation orders have been lifted. Warnings are still in effect. Twenty homes and buildings were destroyed, twenty eight others were damaged. The Federal Reserve will meet this week. It's expected to cut interest rates again. It would be the third rate and final rate cut of
the year. Most economists say the Fed will reduce interest rates a quarter percent, even though inflation ticked up again in November. Let's say good morning now to ABC's Stephen Portnoy. So, Stephen, it seems like we were just here a couple months ago. As we approach approach the end of the year, we approach another possible government shutdown.
Yep, yep.
Look, the expectation was that we would see the legislative text of an agreement on a spending measure by this weekend.
It didn't happen.
The deadline is Friday night, all right, so we have five days to go.
What could happen, Well, there could be an agreement reached today.
In fact, you could be listening to KFI through the day and you'll hear me report maybe by this afternoon that an agreement has been reached.
But for the moment, it has it yet.
And so because it hasn't been reached yet, and because there's only five days left, and because this stuff is a little sticky, there's a bit of nervousness this morning here in Washington that maybe there will be a government shutdown at the end of the week. Now again, lots of opportunity for a deal to be struck here, but no sign of it yet. And that's again the nervousness. What's the big hang up everybody?
Why not? Why is there not a deal yet?
This to do with farming aid, direct aid cash to farmers who are cash strapped. Republicans want to see this farming aid. Democrats are willing to give it, but apparently they want something in return. And what is the give back in return? And that's apparently where this is getting stuck. So again, let's see if an agreement can be reached to compromise. And you know, nothing is agreed to until everything's agreed to. That's the old adage here in Washington.
And we're waiting for the next chess move.
Okay, And do we have any idea what they're asking for in return or is that all very hush hush.
Well, so there's some speculation that perhaps one big ask would be to fulfill President Biden's promise of the federal government picking up the cost of the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Remember that bridge collapse earlier this year. Yeah, so you know, we'll see, we'll see how it all plays out. But look, there's some
critical needs here. There's one hundred billion dollars to replenish the disaster Relief Fund, and just generally keeping federal agencies open through mid March would be the objective, and that would allow the new Congress, the new president to take on federal spending in the first one hundred days as they enact their priorities. The people have spoken, there's been
an election, and this is a lame duck Congress. But there's also an instinctive resistance on the part of Republican leaders to the idea of taking a must pass bill like a continuing resolution that avoids a shutdown and loading it up with unrelated measures that are part of a package of you know, sort of last minute legislation that would light the thing up like a Christmas tree. Republicans don't necessarily want to see that, but it also is
sort of the way things are done here. So let's see how it all plays out.
Does this always happen that they try to like sneak it's not sneaking, but it's sort of sneaking things in to try to get them.
Yeah, it is kind of sort of sneaking things in because the country isn't really attuned to this, we're not all focused on it intensely. And as an old colleague of mine, a mentor of mine reminded us, you know, one paragraph in a twelve hundred page bill could really have a tremendous impact on people's lives, and sometimes it can be snuck in at the last minute.
Let's see what happens.
Okay, and do does there seem to be an appetite for a shutdown? This one kind of snuck up on us. Normally we start, we hear it with more lead time.
Well, you're right, because the expectation wasn't an agreement would be reached, so there wasn't a lot of attention being paid to this. But because the agreement, they told us that we would have text by the weekend, and the weekend passed and we don't know the text. Everyone's like, wait a minute, where are we And we'll see how that pressure, that that scrutiny results in perhaps an agreement being reached.
We'll have to see.
Okay, and this and you just mentioned it, it's not going to be a real funding bill. It's just another continuing resolution, right.
That's right. It's a stopgap. It's not a full year funding bill.
It's just a measure to kick the can down the road for a few more months. But you know, it's not going to be a clean CR. A clean CR would just be you know, erasing one date and putting in another date and having things run an autopilot. There are going to be some changes here, and that's where things are getting a little stuck, and so you know, these are necessary changes. Both parties agree. It's just a matter of you know, nailing down that agreement.
Okay, it seems like we've been doing these continuing resolutions for quite a while. I mean, what do we do You remember the last time we had like full funding bills?
Yes, I mean generally speaking, in unified government where Democrats or Republicans control all both Houses of Congress and the White House, you generally see full year funding measures. But that's not the case now. There is divided government, and there will be unified Republican government the next Congress.
But we're not there yet, and it's going to be very very close, so it's not a guarantee. Even if we have you've got it, yeah, okay, all right, Well we'll be watching ABC's Steven Portoy. Thank you so much. If you want to follow Steve and it's at Steven Portnoy on Instagram. We'll talk to you soon, you bet. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out
of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A former FBI informant who once lived in Calabasas is set to plead guilty in LA to federal charges of making up a story the President, Biden and son Hunter each took five million dollar bribes from the The owner of a Ukrainian energy company, Alexander Smirnoff, has agreed to enter a plea to making false statements to the FBI, among other charges. He's facing a sentence of up to six years in
federal prison. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's had hip replacement surgery at a US military hospital in Germany following a fall in Luxembourg. Pelosi's office reported Friday that she got hurt during a trip to mark the eightieth anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. A spokesman says the eighty four year old lawmaker is as he put it well on the mend. Health officials in Gaza say more than forty five thousand people in the region have been killed since the start of the war
with Israel fourteen months ago. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters, but says more than half of those killed have been women and children. Israel claims Hamas is responsible for the civilian deaths because it operates from within civilian areas. The Israeli military says it
has killed more than seventeen thousand militants. Malwana two continues to make waves at the box office, taking in twenty six point six million dollars in its third weekend in theaters. Wicked finished second with twenty two and a half million dollars in ticket sales. Craven the Hunter finished third. It's being seen as another misfire in Marvel Movies. A family in Wisconsin is celebrating a cat miss miracle.
Rutherford the cat disappeared from his home about eleven years ago when he somehow slipped out of the house. Back in twenty thirteen, cat owner Dave Dexter says about six months of searching, they sort of gave up and came to terms with the fact Rutherford wasn't coming back.
In the back of our mind.
I think there was an inkling, a fragment of hope that someday we would see him again.
Dexter tells Atlanta First News that the family received a call from a veterinarian in Georgia saying they identified Rutherford, there was microchip, and that he'd been found on the side of the road in the town of Dealard, which is about nine hundred miles away from Wisconsin. It's not clear how Rutherford wound up in Georgia. Andrew Caravella KFI News.
I think he probably had an incredible remember those movies. This is KFI and KOs T HD two Los Angeles, Orange County, Southland weather from KFI. Clouds this morning, then Sunday this afternoon. Highs around seventy at the beaches Metro La and Inlan, Orange County. Low to mid seventies in the valleys and Inland Empire. Sixties in the Antelope Valley Partley. Cloudy with loads tonight in the thirties and forties. It was chili coming in this morning.
Morning.
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